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This is my final draft of my 'say it in seven' video. Christmas is a very special time of year for me as it is the time of year where all of the family come together to celebrate life, happiness and good health. For me, Christmas is a time for forgiveness and to cherish those close to us. I thoroughly enjoy the festivities and the build up to Christmas day! So here are my seven reasons why I love Christmas...

Kelly McGonigal: How to make stress your friend

This talk inspired me because I believe I suffer from stress. Stress is a person's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition or a stimulus. Stress is a body's method of reacting to a challenge. According to the stressful event, the body's way to respond to stress is by sympathetic nervous system activation which results in the fight-or-flight response. Stress describes a negative condition or a positive condition that can have an impact on a person's mental and physical well-being.

I often worry too much with regards to university work and I have a fear of failing so I become stressful, which sometimes causes me nosebleeds and also lack of sleep. However this video has opened my eyes to the fact that I can view stress as a positive contributor to my work. As my heart rate increases I can say that it is trying to meet the demands of my action and my heavier breathing is improving oxygen transportation to my brain. This talk has taught me that how I view stress matters, because if we can change our perception of stress we can change our response to it and view it as a positive influence that can be controlled. In this video Kelly talks about  a stress hormone in the brain known as OXYTOCIN. It is a hormone that strengthens relationships, which makes us crave physical contact and enhances empathy all of which improves sociability. So, by talking to others about our stresses we can protect our cardiovascular system and vasodilation of our blood vessels which will improve blood flow. Now that I have heard a different approach to stress I can try to relax more and worry less about coursework because I trust myself to handle life's challenges because I don't have to face them alone!

Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model.

Cameron Russell is known globally as a model. This Ted Talk inspired me because in todays society there is a fixed stereotype that girls must be a size 6, be very tall and slender and must wear make up to be seen as "beautiful."

I totally disagree with this statement because I strongly feel that who a person is defines them not what they look like! Cameron Russell argues against this fixed stereotype and says everyone is beautiful in their own way, we should see past the physical stuff and look inside to see true beauty.
She talks about her modelling career from a young age and states that one day she'd be modelling for vogue and the next she'd be playing soccer. She states "Image is powerful, but image is superficial..." By this she means that being beautiful can help you get a job,  however it is insignificant to our lives. There is also a stereo type that you have to be a white girl to be attractive. However, take for example Tara Banks; she is an obvious exception to this rule.

We shouldn't be judged on our appearance based on skin colour. I think the very important message to take from this is that models tend to be the most insecure people of all as they always have to worry about "what they look like" and "what to wear" as they are constantly in the public eye. We all have our insecurities and we should all embrace them because that is what makes every individual, being different and not afraid to show it!

Tag Galaxy

Tag Galaxy is a fantastic tool that helps students explore relationships between words and ideas, as well as view pictures associated to the original word. 

How to use Tag Galaxy?

You can type any word into the search bar and shorty after a galaxy will appear with the original word at the centre and the associated ideas orbiting around the word.  If you hover around a word, pictures will appear related to the word from the social networking site Flickr. Tag Galaxy  is a very fascinating way to view information and is designed with attractive features in mind.

How to integrate Tag Galaxy into the classroom:

Tag Galaxy is a brilliant way to visually explore words and their associations, together with the help of pictures. This tool could be used by students by aiding them with writing work like poems, creative writing and stories! The connection with Flickr helps students to visualize words, ideas, and concepts through guiding them with pictures. Tag Galaxy could be used for classroom activities such as starter games including word association to increase brain activity before the lesson. I believe this will be a beneficial tool within the classroom because from personal experience I learn better through pictures and diagrams because it aids my understanding.

http://youtu.be/iiDX-wIiZ80

Educationeye

Education Eye is an online webpage that is free, engaging and easy-to-use! It provides a wide range of exciting, meaningful and useful innovations that are selected from the best webpages. The education eye provides a method to discover, explore and share new ideas that can improve work and knowledge. It creates a type of 'map' from the best educational websites, blogs and forums and draws it all together in one. Education Eye provides up to date information about innovative ideas being explored in the educational community which is presented in a mind map form that is interactive.

With reference to the educational context, education eye provides fast search results that finds content relevant to education. It is an effective method that provides you with correct information with regards to the work and is a very quick process which saves you the time and effort of searching through numerous pages of information as it provides it all on a webpage.

TED: Geoffrey Canada: Our failing schools. Enough is enough!

Geoffrey Canada is an inspiration to me because he wants to see changes within education as he believes the educational system is failing us drastically! "America is willing to spend trillions on the protection and safety of its country however, its against spending money on education for future generations as they deem it 'unimportant' This talks main focus is INNOVATION. Innovation is the act of introducing something new. This needs to be done with regards to education. Geoffrey refers to 0-3 years of age as the most important time of a child as this is the starting point to learning, desires and future. Geoffrey frequently studies data regarding the provision of education and it has come to his attention that education is the same year after year however, we don't do anything to improve it! why is that?
We spend a ridiculous amount of money testing children's knowledge however, we never try to improve it! By the time we get the result back its too late to help the children because we're already in the next academic year. Educational system needs to be changed to improve better standards of delivery. As I want to become a teacher my main priority is to provide education in the best way to give each child a good start in life, as this is my career path I have one duty... that is to offer the best I can but enabling that it benefits the child in the future otherwise its pointless.

Wordnik

Wordnik is an online dictionary that provides explanation and context for a word or words. Nowadays students tend to avoid using old, dusty books older than their grandparents, however the availability of the internet has transformed the way that students study. The use of Worknik is excellent because it allows children to use the internet to help them with school work! The beauty of using Wordnik is that it does not only provide two small, slight definitions but ranges from a variety of different definitions from wide sources and also provides a sentence in which the word is in context to make it more understandable for the individual. I admit I do NOT use my dictionary very often as I don't like the hassle of flicking through pages and pages searching for one word, I would much rather use Wornik as its fast and easy! A word I often have difficulty spelling is Inquisitive and I would also use this word in the wrong context however, through using Wordnik I have understood the word due to the various definitions available. inquisitive means: someone who is... Too curious; overly interested; nosy or Inclined to investigate; eager for knowledge.

 A synonym would be:

curious

inquiring      

intrusive

I believe that Wordnik should be used in school lessons especially in English as it allows children time to use the internet resources available but they are still being educated in the process.