Random Quote
A magician pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
---- anonymous
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.
---- Terry Pratchett
Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will
probably replace teachers who do not.
---- Ray Clifford
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
---- Arnold Lobel
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
---- Jack Lynch
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
Drink coffee! Do stupid things faster!
---- unknown
There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
---- Pablo Picasso
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
---- Gail Godwin
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
---- Terry Pratchett
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
---- Thomas A. Edison
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
To have another language is to possess a second soul.
---- Charlemagne
delete me
This video made me bust my gut laughing.
Presentations Textbooks
The past couple of semesters my university has switched our program focus from 4 skills to presentation skills. In this time I’ve used a couple of textbooks aimed at teaching presentation skills to non-native speakers. While no textbook is perfect I’ve noticed that none of the books I’ve looked at teach anything about using note cards when presenting. This seems to me to be a glaring omission.
Using note cards (or the notes field in PowerPoint) is essential to giving an effective presentation especially for non-native speakers. When they don’t do this one of two things happens. First they will bring a script and just read from it, despite being told not to read. Second they’ll memorize the entire speech, but then forget it and spend their time looking at the ceiling while trying to remember.
I have prepared a couple of lessons around the principles including a sample presentation and note cards for students too look at and will be testing them out this coming week. But really I fail to see why this is not included in commercial textbooks. Students can have the best organization, transitions and visuals, but if do not use note cards they will end up having no body language or eye contact due to the negative effects of reading and memorization. The result is a boring, forgetful and wasted presentation.
I don’t teach, nor allow, PowerPoint with my lower level students but with intermediate and above I do teach it. It’s more about teaching them what not to do – i.e. flashy transitions, multiple fonts, multiple styles, poor contrast etcetera. One thing that every presenter should be using is presenter view. This allows you to see the current slide, upcoming slides and the notes field all on one space – on your laptop screen while on the projector the audience sees the regular presentation view.
here is a screenshot (click for full size):
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Oct 31, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Teaching | teaching_application |
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6 Things About Multiple Intelligences
Yesterday on twitter I saw a tweet by @cotterhue that directed me to this post titled Six Things About Multiple Intelligences You Might Not Know. This is definitely worth reading especially if you haven’t thought critically about the theory of multiple intelligences.
In a nutshell here are the six
- Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory is not a theory in the scientific sense.
- The Intelligences do not exist in any measurable way.
- Gardner has substantially more supporters in the world of education than in the world of psychology.
- Gardner is horrified by some of the practical applications of his ideas that he has witnessed in classrooms.
- In a conversation about MI if you hear certain expressions, such as Rinvolucri (and others), run away
- ‘Multiple Intelligences theory’, ‘neuro-linguistic programming’, ‘brain gym’, ‘shamanism’, ‘psychodrama’ and ‘life coaching’ are not related in any way.
KOTESOL 2009 - going?
Next weekend is the annual KOTESOL international conference. As usual I will be attending and have arranged a dinner out with several people that I only get to see once a year at this conference on Saturday evening.
Are you going? vote in the poll and leave a comment.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Thursday Oct 15, 2009 at 07:06 PM
Public_Service_Announcement | Conferences | Random_Ramblings | Polling_Station |
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