Library Lecture

I thought that the lecture was helpful because all of us are probably going to have to use those things on the library website in our future. Since the website is a different set up since last year, it was nice to see how to use anything and other helpful tools she gave us. I also thought this lecture was helpful because it's nice to know of the people out there that can help you with different things.

I think I will probably be a little confused when I use this by myself for the first time because it was a lot of information to pay attention to at one time. I also think the handout was really nice because if someone, like myself, can't remember everything I can look back on this.

Postville Panel

The Postville Panel was very informing and emotional for me. Growing up about 20 miles away from Postville, I knew about the diversity in Postville. I knew there was a large population of Hispanics that lived in the small town and worked in the plant.

When the raid happened, I was clueless about what was happening. I thought raids were more towards the southern border, little did I know the largest one would be 20 miles away from me. Since I only received the general idea of what happened, I thought it would be good to go to the panel.

That night I walked into the room thinking they would give their opinions about how the raid should have been handled or if there should have even been a raid. What I found most interesting was that they didn't discuss those matters as much. We heard from a few ladies that were effected by the raid. They were Hispanic workers whose husbands were sent to jails. They talked about their children, the day of the raid, and many other details of how their lives have changed.

When the ladies were telling their stories I began to tear up. I'm not saying that what they have been doing was right, but the way these ladies are now treated and how it effected their family really touched me. The stories that effected me the most were the ones of the children being told at school that they might not have one or both parents at home when they came back from school and the story of the mother who has a son that has had eye surgery in order to be able to see. The dilemma she is having is about her son. Her husband was deported and why she waits to see what happens to her, she is faced with the problem of what to do with her son. If she is deported she can either take him with or leave him in the United States with another family since the son is a USA citizen. The son has had surgery in the United States to be able to see. The doctor told the mother that if she took her son back with her to Guatemala, he doesn't think he will be able to see again because he won't have his regular doctor's appointments. As the woman sat there with an electronic shackle on her ankle, I started tearing up thinking about how the raid has really impacted this woman and her family drastically.

From the teaching aspect of their stories, I don't know what I would do when I heard about the raid with many Hispanic students in class that may have their lives changed forever. The school told the Hispanic students that their parents may or may not be home tonight. I think they probably scared their students half to death, but then on the other hand you don't know who's parents were arrested and who's weren't and they do need to be informed. What I would want to do as a teacher would be to escort every child home and make sure they had some one there after classes and after the school had told them. If they didn't have someone at home that night, then I would take them home with me. I don't know if that is how you are to professionally handle the situation though. It is a very hard situation to inform your students about and it's hard to know the best way to do so.

Chalk and Wire/Teacher Licensure Lecture

I am really grateful that we had this lecture! I feel like at times I am completely lost in knowing what we have to do as education majors, but this lecture just gave us everything, which was a little overwhelming but at least we know!

Regarding the Chalk and Wire aspect of the lecture, I felt that it just sounded like another thing I would have to pay for, remember, and learn how to do while at Luther College. However, I do think it will have benefits. It seems like everything is really organized and laid out so I will know what I have to fulfill to complete this online portfolio. I hope we can still have a hard copy of our portfolio because sometimes keeping stuff just on the computer makes me a little nervous, from past experiences.

Now to the Teaching License part of the lecture. First, I think that Jennifer should NEVER retire. She seems very knowledgeable about what she does and very helpful. I don't know what the Luther Ed. Department would do without her or the Luther Ed. students. I liked how she gave us most or all of the information that is important to us for our majors. It seems very overwhelming and scary because we have now less than 3 years to finish it all.

I thought the lecture was very helpful and both ladies did a very nice job at presenting their information. Hopefully we all of us can figure it all out!

Lions For Lambs Thoughts

As we began watching Lions for Lambs, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Our first time watching the movie, I was extremely confused about the three different plots but the second time around, I started to figure it out. I liked how in the end all three of the stories were tightly wound together with each story effecting the other stories. The movie made me reflect not only on the teaching aspects it held but also the political side it brought out, as well.

Reflecting on the teaching aspect, I first started off disagreeing with how the professor was approaching his situation with the student who had become unmotivated. I disliked how he was in a way bribing the student. Toward the end of the movie when I was reflecting on the meeting between the teacher and the student, I found that I did indeed like how the professor held the meeting. He was blunt with the student and yet kept the student curious as well about the points he was trying to get across. I thought his line about teachers being sales people by selling their students to their students' selves held a lot of truth. Teachers should be putting the student first, but if the student is not putting themselves first, the teacher needs to be the person to sell that concept to them. I think it is a different angle towards teaching that everyone could use at one point for motivation. Being able to sell each of your students to themselves will be an everyday challenge that a teacher can look forward to working on each day with each student. Once a teacher has done this, like in the movie, you don't have a lot of control over what the student will do with this confidence, but you will know that they are working towards what they want to accomplish.

My First Blog!!

This is my first time using a "blog", but here it is!