Good Afternoon True Believers…

As some of you (all 3 of you) may have noticed, I’ve been blogging about more than just technology lately. You will probably see a lot more of that going forward as I hope to increase the frequency of technology and non-technology related blog posts. Let me know what you think…

Anyway, today’s post is about the bucketlist. I’ve seen the movie. Love Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. But I’ve never really taken the time to write down or even spend extended periods of time contemplating my list. Sure, I thought of stuff I’d like to do, but never have a made a permanent record of the things I’d like to do before I “Kick the Bucket”.

I started thinking about this after seeing The Last Lecture during a teaching certification class last week. If you have not watched the entire video, take an hour, grab a cup of coffee, and watch one of the most inspiring lectures you may ever see. I plan to incorporate this into all of my classes. I think my students would get valuable insight about themselves and their lives.

Further inspiration to begin my bucket list creation came after receiving a tweet from @theartofmanliness on Twitter. If you have not been to www.theartofmanliness.com, check it out. I think it’s a very funny and insightful website for Men on how to be a better man.

Before jumping in, what is a bucket list really all about? IMHO it’s about dreams and fulfilling those dreams. It could be as simple as building a birdhouse or as hard as completing The Seven Summits. Chris from TheArtOfManliness.com writes an excellent guide to get you started thinking about and creating your bucket list. Check it out here.

While a bucket list is a list of things you want to do, I have found it helpful to add to the list things you have done. Just like with anything, it is often helpful to have a record of the things you have accomplished.

So I grabbed a cup of Joe and sat down for my list. Here’s what I came up with. You’ll note I’ve put the completed items at the top of the list.

1. Complete an Ironman triathlon – I had wanted to do this since I saw Julie Moss crawl across the finish line at Kona in 1981. I completed this at Ironman Wisconsin in 2006.
2. Write a book – Published April 2009.
3. Teach Information Technology at the College level – Current career
4. Travel: Spend 2 weeks in Scotland playing golf on 100 year old courses
5. Reach a financial point where I owe nobody anything…zip…zero…nada. No credit cards, mortgage, loans…nothing
6. Retire by the time I am 50. 11 years is not a lot of time…
7. Ride a bicycle across the US.
8. Tour the 50 states on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
9. Take my parents to Europe for their 45^th anniversary since it is something they would never do for themselves.
10. Visit Everest base camp. I’m enthralled by Everest but have no desire to risk my life to that point.
11. Bartend again.
12. Learn how to be interested in conversations I have no interest in.
13. See the UW Badgers play for the NCAA Football nation title.
14. Go to the NCAA Final Four.
15. Attend Oktoberfest in Munich.
16. Ride my bike to work on a regular basis.
17. Renew my love of reading NON-Technology books.
18. Spend a semester at CIA…Culinary Institute of America.
19. Write a book that isn’t a textbook.
20. Learn how to REALLY enjoy a vacation.
21. Learn to be a better husband and son
22. Visit Napa Valley

I plan to review this every once in a while…

What do you have on your list? I’d love to hear.

With That…EXCELSIOR!

Mike

For me, the concept of teaching and learning is encompassed by what I call “Assisted Darwinism”. While a bit tongue and cheek, I believe it has merits in how I run my classroom. While it may be an unpopular, I do not believe that every student walking into my class will be successful as not everyone is meant for the world of IT, or is ready for academic learning. I do not pre-identify or judge students. I allow the natural order of the classroom to take its course. This does not mean I simply allow students who could be successful fail; it means that those unwilling to take ownership for their academic careers and don’t ask for or want help may fail.

Conceptualization of Learning

I believe learning occurs when a student is provided with new information or a new task, and then they are able to apply that task within their life. True learning occurs through making mistakes and being able to use those experiences to grow. If we do things the right way all the time, we’ll never learn how to manage. While not specifically related to learning, this quote by Theodore Roosevelt sums up my beliefs of learning.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

Conceptualization of Teaching

I believe that my role as a teacher is to provide an environment that inspires learning through trial and error. In my honest opinion, the only true way to learn job skills is through practice, repetition, and making mistakes. In my classroom, I see myself as more of a Subject Matter Expert (SME) than a teacher. Many of my students are peers in the IT industry. They perform many of the same job activities that I teach about. So I attempt to create a classroom where we are peers in the context of the IT community, and I am simply a SME providing reference knowledge as they learn new skills. In this scenario, the goal is that students will not only learn from me, but learn from each other

As a certified “Geek”, I love technology and everything about the field. I am passionate about learning new technology and keeping my skills up to date. Not just because it is my job, but because I have a true passion for it. Hopefully this passion wears off on my students and they develop this passion as well. I believe IT, more than any other career, requires constant vigilance and learning if you wish to be successful.

Goals for students

For my students, I hope that they achieve the goals they set for the class. Whether it is to simply learn more about Windows Vista so they can use it a home or to start a new career, my mission is to help students achieve those goals.

Students need to be invested in their education. If they cannot commit fully to their learning, it will be very difficult for me to help them achieve success. For students that struggle, I will attempt to assist them to the best of my abilities. However, they must be willing to accept this help, along with invest in getting past the “brick walls” to success.

Students need to develop a lifelong passion for learning. IT is not a career where you learn some skills, and then you just do your job. It is ever evolving. I tell my students that it is a very good chance that the technology we are currently working with may be out-of-date by the time they actually put their knowledge to use.

Implementation of the philosophy

I implement my philosophy by just doing what I do. I do not spend a lot of time philosophizing about how I should be teaching. I simply do what comes natural. I try things; those things that work, I continue to use and improve. Those things that are not successful are evaluated so I can learn from this and improve my teaching methods.

Personal Growth Plan

A number of things come to mind when I think of what

I need to create clearer goals for my activities. Many times, students will finish an activity and not really know what they have done.

I need to take more time to analyze my classes and the impact of my teaching on my students.

Often times I create activities that I think are excellent, but they are too challenging for students. I should be consistently re-evaluating my activities to ensure the learning goals of my classes are met by the activities.