Theme3PresPlusDelta

Theme 3: Presentation Plus-Delta Responses

Find your name in the list below for plus-delta feedback to your presentation.

Alex

Plus:

Very clearly stated and an important concept. We need to invest in creative learning for young people. "If you enjoy it, you get more out of it." Great thought.
Finding the line between effective simplicity and over-simplification is important, and I think you acknowledge that quite well in this work.
Your point about the way that children can enjoy and learn more if they know the purpose is important; that adults / teachers should remember to connect the learning with fun.
I liked the idea of linking literature and the teaching of creative thinking - I was interested in your conclusions in that regard!
Appreciate that fun experiences of education = better learning, in learners young and old.

Delta:

What worked or would have worked for you, as a younger learner.
Your path moving forward will be a bit clearer once you decide which age group to focus on. Certainly there are a number of directions to take this work.
I'd suggest getting a little more clear on what ages you're describing when you talk about children - I think that would provide you a stronger foundation when it comes to talking about ""how to accommodate young minds"". The example of TKAM didn't fit, to me, with the ages you described in the first slides - students have to be able to have abstract thinking in order to manipulate the ideas presented in that text. [PS there are lots of lists of young adults and childrens books online!] Do you think the assumption that children think "simply" limits how you could teach them creative thinking?
How will you be implementing this? Will this be a guide for teachers to use, parents, or the students themselves?
I wasn't sure if you meant that certain materials are naturally boring, or if children are just bored sometimes no matter what. Can you think of more positive ways to respond to boredom? One of your examples was to avoid dry topics like Plato, but children do philosophical thinking, so how could this be made exciting - how to use story here?

Andrea

Plus:

Students DO take more advice from students, or basically anyone other than teachers especially in high school. When you said "student's are prepared" you are very, very accurate.
Encouraging creativity in story telling is an excellent way to foster creative thinking in young minds.
I love the idea of passing stories down from seniors to freshmen. I think advice comes a lot better from peers/close-to-peers, especially when it comes to "surviving" some type of experience.
Encouraging seniors to talk to freshman enables kids to hear advice as peers, advice which those same incoming freshman might not be willing to consider coming from parents/adults.
I like students teaching future students
I enjoy your thought process and vision to help college students with their futures. It is a great idea. Your topic is very broad and I think you handle this all very well (content wise.)
Very enthusiastic presentation; it tackles a necessary an overlooked issue; it adds more personality and personalization to the materials
This could be a very useful collection of insight for future life skills and potential networking connections. Students could very well be more willing to listen to other students for advice.
I like the idea of getting feedback outgoing seniors for freshmen coming into college. It would work well because it gives freshman information that they would have never gotten. That is why gaining from past experience.
The point that freshman are more willing to listen to seniors than to adults is interesting and a great insight, and there seems to be several ways to build upon this (for example, helping the freshman course instructors to form their teaching around the idea of showing real examples from students, instead of just making abstract points that sound like they are just imposing their own ideas).
Telling one's own story and creating a legacy is something people are always happy to do- keeping all of the seniors' writing would be such a treasure! I think I heard you mention that one of your principles is being proactive, and I agree that students are more likely to follow advice from peers - or seniors who are considered "cool."
I like your passion for helping freshmen to improve their new life and plan their future.

Delta:

How would you encourage your students based on what subjects interest them the most?
At what point in their freshman year would this conversation take place? I imagine many incoming freshman are initially so overwhelmed they might be unable to take on or digest meaningful advice.
It might help now to keep narrowing down the scope and consider what specific issues need to be addressed by the seniors in their work. Freshman don't have a lot of college experience by definition, so how are they going to relate to the seniors' creations most effectively? I wonder if freshmen need more information at that point about very basic college survival and social issues, and less about big-picture things like jobs and general planning for the future.
I think a free workshop coming out of high school could be more developed. Maybe a lecture with some visual or story to scare these students into getting going on their futures. Show them, alert them of real life experiences and photographs to connect it with them.
more details of the activities in the course for the freshmen
Find a story that relates to your project.
While giving advice is super helpful, what other resources or scaffolds do you think would support young college students who don't have the built-up capacity to manage the stressors of their first year? ; One other question - what would motivate college seniors to participate?
I think this is really important. Will senior/freshman students be paired up randomly? Or are you going to try to connect people with like minded ideas, background, and future ambitions?
I wonder how much detail the seniors will have of their four years in high school, and how much experience they will have to draw on when it comes to planning life after college. Your class or program reminded me of my high school's newspaper and yearbook class, where the students organized themselves with guidance-this gave them greater ownership.
Maybe the seniors could volunteer for mentoring or further guidance. I could easily see this making a really fun unofficial college website for incoming students to draw on for advice.
Some students may be offended; What about people who had a negative university experience? This could be shared with people outside of the specific university community
how and where are you planning to apply your instructional life tools to young college students? at UMass? are you planning sale this as private workshop?

Andrew

Plus:

The idea of using our own childhood and childhood attachments to help children is a good idea that makes a lot of sense. Using toys as a basis for development is very creative.
Your product allows for a number of stages throughout childhood the space to be meaningful and reflective of growth and development. This makes for a very dynamic, personal experience with the toybox life.
Your vision for the idea as a long-term process (over years of time) is innovative and exciting; thinking about revisiting the idea between parent/child involves some depth and effort, but it doesn't seem unmanageable for parents to initiate and carry out.
I really loved that your project spanned years of time - that the child is reflecting when they're young and then that there's a follow-up much later in order to access those previous ideas.
Very well-rounded. Appeals to many learning needs and perspectives. Find myself curious to think back on what might be contained in my toy box.

Delta:

What space is there for the teenager to dislike/reject a toy/activity they loved as a child? Could a teenager do this without the toy chest? What prompts would lead towards this? (Sort of like your slide of your own toy chest).
Could other toy-like movies, like Cars or Wreck-It Ralph, be used in this template?
What do you think will be end result? Are you comfortable speculating on this? How would you have received such a gift?
As we talked about a bit in our discussion, there is an opportunity to invite the parents into this conversation and build the relationship between child, parent, growth, introspection, and connection.
When you refer to toys, and then later games, I wondered about how games without physical materials, and then other forms of play, might get captured. Would it be just a parent photographing some of those activities, for example? I'm also wondering about the possibilities for reflecting on symbolism of past toys and making choices about future actions - I would like to see a direct example of how this might work (or how you would approach this yourself).

Bill

Plus:

the interactive part was nice. the visualization activity worked well
visualization can be an effective tool to help students make things more real.
Bill work was very interesting because it seem well planned out also very reasonable idea to do for the Theme 3. I also like how Bill used visual aids to document the past and the "possible future" that people can take with this project. I so like how Bill used the idea of using our sense like sensing orange even though it is not there only in your head. I liked how he told us how he is going to make like a storyboard for his project. I seem it is going to to awesome !!
The activity was very engaging, and this created a very easy way to help us achieve the visualization that you mentioned. This worked well.
Very detailed introduction and positive way of thinking towards high school students graduation. I visualized myself growing as an individual, and as an adult pursing a taste worthy career looking for better experiences. I certainly see this as a technique to progress my future and many others,even my students.
I like that your project takes place over several years. It allows for changes to happen and corrections to take place. Impression during visualization: i imagined myself at high school graduation with an orange peel smile.

Delta:

Visualization doesn't work for everyone, so perhaps allow people other options such as imagination or desires.
I think one thing that should be more developed is that Bill should added in more of his personal story. That Bill took. I just my 2 sense.
I was interested to know more about how you could realistically test out your idea. How can you move this forward into more concrete reality so that you can start to tweak the choices that you've developed around the various activities/writing to be done?
tying your constraints in more could have allowed for better feedback
I often enjoy pictures and video with my background, but your visualizations worked well without. Your own ideas and closing our eyes helped us see our own visualizations and brainstorm more.
i think there may be a need for more scaffolding to help get the student to be able to see where they want to be. without seeing other parts of your plan, i can see how jumping straight to visualization might be a hinderance for some students.

Casey

Plus:

Prospective college students are a good audience for encouraging creative and critical thinking. I myself have experience with being pressured into degrees that I initially didn't want.
I think there is a huge discrepancy between what messages students hear and what college actually is and I wish that many of those messages weren't so negative. Being able to identify this was well done.
Prompt answer: it's vital to earning a living and you'll grow up poor if you don't go to college. My uncle told me when I was graduating that I could now go back to get a real degree like nursing.
Great idea create a handbook for teachers to address this topic because students have a relevant influence on teachers opinions and feedback.
it seeks to change professional practices around a delicate topic
Clear, concise, and direct
This is a vital handbook for all high school teachers and administrators. The language of guidance needs careful tuning. Accepting multiple paths supports multiple futures--teachers need to show meaningful respect to career choices. Your steps to accomplish your goal were very clear and well presented.
I liked that you asked us to brainstorm on our impressions because when I looked at school catalogs it was very different than word of mouth information, so I was overwhelmed by: the advertising (all good), difficult to envision and "try on" life at that school/ city. The school brochures were inspiring but created an ideal that felt very distant. I'm impressed by your sensitivity to participate in conversation with other teachers rather than with the students because you don't have their life point of view as a white person. I like that you present myriad paths and that you invite teachers to "probe" using soft skills of personal interaction.
I like the idea of your project and it how it part of the bigger picture. I also liked how Casey develop steps for the future.
The point about the expression of beliefs of students was interested and helped me to think about how teachers hear what students say, and what they mean - the subtext of their concerns and doubts and fears, and how teachers can redirect some of those into stronger and more positive directions. This seems to help reframe things from teachers simply giving advice/advising to teachers listening well and showing care for student needs more mindfully.
I think you have great ideas, and that they help develop great turning points for the students. This includes interests of major, community, athletics and other ways to make students comfortable and keep active their minds and goals.
Consideration of all students, even those who aren't necessarily interested in college as a career or life goal.

Delta:

It may be difficult to change people's minds - preconceived ideas about who should go to college and where they should go to college
I wanted to know more about how your work suggests a change in relationship between teachers and (guidance) counselors, and how they become collaborators. I wonder if there are any points of tension here, where the issue is also about teachers being comfortable with what their role is, and what responsibilities belong to others. Perhaps all teachers know they are mentors in some sense, but how can you guide teachers to both convey the right messages but also recognize that times when their own limitations are reached mean that they have to take steps to broaden the resources being provided to students?
How are you going to collect data and analyze it to get your results, and what are you planning to do with this at the end of your research?
Is the teacher / student interaction one on one, or in a group format? If it's informal how will there be assurance that this program is effective? I've already asked about your prior research, and you said that it was all informal observations over years. I wonder if that will be necessary at some point, again to measure effectiveness?
How do student loans and high tuition costs play in here. How can you design the life of a student who wants to go to a certain school but can't afford it?
if teachers have an ability to send kids on the wrong path, show how it can it best be reversed
I can't think of a single thing I would change, this is perfect.
You talked about teachers unintentionally limiting their students, but what about the students' parents?
It might be useful to give teachers a framework for accepting when their well-meaning advice is not accepted or acceptable. Give them some instruction on how to see beyond their perspectives.
I feel everything is coming along.
Will this be an ongoing conversation (the material kept up-to-date), as expectations change, as career models change?
I believe outside sources and people with other jobs from other colleges and high schools could help provide insight. It would make for a great comparison and good contrasts.

Jeremy

Plus:

Delta:

Julia

Plus:

Using your own family experiences to base your ideas off of is a good step.
This project seems like a fantastic combination of personal interest/reflection and the course themes. I liked the ideas for the three sections.
I love that you're using a questionnaire to gather information! Great technique!
including the experience of the entire family and caretakers is great
It was well thought out; it was broken into smaller steps; it was vague enough to be useful - no rigid structure
Loved the introspective interaction. The issues and questions raised are all important to address when considering how to design a life.
I appreciated how you are including helping young people to address a common and specific problem such as bullying; your project doesn't assume that life is simply an open book to be written and designed as someone wishes but instead involves complications that need to be recognized.
Your presentations are always so concise and you have great ideas. I can imaging your ideas working in real life. I mentioned in class the ti really like your list of principles- I also like the way you stated them, like, "I believe that-----" Stating your principles as your own beliefs shows the reader that you experienced something that made you come to that belief, and that you are committed. You have a lot of resources in your bibliography, and I see that they are diverse. You probably looked at your topic from many angles.
I like your idea to work on projects to scaffolding people in bulling.
I appreciate the focus on helping young people with special needs, particularly as you say (I'm paraphrasing), "their lives are designed for them." Will the language/visuals be tailored with this population in mind as the intended audience?
Your power point was in good detail. I like how you are using not only your experience but your sisters as well.

Delta:

I think you might want to pick one topic and do a pamphlet for each age group or pick one age group and do several pamphlet topics.
tell your family experience in storyboard format
This will have to be completely envisioned and thought out to be effective it may take a great deal of preplanning
There are a number of valuable directions you could go here; do you plan to make pamphlets for all of these issues, or will they all be connected into one?
You said that you'd like to make a paper/pamphlet/brochure. Would you want to make a format that's potentially more accessible to young people? (especially young people with learning disabilities)?
I'm not entirely clear on the value of the pamphlet format and wanted to know if you considered other ways. What needs to happen besides just giving a pamphlet to a young person? What is the system around that which will also provide the supporting influences?
How would you word your pamphlets so they can be digested and understood by both young and adult minds?
You have many great topics- bullying, getting along with parents, meeting the special needs of the student, thinking about good choices and not so good choices. I wonder how you could offer help on all of these topics with enough depth to be effective?
What other topics in the school could use this approach
This seems quite comprehensive. Do you expect to eliminate information for lack of space, or will it perhaps be a series of pamphlets? Maybe paired with a future website?
Comparing both your sister and yours experiences could be interesting. I would enjoy some type of more visuals. I love the pamphlet idea but these are high school students. Visuals would wake them up and alert them better.

Kyle

Plus:

Comparing and contrasting our elementary and teen years is an interesting concept.
The designs of these rooms are great and I can imagine younger children enjoying these rooms
That you see and want to address the gap between a child's experience of a space and a teenager's experience of that same space is so important to validating and satisfying their different needs.
Your presentation of the magic forest created a wonderful image for thinking about the "design" aspect of life, both in terms of physical space as inspiration for design around activity, and in terms of the implications around how the imaginitive mind engages in design of life.
It's a really interesting re-reading of the context for the older young people you're working with - and I appreciate that you are taking that on.

Delta:

SURGE is a good group for teens, but what groups for younger kids could also work for your story?
I wonder about how you'll pitch this to teens - could that be a potential way to use this CE for your own productivity? Is there a space at the hospital that can be for the teens? Could a project before SURGE comes be for that space to be designed for teens, by teens? (Sorry, tangential).
There seem to be two major areas to address here: the visual and the active. What can be done to make the cheerful space more visually appealing to a teenager's more serious, reflective mentality and what can be done to facilitate the social, hand-on areas?
I can see the difficulty here. I'm wondering if the teenagers and younger children can share the same space and opportunity but the teenagers have a different experience. A space where younger children can enjoy yet the teenagers find different opportunities. Something that for children is structured but abstract for teenagers...
I was thinking that the Surge idea of connected learning might relate to what happens with the storyboard/story idea in your product, as this seems to point toward authentic experience with the world that becomes part of a young person's autobiographical story. Maybe there is potential there.

Laura

Plus:

I felt tired and my face hurt (this is common when I'm tired). I felt annoyed/frustrated. I loved your invitation. I began to notice my body feeling grateful for my massage/me taking care of it. By the time I stood up I felt much more alive and at peace with where I was. When I sat down I felt awake. This was as positive as results I've gotten from doing other grounding-type/meditative/centering exercises and it felt like a really nice reminder of the relationship between body/mind (which is something I so often forget as a teacher).
Interesting points on proprioception.
How did you feel before class began? Felt stressed about presenting. What was the quality of your mind? Scattered. How did you feel about my invitation to participate in the activity? Ooh, interactive! What did you notice in your body and mind: When you sat up in your chair? I'm in a wheely chair and it's unstable. When you massaged your eyes? Relief of sinus pressure. When you stood? I wanted to crack my back. When you looked around? Ah, no none look at me for too long! When you sat back down? I'm kind of tired now.
I liked the emphasis on body language
Useful experience in information; Not clear on goal
Loved how this exercise reconnected mind to body to show how our outlooks can be influenced by movement!
It was enlightening to think about movement on the small scale, and something common such as standing up. It feels like there is a lot of promise in focusing on the "small scale" in designing a life and these kinds of micro-moments and then reflection/self-awareness. I was refreshed by the innovative step of then noticing the qualities of my thinking during the movement.
I appreciate the movement task that you came up with it is very simple and very creative.I also liked how she asked us about how we felt while we as a class doing the task.
I felt very nice during the facial message and correcting my posture. I like how we can translate this into emotional awareness to better our lives.
I like how you applied dance in this activity
I was excited to do this activity...I been meditating the last 3 weeks for hte first time. I never meditated previously. My idea of class to day was that I was ervous and tired but now I feel like I just completed a fun activity and feel released. I felt most effected/relaxed while rubbing below eyes. -- What a great way to keep each of our bodies and minds as well as space. Very Relieving.
I'm thankful for the opportunity to get out of my normal thinking and posturing...during class.

Delta:

I'm confused about how you want us to respond to relating words to actions. It seems to me that words, when they are commands, definitely relate to actions. Is that what you're getting at?
More reflective passages
How is this activity extended outward?
a visual of the interactive directions may help
How does the activity help with your points and thoughts?
I would be interested to see how you might add an alternative movement to perform for non-standing bodies.
Half-baked; it took a long time, yet didn't provide much information or direction; Maybe start with the movement earlier in the lesson/presentation
How would you suggest using this? Would this be a daily activity or only when we need it. It's an interesting contrast to some life deign activities that are parts of our daily lives.
Where are you planning to apply this sort of exercises or therapies?
I think you could develop further the audience and modify it for certain age groups and maybe even interests. That surely could be an interesting thought maybe for your reflection.
A post-dance proprioceptive writing exercise could have been nice for anyone who might have noticed something worth exploring further.
I'm wondering about how this work can help young people to make connections between the past and future as part of designing-life. The importance and value of being in the now is essential and quite clear, so a next step seems to be figuring out how all this is situated in looking at life as a continuum between before,now,after in our many moments.

Lauren

Plus:

Using a children's book series to help children get through tough times is a very noble goal.
It's great that you're developing a series rather than a single project. It allows for more opportunities for children to connect with and develop a relationship with the character. Like the idea of thundercat demonstrating rather than just telling.
The aspiration for young people to engage in story and then leave with "spirit intact" was a wonderful phrase. Also, holding the assumption that children are capable of controlling both their behavior and their outlook is empowering.
I loved your inspiration for the series - seeing ways to acknowledge and move through moments of feeling less then. I enjoyed your insistence on "allowing characters time to struggle."
Addressing insecurities by making them superpowers! Reminds me of the notion that we are defined as much by what we do as we are by what we DON'T do ("not just our strengths, not just our weaknesses).

Delta:

More illustrations! More rhymes!
Have you considered looking at therapeutic frameworks for fostering conversation with young people after reading HMT? (like suggested discussion questions but seated within an emotionally-aware framework).
I can imagine this being interactive in the sense of an online messaging board where young children and parents can share their responses and receive feedback from others...
I needed a little more help understanding the connection between the representation of animals and how we view ourselves and concerns. Is the point here to possible force a metaphor between personal and animal qualities that help us to reflect on our strengths and challenges and put those ideas into words?
What specific insecurities do you have in mind with your series?

Matt

Plus:

Activity with pairs connected with the theme of the book. I enjoy how we all have different ideas and jobs that connect us all as an establishment in community.
reflection is a good practice for younger people to learn. it's a skill we should all have. reframing problems can help students feel more control of their lives.
It was clear and concise
Matt Project was well define because it was very straightforward. It is project that can be relatable to anybody.I also liked the character that he used for his story "James" James story is something I can relate to too in a way. Because it kind of remind me of my life when I was listening to him. When Matt was presenting.
The ideas of optimism and diversity seem like central and critical themes, and I appreciated seeing how these can both support the designing of life (where optimism is a personal quality, and diversity seems like a goal to be pursued, where these both work in that design-life process).
I like that you focus on an ordinary kid, but then his life turns upside down.

Delta:

Is this going to be a novel or some kind of workbook? I like the idea of making it a workbook to use alongside reading these stories in a English class.
I think it would work better if you chose just one book to relate to; I think your ideas drift a bit. Maybe bring more subjects into one of the similar books.
Think carefully about literature choices - texts were far removed from the present
I think Matt should put in pictures for his story .
some of the sport analogies might marginalize some who may not understand the context as well.
Could you expand a bit more on the initial activity of having us think of important problems and then alternatives? I was looking for ways to tie this into your project and wondered what to do with my ideas after the activity ended.

Paula

Plus:

I really like this idea because you're right, there are alot of roles in film production and while most young people are ambitious and want to be director, it is more feasible to serve another role based on experience and interests. The one minute videos are a great idea.
Using a film making template is very creative. I like how you ask people to identify what their strengths and weaknesses are.
As is consistent with your work, Paula, this product is clearly outlined and well articulated. The student needs and activities seem defined well enough to move to the next stage in your project design.
The details of your workshop seem to be developed quite well as you thought about your undergrad. experience. I appreciated giving young people a chance to be immersed in film production and try out the roles, and also the collaborative issue related to knowing that every role is important.
I liked that participants will have to work together in order to produce something as a means towards identifying their skills and weaknesses.
Your workshop sounds like an idealized version of what a young filmmaker might hope for in an internship (though an internship might realistically involve little more than being the person who fetches coffee (important though that coffee is!)).

Delta:

I would be interested to see if there is a timeline and goalposts for the students to meet over the course of the work shop. Are there any milestones they should be working toward at particular points in time?
I wonder about how to challenge participants in the workshop who feel like they're already "certain" about what role they want to fill - how could you design some thing to get them to take on a different role/learn something new?
I really like the idea of one minute videos especially since it fits in with modern students and social media settings. I can imagine both amateurs and professionals participating in this. Can you imagine being able to see a member of the audio team for a Spielberg or Scorsese movie instructing young people? I really hope you follow through with this because it has great potential.
You mentioned that this is for people who are already pretty sure that they want to be in this world. In that case, what exactly are they "designing" through this experience?
What specific topics and main themes do you want or expect the one minute videos to have?
Is each participant playing a different role in the production of each other student's work?

Russell

Plus:

drawing inspiration from media they already consume is a good idea. encouraging students to seek assistance when needed is always a great thing.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a geologist, archeologist, or paleontologist. I think following your childhood interests is important, or at least considering interests and programs when choosing a university is important.
you created a great road map for high school students
It was very complete. I enjoyed the explanation of how you use steppingstones in your own life
Russell project was very interesting because he ties in to Media.
You cover a lot of skills here, so this seems like it would work as an overview, before you had a chance to get deeper into some of the topics. I appreciated that you brought the idea of money management as a practical issue in designing a life - relevant to everyone.

Delta:

how can you better tailor the material to specific students. This will help lend more credibility to what you are telling them. bringing more evidence to the workshop may also increase the chances of absorption by the students.
It might work better if it were broken into smaller parts
I think for Russell he needs to narrow his topic down further . It is complex and decided how is he going to make it.
I'm curious, is your final project a lesson plan?
The issue about developing relationships seems important; I wanted to know more detail about that, since young people are simply not always good at this. What are the more basic skills needed to build relationships, especially if young people don't always appreciate their families or close adults during certain ages?
tying in the literature constraint may strengthen your product

Tri

Plus:

I love that you're using a d&d character sheet. It works so well for real life as well as a fantasy game.
Handouts, outline and Set path for students figuring out what is best for the young student. great visuals for us to all put in their heads. Great advantage for young people to know ahead of time. I loved how students would engage with this as seeing it as they see in the game.
a role playing game is a great idea to capture young people's attention
Very complete. Uses established scaffolding to create a fuller profile for the student using these tools
I really like Tri project it was very interesting because of the Video game aspect and the idea of roll playing. His idea worked well.
The point about working with the natural energy of the moment to speed up or slow down through the game was insightful; this seems encouraging to young people to realize that choosing their pace through life is a part of designing life to work for them.

Delta:

what literature will you be tying your game to?
I think this would be great to alter for other games young people all know, or some various ones in which relate to different interests such as other children's board games,: LIFE, maybe an alteration of Guess who and/or Stratego in which would help design life problems to different alternatives.
You could edit this character sheet to add more real life characteristics and it can be used in class! Great idea!
Tri I would like to see more information.
I'm unsure how the game metaphor addresses competition vs. collaboration. Is there a risk that the game can promote "winning" to a degree that the players don't understand that a cost of their achievement might be a loss of someone else's? What moral and ethical implications are there in the nature of the interations between players?
You might need to take more time to explain how things work