Monday, January 31, 2011

My Philosophy of Education Project

Ever heard of blurb.com ? It's a website I've known about for a few years now and one I always wanted to use to put together a book of aphorisms I write on my spare time. I never got around to that. But now I've used Blurb for a different cause: using a book creating software downloaded from the site, I created a book for my Philosophy of Education project, sent it in to the website to be published and just had it delivered to my house, today:

Here it is! (excuse the poor BB photos)



I've always wanted to have work of mine published and, although this was for a Teacher's College project, to see myself on the cover flap of a book and to see my own writing on the pages made me giggle with excitement. This is something I guess I can cross of my bucket-list. Next step will be to actually sell my work when I put something together a little more professionally and ready for the outside world.

Another cool thing about blurb.com is that they allow you to have virtual versions of your book to share with other people. If you wish to quickly flip through my book or read what the pages hold, this will make it easy for you (click 'view fullscreen' - bottom right hand corner of widget - for easier viewing):



I am so thrilled with how beautiful this project turned out. I am even more excited to actually hand it in and see what my Methods teacher says about it. I'd also like to hear your comments whether they be positive or negative, either on the text, the project as a whole, or just tips on how I can improve any projects like these in the future.


I think it's a great resource for putting together class books on just about anything, though it can get pretty expensive; my book cost just around $26.00 with shipping. They do get cheaper when you buy them in bulk.

Once again, comments are appreciated! Thanks for reading about the Philosophy of Education project that I've been going on about for a long while now! Did I pump it up too much?

8 comments:

  1. Wow!! I'm speechless ... and I'm never speechless. This is amazing! I remember seeing your tweets a while ago about how excited you were about this Methods Project, but I never expected to see this. I definitely have to check out blurb.com. When I was younger, I always said I wanted to be a teacher and a writer. Maybe, thanks to Blurb, I can be a published author after all.

    Absolutely amazing, Claudia!
    Aviva

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  2. Thank you again and again and again! Such sweet words, Aviva! I am glad you like it. I feel the same way: I would like to be a teacher and a writer on the side (if becoming the next Martha Stewart never happens... haha) and when I discovered this website, I knew the latter wouldn't be so difficult after all. Their small text based books (no pictures) start at only 3 dollars! The creativity potential is endless with all their options.

    I look forward to seeing your book upon it's creation!

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  3. Claudia, you are spooking me out. You remind me a lot of myself (only greater) when I was a pre-service teacher. I just wish everyone coming out of the faculty shared your passion and wisdom. Your students will be in great hands.

    Two theorists I encourage you to check out are Paulo Freire and Antonio Gramsci. They taught me a lot about equity and still inform me to this day in my day to day joys and struggles.

    Royan

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  4. Royan, I would like to thank you profusely for the kind words! Glad I remind you of yourself because that means that success lies for me in the near future! Your kind words are far more than I deserve, though.

    Freire & Gramsci; will check them out ASAP. Thanks for the suggestions, I'm sure I'll like reading their theories.

    Thank you once again, Royan.

    -Claudia Amendola

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  5. Wow. You are definitely ahead of the game and wise beyond your years. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your philosophy of education. Loved the aphorisms and will definitely read The Little Prince and The Giving Tree to my daughters. Would love to hear more suggestions on children literature (Not my forte being a math guy). I can only hope that my daughters can be taught by a teacher that is as passionate as you. Take that passion with you to your future school and hopfully it will be contagious to others around you.

    Thank you for your contribution,

    Thomas

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  6. Thomas,
    The "wise beyond your years" comment is one of the greatest compliments I could receive. Thank you! Teaching is truly my passion and I'm glad you've recognized it; having my passion overflow in me is what I aim for inside and outside of the classroom so it can feed the roots of my students and help them grow into passionate learners (and usually teach me a thing or two as well).

    One of the resources I put in the back of the book I created was this link: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/omc/kidsphil/kids.html
    This website has put together a collection of "philosophical children books", addresses the philosophical concepts inside the books and posts questions to jump start philosophical thinking. It's fantastic. Stellaluna and the Gift of Nothing are two of my other favourites but the Little Prince takes the cake as one of the best stories I've ever read.

    Thank you again for the positive feedback and the support.
    I hope your daughters enjoy the stories and grow into wise little philosophers!

    -Claudia

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  7. Claudia,

    I thought we crossed paths by accident, but I don't think it's by chance!

    Congratulations on getting your book printed! You are among good friends who will come along beside you to keep learning.

    Page 9 stood out to me (ha ha).

    Best wishes,

    Yoon

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  8. Yoon,

    Thank you so much! I am so grateful for the support and everything I am learning from my PLN. Thank you for taking the time to read it; I'm glad you appreciated Page 9, haha!

    Take Care,
    Claudia

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