You're Gonna Go Far Kid!

It has been said before it doesn’t matter what you say, but how you say it.  When you say nothing at all you are doing no one a service.  Listening is just as important as speaking and vice versa.  Living in a world that is now so connected we interact with multiple people on a daily basis.  Having the ability to articulate thoughts and speak constructively with others is largely important for success.  However, along the way from disconnect to connect in the 21^st century world we have begun to ignore people who don’t think quite like us, dress differently, listen to music not of our liking, or come from a different cultural background.  The list goes on and on.  Adults are more prone to this than adolescents, but never do adults get reprimanded for the way they think or speak. 

I’ll get off of my soap box now and jump into what I took from the videos and readings for our AEE 412 reading reflection this week.  Angela Maiers talked about how YOU MATTER as an individual.  Students today do not get the positive reinforcement they so critically need.  This does not just relate to little Johnny in third grade who spelled a word right on his spelling bee exam, but to Sarah who is a high school junior who struggles with her biology assignments.  She always turns her work in and whether it is right or wrong she deserves the praise and positive reinforcement to keep her motivated.  So that she keeps trying and does not spiral into this whirl wind of failure and not caring. 

While listening to that video I kept thinking about past experiences I have had.  One thing that stuck out to me was the dairy farmer at home I work for.  I have admired the man ever since I started working for him several years ago.  My admiration towards him has built ever since.  My reasoning for that is he makes me feel like I am truly important and needed in the success of his operation.  While I know he can certainly get by without me he does truly mean it when he says “I couldn’t have done this without you, I’d still be in the barn doing chores if you hadn’t shown up, thank you.” Or in speaking to his wife right in front of me “Mason did a great job today filling silo.”  I have to tell you hearing praise like that makes you feel like YOU MATTER.  This is something I hope to incorporate into my classroom when I become an agricultural educator.  There have been days when the two of us have been up in the silo sweating to death leveling it off with pitch forks and the unloader just won’t set properly.  After an unanticipated time up there he will say “PERFECT!”  There is no sense in being a negative Nancy and our public school systems and students we will one day teach do not need another negative Nancy on their butts.  Students need recognition and positive reinforcement even if things do not go as planned. 

Also, coming up as an assignment in our AEE 412 class is a genius hour.  Before I read the assignment I thought it dealt with technology and how we will incorporate digital devices into our classroom.  Oh how I was wrong.  A genius hour is when I take the time to study and become more knowledgeable in anything I choose fit.  I gave it some thought this morning and what I would like to study is music.  Now that is a very generic statement so I am calling upon you my viewers to give me advice on where to take this.  I have a love for music.  I listen to all sorts of genres.  I listen to certain music when I am in a certain mood.  There’s specific music I listen to when I’m doing homework and other types when I want to just lose my mind.  Maybe I will set up some sort of graph and survey people with a list of questions you the audience and I come up with?  I’m excited to see where this goes.