A Final Thing...

Oh my goodness...I made it to the end...

What a ride...what a trip...I think my brain's about to rip...

Actually, I am not sure what to think about all the horror stories of the 23 Things. I loved most tasks. They were time consuming, especially in a five week class, but I will use most of these as I start my career as an English teacher. I have found that technology is what engages students in learning, and it is my responsibility as an educator in the 21st century to find that engagement level. 

My top five favorite discoveries:

1. Remember the Milk will help me send bits and pieces of information out to students and parents when needed. Ultimate Favorite!!!
2. Live Binder is another new helpful site that will allow me to clean up all my past saves. 
3. Gliffy is going to be used for fancy seating charts for the first days of school. The students will know that I mean business right from the start. 
4. RSS feeds will keep me up on things I don't have time to search on a regular basis. I will also be able to follow new friends I have made at APSU. 
5. Animoto will always conclude my year with a reflection video for my students. Yes, under this hard Will Ferrell loving crust, I am a softy. 

I have a new appreciation of the web and will share my findings with fellow teachers. I was surprised that I had such an easy time with each task. I think it helped that each task was guided. I really have no suggestions for improvement; I am not sure that I would take this in the summer again though. I feel like I did not have as much time to explore all that was out there in the depth that I normally explore. 

I think that all these tasks will help me get my foot in the door when looking for those competitive English jobs. Principals are looking for those that can change with the times without too much pushing. I copied the list of the 100 top Web 2.0 programs and will venture out as time allows. 

So...where do I go from here? 

I plan on either re-purposing this blog for my classroom or just starting a new one. I love to write. I love to laugh, and I will hone in on those two abilities and combine them into something interesting that people will want to read. Knowing that I will probably move from Tennessee in the next one to two years, I will show my administrators this site in hopes that maybe we could start this as a professional development process for teachers who are fearful of the web. 

I will subscribe tot he RSS feed Learning 2.1 and see where it goes. 

Thing #23

The example that I found was from the PLCMC Learning 2.0 website http://plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com/.  It was built to encourage staff to experiment with technologies that might be unknown to that staff. Helene Blowers, the technology director from PLCMC designed the program and based it off of an article http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FWE/is_2_10/ai_n16133338/ written by Stephen Abram’s.  The site author has a Creative Commons license that allows for sharing as long as the user attributes the work to the original author. This cannot be used for profit and work cannot altered without the consent of the author.

Creative Commons is a new thing for me and the knowledge gained by it has helped me pay closer attention to mistakes made by unknowing copycats. I will teach this in my English classes at the beginning of the year to expose my students to ethics on the Internet. As I post things to the web (i.e. original lesson plans, YouTube videos and educational activities) I will take the time to attach a Creative Commons attribution tag on my work. 

Thing #22

Okay, this is another extremely useful site. Thank goodness I have kept a notebook of all the likes and dislikes of this 23 Things project.

With LiveBinder, I can clean up my "favorites folder" on our home computers. Both computers are jam-packed with sites I have accumulated over the years that need to go somewhere.

If you look on the LiveBinders gadget to the left, I started a grammar folder. It includes a folder for parts of speech, commonly misused words, and 6 Traits of Writing. I put a sub-folder in each of them. I will use this one the most, as I like to look up grammar rules often. The other two binders that are online in LiveBinder are videos that I have used in education. The folders within that binder are entitled: literature, grammar, and character building. The last LiveBinder I set up was literature sites. The folder in that binder are Shakespeare, Victorian Age, and Romantic Period. As I teach more, I will add sites that I find good information. 

Thing #21

Animoto is my favorite THING! I may even upgrade this to make family videos with the boxes and boxes of pictures in my closet. This site can also be useful when wanting to acknowledge student work. I think I will snap photos throughout the year (of course after asking permission from the students' parents) and create a end-of-the-year video. Love love love this!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The video below is just some random photos of my son, Evan. I didn't realize how fast 21 years goes. Cherish your children; they grow up too fast.


Try our slideshow creator at Animoto.
My Animoto Video

Thing #20

During my methods class, I used YouTube videos in my PowerPoint presentations. I had to embed them with the YouTube downloader in order for them to play correctly, but I could not have had the success I had teaching the Romantic Period if I had not used the videos.


I found a video from YouTube that I could use for similes and metaphor in my classroom. Students retain knowledge when material is relevant. This video shows students that some of their favorite films or rap artists use figurative language. If you stick around long enough you will see my boyfriend, Will Ferrell surrounded in similes and metaphors.





This is my own video that I uploaded into YouTube. It really has nothing to do with school, but it is a video of my son, Evan, repelling out of a Blackhawk helicopter in May. He is the second man out the door.

Thing #19

I joined TeacherPop and left a comment on Katrina Motter's page. I also uploaded my photo as you can see on my badge to the left. I joined Goodreads, which is a place I can track all the books I read over the course of time. It is a great site that people can write book reviews.

I am a member of Skype and Twitter. I use Skype to communicate face-to-face with my family. My husband deploys ever so often, and Skype is a great way to have a one-on-one conversation in real time. I like to check up on my college student now and then and make sure his room does not look like a frat house. I am getting used to Twitter. My problem is that I have so much to say and the character number often runs out before I am done Tweeting. I can see why students have poor grammar; they shorten everything they write into Tweeting-Twitterish grammar.

I might use Skype to talk to an absent student or have a conference with a parent that cannot seem to get off work in time to meet with me during school hours. I think as a teacher, we need to be open to situations that arise such as the time constraint parents have. especially with the status of the current economy. Five minutes of our time can often deter any misunderstandings or even open up a few doors that have been shut in the past. As a teacher, our hours are not 7:00-4:00. If you are committed, you are available to students and parents outside the brick and mortar. I plan to have an online office hour twice a week in order to talk with concerned parents.

Thing #18

I am now an egghead!


I set up a Twitter account. Follow me @englishamy70. Of course I found Dr. Jerles without any problems. I even tweeted him. We shall see if I did it correctly. I also found some of my favorite singers and television shows. I even found the money man, Dave Ramsey.


I will use this to keep in touch with what is going on in the world around me. School bogs me down and I often miss the evening news and/or reading the Leaf Chronicle each morning. I can have up-to-the-minute Tweets that keep me up on what is going on in our community. I would feel comfortable following students and having them follow me on Twitter. This might be a fun way to answer questions on homework, since I have my iPhone on my all the time. When you are a teacher, you are out there in the public spotlight. One might as well jump on the Twitter bandwagon and put it to some good use.

Thing #17

I love Delicious about as much as I love my screen name...Hornerlicious! I joined this and will compare and contrast Delicious with Diigo and consider keeping both. I am comfortable with Diigo, as we have used it all semester long. I do like the set-up of Delicious and have found multiple grammar and language arts sites that I will use in my classroom.

I also love avatars and found Voki...my favorite. Hit the button and hear a delicious message from me. I saved Voki and added the tag "Hornerlicious." I hope I don't get hauled into Voki prison for tagging my name on their sight.

Thing #16

I liked the iGoogle start-up page. Most of what I use is in Google. It keeps things nice and tidy. You also do not have to remember a bunch of passwords. I have made it my permanent home page because it gives me the latest on what I need to know. I can also check up on thing happenings in my old hometown. I love this. I also have comics, Spanish Word of the Day, and the local movie times....oh by the way That's My Boy was hilarious. My husband and I went last night and laughed our way through the entire movie.

I got my Google Calendar all set up with this activity. It looks to be that next week and the following week are packed. I like an activity calendar with all my other Google pages so I don't overextend myself (ya right) and don't overbook.

I looked at the to-do lists and I still love Remember the Milk that I talked about in Thing #6. I will use this in my classroom to communicate with students and parents. I am really starting to familiarize myself with RTM and it seems to be user friendly for me and I will put an interactive "how-to" video on my class blog in order to help those not-so-tech-savvy parents. Jott has been taken down according to the link. They refer you to the AT&T voice to text as a partner option. I have used voice to text on my iPhone. I don't particularly like it because it does not always recognize my gibberish.

I liked the Zamzar file converter program. There is a charge to join, so I will not at this time. I think I would use it mostly for videos that I needed to convert in order to embed them into my PowerPoint presentations that I use in my classroom.

Thing #15

Thing fifteen was a little more intensive for me, since I have never played with Wikis.

I looked around the Wikis that were provided in the Content area of our D2L and liked the one entitled English 10 Literature Wiki. This educator is utilizing her technology to get students to respond to literature they are reading in class. You have to join her Wiki in order to comment, but I went as far as I could and saw the questions she posed for the student responses. Very intuitive way to use technology. I will have to look at this after I am more comfortable with my abilities to use Wikis.

I went to the APSU Sandbox link and made a new folder. In that folder I added my thing #6. I was going to try and add the Remember the Milk log to it in this screen but was unsuccessful. Instead I just took a snapshot of my presence in the sandbox (see page below).

 

Next, I joined Wikispaces and posted a Wiki on banned books around the country. I would like to compile a legitimate list from teachers on these books that have been taken out of the classroom. There are lists all over the Internet, but some of the books are still being taught in the banned book areas. We shall see how lucky I get.



Thing #14

The two flowcharts I joined were Gliffy and Bubbl.us. I liked both of them because they were user friendly.

On Gliffy, I decided to make a classroom. As you can see, I utilized two-man tables facing the board. I added a projector and all the things available that I would need for a classroom. I like clean lines. I will always try to have a work table in the classroom. This is a place where I can meet with smaller groups of students as others are working independently in their classrooms. Nothing says clean air than a few homey plants. I also plan on having my desk in the back of the room, since I will rarely ever sit while the student are present. This was a cool tool, and I can also envision making seating charts for the first day. 

Gliffy

My practice classroom with 2-man desks

Bubbl.us

On Bubbl.us, I used the mind-map concept to show how one can focus on learning the parts of speech. Of course, this is not as elaborate set-up that I would use, but I have inspiration software (mind mapping program) that I paid for last year. These are great for visual and mathematical/logical learners that need to see patterns and parts of the whole to understand. I will put together a full unit on the parts of speech that I can refer to all year. The bubbles collapse and reopen with the click of a mouse. Bubble.us even shows you how to make italics, bold wording, and lists. Neat stuff. Working with mind maps before, I did not know that the bubbles were referred to as parent and children. Who would have guessed?

Thing #13

 So, I joined Zoho and immediately made a task under the activities link in order to get my feet wet. I made a list of things I needed to do before my EDUC 5530 group meets again on Thursday. I was able to print it off and add a reminder. Cool.

I next opened up Zoho Writer and let my favorite person know that I was going to be unable to attend his party this weekend. I will, however, be going to his 4th of July party.

It was similar to a Word document, but the graphic appeal to it was awesome. I saw where you could even collaborate with others on your document.

I joined Google Docs the other day and have shared some docs with some old friends from Enterprise. I uploaded the same image that is seen above and added text to it in Google Docs. Neat.

I think I will stick with Google Docs with my students for organizational purposes. I like Zoho better, but students do not need confusion and I will require them to have a Gmail account. I think the collaboration aspect of these programs will be useful for the group projects we have in the classroom.

Thing #12

I downloaded Google Alerts and started three different alters. One was English and Language Arts jobs. I thought this would let me know what the trends were for future jobs. I have no idea where we will be located for our next military PCS move, so it never hurts to watch.

I also downloaded the iGoogle page. I went crazy making my homepage. I have to scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll to get to the bottom of the page; however, there is nothing I want to take off my page. I guess I will follow it for a couple weeks and see what I read and don't read. I did put some quotes of the day on my page. I can use these as little inspirations on the board in the classroom. I went in and changed the theme and how many columns for a more appealing look.

I hate that this stuff is so addicting. I can just hear myself getting more and more behind in my other scholastic activities. If I do not pass my PLT Praxis in July, I feel I can explain it on my new found friend, Google.

Thing #11

I liked the Edublog feed. It was extremely easy to use. I have several teacher-friends who have Edublog websites. Edublogs is free and user-friendly. What drew me into this site today was the blog about their top picks for 2010. There are hundreds of them to choose from in many different categories.

I also liked the Google blog search. I found this teacher's blog, Digital Education for English Teachers that I am now following. Scrolling through his blog, I found many articles, suggestions, and links that I can use when I start teaching. One is an information grammar assistant that helps with the rules of grammar.

I thought Techonorati was confusing. I think the green background was the turn off for me. If something is out there on the web to help its users, it at least needs to be pleasing to the eye. Check it out and see what I mean. I did join the Fashionista website through an RSS link of 100 top blogs.

As for unusual, I found this blog about Burger King. I said, "Shut the front door!" Why does everyone want to shove bacon down our throats. I am in a 12-Step program for Baconaholics because my BP is out the roof. Dank...get out of my face with the bacon you pigs!

I went to Bing and looked for blogs. This was easier on the eyes and had more categories.

I will continue adding to my vast list of blogs in Google Reader, but for now I shall delve in Thing #12.

Thing #10

I had no idea what RSS was and I always wanted to push that button. In fear of my computer exploding in the middle of a semester I never did. Now that I am a member of Reader, I am addicted to RSS feeds. Everything that I love to read in life is in one nice compact place on the web. 

Once I start teaching I will have my students open up a GMAIL account (if they already don't have one) and subscribe to my blog. My blog will host helpful hints and uploaded videos that will get them through each unit. 

On a personal note, I love to eat out at new and exciting places. I plan to host a traveling food restaurant blog. I will post this on an RSS feed and invite all my friends to initially help me grab hits.

I am not going to create a public page until I start my internship. I have subscribed to Educational World, Grammar Newsletter, NEA, Fox News, and Grammar Comics : : Grammar The Oatmeal.  

Thing #9

By now, you know I have taking a liking to the funny man, Will Ferrell. I thought I would tattoo his name on my chest. Well, he heard about it and sent me this picture. 

I used ImageChef and FotoTrix from the Custom Sign Generator The later will automatically repost your picture if you tag them in your blog. Do I dare???

I will definitely use these for comic relief in the classroom. I might have a "WHAT IF..." journal entry prompt for a warm-up. I can envision Romeo from Romeo and Juliet saying, "I hate you Juliet...I chose Rosaline instead; she was fairer than your whiney tail."

What a fun teacher I will be...well then

Look, look...I'm ready for Thing #10.

Thing #8

I had a fun time going through many of the mashups; I also am getting farther and farther behind on other tasks I need to finish today.

I liked the Mosaic Maker and would use it to illustrate handouts or PowerPoint lessons with a multitude of images compiled together into one. I will also make my own Christmas cards this year using this tool instead of paying someone to do it for me.

I do not have a big problem with photos online. If I choose to download an abundant amount of photos, I will pick and choose which ones are private or public. I am not photogenic and have never been into photography, so you will rarely see a camera in my hands just snapping...here and there and all around the square saying catch me if you can...

The photo below is some recent photographs of playtime with Mosaic Maker:

I tried to rearrange the photo so my son (bottom right) was not looking off the page, but I was having no luck. At any rate, I enjoyed Thing #8!

Thing #7-B

Zdrasti Meat Helmets...(Belgium for "hello" according to Flickr)

Okay...this blogging is becoming addicting! I think I might quit school and become a professional blogger. I could travel and live off of the land. I could photograph people in Hollywood like Will Ferrell running around in his jockey shorts. I could take a sneak-and-peek-photo of people in Central Park taking a nap. I could even.... <<pinch, pinch...wake-up...hello>>

Thing #7 was extremely easy. I have always wondered about Flickr. I know a lot of my students in Enterprise, AL used to have accounts and use them on their Facebook or Twitter accounts. I loved the tutorial that help me set-up the entire account. It was a step-by-step event just like this 23 Things activity.

I laughed hysterically when I read about Flickr's imaginary friend, Scooby Gooseberry. I think I am related to the person who thought that up because it sounds like something I would do. Hilarious!

What I most liked about Flickr was that you could pick and choose which photos were private or public. If they were private, you could even modify that as well.

Just to take the monotony out of post after post, I may download a few pictures on my blog this month. I like to practice new skills!

Thing #7-A Father and Son

Father and Son, a photo by English Amy on Flickr.

This is a recent photo of my husband and my son. The little one and the big one. You guess which one is which!

Thing #6

I found this fantastic tool online called Remember the Milk. It was a free subscription and was extremely easy to join. This is an online task manager that can keep track of appointments, notes, grocery lists, events, or whatever your little heart desires. Remember the Milk was initiated in 2004, and  it launched to the public in 2005. Today there are over 3.7 million users. The program has an upgrade called “Pro” that users can download for $25 a year. It links to Android, iPhone, and Blackberry. It will also sync to your Microsoft Outlook.

I love that you can invite people to join. There is a place to link a group, which would be extremely handy for individual classrooms, especially if you wanted to send out a reminder. Parents could even be a part of the group. The tasks are divided into three categories: personal, study, and work. You can see what is due today and tomorrow; you can also see what is overdue.

I will use this in my classroom to remind students about important assignments and tests. I will also use it as a reminder to myself in a scenario for student make-up work. Students will never be able to pull the wool over my eyes again by telling me I gave them a whole week rather than three days to make-up missed assignments. How about those apples????  You can even attach notes under individual tasks. You really have to check this bad boy out…I will never look at a cow the same way again.

Thing #5

School 2.0 means out with the old and in with the new. It’s a new culture, and it’s uber-collaboration! This might offend teachers who are not willing to make the necessary changes needed to forge ahead alongside their students. I fit right into this thing called School 2.0. I would love to teach online high school—or even an adjunct remedial online grammar class at a community college. I am that comfortable with teaching with technology. I can thank Enterprise City School Systems in Enterprise, Alabama. This school district had any type of technology you could think of and more—thanks to the grant-writing Superintendent.

Schools of the future with this thing called School 2.0 and the read/write web are in for a treat as long as educators take the time to stay up on the technologies. It’s time to get on the right bus and place yourself on the right seat (little Jim Collins from Good to Great). Meaningful assignments on the SmartBoards will replace those dusty old worksheets and those boring end-of-the-chapter lessons that make you want to SCREAM!!!!

Thing #4

When people write, they write for a purpose. When bloggers write, they hope to have their work read by those with similar interests. The icing on the cake is a positive comment or even an acknowledgment from a reader. Many of us have mini experiences with commenting or reading comments on Facebook and Twitter. Those of us in college have experiences with our peers commenting on our online forums. Writers need to feel a sense of community as they express and perfect their skill. Blogging is a perfect medium to build that skill, so I encourage you engage in reading and commenting on my blogs whenever you feel the need to help me perfect my skill.

I found the Cool Cat Teacher blog and Darren Rowse's blog rather insightful on commenting on others' blogs. Cool Cat's king and queen approach was straightforward. I would have never thought of hyperlinking someone else's blog into mine—a very validating approach. Although I would never fear commenting on another's blog, I can understand why many may linger in fear.  Darren Rowse's blog really drew me in and made me look at commenting in a different light. I will use his invitational approach from now on in my blogs. I also thought the comments on being humble and gracious was spot on. If we are going to put our thoughts and feeling out there on the web, we must develop thick skin, accept criticism, and move forward. Rowse is right humility is attractive.

I found two blogs outside of my technology class that were interesting. The first one was the Nashville Scene food blog called "Bites." I love to try new restaurants; moreover, I love to try good Mexican food. Chris Chamberlain (one of the multiple food bloggers on the sight) posted on the restaurant Taqueria y Papuseria Lupita on June 4, 2012. I can't even say the name, but I plan on visiting this inviting place on my next trip to Nashville. They even have sopes and green chili. I can just hear myself getting fatter.

The next blog I found was entitled A Boy, A Girl, and the U.S. Marines. I read the sweetest story ("Broken Teacup") about a girl who received a teacup from her grandmother. This teacup had such sentimental value to it. I had to comment on her post. It was beautiful. I can hardly wait to see if she comments back. This blog has really inspired me to continue blogging after this educational technology course is complete. WOW! I linked it, but the link has been removed.

The following are the five comments from the peer assignment:

I blogged on Scott Atchley—“Seeking Harmony” because I thought his Thing #2 was comical. I love a good sense of humor and Scott has that endearing trait. I had to respond to his personal ad, since mine has some “personal-ad-like” similarities. I did agree with him that this medium is an instrument (no pun intended) for free expression. His response back to me was hilarious too. God Bless his wife!

Of course I blogged on Katy’s 23 Things; she is my partner in crime. We sat together and pulled each other’s hair out while setting up our blog. I chose to comment on Thing #2, since I could feel OUR pain as I read through her blog. I think we both got it going on now. Go Katy! What I also commented on was her background. Katy is such a spunky and fun person and I thought her blog fit her perfectly. Her students will love this quality in her, and I am thankful to have shared this initial experience with her too!

The third peer blog that I commented on was Wms Troop to Teach 23 Things. Stephanie commented on Thing #1 about her transition from military life to civilian life. If you get to know her a bit and listen to her story, she is like a student-hero. I have the utmost respect for women who serve their country for 20+ years. What a challenge—I am sure it has had its ups and downs, but she seems to be a strong woman with a heart of gold. She will make a great teacher. Love commenting on posts like this.

I commented on Thing #6 in Melanie Reese’s 23 Things Life Long Learning. She focused on Pandora as a tool for the classroom. I, too, just downloaded this and can see that it might be useful while students are working in groups. Most students listen to music while doing homework and Pandora can at least allow the teacher a reasonable station to pick from for the classroom. I would use it to listen to classical music while teaching in my literature units.

The last of my five comments is on Thing #2 in Killebrew123. She quoted as saying her avatar looked awkward just like how she often feels. I told her it was as cute as a button. Jennifer has a secret acting skill that no one in class knows about…well maybe a few people from 5501. We put on a show last semester, and I pleasantly reminded her how well she did.

When people write, they write for a purpose. When bloggers write, they hope to have their work read by those with similar interests. The icing on the cake is a positive comment or even an acknowledgment from a reader. Many of us have mini experiences with commenting or reading comments on Facebook and Twitter. Those of us in college have experiences with our peers commenting on our online forums. Writers need to feel a sense of community as they express and perfect their skill. Blogging is a perfect medium to build that skill, so I encourage you engage in reading and commenting on my blogs whenever you feel the need to help me perfect my skill.

I found the "Cool Cat Teacher" blog and Darren Rowse's blog rather insightful on commenting on others' blogs. Cool Cat's king and queen approach was straightforward. I would have never thought of hyperlinking someone else's blog into mine—a very validating approach. Although I would never fear commenting on another's blog, I can understand why many may linger in fear.  Darren Rowse's blog really drew me in and made me look at commenting in a different light. I will use his invitational approach from now on in my blogs. I also thought the comments on being humble and gracious was spot on. If we are going to put our thoughts and feeling out there on the web, we must develop thick skin, accept criticism, and move forward. Rowse is right humility is attractive.

I found two blogs outside of my technology class that were interesting. The first one was the Nashville Scene food blog called "Bites." I love to try new restaurants; moreover, I love to try good Mexican food. Chris Chamberlain (one of the multiple food bloggers on the sight) posted on the restaurant Taqueria y Papuseria Lupita on June 4, 2012. I can't even say the name, but I plan on visiting this inviting place on my next trip to Nashville. They even have sopes and green chili. I can just hear myself getting fatter.

The next blog I found was entitled "A Boy, A Girl, andthe U.S. Marines." I read the sweetest story ("Broken Teacup") about a girl who received a teacup from her grandmother. This teacup had such sentimental value to it. I had to comment on her post. It was beautiful. I can hardly wait to see if she comments back. This blog has really inspired me to continue blogging after this educational technology course is complete. WOW!

I will come back to this post after blogging on five of my peers' sites.

I will come back to this post after blogging on five of my peers' sites.

Thing #3

 I am relentlessly pondering ideas of how I can fully engage my future students into my classroom environment when I start teaching. I will use my time during the remainder of my classes at APSU to plan my misson of attack. As a secondary educator, I know many parents feel they are no longer needed in the classroom. Oh my goodness—they are ever so wrong! This is a time when we need to continue to pull parents into their children’s world. If you think about it, 9^th thru 12^th grade is just as important as those first five years. College readiness should be at the forefront of all parents’ minds. I am humiliated to look back at my high school transcripts and often wonder where my parents were. Of course, I would have been mortified if my mother popped her head into my biology class and asked the teacher to return her gall stones (I heisted them after her surgery in my efforts to receive extra credit). I feel the medium of the Internet is the essential means to reach most parents so their students can live without fear of shame.

Here are a list of some of the blog activities that I will use to engage parents and students in and out of the classroom:

·         Monthly newsletter to keep parents and students informed on future classroom events

·         Featuring a showcase of student writing

·         Helpful homework tips and resource sites such as grammar help, 6 Traits of writing help, links to essay writing for college entrance, and links to writing contests

·         Posting of assignments, homework, and links to lectures (great for absent students)

·         Poetry club happenings (Yes, I want to spear-head a poetry club.)

·         Discussions on literary pieces we are working on in class

·         Personal narrative on my educational journey (If I can come this far…so can you!)

I know as the pass and as I collaborate with other professionals, I will find other interesting ways to use a blog to engage students in my classroom and keep parents informed.

Thing #2

On a roll…on a roll…only 22 Things to go!

While sitting in the library, KM and I were frantically trying to get our blogs created. Panic, anxiety, and “frenzicality” were just a few of the emotions we felt as we scurried to establish our shell on Google’s Blogger. I guess I shouldn’t answer for her, but that is what seemed to be looming in the room.  I think it took me an hour just to set up the shell and pick out a title. My mind was drawing a creative blank because of the growling hunger in my stomach.  I could hardly wait to devour the delicious lunch I had prepared this morning. I picked the first thing that came to my mind—Delicious, Horner, Horner-licious!  So there you have it—23 Horner-licious Things. You cannot have 23 Horner-licious Things without a random website address: www.23thingstodowhenyouarebored.blogspot.com. No one outside of this class will ever find it; this will allow me to hone in on my blogging skills prior to stepping into the classroom as a real-live teacher!

I had a blast finally getting my blog established when I got home. I did not have the hustle and bustle of first-day students running frantically around me in the library. I was able to post my first blog and then set up my avatar with ease. I have had some experience with avatars prior to EDUC 5540. I used to make Voki avatars for my students while teaching in Alabama. Vokis allow for verbal expression through voice uploading, or you can always choose a pre-fabricated voice in the system. However, I liked how user friendly Doppelme was. As an English major, I was drawn into the program name. Everyone needs a Doppelganger in their midst. My Doppelganger is Will Ferrell—just in case you were interested. I think my avatar reflects my loud and studious personality. I often like to have fun wearing a flower in my hair while walking around with a computer on my hip. Notice the fancy purple pants! I am now actually on a mission to find this outfit—maybe a quick trip to the Gap is on the agenda if I ever get through with Thing #2!

Thing #1

I feel like a lifelong learner in every aspect of the word—even in the comical sense.  I have been in school FOREVER! Well, that is not necessarily the whole truth. I did spend the first 18 years of my life doing Habit 7 ½; yes, I was an academic nincompoop that just wanted to play. I won’t go there though, since this is property of the “dubbaya, dubbaya, dubbaya”—just know that I will never run for President of the United States.    

In all seriousness…

Lifelong learning for someone in education is such an essential obligation. If you can’t be committed to continuously acquiring new knowledge, teaching is not the vocation for you. Technology in the classroom is just one of those pieces of knowledge that makes for a stronger learning experience and EDUC 5540 has its place in that experience.

For this blog, we were asked which of the 7 ½ habits were easiest and hardest for us. As teachers we are always supposed to start on a positive note; therefore, I think the easiest habit for me would be to teach and mentor others (Habit 7). I love to collaborate with my peers and show them what I know. I want to learn new things from them as well. We all have something new and fresh to bring into the classroom—some more than others. I also know that we all have periods in our lives when we feel stagnant with nowhere to turn.  That is when the little annoyance fairy (me) will pop in your room with something exciting and outrageous.

My worst habit of the 7 ½ is creating the toolbox (Habit 5). It’s not that I haven’t started my education toolbox, but I have those tools scattered all over the place, and most of the time can’t find them anywhere. My organizational skills parallel the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas:”  9 unlabeled CD-RWs, 8 random flash drives, 7 lost file folders, 6 favorite saves on the toolbar, and 5 different Gmail accounts…you can imagine the rest.

On a happier note, I enjoyed setting this blog up with my EDUC 5540 Thing-A-Ma-Jig friend, K.M. She and I will probably exasperate our professor by having way too much fun!