Medical Emergency ID Wallet Card

Passed a lot of automobile accidents on my way home from Thanksgiving.  It made me think about personal preparedness.

One of the things we should all have is a medical emergency card.  There is a free site that produces a completed (ICE -in case of emergency) information card that proves invaluable in providing treatment when you are unable to speak for yourself. It is provided by a company that sells medical ID jewelry as a public service.

Follow this link to create your own

Free Emergency Medical ID Wallet Card Link

 I hope you never need this, but it is better to be prepared than to regret your inaction later. Happy travels for the Christmas Season.

Power Tool Saftey

I recently finished teaching a course that included information on developing effective safety lessons for the use of power tools. While collecting materials for that class, I can across an excellent site that contains high quality free safety videos for working with power tools.  The Power Tool Institute  is an organization that works to to building global understanding of power tools and for maintaining high standards of safety and quality control in the industry.

This a an excellent resource for anyone teaching or working with power tools.   The link is for PTI is loacted at  http://www.powertoolinstitute.com/.  I have also linked  four of these videos in the sidebar menu under Links for Teachers. Look for the PTI video links.

Beyond Pots - Wedgwood at 250

I teach a course on the history of work, and since I am ever vigilant to prevent the nap monster from invading my class, I am always looking for interesting and related material. The Wedgwood pottery works was noteworthy in the history of manufacturing because Josiah Wedgwood organized his workers so that they specialized in particular skills. This greatly increased the quality of his products.
Wedgewood is celebrating 250 years in business and they are showcasing the techniques behind their finest work on their web site.

It is easy to forget the artisans behind these works since many of us have a relative or two who has a few pieces of jasperware that we mentally reduce to the category of expensive knick knacks. The methods behind some of their most famous pieces including the Portland Vase and Queen's Ware Orange Bowl were significant advances. Within his lifetime, Wedgewood would replicate in clay famous classical pieces that had previously been made in stone or glass and elevate pottery to a highly collectable art form.

The designs were innovative for their time and are still distinctive. Very impressive work, especially considering how many of these designs were created in the 1700’s. Check out the links on the Techniques page. Pretty fancy knick knacks.

Day Dreams about Arched Doorways

One the architectural features I really love are arched doorways. As I was working on some home improvement projects that are already in progress this weekend, I started day dreaming about possible future projects.

I found this great video on making a square doorway in an arched doorway using a kit.

The kits in the video are located at curvemakers.

There are lots of great choices but I prefer the ones that have the premade columns since these require minimal tools. I am really impressed with how much these add to the doorway. Of course right now I do not have the time or the funds for this type of project but I can build castles in the airs

I can see it now - my home with arched doorways and maybe some round topped doors. A house to make any hobbit proud. It could be wonderful.

A new beginning

I have accepted a new position at William Carey University and I am very excited about the move. I am the new Associate Professor and Chair of the Career and Technical Education Department at William Carey and I am working to launch two programs in August. There will be an undergraduate and graduate degree and this will be the only program in this field in the southern part of Mississippi. It is a great opportunity to fill an important need in the state and I am praying that everything goes well. My new colleagues are the most positive and supportive group of people that I have ever worked with, it has been a great beginning.

The college creed is from the writings of William Carey.

Expect great things from God,
Attempt great things for God.

A lot to live up to, I will keep you posted on my journey.

Teaching Content and Concepts – Specimens and Exhibits

One of the reasons that the internet is so amazing is the quantity of information that is available for free for you to use in your lessons. This wealth of information makes it hard to locate what you need. Learning to use search terms effectively is the first step (see Tips to Effective Internet Searching). It is also helpful to consider how the information might be organized. This can help you locate interesting sites as well as better organize your own media.

Information can be organized a collection of the same item (specimens) and or around a central concept or idea (exhibit). If you are planning a lesson that focuses on comparing similar objects,  a specimen collection might be useful. A good example would be a biology lesson that explains the function of the brain; a specimen collection like the one located at Comparative Mammalian Brain Anatomy offers cross sections and interactive videos of various brain specimens that would be too costly or delicate for the average teacher to obtain for their class. By viewing many specimens, it is possible to develop an understanding of the parts of the brain that are distinct and common to different mammals. This is a good way to explain content and factual knowledge.

In contrast, if you are interested in illustrating an idea, an exhibit might be more useful. The web site Causes of Color uses many different objects and specimens to illustrate how we perceive color. The common element linking these objects is the relationship of the each object to the concept of color. Although you could develop a web site that illustrates color by featuring a specimen collection of butterflies, the use of multiple objects such as bubbles, gemstones and stars frees us from oversimplifying the concept of color since the emphasis remains on the idea rather than the objects.

If you are interested in teaching the common elements and subtle differences in an object, consider using a specimen collection since this will best support comparisons and contrasts in between samples. If you are interested in illustrating an idea, consider using an exhibit which features objects selected by their relationship to idea that you are teaching. The purpose of the lesson will determine which organizational approach is more effective for your media.

Improving Your Lesson Plans

There are many sites that offer help on lesson planning . I have selected three sitese on this topic that you might find particularly useful.

1. Adprima has a wealth of information about writing effective lessons. There are many useful ideas here but the listing of common mistakes is particularly helpful in reviewing your own work.
Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them) by Dr. Bob Kizlik.

2. The CREATE for Mississippi  site has over 100 sample lesson plans and a very effective format for lesson plans that can be downloaded and used in MS Word.   You can find examples on the lesson template forms as well as information on how to use this format at this site.

3. Mager's Tips on Instructional Objectives  is a classic on writing behavioral objectives.  Although there are other methods for developing objectives, Mager's work is still widely used in career and technical education and in industrial training.