Using innovation! From an F to an A!

I have complained previously how the education system is creating this gap between tech-savvy kids and the old-school system which lets talented kids fall in the gaps between!

I have made it my responsibility to try tutor my younger sibling (10 years) and try see where did they go wrong that this boy doesn't seem to perform well at all when I know for sure he got brains.

So I started with his spelling list. Every week he has to learn 20 new words and no matter how much I'd repeat them for him he'd always get the same mistakes and he would never focus! This kid like others have a very short focus span & high energy which together makes it impossible to tutor and easy to give up on. These are the scores after hours of teaching him and running behind him to listen.

As I saw the scores I told myself. This boy got something from me, he can't spell, he surely can't! Until I decided to use another method with him.

I looked for spelling applications I can download on his iPad that will allow him to teach himself the lesson in an entertaining way! The application allowed me to insert the words, create a test and record them so he can listen and type. I gave him the iPad and just said, study whenever you wish here is your test.

10 minutes later he comes to me saying I got 85% after I did it two times! I knew it worked and it felt great! He studied them himself, he was excited & he did well. Today, I opened his spelling book to see this score....




Here is how this generation get it! I hope schools will bridge that gap and start teaching a different way. In the end of the day, the point is to learn and there is no one right way to learning. As for now, I will try finding applications to let him self-tutor math & science.

That's it for now, Ill update on other future attempts. Steve Jobs, thank you!

DRAGONFLY

A typical love story

A princess that's loved by a prince

And a villain that plans to ruin it allHe kills her horse first

& then her prince

She calls her army for help!

Princess saves the prince

Princess tries to kill the villain

He dies

& they live happily ever after.

#1 September, a month to remember?

I haven't been blogging much, maybe because the stories I want to tell have lost their essence, or maybe because at a moment I knew I had already told them to people that mattered.

But now, its September, the month where things start. People going to school, some off to college and some starting a new job. In other words, there will be less people to tell stories due to my inconvenient time of story telling or unimportance of what I have to tell.

So what am I up to this September? For the first time ever, I have this feeling that I am in this new phase (post-graduating) that feels like being thrown out to life. Strange right. In a way I feel like I have just landed in a forest, alone, with no body but myself and a knife in hand to keep me surviving. That knife is my knowledge, education, heart and people that matter.

I am trying to make something in this forest, because that's the type of person I am. It may be building a bridge to cross over from a place to another or a sheltered house from tree leaves to stay safe. Or it could be building a wooden boat and sail away or make a fire and remain warm wherever I am.

Yes, I am speaking in metaphors, and only a few will understand what each word translate in reality.

That's it for now, rambling about unimportant stuff- but to me, its my life's major transition up to now.

Adios for now.

Once Upon a Dream

This project has been done using a group of photos all shot in different locations & different countries. Hope you enjoy it & since it's my first try I think it's a good learning experience.

Enjoy it and would appreciate any comments I can get!

Concept Design

I haven't updated by blog in a while due to lack of inspiration and twitter being my daily outlet.

Yesterday before Fajr prayer I was looking for some cold water & didn't find any! I wished that second the water bottles had a button that will make them cold. Thus, an idea popped into my mind and I designed a concept of the product "The Cooling Lid".

I don't know if there are similar ideas OR if this idea will actually make the water cold.

This is my first product concept design & I'm just a beginner!

Done in Google Sketch Up & rights reserved to the blog & blog owner.

Going green: Nature's way.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Switzerland