From the beginning of last year, my students have been using what I call English Logs. The are notebooks where the students record their evaluations of and reactions to the class. In addition they include a one-line journal where students write about themselves and their activities in brief entries that can only take up one line in their notebook.
The format that I have asked student to use is as follows. It is an adaptation of the format Duane Kindt has posted on his site. http://www3.nufs.ac.jp/~kindt/pages/actionlogs.html.
Class date: English Target:
English Used:
(1= not much, 2 = OK, 3 = good 4= Very)
DID Interesting Useful Difficult
1.
2.
3.
4.
2) One line journal
/
/
/
/
/
3) Comment:
The students are expected to write about their class and their personal lives for five days out of seven a week. In the top section they are expected to copy the day's class plan from the blackboard and then evaluate each point as interesting, useful or difficult. I also expect them to write one comment in the comment section. That will earn them average mark of 7.5 points out of 10. They can earn higher marks by asking questions, elaborating on responses, and drawing pictures that are connected with their class work or personal lives.
These are the objectives of the basic English logs.
1. frequent writing
2. frequent feedback on learning
3. communicate with teacher in English about topics of immediate concern to the students
4. recursive practice with commonly occurring vocabulary
5. provide a venue for discussing class work
Students are also asked to draw in their logs for several reasons.
1. Drawing is a way of showing relationships between things and ideas that do not necessarily involve words, though students incorporate words in their drawings.
2. Drawing is another method of involving more of the students' intelligences.
3. Student drawing is another opportunity for students to be praised for something that they produce. Praise enhances intrinsic motivation and perseverance. It is easy to praise students for their drawings.
The idea of "English Logs 2.0" is to add another dimension to the logs. The original logs were only seen by me and the owner of the log, though sometimes students share the contents of their logs and what I have written. The 2.0 comes from Web 2.0. I first considered using some kind of social networking service, something like Facebook or Twitter, in order to manage students' work, but discovered several problems.
1. Nothing could manage the formatting of this kind of template.
2. Nothing would accomodate students' drawings without advanced posting techniques that I do not want to use valuable class time to teach.
3. Limited computer access, especially at class time, when there are computer classes scheduled, leaving me with no access.
4. Avoid possible problems with uninvited guests.
I ask students to exchange their log with another student in the class for one week. The borrower writes their entries into the owner's book as they would normally write in their own, commenting on the owner's work or on comments or questions that I have written. On the regular submission day, the students submit their borrowed log, and I read the entries as I normally would. On class day I return the logs to their owners. They have the logs for a week, and the process is repeated.
My students have tried this for several weeks, and have been pleased with the results so far. I will write more updates.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Obama, Cheney offer competing views on national security - CNN.com
Oh, yeah, and I'm going to believe what Cheney says, because what? His credibility is good? He and his faulty intel (at best) got us into Iraq when he was vice president. Now that he's a civilian, he has better insights than the president?
I think not.
Obama, Cheney offer competing views on national security - CNN.com
I think not.
Obama, Cheney offer competing views on national security - CNN.com
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Expats at work | The Economist
This article shows two studies that showed that people who live abroad have a creative edge.
There is a real tension living abroad, some significant benefits as well as limitations. I may be more creative, but I live too far away from my family in America to be of much help, especially with aging parents. I have lost contact with nearly all of the friends I had before coming here.
I'm not complaining, just pointing out that there are trade offs everyday. And everyday I ask myself what I'm going to choose. Today I say this is the place to be.
Travel and creativity: Expats at work | The Economist
There is a real tension living abroad, some significant benefits as well as limitations. I may be more creative, but I live too far away from my family in America to be of much help, especially with aging parents. I have lost contact with nearly all of the friends I had before coming here.
I'm not complaining, just pointing out that there are trade offs everyday. And everyday I ask myself what I'm going to choose. Today I say this is the place to be.
Travel and creativity: Expats at work | The Economist
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Why I don't eat meat
Why I don' eat meat.
Earth groans under the weight of our collective consumption. We say we want peace and happiness and then run the direct opposite direction.
When I was in college, I tried a vegetarian lifestyle, because it was cheaper. I cooked more for myself than when I was not vegetarian, and what I cooked was healthier. I stopped relying on animal products as a source of nutrition, so I was more aware of what I ate. After graduating from college, I took a bicycle trip around some places on the west coast. It was a two-month trip, and I didn't know what was going to be available, so I went back to an omnivorous diet. After this trip, I knew I was coming to Japan, a great time to get back to vegetarianism I thought. That was a mistake. I have a photo of me after I ran a cross country race through the mountains in Kyushu, which scared me at the time. I was much too thin, because I was refusing meat, but didn't know how or what else to cook, so I went to eating anything that I could cook. The problem was that I knew there was stuff out there that I could eat and avoid meat, but I didn't know how to cook it. Then there was other stuff out there that others had cooked, and nearly everything had some meat something in it, so I was refusing it. That was a problem.
Then I had the great good fortune to spend some time with the monks at a small Soto Zen training temple in Kumamoto, Shogoji. There the monks cooked and ate what amounts to a vegan diet, but would eat anything that people gave them as offerings. I remember the monks politely accepting a tray of hamburgers one day from a follower. I asked what they would do with them, and they said that they would eat them. They were a gift, and gifts were accepted without judgement. About that time I also became to understand "the middle way." There are various ways of understanding this, but as for accepting gifts, it made lots of sense.
Then came the greatest influence on my life to date. I married a wonderful woman who literally saved my life and that of my son. Her family lives a Macrobiotic lifestyle. Her father had a serious chronic skin disease that would soon have ended his life had he not gotten it under control. He was bandaged head to foot, like a mummy, and had been all over the country for every kind of treatment available. Finally one day they heard that Michio Kushi would be speaking nearby, and after hearing his presentation, they decided to stake their lives on the principles he introduced. From that day my father-in-law ate brown rice almost entirely, which he chewed 200 times before he swallowed. He stopped all other medication. He drank only tea and ume sho bancha. He slowly recovered, added more foods, and now he lives and works, is an avid badminton player, and rides his Harleys. My wife had atopic dermatitis, a skin ailment that makes her skin crack and itch. Since she started eating Macrobiotic, that has cleared up. When I met my wife, my son and I were taking asthma medication. We both had problems breathing in the Fall and Spring. Since we started living with my wife and eating the food she prepares, we have not needed medication, and all of our symptoms have vanished.
I can't say that Macrobiotics is a meat-free lifestyle. The premise is that people should eat food that is appropriate to the place where they live, and avoid chemical additives of all kinds. This does not preclude meat or animal products, as they may be the only food available to some people in some regions. What it does mean is that people who live where I do have minimal meat requirements. Humans in general don't need much meat. Give the way our teeth are arranged a look. In the back we have grinding teeth for grains and vegetables. We have four canine teeth for meat, and we have cutting teeth in the front for biting off pieces of fruit or other plants. If you compare our teeth to those of cats or dogs who eat much more meat than we do, you can easily see the differences.
Since this is not strictly about Macrobiotics, I will not give a complete explanation of the principles. What I will say is that Osawa and Kushi's principles were also aimed at making the world a more peaceful place. Refined sugar is certainly one problem. Refined sugar consumption has been linked to violent behavior, hypertension, and learning impediments. In one study violence in prisons declined after refined sugar and starch was eliminated from prison diets. In 1991 Singapore banned sugary soft drink sales from all schools and youth centers, showing the danger that sugar poses to the mental and physical health of children.
I have found no evidence that the consumption of red meat leads to violent behavior, like with sugar, but I certainly want to avoid steroids and other medications fed to the animals, and the negative energy that accumulates in the animals as they are kept and killed in inhumane conditions. I want nothing to do with the suffering of these unfortunate beings or the people who inflict the suffering. It is very difficult to avoid all contact. Even though I do not buy meat, I buy from companies who also sell meat. I would rather avoid those companies also, but I practically have little choice.
I am not vegan, and would eat meat raised in ethical conditions like on Joel Salatin's Polyface Farms, food offered to me by friends, or animals hunted in the wild, but will not eat or feed to my children the majority of meat available. It is just much easier to avoid it all together.
Earth groans under the weight of our collective consumption. We say we want peace and happiness and then run the direct opposite direction.
When I was in college, I tried a vegetarian lifestyle, because it was cheaper. I cooked more for myself than when I was not vegetarian, and what I cooked was healthier. I stopped relying on animal products as a source of nutrition, so I was more aware of what I ate. After graduating from college, I took a bicycle trip around some places on the west coast. It was a two-month trip, and I didn't know what was going to be available, so I went back to an omnivorous diet. After this trip, I knew I was coming to Japan, a great time to get back to vegetarianism I thought. That was a mistake. I have a photo of me after I ran a cross country race through the mountains in Kyushu, which scared me at the time. I was much too thin, because I was refusing meat, but didn't know how or what else to cook, so I went to eating anything that I could cook. The problem was that I knew there was stuff out there that I could eat and avoid meat, but I didn't know how to cook it. Then there was other stuff out there that others had cooked, and nearly everything had some meat something in it, so I was refusing it. That was a problem.
Then I had the great good fortune to spend some time with the monks at a small Soto Zen training temple in Kumamoto, Shogoji. There the monks cooked and ate what amounts to a vegan diet, but would eat anything that people gave them as offerings. I remember the monks politely accepting a tray of hamburgers one day from a follower. I asked what they would do with them, and they said that they would eat them. They were a gift, and gifts were accepted without judgement. About that time I also became to understand "the middle way." There are various ways of understanding this, but as for accepting gifts, it made lots of sense.
Then came the greatest influence on my life to date. I married a wonderful woman who literally saved my life and that of my son. Her family lives a Macrobiotic lifestyle. Her father had a serious chronic skin disease that would soon have ended his life had he not gotten it under control. He was bandaged head to foot, like a mummy, and had been all over the country for every kind of treatment available. Finally one day they heard that Michio Kushi would be speaking nearby, and after hearing his presentation, they decided to stake their lives on the principles he introduced. From that day my father-in-law ate brown rice almost entirely, which he chewed 200 times before he swallowed. He stopped all other medication. He drank only tea and ume sho bancha. He slowly recovered, added more foods, and now he lives and works, is an avid badminton player, and rides his Harleys. My wife had atopic dermatitis, a skin ailment that makes her skin crack and itch. Since she started eating Macrobiotic, that has cleared up. When I met my wife, my son and I were taking asthma medication. We both had problems breathing in the Fall and Spring. Since we started living with my wife and eating the food she prepares, we have not needed medication, and all of our symptoms have vanished.
I can't say that Macrobiotics is a meat-free lifestyle. The premise is that people should eat food that is appropriate to the place where they live, and avoid chemical additives of all kinds. This does not preclude meat or animal products, as they may be the only food available to some people in some regions. What it does mean is that people who live where I do have minimal meat requirements. Humans in general don't need much meat. Give the way our teeth are arranged a look. In the back we have grinding teeth for grains and vegetables. We have four canine teeth for meat, and we have cutting teeth in the front for biting off pieces of fruit or other plants. If you compare our teeth to those of cats or dogs who eat much more meat than we do, you can easily see the differences.
Since this is not strictly about Macrobiotics, I will not give a complete explanation of the principles. What I will say is that Osawa and Kushi's principles were also aimed at making the world a more peaceful place. Refined sugar is certainly one problem. Refined sugar consumption has been linked to violent behavior, hypertension, and learning impediments. In one study violence in prisons declined after refined sugar and starch was eliminated from prison diets. In 1991 Singapore banned sugary soft drink sales from all schools and youth centers, showing the danger that sugar poses to the mental and physical health of children.
I have found no evidence that the consumption of red meat leads to violent behavior, like with sugar, but I certainly want to avoid steroids and other medications fed to the animals, and the negative energy that accumulates in the animals as they are kept and killed in inhumane conditions. I want nothing to do with the suffering of these unfortunate beings or the people who inflict the suffering. It is very difficult to avoid all contact. Even though I do not buy meat, I buy from companies who also sell meat. I would rather avoid those companies also, but I practically have little choice.
I am not vegan, and would eat meat raised in ethical conditions like on Joel Salatin's Polyface Farms, food offered to me by friends, or animals hunted in the wild, but will not eat or feed to my children the majority of meat available. It is just much easier to avoid it all together.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Priceless Cheney
This is priceless. Dick Cheney confuses the Republican Party with conservatism. We will be paying for the Bush/Cheney administration for generations, and their fascist totalitarian tilt put the government's nose in every American's business. Instead of less government, we got more.
He did say one thing that I agree with. "We are what we are.” Yeah, and lots of us caught on, later rather than sooner unfortunately, to just what that is.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday that he preferred Rush Limbaugh’s brand of conservatism to former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell’s, saying Mr. Powell had abandoned the Republican Party when he endorsed Barack Obama for president last year.Is there anything logical there? Conservatism equals the Republican Party? Did Mr. Powell abandon the party? I don't know about his registration, but I don't think he has. Arlen Spector did, though.
He did say one thing that I agree with. "We are what we are.” Yeah, and lots of us caught on, later rather than sooner unfortunately, to just what that is.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Equal Pay Day and number practice for class
My students seem to be weak with numbers. They can see them written on the page and understand them in Japanese, but they have problems saying or understanding them in English, so I thought I would give them some practice. The important part was making it something interesting and meaningful, so I thought of something like a Harper's Index kind of effort. I have two lists which I will use for the next two weeks' worth of practice.
Equal Pay Day
Japan 60% less than men August 7, 2009
US 23% April 28, 2009
EU 15% February 24th, 2009
Germany 22% April 27, 2009
Italy 7% January 26, 2009
Belgium 6% January 22, 2009
The US date in April must not include Saturdays and Sundays as work days. I didn't put those in the Japanese calendar, because it went all the way into October with holidays and weekends. Women here will just have to work everyday. (No provisions for equal pay in law, but in signed treaties and conventions, which courts continue to ignore)
Influenza
Swine flu
31 deaths
1884 sickened
2,400,000 doses of antiflu drugs from WHO to countries that need it the most
2,200,000,000 dollar loss in business and tourism in Mexico
Other flu
between 250 000 and 500 000 deaths every year worldwide
36,171 annual deaths in US
71 to 167,000,000,000 dollars a year, cost of flu annually in US
Equal Pay Day
Japan 60% less than men August 7, 2009
US 23% April 28, 2009
EU 15% February 24th, 2009
Germany 22% April 27, 2009
Italy 7% January 26, 2009
Belgium 6% January 22, 2009
The US date in April must not include Saturdays and Sundays as work days. I didn't put those in the Japanese calendar, because it went all the way into October with holidays and weekends. Women here will just have to work everyday. (No provisions for equal pay in law, but in signed treaties and conventions, which courts continue to ignore)
Influenza
Swine flu
31 deaths
1884 sickened
2,400,000 doses of antiflu drugs from WHO to countries that need it the most
2,200,000,000 dollar loss in business and tourism in Mexico
Other flu
between 250 000 and 500 000 deaths every year worldwide
36,171 annual deaths in US
71 to 167,000,000,000 dollars a year, cost of flu annually in US
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)