The summer movie season is a favorite of mine because studios seem to save the big blockbusters for this time of year. I am sure they figure people want to be in from the heat, or maybe it is because kids are not being "entertained" at school and can spend their money on two hours of big screen fun. As a science fiction/fantasy fan, this summer was going to be especially great for me with X-Men Origin: Wolverine, Star Trek, Transformers 2, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
The first on the list for me was Wolverine. Talk about a disappointment. I love the X-Men films, and as a fan of Hugh Jackman, was stoked to see him in his own movie. It was so incredibly boring and predictable. I was really looking forward to seeing Gambit be a part of the storyline, and he was only in the movie for maybe 10 minutes. Here's the big shocker: Wolverine is so hardened because his girlfriend is murdered. But of course, we have to erase his memory so that it makes sense in the other movies. I think X-Men has officially worn out its coolness-jumped the shark-if you will.
In a not so surprise move, I saw 17 Again with my best friend. Always a sucker for teeny/romantic comedy movies I was pleasantly pleased with this film. I actually thought it would be pretty predictable and did not think Zac Efron could carry a movie. I figured he only had the role because he is the en vogue male star for teens at the moment. Not to mention that Matthew Perry, who used to carry his own films, received very little credit for his part in this film. Talk about something to see. My level of respect for Mr. Efron shot through the roof after the courtroom scene when he professes his love to his wife. Holy cow! He can actually act. Seeing as I had just had a baby and my best friend was still pregnant, this was quite an emotional time in the movie for both of us.
On a whim, my husband and I decided to see The Hangover. Although there was a bit more male nudity than I prefer, I laughed from the minute the movie started until the credits finished rolling. I did not expect much more than crude bathroom humor. It was nice to see that the film actually had a point and some intelligence behind a lot of the dialog and characters. My favorite part being the allusion to Rain Man when two characters came riding down the escalator. The only thing I wondered about was whether or not any of my teenage students had seen Rain Man and would truly appreciate the genius behind that scene.
Never seeing an episode of Star Trek in any of its forms, I was hesitant to see the film. I feared that I would not understand why the origin of the Enterprise was worth making a movie about. I also could not understand why they would cast someone as gorgeous as Chris Pine to play Kirk because William Shatner has never struck me as attractive. The movie immediately made it to my personal top ten favorite films list. It had the perfect balance of action, character development, humor, etc. I also adore Zachary Quinto and loved seeing him play Spock. The Kirk inquiry was also answered when I watched an episode of the original Star Trek. William Shatner was incredibly handsome in his younger days! Who knew?
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen did not make it on our list of must sees after we read a few reviews of the movie. This broke my heart because the first one was so good.
Of course everything led up to the most exciting movie of the summer: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Being an avid fan of the book series, my skeptical eyes were more than pleased with this movie! I absolutely loved it. I saw a lot of my students within the various characters because this film really focuses on being a teenager. For this reason, my husband did not like the film. He wanted a lot more action. However, his cousin made a great point in stating that we need to really feel for the characters now so that what comes in the final installment really hits hard. I totally agree and cannot wait to see the movie again and possibly in 3D.
Well, there are all my opinions on the movies from this summer. Part II will be written tomorrow and focus on daytime television during the summer.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
No Bright Light or Flashes of My Life
Two weeks ago I was 29 weeks pregnant and slowly swelling Violet Beauregarde style. My knees were giving me some trouble on my joints because of the water weight. A few days prior I had my check-up and everything was fine, so I assumed this was normal pregnancy swelling. I made a call to my doctor at the end of the day expecting to receive a prescription to help relieve some of the fluids. Instead, I had to have my blood pressure taken by the school nurse to find it had risen to 150/110 for some reason.
Obviously, I did not realize what the blood pressure rise actually meant, so I stupidly drove myself to the hospital (let's not dwell on what would have happened had I stroked behind the wheel). While filling out the usual paperwork in the Labor and Delivery part of the hospital, I figured it could not be that big of a deal because no one was rushing to look at me or anything.
They put be on a blood pressure monitor and seemed only slightly concerned that my BP was elevated. The doctor on call even came by and calmly told me that the goal of the evening would be NOT to deliver a baby. At that point I began to panic. What did that mean? I couldn't deliver my baby 10 weeks early! After a couple of hours of monitoring my BP, the doc broke the news that the baby had to be delivered. I called my husband through tears to tell him just to head to the hospital after work (he had already asked if I wanted him there and I told him that I didn't think it was any big deal...well I was wrong). Things felt a little better once my husband arrived because he was the only calm, familiar face in the room. However, things went from bad to worse and at 7:50 P.M. they rushed me into emergency surgery. At 8:26 P.M. I was a new mom.
The first two days in the hospital was mostly a blur because of the dreadful magnesium sulfate trudging through my system. Two and a half days into my hospital stay they let me move out of 24 hour watch into a normal post partum room. One day after that I was ready to be sent home. Then an accidental blood draw proved to be a life saver. Two days after I was moved out of 24 hour care, I was moved right back. My condition is known as H.E.L.L.P. (Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzyme levels and a Low Platelet count). Usually a person will start to regain platelets and the liver enzymes will go back to normal. However, mine began to crash AFTER starting to go back to normal. It turns out that I could have died TWICE. Fortunately, my doctors and nurses took great care of me and eventually I began to recover. Eight days after admitting me, I was discharged to go home. Currently I'm taking two different BP medications and being forced to stay home and "relax" (though most of the time I feel unproductive and useless).
As for my baby boy, he was born a fighter and continues to amaze everyone. He was breathing on his own the minute he was born. Of course there was usual stuff the docs and nurse had to do to guarantee his lungs developed normally, but he quickly went from intubation to SI-PEP to oxygen tubes to nothing at all. His IV has also been removed. The only tube left is the feeding tube. At 2 pounds and 10 ounces, my baby is super tiny, but I have a feeling he will be a chubby, healthy baby in a couple of months.
The most difficult part of all of this is having to leave my baby at the hospital. Sure I get to see him everyday, but I feel incomplete because he is across town instead of across the hall. All day long all I think is, "I want my baby." It's one thing to have to wait for him if he is still inside of me, but now that he's here I hate having to wait to bring him home.
All in all I know that God is good because my baby and I are doing well and survived a very traumatic ordeal. Honestly, I never was afraid to die. Perhaps it was because I did not have a true grasp on the situation or whatever. All I kept hoping was that if someone had to die that it would be either my baby or me and not both my baby and me. I could not stand the thought of what the loss of both of us would do to my husband or family.
For now I am just taking it day by day...
Obviously, I did not realize what the blood pressure rise actually meant, so I stupidly drove myself to the hospital (let's not dwell on what would have happened had I stroked behind the wheel). While filling out the usual paperwork in the Labor and Delivery part of the hospital, I figured it could not be that big of a deal because no one was rushing to look at me or anything.
They put be on a blood pressure monitor and seemed only slightly concerned that my BP was elevated. The doctor on call even came by and calmly told me that the goal of the evening would be NOT to deliver a baby. At that point I began to panic. What did that mean? I couldn't deliver my baby 10 weeks early! After a couple of hours of monitoring my BP, the doc broke the news that the baby had to be delivered. I called my husband through tears to tell him just to head to the hospital after work (he had already asked if I wanted him there and I told him that I didn't think it was any big deal...well I was wrong). Things felt a little better once my husband arrived because he was the only calm, familiar face in the room. However, things went from bad to worse and at 7:50 P.M. they rushed me into emergency surgery. At 8:26 P.M. I was a new mom.
The first two days in the hospital was mostly a blur because of the dreadful magnesium sulfate trudging through my system. Two and a half days into my hospital stay they let me move out of 24 hour watch into a normal post partum room. One day after that I was ready to be sent home. Then an accidental blood draw proved to be a life saver. Two days after I was moved out of 24 hour care, I was moved right back. My condition is known as H.E.L.L.P. (Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzyme levels and a Low Platelet count). Usually a person will start to regain platelets and the liver enzymes will go back to normal. However, mine began to crash AFTER starting to go back to normal. It turns out that I could have died TWICE. Fortunately, my doctors and nurses took great care of me and eventually I began to recover. Eight days after admitting me, I was discharged to go home. Currently I'm taking two different BP medications and being forced to stay home and "relax" (though most of the time I feel unproductive and useless).
As for my baby boy, he was born a fighter and continues to amaze everyone. He was breathing on his own the minute he was born. Of course there was usual stuff the docs and nurse had to do to guarantee his lungs developed normally, but he quickly went from intubation to SI-PEP to oxygen tubes to nothing at all. His IV has also been removed. The only tube left is the feeding tube. At 2 pounds and 10 ounces, my baby is super tiny, but I have a feeling he will be a chubby, healthy baby in a couple of months.
The most difficult part of all of this is having to leave my baby at the hospital. Sure I get to see him everyday, but I feel incomplete because he is across town instead of across the hall. All day long all I think is, "I want my baby." It's one thing to have to wait for him if he is still inside of me, but now that he's here I hate having to wait to bring him home.
All in all I know that God is good because my baby and I are doing well and survived a very traumatic ordeal. Honestly, I never was afraid to die. Perhaps it was because I did not have a true grasp on the situation or whatever. All I kept hoping was that if someone had to die that it would be either my baby or me and not both my baby and me. I could not stand the thought of what the loss of both of us would do to my husband or family.
For now I am just taking it day by day...
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Death match: Psych vs. Mentalist
My husband and I are huge fans of USA's show Psych. We've followed the adventures of Shaun and Gus since the very beginning. Each episode is comically packed with quick wit, 80's movie trivia, and random humor. Perhaps one of the top episodes contains Shaun and Gus auditioning for an American Idol type show dressed as Michael Jackson and one of the singers from Tears for Fears. If you have cable and haven't checked this show out, you must do it next Friday. Actually, rent the previous seasons AND THEN check out the current one.
Here's were I really was hacked with new television programing. Some network airs a show called The Mentalist. What is that show exactly? A BLATANT RIP OFF OF PSYCH! Someone thought he would be clever and turn the idea of a person with keen observation skills who passes himself off as a psychic into a drama. Guess what moron, it's been done and done better in Psych. How you haven't been sued or hunted down by an angry mob for stealing such a great idea is beyond me. I refuse to give your pathetic show the time of day because I adore what has been done with Psych. I hope your mentalist doesn't make it past season one because everyone realizes how much better Shaun and Gus do things!
The best part about my rant? In last week's episode of Psych, Shaun makes his own "shout out" to the show when Gus is reminding Shaun that he'll have to make some quality time up with his dad. Shaun responds with something to the affect of: "I'll bring over some big league chew and we'll watch a couple of episodes of The Mentalist." Ha ha ha! Take that you sitcom thief! Psych knows what you are trying to do!
I'm awaiting the death match when Shaun and Gus will be victorious!
Here's were I really was hacked with new television programing. Some network airs a show called The Mentalist. What is that show exactly? A BLATANT RIP OFF OF PSYCH! Someone thought he would be clever and turn the idea of a person with keen observation skills who passes himself off as a psychic into a drama. Guess what moron, it's been done and done better in Psych. How you haven't been sued or hunted down by an angry mob for stealing such a great idea is beyond me. I refuse to give your pathetic show the time of day because I adore what has been done with Psych. I hope your mentalist doesn't make it past season one because everyone realizes how much better Shaun and Gus do things!
The best part about my rant? In last week's episode of Psych, Shaun makes his own "shout out" to the show when Gus is reminding Shaun that he'll have to make some quality time up with his dad. Shaun responds with something to the affect of: "I'll bring over some big league chew and we'll watch a couple of episodes of The Mentalist." Ha ha ha! Take that you sitcom thief! Psych knows what you are trying to do!
I'm awaiting the death match when Shaun and Gus will be victorious!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Family First
January is half way over and that means I'm a smidgen closer to the 13th of July. If I'm really lucky, it might be sooner than that before I get to meet my very first child! Although being pregnant is the coolest thing I've ever been a part of, the one thing that has been truly emphasized through this process is the importance of family.
My family is incredibly close, and growing up we always had stressed to us that family comes first. When the rest of the world turns its back on you, you can always count on family to set you right back on your feet. As a teenager, and even a young adult, it was frustrating to me when my mom would give her "back burner" speech when I chose to spend more time with my friends than my family. It has only been through the grace of maturity that I see the point she was trying to make:
Two days ago my sister, an incredibly talented artist who is hoping to get into the Interior Design program at UNT, started a mural on the nursery wall. I was eager to help with some aspect that wouldn't screw things up too badly. She kindly obliged and allowed me to help pencil the sketch onto the wall. We talked and joked and were just like we were as kids. I truly love my sister and am so glad she is the one decorating my baby's room. Even though I have some pretty amazing friends, nothing could come close to that kind of time spent together.
No matter where my life sends me, I know where home is and who will always be waiting to greet me there: my family.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
My Husband
*Note: This will be a very mushy and sentimental post. Avoid if allergic.
Last night a representative for our personal insurance came over to the house to add me to my husband's existing policy. While we were listening to our rep explain everything I really took at good look at my husband. Perhaps it was the lighting or maybe the color of the sweatshirt he was wearing, I know it's not the pregnancy hormones because I've done this kind of contemplation before, that made me fall in love with my husband all over again. It was like I noticed all the strong facial features I had a crush on years ago. Even the way he made sure to ask all the right financial questions. Since I do not have the attention span or mind for money matters, I'm always impressed when my husband steps up with his knowledge of how to handle a buck or two.
Of course my mind began to wander after that. I really thought about love and why I got married in the first place. As a little girl the idea of marriage and family was reinforced through books, television, and movies. I even knew exactly how I would fall for the perfect man. Did it all happen the way I envisioned? Well, there wasn't a white stead or a castle in the end, but overall I got exactly what I wanted. I have no doubt in my husband's devotion or love for me. That's the feeling that was reiterated last night when I looked at him sitting next to me listening to all the options for what would happen should one of us, God forbid, die sometime soon. By the end of the evening, all I could think was, "Dear God, in your wisdom please don't take my husband first. Or at least, take us at the same time." I believe that's what true love is.
I told you this would be mushy.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Summary of 23 Things
What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
LibaryThing and RSS feeds are my two favorite tools.
How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?
It was nice to be challenged to really learn again. I'll admit, I don't spend too much time in my graduate studies really pushing myself. I'm so caught up with work and personal life that overachieving is not high on my list. However, having to work with that blasted wiki and learning some basic html code in the process was pretty darn cool. I'll keep that in mind the next time I don't feel like taking the extra step for something.
Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I'm really angry at my co-workers that will not give some of this stuff a chance. I hate being angry, but it is frustrating to know all the awesome things exist, and they won't even bother exploring them.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I loved the format of this class. It is very independent and keeps the participant responsible for completing everything. Perhaps there could be one day we meet at the beginning to see all the wonderful people we are supposed to be commenting on in the blogs.
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Absolutely.
How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher or school librarian?
I'm going to do my best to incorporate this for my students. It will make my job easier and learning more fun for them.
How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.
I have my connections on the "inside" with people who get to explore this stuff all the time:).
LibaryThing and RSS feeds are my two favorite tools.
How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?
It was nice to be challenged to really learn again. I'll admit, I don't spend too much time in my graduate studies really pushing myself. I'm so caught up with work and personal life that overachieving is not high on my list. However, having to work with that blasted wiki and learning some basic html code in the process was pretty darn cool. I'll keep that in mind the next time I don't feel like taking the extra step for something.
Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I'm really angry at my co-workers that will not give some of this stuff a chance. I hate being angry, but it is frustrating to know all the awesome things exist, and they won't even bother exploring them.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I loved the format of this class. It is very independent and keeps the participant responsible for completing everything. Perhaps there could be one day we meet at the beginning to see all the wonderful people we are supposed to be commenting on in the blogs.
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Absolutely.
How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher or school librarian?
I'm going to do my best to incorporate this for my students. It will make my job easier and learning more fun for them.
How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.
I have my connections on the "inside" with people who get to explore this stuff all the time:).
Thing #23
It's really hard for me to separate the idea of "social" networking from work related sites. If it involves any type of advancement or education for my job, I do not consider that social. Why? Who knows? I teach English, and it might be a semantics thing. I also misunderstood the idea of social networking in the classroom and thought it might show social ways for students to network in class. And again, I did not think that would be useful.
I enjoy the wealth of sites provided through this course for networking. It will be interesting to see what I can find out there for English. Classroom 2.0 will probably be the most useful when I have a question about a specific tool though. Now that I know all of this exists of course it will be valuable information. I would be a fool to take the time to find all of this and not use it. It would not make me a very good life long learner would it?
I enjoy the wealth of sites provided through this course for networking. It will be interesting to see what I can find out there for English. Classroom 2.0 will probably be the most useful when I have a question about a specific tool though. Now that I know all of this exists of course it will be valuable information. I would be a fool to take the time to find all of this and not use it. It would not make me a very good life long learner would it?
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thing #22
Facebook is my social network of choice. I've had a Facebook account for a while now. It has been an excellent way to find people I knew in high school and college. Here's how I feel about three particular sites: MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn. MySpace is the more "childish" of the three. It's target audience are teenagers who want their own personal site to goof off with friends. All the ways it can be formatted and shared have a more juvenile feel. Facebook is more adult. It was started on college campuses; therefore, it's targeting an older set of social networkers. Finally there is LinkedIn. This site is for business professionals, or grown-ups. It has little in the way of frills and is not meant to be used for endless hours of chatting and photosharing...at least as far as I can tell.
For me, the main reason I should be familiar with these is to make sure I don't end up on fabricated pages due to someone's poor practical joking skills. Even with my Facebook, I am extremely careful about what I, or my husband, post in way of photos and comments. I allow my students to be my friends with a limited profile. If there is something that might be questionable, like being at a grown up party where certain beverages end up in pictures, I limit those photos where my students cannot see them.
Most of my students due use social networks daily, and it would just show my naivete if I refused to figure out how they worked myself. Just because I ignore them, doesn't mean they would go away. Kids are going to use them, and I should be aware of that.
As mentioned above, Facebook is my site of choice. I like that I have some control over the applications, but I don't bog myself down with choosing backgrounds and music and pictures, etc. I don't need to lose all my time to social networking. It is more casual than LinkedIn and a little more adult than MySpace.
Personally, I wouldn't want to use these types of social networking sites for the classroom. It is good to know how my students spend their time online, but I don't want to take away the entertainment and relaxation behind these sites for them by tying something educational to them.
Thing #7b
I am going to admit that I have not really added a lot to my reader recently. There are also some feeds I need to clear out because of the cancellation of Pushing Daisies. No show--no feeds. One of the feeds that I find fascinating is the New York Times one that deals with books. It has reviews about books coming out and keeps me posted on news in the literary world. Recently there was a story about how to manage a personal library. I'm a chronic book hoarder. It drives my husband crazy that I have to purchase a book in order to read it. (He is content with checking it out from the library, for free. ) Enjoy the article on Laura Miller's dilemma on cleaning out her bookshelves.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thing #21
Google is not a new tool for me. For years I've searched in Google Images, looked for academic documents in Google Scholar, and this past school year I created a Google Calendar to post on my class blog with important due dates for my students. Believe it or not, I've never been much for discussion boards or groups. However, I did search in the Google groups only to be led to an outside group. I guess that means I used Google as a spring board into something else? My husband is trying to get me to use the new Google browser, but I am going to hold off until they really perfect it. I'm sure it has more growing to do.
Besides, this blog is something found on Google, and I will definitely be keeping up with the blog long after this class is through. Feel free to check frequently to see what kind of zany ideas are shooting through my head. Or you can just RSS feed me into your reader!
Thing #20
I love Google Docs. I've been using them for a while in my classroom, and they have actually helped me be better prepared for class. Personally, I uploaded a Power Point Presentation for my graduate class because they had Office 2007. My computer only has Office 2003. Google Docs does the conversion for me, so I just pulled it up on the class computer and was ready to go. My students are also seeing the importance of this feature because many of them are running Office 07 while the school still runs 03.
In class I have had the students log on and take notes over different pieces of information. Then they had to upload what they found onto Google Docs to share with the rest of the class.
My favorite use for Google Docs was when I was out of town and needed to give my students reading quizzes. I created forms then put the link in my class blog. Each student was responsible for clicking the link and answering the questions. They only had fifteen minutes, the time stamp helped monitor their time, and I was able to check the answer all the way in Washington D.C. I knew immediately who did and did not read and take the quiz. This definitely cut down on cheating, and the substitute didn't have to worry about keeping up with any important documents.
Thing #19
VoiceThread is one of the more fascinating tools we've explored. For a basic use, I could post different pictures and shape TAKS like questions around the picture. Then the students could respond with various answers. I know we're not supposed to teach to a test, but it would be practice with the visual component of the test.
Currently, I am getting ready to start a unit on Edgar Allen Poe. I was thinking of a group project that imitates the opening paragraphs of "The Fall of the House of Usher." Each group will get a picture of a house and create a description that would also parallel the type of family that would live there. I could put the picture on VoiceThread and have the students tell their stories that imitate the opening of Poe's great short story.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thing #18
You Tube is an old favorite in my house. I never really thought of it as a teaching tool because I use it for relaxing and entertainment purposes. My husband even made me look up specific videos as I was working on this particular thing.
Teacher Tube would have been the better place to search for English related videos. However, the layout for Teacher Tube doesn't seem to be as user friendly. It might also be that I am not used to navigating around it yet. I did find a cute video on the rules for comma usage.
My two videos for my subject area were those favorites "Conjunction Junction" and "The Preamble" from School House Rock. I don't care how old these videos are; the information is just as viable today as it was when I was growing up. It bothers me that current children's television doesn't have the same education focus. The "how to" video I chose to watch explained the intricacies involved in solving a Rubic's Cube. It began simply enough, but I think I'll leave that little slice of puzzle pie to someone else. The final video I searched and found was my favorite "Star Wars According to a Three Year Old."
Teacher Tube would have been the better place to search for English related videos. However, the layout for Teacher Tube doesn't seem to be as user friendly. It might also be that I am not used to navigating around it yet. I did find a cute video on the rules for comma usage.
Thing #17
The first podcast I previewed was The Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips because curiosity got the better of me. Was she really giving sound grammatical advice? Or would it be more work for me when my students stumbled upon the podcast and were misinformed. I am very impressed at the topics she covered and how accurate she was. The other choice was more personal in the Mugglecast. As big a fan of the Harry Potter books as I am, I'm not that big of a fan. It's nice that they are keeping up with so much HP news, but I just was not that interested.
Podcasting is not a new concept for me. I do have iTunes with a collection of personal podcasts: The Flight of the Conchords, Henson Studios, and Pushing Daisies. The biggest problem I have with podcasting is that I am not an auditory learner. If there are no pictures or video, it is really hard for me to follow what is being said. However, my auditory students would benefit greatly from podcasting. They could listen to information while accomplishing other tasks. In that way it seems like a very efficient way to learn.
I always told myself that if I have to miss school when I finally have children, I could use podcast to do quick lessons. This would guarantee that my students would hear exactly what I need them to hear (not that subs are unreliable).
Thing #16
Library Thing should be one of the first things we learn! I love, love, love books and think this is the coolest site. I really like the idea of Library Thing keeping me informed of local book fairs, author signings, and such. There are so many books I adore! Where do I start to add them all? My biggest hope is that a plethora of new books will be shared with me through this site.
I have zero plans to use this site professionally. This will be my personal dragon's hoard of literature!
The thought did cross my mind to have all the members of my book club sign up. We already share a love of reading and deciding on the next book to read is so hard for us to do. This might be a way to narrow down the search and see what else the rest of us are reading outside of the club.
Thing #15
Being honest, I'm not a fan of tagging. Mainly because I cannot always remember the certain tags I used or how I worded them. I just know that I'll end up with a tag list that is two miles long because I'll write in so many different tags. However, to be fair I will give "delicious" a chance because I do like the idea of keeping all my faves on one site.
As far as using it for educational purposes...
There will need to be a lot more exploring because I don't have many co-workers that have caught onto the social bookmarking. My first few networks may have to be strangers, so to speak. After a little more looking into all the sites that appear when I do a search for a particular topic, I might be able to find a more appropriate use for my "delicious" site.
For my students, it might be helpful when they have to look up information on a topic. If I look into the most appropriate sites and tag them, I can simple share that with my students. Then I don't have to worry about the sources behind the sites that my students are using.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thing #7b
I absolutely love my Google Reader! I check it all the time and get so excited when there is a ton of stuff for me to browse through. I know we are trying to find uses for a reader in education, but I have quite a few personal sites in my reader now. Of course I have a ton about Pushing Daisies. The good news is that they will complete season two and are negotiating a season three! Keep your fingers crossed!
My favorite educational article comes from The Catholic Education Resource Center. I think the name of the site may turn some people away from looking at what it has to say. Although many articles may focus on beliefs and doctrine of the Catholic Church in current society, there is a good number that speak on universal educational issues. For example, "Self-esteem vs. self-improvement" speaks on our society's too coddling view of building a child's image of himself or herself.
My favorite educational article comes from The Catholic Education Resource Center. I think the name of the site may turn some people away from looking at what it has to say. Although many articles may focus on beliefs and doctrine of the Catholic Church in current society, there is a good number that speak on universal educational issues. For example, "Self-esteem vs. self-improvement" speaks on our society's too coddling view of building a child's image of himself or herself.
Thing #14
There are so many things I still want to explore and look at, but my time is limited since I'm trying to catch up. However, there are a couple of tools I want to discuss that could be used in the classroom. Letterpop (Experimental Thing #14 Newsletter) would be a fantastic way to have a class newsletter that parents/guardians could access online. The application is very easy to use and fun to play around with.
After making my newsletter, I decided a survey would be fun to create at Poll Daddy. I would love for everyone to take my Random Survey. There's no real theme to it because I was still learning how to build one. Again, it was relatively easy to drag and drop in order to create the survey. Recently, I've been using the Forms on Google Docs for online quizzes for my kids. Poll Daddy could become a second way to quiz my students over what they read without wasting paper.
Finally, for fun I played with Wordle. I just took a quote from Emerson about books and let the application do its thing. Now, to create a custom color palette, I did have to look up the html for colors online, but that is basic copy and paste once I got there.
After making my newsletter, I decided a survey would be fun to create at Poll Daddy. I would love for everyone to take my Random Survey. There's no real theme to it because I was still learning how to build one. Again, it was relatively easy to drag and drop in order to create the survey. Recently, I've been using the Forms on Google Docs for online quizzes for my kids. Poll Daddy could become a second way to quiz my students over what they read without wasting paper.
Finally, for fun I played with Wordle. I just took a quote from Emerson about books and let the application do its thing. Now, to create a custom color palette, I did have to look up the html for colors online, but that is basic copy and paste once I got there.
I could really have fun with some of these tools on my facebook or personal blogs. Creating newsletters for my friends overseas to read about what is going on with my family would save postage and time getting to them. Not to mention if I'm in a crazy mood and want to survey or poll my friends on something irrelevant but entertaining.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Thing #13
I am disappointed in the various Flickr mashups. Both the sign generator and the comic strip generator have been removed from the internet, and I really wanted to use those two. Currently, I am contemplating reading a book written by one of the mashup creators because I want to learn how he creates his Flickr photo mosaics. It seems complicated, but it might be worth it.
Both of the mashups that worked successfully were in Big Huge Labs. It seemed to be easier to use my own photos for the following because I'm still trying to figure out the best way to credit other photographers if I use one of these masups.
Right now, these kinds of mashups seem like they might be of service if my students were working on some type of marketing campaign. They could make name badges, posters, or whatever to promote something. If they wanted to support the library, they could make collages of their favorite book covers? This is still a tool I need to spend some time with before deciding exactly what my kids will use it for in class.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Thing #12
I hate wikis! I hate wikis! I hate wikis! I followed all the directions for the slideshow and the stupid myspace code DID NOT WORK in my wikispace. The only thing it did was embed the actual code. I hate wikis!
I'm going to try to post it in my blog instead:
This is a condensed version of one of my favorite Grimms Fairy Tales, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses."
Here are all the photos I used:
A Wonderful Surprise Uploaded on January 16, 2008by audreyjm529
18th Century Spanish Officers Uniform Uploaded on October 8, 2004by mharrsch
Glass of Red Uploaded on October 10, 2007by Zesmerelda
Adelitas Uploaded on October 14, 2008by Omar Eduardo
Homecoming 2008 Uploaded on October 4, 2008by DanCox_
Silver Leaves Uploaded on October 6, 2008by beccaplusmolly
petite 18k gold leaf charm Uploaded on November 1, 2008by knitsteel
Emerald, diamond bracelet Uploaded on March 14, 2008by gemteck1
Happy Heels Uploaded on March 1, 2008by talekinker
The Fairy Tale Door Uploaded on June 15, 2008by David Masters
Enchanted Tower ? Uploaded on October 10, 2007by Curnen
I'm going to try to post it in my blog instead:
This is a condensed version of one of my favorite Grimms Fairy Tales, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses."
Here are all the photos I used:
A Wonderful Surprise Uploaded on January 16, 2008by audreyjm529
18th Century Spanish Officers Uniform Uploaded on October 8, 2004by mharrsch
Glass of Red Uploaded on October 10, 2007by Zesmerelda
Adelitas Uploaded on October 14, 2008by Omar Eduardo
Homecoming 2008 Uploaded on October 4, 2008by DanCox_
Silver Leaves Uploaded on October 6, 2008by beccaplusmolly
petite 18k gold leaf charm Uploaded on November 1, 2008by knitsteel
Emerald, diamond bracelet Uploaded on March 14, 2008by gemteck1
Happy Heels Uploaded on March 1, 2008by talekinker
The Fairy Tale Door Uploaded on June 15, 2008by David Masters
Enchanted Tower ? Uploaded on October 10, 2007by Curnen
