Hello, my name is Nicole Camire. Welcome to the second week of our discussions. I will be the mentor in charge of this week’s blog. Last week we learned a little bit about each other and what our interests were by describing ourselves with using the letters of our first name. We also discussed our focus areas and minor. This week we will focus on how your areas of study integrate by incorporating some of the ideas you developed last week in part two of the activity.
Activity Part 1:
We would like you to create a Venn diagram that indicates your areas of study and minor. In the areas inside the Venn diagram where your focus areas and minor intersect, list in a few words 2 ways they integrate. As you can see in the example provided below public relations and advertising integrate in the messaging stage of their work, while PR and marketing integrate more so when developing content. Most important is the center of the circle where all of your areas of study intersect. You can see here that PR, marketing and advertising all integrate through audience engagement. Make sure you list at least two ways all your areas study integrate in this center circle (what commonalities do they share?).
After completing your Venn diagram upload it to your Skydrive in your UCF email account. Make sure to share the file as a link and post that link in your comments to this topic so the mentors and other mentees can view it. Respond to the following question in 2-3 paragraphs in the same post.
- Explain your Venn diagram noting the specific strengths of how the focus areas and minor build off each other as well as any weaknesses or ways they lack integration. Are your focus areas a natural fit for each other? If not, what are some ways you could make them better integrate? How do your focus areas combine in ways that will help you in your future professional, academic and personal development?
Activity Part 2:
Please read your classmates' posts and respond to at least one other student by providing your own unique insights on their ideas about integration in 1-2 paragraphs.
Make sure that you post your response as a comment to this blog post and not as a brand new post. Again, be sure any responses to a particular person’s post are done as a reply to that person’s post and not a brand new comment. This helps keep the conversation going and more natural. Feel free to respond to more than one post if you have something to share. As always, reach out to the mentors through the comments and we will reply as quickly as possible. We will also be reading and responding to your posts throughout the week. We look forward to learning and sharing more with you about integration.
- Group 8 Mentors
My three areas of study are: Education, Business, and Sociology.
ReplyDeleteAll three areas integrate through leadership and productivity. To be a successful educator, business-person and sociologist I believe you must have strong leadership skills. You have to stand up for what you believe in and show others the “right” way. You also must be willing to go above and beyond to take control to do whatever you feel like will benefit and create a productive outcome.
Education and business integrate through teamwork and creativity. A successful educator and business-person must work alongside and with others to properly execute their duties. Both educators and business-persons must be creative in coming up with new, unique ideas that will lead to the greatest outcome.
Education and sociology integrate through compassion and understanding emotions, actions, and behaviors. Both must deeply care about what they do and why they do it in order to get the most out of their careers. They also have to take the time and put in effort to understand why people feel certain ways and do certain things.
Business and sociology integrate through brainstorming and engagement. Brainstorming is important in order to come up with new ways and different approaches to solve problems and reach goals. Both business and sociology are very engaging processes. They both take time, hard-work, and dedication to understand and prosper in and from.
I feel like my focus areas fit naturally together and work with one another quite well. I think that all three focuses can integrate through every descriptive word I used; however, I think my diagram explains the integration the most accurately. I believe that studying education, business, and sociology will allow me to gain the greatest understanding and efficiency of the importance and significance of each area of focus.
P.S. I have my Venn diagram but cannot figure out how to post it to this blog, please help!
I'm trying to figure out if it is possible to upload pictures to comments. I'll let you know ASAP. If not I will make sure the activity gets adjusted with new instructions.
DeleteMark Walker
Are you guys using Skydrive in Cornerstone? I think the easiest thing to do will be to have you upload the VENN diagram to your Skydrive. "Share" the document through a weblink and then post that weblink here in your post. We can then click on the link or copy and paste it into the address bar and view the VENN diagram. Without coding this page with some Javascript through a hack it will be impossible to upload pictures here. Just let me know. I know we used Skydrive in cornerstone and we are also using it in Capstone.
DeleteMark Walker
Another thing I believe should be included about your diagram is that both education and business require you to think fast and come up with ideas that will benefit the company or students temporarily but something that should be able to impact their subjects long term. I also wanted to know how did you decide on these three areas to focus on because they all seem quite different from each other?
DeleteGreat post Lisa, but for arguments sake I would say that from my experience there is no "right" way in any situation. Of course there are your ideas and beliefs, but there are often many other ideas and beliefs on the table. In professional situations, these differences get hashed out through meetings, discussions emails, etc. to develop the best solution. Also, putting all ideas on the table helps people see things they might have missed. I think this is one of the strengths of being trained in interdisciplinary integration.
DeleteEven as an educator, a teacher will often learn many things from the students that they teach; including how they learn best. This may be in direct dichotomy to what you thought was the right way for students to learn (or even how you learn or were taught to teach) so you may have to adjust your teaching style to accommodate these students' needs.
What do you think?
Mark Walker
Here is my link for my Venn Diagram:
Deletehttps://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=768235028d46ac0f&resid=768235028D46AC0F!114&parid=768235028D46AC0F!101&authkey=!AHYcmqHjaCwrfeY
Helen, I have always wanted to teach and I felt like sociology would be a great asset to teaching. The reason I chose business, sadly to say, came about about 7 years ago when I had got into some trouble and didn't think I'd be able to teach anymore because of my record. After a lot of time and hard work to fix what I had done wrong, I found out I could still become a teacher. By this time I had taken a lot of business courses and it ended up working to my advantage.
DeleteLisa you did a great job of explaining how your areas of study "naturally fit together". I like the examples of integration you gave for each field. You stated "that both educators and sociolgists have to take time and put in effort to understand why people feel certain ways and do certain things." I am in the field of education and I know first hand that this statement is true! It is not enough to teach someone, lead a group, mentor, or inspire like in the fields of education and business a great deal of understand peoples background, environment and thought process is needed to gain a more comprehensive understanding and to be able to reach the target audience. Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteI would have never really put business and socialogy together but I like how you explained it. I thought it was very clever especially when you will be able to reach goals in a different way. Good luck in your future career choices.
Kiticha, it was actually really time consuming for me to figure out how business and sociology related, but after some time I realized there were quite a few similarities and commonalities. Thank you!
DeleteFirst thing guys I don't know how to make a venn diagram on the computer but I was told I can get assistance tomorrow on campus but on to my response.
ReplyDeleteI think that my two subject areas are a perfect fit because my areas are arts, education and spanish. I feel that with arts and education you need to be both creative and willing to form a partnership with others in order to gain ideas from those around you. I feel that education and spanish are both subjects that you need to be life long learners to pursue because language is always changing and students teach you new things everyday. Also both subjects have a long standing history that is constantly changing into something new. And finally spanish and the arts sometimes falls into the same category because they are so similar. Spanish has many branches that include the arts like drama, poetry and song. These mixes will help me in the future because I will always finding something new in my profession and will constantly be learning as well as creative, which will allow me to help my future students.
No problem, just do the best you can. You will post the Venn diagram to your skydive, share it through a link and post that link to your comment as a reply so we can see it if you can get it figured out.
DeleteThose were all great ideas about how two subject areas integrate with each other, but what are some ways you think all three areas of study integrate?
Mark Walker
I too have education as part of my subject areas. I feel education mixed with any subject requires someone to be willing and creative. As soon as a teacher becomes on willing to work, the teaching usually ends badly. They won't try anymore and the students don't gain the knowledge they need. A teacher always needs to be creative in order to keep students attention and also to keep the teacher from not repeating things every year. This keeps the students and the teachers interests in learning.
Deletehttps://skydrive.live.com/?cid=8461e4adf6bf680c#cid=8461E4ADF6BF680C&id=8461E4ADF6BF680C%21114
ReplyDeleteMy focus areas are Mathematics, Education, and Sociology. They all work together to intergrate overachievement and instructor. This is because as a mathematics teacher, I need to be an overachiever in order to help my students understand all of the knowledge of mathematics. In with all three of my fields, I will be able to do this. The instructor part indicates that these three fields will intergrate together to make me a great instructor.
For Education and Sociology I put comprehension and kindness. I felt these two majors together make for a teacher or instructor who comprehends with their students. They know what the students are going through and knowing that they can be kind by helping them. I am not talking about going easy on them on grades, more as help them just get through life. Understand whats ahead for them.
For Education and Mathematics I put patience and knowledge. We all know in math it takes patience to understand what is going on. It also takes patience to teach a person in any subject. Together Education and Mathematics will make me a patient educator. Knowledge applies to the fact that being patient isn't everything to math and education. In order to do math and education you have to have the knowledge of both subjects in order to accomplish your goals.
For Sociology and Matematics I put commitment and responsibility. Out of all the subject areas, this was the one spot I felt was the hardest. I couldn't figure out how these to were intergrated. I feel this is so because both subjects don't really go together. One is all numbers while the other is society. But two words I felt best fits is commitment and responsibility. Together these two subjects require commitment to understand. One doesn't just understand math or sociology on the first day of class. It takes a long time to fully gain the knowledge of both subjects. In order to gain the knowledge one has to be responsible. It is going to take a large amount of studying and practice to understand both subject areas.
My focus areas all fits pretty well together for the future goals I have in mind. They all will come together to create a great mathematics teacher. They will give me the ability to be able to teach through education classes. They allow me to gain the knowledge of the subject area through math classes. And they let me comprehend my students better through sociology classes.
Nick, I don't think you granted permission for this to be viewed. I put in the link and it says I don't have permission to access it.
DeleteGood job on the post. I think knowledge of sociology and the ability to integrate this knowledge into your teaching skills will be invaluable. Students in today's classrooms come from very diverse backgrounds and home situations. A thorough understanding of sociology will help you find ways to relate to your students in ways that might not be possible otherwise. Good post!
Mark Walker
For all those who don't know how to make a vinn diagram, I used paint. Go to paint. Click the circle or oval icon at the top of the page. Draw your oval in a way that is large but not to large where other circles won't fit. Once you have done this draw two more circles. If you want them to make all circles the same size, you can drag and stretch circles on top of each other the make them the same size. Also position your circles where the overlaps are bigger than actual circle. This is because you’re going to need more space for writing in intersections then the circles themselves. Once you have you three intersections done, you can fill the circles with color of your choice. Then click the letter A at the top of the screen and use text box to make the words and labels you need. I found this easier than word. Let me know if anyone has questions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this lesson and helping your fellow classmates Nick!
DeleteMark Walker
Helen, I find your areas of study to be very interesting. To have both art and Spanish seems well for a person seeking an education career. You could either teach Spanish or art. I am hoping to pass the FTCE on sociology so I can teach sociology in high school. But if i remember correctly, school offer psychology more than sociology, so I don't know if it will help as much. Having to areas you can teach will allow you to find a job quicker.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, sorry for the late post. Just got my laptop back and had to complete a series of updates to be able to use it for class related assignments. https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=2a84979b7379d259#!/view.aspx?cid=2A84979B7379D259&resid=2A84979B7379D259%21124 I hope the link works
ReplyDeleteMy two areas that I develop my content area knowledge from build off each other. History and Political Science go hand in hand in explaining the events that have occurred throughout the time of man. History describes the facts and Political Science develops the knowledge of culture that was happening in the society a person in studying. The Education focus allows me to find a way to explain both content areas so that students can understand them as wells as being able to explain it in an essay or test.
The weakness in the areas of study is that one is not always needed to explain certain things. This does contradict the statement I made above but during certain time periods of extended piece or the rule of the same monarchy family the political science aspect does not need to be focused on all the time. The Education factor will always be involved because of the different methods a person can use to teach the Social Sciences. In the end two of the three areas are always being used in teaching. The only time that all three are used is when discussing events that are happening that involve various governments.
David Chicas
As you have explained, I can see that History and Political Science compliment each other quite well. I think that is was a good idea to integrate the two together. Even though your weakness seems to contradict your first statement, it only shows that each situation is circumstantial and one needs to adapt to each. The fact that you can see this before is happens can only help you!
DeleteAs someone that maintains an IT infrastructure for an organization, I completely understand. I am currently wrestling with an new SQL server configuration that is driving me batty :-)
DeleteI was not able to open the link you provided, but based on your writing I would argue that even during times of extended peace or rule of the same monarch societal forces are at play that are influenced and driven by political actors. These political underpinnings do much to explain the structural forces at play during any period in history. How much you choose to focus on these things is another case altogether, but the politics of the moment are always imperative to the historical facts of the time. Even if the politics seem stagnant by war or leadership, the many other movements at play had significant effects on the citizens under those leaders. Just my .02 though. What more would you expect from a sociology wonk :-)
Mark Walker
Unfortunately I am having problems posting my diagram and will have to post the link a little later in a follow up post. My two areas that I am studying are Humanities and Education. These go hand in hand because I plan on teaching in another country. Learning about other cultures is extremely important to me and I am truly passionate about teaching in another country. I am taking an Asian Humanities class right now that is helping me in the future when I travel to China to teach English.
ReplyDeleteHowever, a weakness in this study is that most of the information that I need to acquire when teaching in another country will have to be learned hands on. Not everything can be learned from a book and I expect it to be a lot different than I imagine. This is a downfall that is inevitable and is to be expected. Never the less, I can only see these classes as a benefit and a step in the right direction.
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=3375b9f72c000ac0#!/view.aspx?cid=3375B9F72C000AC0&resid=3375B9F72C000AC0!121
DeleteHere is my diagram!
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DeleteI'd have to say your absolutely right that teaching in another country would involve a lot of hands on experience. I think that could be said in general about teaching. I remember when I did my internships that first week seemed like a haze. There is only so much that book learning can offer, that actual application is whole another animal. Especially with your focus on going to China to teach. Just the culture shock alone can be a difficult thing to make the proper adjustments.
DeleteDavid Chicas
Rebekah,
DeleteGreat job on your VENN diagram. I really liked how you tied your three areas together through the lens of multiculturalism. Your other connections were great two, especially your use of communication as the connection between TESOL and education.
Speaking of communication and out of curiosity, have you trained in any of the Chinese dialects? I know you will be going to teach English and this will be the primary form of communication in your classroom setting, but I was just curious if you spoke Mandarin or another dialect for your time outside the classroom. What made you choose China as your most likely destination? Makes a lot of sense from the standpoint that they have a need for more English teachers, but I was just curious if your choice was rooted in reasons other than that. Good post.
Mark Walker
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ReplyDeleteJust for future reference for you guys, there is also another way to make the Venn Diagram instead of just going to Paint to do it. At least with Microsoft Word 2007 version. Click on the "Insert" Tab and then "Smart Art" under the illustrations tab. Click on "Relationships" and find the Venn Diagram picture and click on it. Once you have the Venn Diagram on your page go back to "Insert" Tab and click on "Add Shapes" under illustrations. Pick the Oval shape to make for the overlapping areas. Right click the new oval you made and click "Add Text". Right click the oval again and select "Format Auto Shape". Pick the "Color and Lines" tab in the new window that opens. Under "Fill" set the Transparency level to 100%. Under "Line" select No Color for Color. Hope this helps out for the future.
ReplyDeleteDavid Chicas
Thanks for sharing David. I am sure this will prove helpful to someone in the class in the future.
DeleteMark Walker