CU Philosophy

The Philosophy of College Unbound
Assignment from the reading
The Big Picture. Education Is Everyone’s Business
By Dennis Littky

The Learning Project:
Students like me who work full time and run households really benefit from a program like College Unbound. I am able take what I know from my life and apply it to my college experience. I value the flexibility that College Unbound has to offer and the support I get from the staff. It has opened up doors for me that would not have ordinarily been offered to me. College Unbound is a place where I can have a dream of finishing school and actually achieve that dream. With the Learning Projects I am allowed to focus on my real job,  tie into what I do each day with what I’m learning with CU and get credit for it.  I feel that I am learning more about what it is that I want to do with my current career because CU helps me to visualize 10 easy goals to keep in mind.

The BIG 10 .
With goals one is able to set their sights higher and focus on the future. CU has sort of forced me to look at these goals as part of my learning plan. I was asked to read several pamphlets on the goals and to pick a few to write about. Creativity, Reflection, Problem Solving and Critical Thinking were some of the goals I focused my learning on. Taking the time to step back and think about the person I am, the teacher I want to be and the learner in me took reflection. I think the creative aspect helped me to see that I have value and something to offer my students. These goals are designed to help people from Middle school to college level want to learn. They want you to feel like you can do it and so you do. Self motivation. It’s strong in me and through working with The Big 10 I can see for myself my own worth.

The Reggio Approach:
I feel I work best when I am allowed to study the things I want to study. The Reggio Approach that CU offers is an avenue for learners like myself to fully understand what the world is trying to convey but at my own pace. I am not your average learner. I can see now that I am not alone in this feeling. I can see from the success of Doc’s journey, that there are millions of people like myself who would benefit from a college program that allows it’s learners to pick and choose what it is that drives them. I have the same ideas for my own preschool students. My mission is to open the doors of learning up to them. I am so lucky that CU has the same philosophy in teaching that I have, and that I am a part of it. I noticed that in the book this kind of thinking is what motivates the students today in high school. This kind of teaching, free thinking, self motivation teaching is what is missing in many public school systems. If all schools functioned like The MET and CU, students would feel like they drive their own learning wheel. Not with the teacher’s interests but the students’. It should be the other way around but unfortunately it’s not.

The Advisors:
The job of advisor to me is someone that is their to give good advice. This person can be a teacher, fellow student, parent, church affiliate and boss. The job of advisor for CU do much more than give advice. These people are fired up for YOU. They call on YOU and check in with YOU! They want to see you do well and often they are there for you even at the end of a very busy day but you would never know it. I feel the advisors at CU all have a small little Littky in their back pocket pushing them to feel the drive and love of education that he has in his heart. That energy inside Dennis radiates from the hearts and minds of the people who work with him. Along side him. I dare not say FOR him because these people are just as pumped and excited to teach, support and motivate as Dennis is. They are a great team and I am lucky they are on my side. They helped me feel like this is the place for me, that I could do anything. They pushed me when I didn't want to be pushed and moved me when I didn’t think I had enough strength. The advisors at The MET and CU help you to see The BIG Picture. Education is the key to a better life. Once you get the bug you must pass it on. Because of the advisors at CU I am now an advocate for learning. College Unbound as made me a life long learner. If you can dream it it can be done.

My Reflection On A Town Torn Apart

My Reflection On A Town Torn Apart
The Dennis Littky Story
By Rongina Driggers
January 2013
College Unbound/Roger Williams University 

A Town Torn Apart was a heartfelt story about Doc and his success in turning around a school and the hearts and minds of a small NH town.  I really enjoyed how Doctor  Littky had the passion to see this school’s potential and how he motivated the teachers to really want to teach. I thought the film was well made. It showed great emotion from the people involved whether they were for the school’s movement into a more positive alternative direction or against it. I liked how Doc kept his cool, showing leadership and setting a good example for his students and teachers when people wanted to see him fail. I also liked how most of the town’s people and the students stood behind him.  What I didn't understand was why would some of those parents want to stop positive change? Why wouldn't they want to see their children succeed? Didn't they know their childrens school was falling apart? Didn’t they want the best for their children? What were the other options before Doc came in? What were they (the ones against the change) fighting for?  

No More Road Blocks

College Unbound has changed my life!

 I am so grateful for all the people there who are supporting me through this next chapter in my life. Thank You! I can't continue to allow road blocks to deter me from my goal of finishing college. I am focused on me this time. As a teacher I have witnessed the development of many children as they grew and flourished into young people. I love what I do and I know I am making a difference in their lives. College Unbound is helping me to appreciate who I am as teacher and learner!

Chickens and Horses

Question A
On a farm there are chickens and horses. There are total of 118 heads and 298 legs. How many chickens are on the farm?
Show how you know!  
118 heads. 31 of them are horses. 31 x 4= 124.
 87 chickens with two legs each = 174
totaling 298 legs on the farm.

My understanding of the math I learned on Khan

1) I watched the Beauty of Algebra video.
I learned that math is the universal language. I already had an understanding that math can be the voice for people that speak another language from me but I had no idea that it could possible be the language that may connect us to the rest of the universe. That is so exciting! The video taught me that in algebra x or any symbol can mean lots of things and if you divide x by y which can also stand for anything I want, lots of great things can happen. I learned that letters can stand in for any item or symbol to make an equation like y=p(x) also in physics f=m(a) which is force equals mass times acceleration. It's the same equation only using different symbols. The beauty of this equation is that it can be used in any application. And it's not so hard to understand.
Algebra is not very hard for me but its getting a better understanding of the topic and remembering what I've learned is the hard part. I'm excited to learn more.

2) Understanding variables video:

As I watch the videos on variables I didn't know, or maybe I forgot I knew, that a negative number times a positive number equals a negative number. The practices stumped me twice. But it didn't stop me! I tried two more problems. Here's one I did:
c=4 and d=8
-10(c) +3(d) +5
I got -49 but the answer is -11 and I don't understand how they got that answer

Another problem I did looked like this:
b equals 6(6) and a equals 1
6b squared + 5a-5
The answer is 216
This problem looked like it was going to stump me but guess what? I REMEMBERED! I remembered that squared is multiplication.

3) Combining like items:
While watching the video I learned that 2x+3x=5x and then I learned that I can not add different items together such as y's to x's. Such as 7y+2x+3x+2y= 9y+5x. That was cool.
Now I did a problem with combining items and I don't understand how they got their answer. My answer was -1b+3. The computer said the simplified answer was just b+3. Why?

Math assignments

1) Question B -

Maria needs to save $500 to swim with the dolphins.  So far she has saved $75.

What percent of the total has she saved?

Answer :I got 75 divided by 500 = .15 which also =15%

2) December 3- Question D

 A strange scene : imagine a conveyor belt, with tins placed at regular intervals onto the belt at one end, moving along at a steady rate towards a labeling machine at the far end. A gerbil starts from a tin at the beginning of the belt and steadily jumps from tin to tin, finally jumping off immediately before the labeling machine.

When the gerbil jumps at a rate of one jump per second he arrives at the labeling machine in 20 jumps but if he speeds up and manages two jumps per second he can fit in 32 jumps before the end of the line.

How many tins are there on the line ?

Answer:

Gerbil- 1 jump per sec arrives at labeling station in 20 jumps
32 x 2 = 64 cans
20 jumps per second = 20 cans in 20 seconds
2 jumps per second times 32 jumps = 64 cans


3) Question A

In Fred's Design School, 25 % of the teachers teach art. If there are 50 art teachers, how many teachers are there in the school all together?

x= 50 divided by .25 = 200

200 times .25 = 50

4) Question C

Suppose 6 goats take 6 minutes to eat 6 pumpkins.

How long would it take 2 goats to eat 2 pumpkins? Answer: 2 minutes

How many goats would it take to eat 30 pumpkins in 30 minutes? Answer: 30 goats

5) Question D:

After baking a delicious pie, I cut it into 8 equal slices.  

After eating a piece, what percent of the pie is left?

Answer: 7 divided by 8= .875 which roughly equals 88%

6) December 3 Question 3

 Place each of the numbers 1 to 5 in the V shape above so that the two arms of the V have the same total (when added together).

How many different possibilities are there? Answer: at least 3
What do you notice about all the solutions you find? Answer: I found that when I put the odd number at the base it worked for me.

Can you explain what you see? Answer: I saw a pattern. If I add the highest and lowest numbers to the base on one side and add the two numbers in the middle plus the base on the other I will get equal numbers.  

Can you convince someone that you have all the solutions? Answer: Yes I can. ex: putting 5 at the base and 1 and 4 in the left circles and 2 and 3 in the right I was able to find 10 on both sides. If I put 3 at the base I put 2 and 4 on the left side and 1 and 5 on the right. I got 9 for both sides. 

What happens if we use the numbers from 2 to 6? From 12 to 16? From 37 to 41? From 103 to 107?

Answer is the same. It works out if all the base numbers are odd.
What can you discover about a V that has arms of length 4 using the numbers 1-7?

Answer:  Adding a 4th to the V and using numbers 1-7. I got my wish. Putting an even number at the base worked out.

Math in the work I do

Math took over my life!
I'm involved in a math course with Rachel Brian and because of that I have gained a personal interest in math for preschoolers. I have come to realize that children benefit from more math activities.

I have discovered that I average 15 mins a day to work with the 9 children involved in my project. The best times to work with them are between 10 and 10:15. Giving me 1 minute and 55 seconds to work with each child.  It has come to my attention that I can squeeze an extra 10 mins at the beginning and the end of each day totaling 35 mins for the whole day. That's now 4 minutes 28 seconds of time for the whole day per child. An extra 3 minutes and 13 seconds! Most of the children come to school late and leave early. Leaving roughly 5 children at these "squeeze in" times.  The percentage of children that I will reach from beginning of the day to the end of the day averages 56%
5 children at the end of each day divided by 9 children involved= roughly 56% or .55 of the children I may reach throughout the day.