weblog as an emerging genre in high education.

1.    What according to the author is the value of weblog in high education? 

According to the author the value of weblog in high education is that weblog can help students place numerous developing hypertext variations with older media in the broader context of media ecology. The author also highlight’s that research and discourse on weblog can also stimulate student interest in a lager ideas of social construction of information as well as presentation of self this also make plagiarism less because students openly link to each other’s work, in this way students will not be able to copy and paste other students work.

2.    What has been your experience with blogs as a student?

for me using blog was a challenge in the begging because I was only exposed to blog here at varsity so for me it was starting something new, but with help from other students and the use of google I was able to create a BlogSpot and started sharing ma post on blog, so I had a hard experience with blogs as a found blogging hard and as something that I couldn’t do till I found assistance.

3. How can the effective use of blogs be improved in order to make them a meaningful learning tool for students?

For blogs to be an effective tool for learning I think students should try that they use blog in their everyday activities like the other social media platform to improve their knowledge about blogs. Lectures should also give students activities that involves blogging and sharing their blogs with other students so that all students can take part and discussions on blogs about their education even current social issues in the country. They can be useful as an opportunity for group projects, or act as a shared tool for students to develop and present a group assignment or project.  Blogs can be a place where students reflect on reading and where they can practice their writing skills.  

Movie review: fantastic Mr Fox.

 Fantastic Mr. Fox, is an animated movie and the pictures are of the oldest animation styles (stop motion). In the movie the animals are not smaller than the humans is it is in most cases, the fox and the rats walk on two legs like humans(people) in the movie and in real life the walk with four likes. The animals in the movie have a great sense of humour than the people in the movie.  The cameras that are used in the movie are sliding back and forward than moving in and out. The effect is sometimes like an old-fashioned slide projector. The landscapes and structures of this world are those of a picture-book, even the background of the movie proves that the movie its structure and landscapes are of a picture-book. Mr Fox is a very clever and tricky fox who stole from the farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean who owned farms around where Mr Fox and his family live, Mr Fox used to steal from these farmers to provide for his family until the three farmers noticed that the fox has been steeling food from their farms and they wanted to make the fox pay, by coming with a plan to kill him.

There were a lot of comparisons between the movie and book. For instance, the story line is mostly the same, in that Mr. Fox steals food from the three farmers and they spend the whole time trying to catch him. There were certainly smaller detailed differences I think than comparisons.
To start, Mr. & Mrs. Fox start off the movie by chasing the food together, where as in the book, it was just Mr. Fox.  Second, in the book Mrs. Fox already had four foxes when in the movie she hadn't even been pregnant with one yet.  Another big difference is after they make themselves get caught, Mr. Fox promises to give up the lifestyle of stealing for their safety and becomes a newspaper writer for the local paper The Gazette.  They have one, miserable fox who pretty much hates the world and just wants to make his dad proud.  They refer to Ash as "just different".  They needed a new home because their family was expanding, however, Mr. Fox didn't have a lot of money in the movie, so he asked his lawyer friend, Badger, so buy them a house in a tree on a hill. Mr. Fox becomes friends with the landlord, Kylie the possum, and eventually he becomes his sidekick. There are also a lot of scenes in the movie than there are in the book.  The movie took a big turn when the animals decided to fight back and set the town on fire. By the end of the movie, I was still curious on how Mr. Fox and the animals would get out because it seemed they were put in situations that they would never get out of.

I really enjoyed the movie, when I watched the movie at first I thought it was boring and old fashion with its camera style and the picture itself, but when time when by I loved the movie completely even the with the camera style and the story book picture. My favourite part of the movie is when the foxes work together to dick for their life’s, this part of the movie showed me that at some point we have to work together and work hard for the ones we love. I personally think everyone should watch the movie because it can be a good movie for the little children in foundation phase to teacher them about the important of family and for old people it will show that people need to stick together no matter what because “together we stand divided we fall”, those thing are should in the movie when the wild animals stacked together even when they were about to die because of Mr fox but they never gave up on him so people can learn a lot from the wild animals about loyalty and love.   

my final school year at marhagi secondary school

my final school year at Marhagi secondary school, Mpumalanga.

The school is situated in a small area around Mpumalanga called verina. the area is not a urban area but it is a rural area that is still developing,  Verina was once a farm that was owned by a farmer during the apartheid era and it is also named after that farmer. The area has no minerals such as diamonds, gold and any other mineral that have been yet found. The nearest town is witbank which is known for its coal mine and big malls. Witbank is well known all over South Africa.

My matric subjects are mathematics literacy, geography, consumer studies, tourism, isiNdebele, English first additional, life oration. The subject that I loved at school was tourism and English, I really loved these subjects because they are the subjects I performed good at and I found a big problem with maths that’s why I ended up doing maths lit in grade 12 and I tried my level best at it but still couldn’t manage till I took a few extra classes that at least helped me to manage but not at my level best.

Technology was not that much used at my school but we had a computer lab where I think technology was used and the lab was for only grade 12 so one will only get to use the computers during his final year at the school, other devices like cell phones and laptops where not allowed at the school because of the schools code of conduct.     

                

Reflection for the carnival

The carnival was a learning program for both the little ones from mareleng and both us the students. The carnival not only gave us the skills of working with the young kids from mareleng  but it also gave one the love for the profession that we are about to begin here UMP University of Mpumalanga. It was fun being in the playing ground or place with the children because that was where we could see the children play and have fun. The carnival was all about the kids and it also gave us a change to relive our childhood fix the problems and replay the moment we missed as children, with the help of the children from mareleng we played till we were tired and could not play anymore but still they wanted to play it was like they can’t stop playing.

We used materials which were good eye catching for the grade children to love and play with being the person who bring the happiness to their faces was one of my biggest achievement and I loved every moment of it. The art form has reinvented itself from being a service learning event to one that welcomes children of all backgrounds from across siyabaswa. The result of this is an amalgamation of the pupils at mareleng, races and backgrounds coming together under the umbrella of Carnival. It is amazing to see so many different children coming together to have fun, dance and celebrate all that Carnival has to offer.

The games became fun that all the groups ended up playing together with the children/pupils then from their we started singing and dancing while the children enjoyed them self and had a good time.

 

The carnival itself was a life time event for me because it was one of the biggest events of my life excluding weddings and funerals I had as much fun as the children of mareleng teaching school.

   

MY EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy is a particular system of thought based on such study or investigation but in this case it is a teaching philosophy/my personal philosophy. according to me my personal philosophy is my view when it came to education (teaching and learning)I see teaching as involving a reciprocal relationship between teachers and students-I believe that teachers have duties to their students and that students have duties to their teachers.

I believe that it is my responsibility as a teacher to provide students with the following:

• an environment conducive to learning,

• knowledge that will help them be successful in achieving their lives' goals,

• materials, opportunities, and feedback that will help them learn, and

• help in becoming and remaining motivated to be successful both in their studies and in applying their knowledge to solve problems in their lives.

I also believe that my students/learners have duties to me, to their fellow students/learners, and to themselves. I believe that these duties support me in doing my duties to students. I believe that it is the students' responsibility to be supportive of the teacher and fellow students by being.

my goals as a foundation phase school teacher in the making i would like to see my self producing future presidents, doctors, lawyers and teacher. i will also want to see my self being the best teacher pruducing 100% pass rate. the love for education grow deep for me because i think i can do better in the department of education as a teacher.i will give children a chance to talk,  tolerant of different points of view, prepared for class, willing to work hard to complete course activities,willing to bring their life experiences into the class to enrich discussions, and willing to try to apply what they learn in class to solve the problems they face and in their lives.

Therefore, because of the reciprocal nature of the duties between teachers and students, I believe that it is a fundamental mistake to see students as customers or as clients because such a view incorrectly implies that the primary duties in the relationship are the teachers' duties to the students and virtually ignores the duties of students to their teachers, fellow students, and themselves.

according to me the process of teaching and learning is the process where the teacher and the learner/student have a relationship where they work together and help one another with the process of learning. in the process the two will have to learn to love each other as a team but most importantly as a teacher and a student/learner.A teacher is a person who creates an environment that is conducive to learning a place where students can immerse themselves in a subject or discipline as they assimilate a body of requisite information, concepts, and/or skills. Learning is not a passive process, it requires motivation, effort, and persistence. Good students enter the learning environment with a commitment, a willingness, and a sense of personal responsibility toward achieving their educational goals. Good teachers provide an environment that is challenging yet supportive. They set goals and deadlines. They furnish resources, critique performance, and provide enough stimulation to minimize distractions and sustain motivation. Despite the best intentions and methods, the most effective teacher in the world cannot teach someone who is unwilling to learn. The idea that students must be active participants in the learning process is diametrically. the a learner/student is a person under the teacher following the rules and who also follows the dead line set by the teacher to gain information in the process of learning and teaching.

My role as a teacher in the learning and teaching process is that i should be the one teaching the children responsibility as students/learners i will be responsible for.

For me i think the role of a learner is to follow the deadline of the teacher and also respect the teacher back as the teacher should first respect the student to resent back from the pupil and have a nice loving relationship between them.

My personal values are that children should be loved and respected not only that but also be protected. most people treat children in a wrong way and like to shout at them but as a foundation phase teacher i will be promoting fairness between old and young, and between male and female but most important teacher and student. I think parents should take part in their children education to not only help the child grow educationally but to grow the child’s love for education. The person who are most destroyed at a young age are children and they are most destroyed by their foundation phase teachers because they don’t pay attention to the child’s well being and to the child educational development which for me it is very important because the child has to love the teacher then love the subject/content then he/she will love education/school in general. Between teachers and students it became very easy for one to hate the other because the two have a bond for life and nothing separate it even if they try, we all remember our first teacher and we will always do because we had a bond a spatial bond that was bounded by love and protection through out the time you were together because the teacher had love loved her job but if it was the other way round it would have been a disaster.

To conclude being a teacher is a full time job that needs full time attention mere especially as a foundation phase teacher it does not end in the class room but on the street. It is a 24/7(24 hours 7 days a week) not just in the class room where you sit down with the learner to see what’s wrong and right. now i promise to serve the community and serve my country with respect as to that part where i cant not teacher no more i will making teacher the young ones my best friend. I will be fair to the children and i won’t treat them any way better than the other because of the love i have for children and because i will be working under oath by the government and the department of education.

REFERENCE:Fuhrmann, B. S., & Grasha, A. F. (1983)

                 :Goodyear, G. E., & Allchin, D. (1998)

                 :Grasha, A. F. (1996).

                      :O’Neil, C., & Wright, A. (1993)