Perception

I have to admit, I'm not entirely clear yet about the blogs--the directions talk about "aha" blogs, diaries, journals, and just blogs. Are these all references to the same thing? It's my understanding that we're to write and post to our blog a short essay at least weekly in response to our readings and experiences, and these are combined together to constitute a monthly a monthly entry. I'm completely confused about the process of submitting the url to a drop box. I think I found the drop box--am I supposed to submit the url each time I make an entry into my blog or do something else?

I think this is a perfect example of perceptions. I've taken very few courses in the education department (this makes two). My perception is based on my experiences in the UNI communication and English departments. I've found that instructors assume that instructions are perfectly clear to everyone because most students are in that department and may have even taken a course from that instructor in the past. But my age, my past experiences, and my need for absolute clarity all affect my perceptions.

This is one area I'm very aware of since for the past six years I've taught college students of all nationalities, beliefs, ages, abilities, learning styles, and majors. It requires me to evaluate my own communication and methods of communicating to ensure that all my students can understand the same message. I consider myself lucky if this takes place in one exchange, but more often than not, it doesn't.

Another example of perception is the photo of the cacti on this page--a picture I took some time ago. Interpretation doesn't require that the viewer know when I took the photo or where. It is an interesting study in color, texture, and shape, but if one looks closely, a small ring suspended on a slender string is visible in the center of the picture. My own experiences, perceptions, and fascination with cacti come from spending summers in Colorado, but this is an indoor exhibit at Arbor Lodge in Nebraska City.

What are the traits of a lifelong learner?

http://idunnoletsfindout.com/

The traits listed in this blog in themselves are interesting, but the picture titled "Wonder" is even more challenging to decipher. The child suspended on the wall next to the drawing is life imitating art. Do we do that? Do we see images in our daily life and try to imitate those we find some sort of connection with or portray something we find attractive? I would argue yes. What else does this photo symbolize? The picture of the young girl hanging makes me think of the connection between the creative drawing and the real child--the creativity that exists there waiting to be explored over a lifetime.

Symbols

What role do symbols play in my life? It seems simple enough--they're everywhere: Red light--stop; an object surrounded by a red circle with a line diagonally through it--don't do it; cross--Christianity; and so on. But there is one symbol that held much meaning for me when I was an undergraduate in college, and to be honest, it still evokes a strong enough memory today that I feel emotion or at least the pull of a memory when I see it. That's a peace symbol.

It represents a complex layering of meaning for me. I recall a more innocent, free spirited time in my life culminating in a year in which my generation lost its innocence. The school year was fall 1969 and spring 1970. I was a very naive first year college student--the first of my family to go off to college, like so many of my classmates were. The newly found freedom and idealism of that year was shattered in the spring with the Kent State deaths in Ohio at the hands of their national guard. The Vietnam War had already claimed the lives of so many young American soldiers, but in that one moment, it also took the innocence of thousands of college students all across the country. That is what this symbol represents to me--a desire for an unobtainable peace.