Healing Bruises

My bruise from the fall over the bench is almost all healed! yippee!
I am currently at the National Harbor in MD just on the other side of the Potomac from Alexandria. I had a great day today working as a volunteer in Registration. I met people from all across the country as I blabbered my way through explaining where to find things and how to correct the typos on their tickets. I'm looking forward to the week and getting to hear a few new things and get the gears rolling forward (instead of backwards?!)
I'll update more tomorrow :)

How do you define wisdom?

I spotted this one through David Warlick's blog. I peek in on his musings every now and again :)
There was this link to this video and information about a book. It's a 5 minute or less collection of thoughts on wisdom from some of the influential individuals from the older generation.
It is worth your five minutes to give it a watch.

How do you define wisdom? How do we impart that upon our students?

A good dose of humility

I was reminded while reading Maya Angelou's new book, Letter to My Daughter, that a healthy dose of humility is in order in my life.
I fell clean head over feet first today onto a bench as I was walking in one direction and fussing at kids in another. Smash! I now have big bruises on my legs and a few scrapes and an achy knee to show for my Monday. I should have kept my mouth shut and allowed the person trying to take care of it to handle it...
Humility.

Our wireless is not doing what it should be. I am taking it in stride. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. I just have to remember that we are growing, shaping, moving in sort of an amoebus blob...it's not all going to go smoothly and I don't know best all of the time.

And lastly, humility again...I can't do it all. I am juggling a few too many things as a result of my interest and excitement rather than my realistic energy and ability to follow through. I am back to basics with trying to play catch up and not appear worse the wear for it. It is tough. Teaching can be like that I guess but today did not give me many opportunities for reflection and growth. It was more like eating a ridiculously large bowl of pudding, tiny spoonful by tiny spoonful until you're full and then over-filled and yet still eating. I'm just realizing how much I've taken on and I'm overwhelmed. So the humble me is stepping back and taking account. Tomorrow I have to make a list and get to work on getting through it. And I have to watch where I'm walking and let people help me when they are able so I don't go flying over any more benches.
Ouch.

Virtual Field Trips

We're just getting started in Spotsy with distance learning. The definition to distance learning can include many of the things we have in place in Spotsylvania, but there isn't really a definition in place yet. It's hard to say where we're headed with distance learning but we will definitely be participating in some virtual field trips. Even virtual field trips can include different types of interactions with content. It might be that there is a guide or docent in a video conference at the actual location you or your class is visiting. Virtual field trips might also be more like webquests or web journeys where the student or class is interacting with content and video and/or photos of a location.

It's fun to see the individual reactions to the equipment. We are using Tandberg's video conferencing equipment for video conferencing. As people contact me or other locations to test their audio and video, there is a childlike glee as we see each other in the image and can hear each other across the distance. If we can retain the glee and combine it with some hard work and creativity, we will have a winning initiative in Spotsylvania County. Please share resources as you find them...

an Education in Communication

Work and life are so inextricably linked. I definitely appreciate the convenience that technology offers. I think that the benefits outweigh the detriments when it comes to enhancing communication. We have come up with solutions for communicating announcements, newsletters, emergencies, grades, assignments, etc...to our students and parents. I think with every new development comes the need for a re-evaluation of communication. We should be evaluating whether we are depending so much on the new tool that we are forgetting how effective human contact truly is.

Case in point (referring to my first sentence), I'm trying to finance the purchase of my husband's car. I had the option of applying online with the promise of a 24 hour response. 96 hours later, no response. I finally contacted them through a site they provide for tracking the status and then 24 hours from then, I had a response that they tried to contact me and left a message "to no avail". To no avail?!? Talk about NO MESSAGE on any of my three numbers,no email in my inbox, no follow through, no help. And they cancelled the application. Now I have to call THEM. The supposed convenience of applying online left me with more questions than answers and there was no easy way to get my questions answered. It's a case of poor communication and ineffective follow-through.

As educators, we have to be aware that even though the convenience is there, sometimes the best thing to do is check on the customer and make sure that everything is working splendidly from their point of view. Hurray for progress but don't forget the customer and that sometimes we need the human contact.

Lonely Nights in Education

I'm sitting in our computer lab waiting for parents that aren't coming. I'm supposed to be sharing our online parent resource and our online course management system as part of our curriculum kick-off. It's sort of an SOL kick off, but we don't use the anachronym SOL anymore ;).

I don't blame them. There aren't that many of them to start with. Part of the issue is lack of involvement. Don't get me wrong, we love that there are probably 25-40 parents with their kids here tonight. Awesome. But what about the others?

But necessity is the mother of invention, or so I've been told. I need parents, I need communication, therefore I need something different. I think that for the next night (which would be a parent conference night) we should do something related to internet literacy. I'd also like to get the kids involved somehow. It's all doable...but it doesn't make the next fifty minutes of my life any less lonely or any more enjoyable!

Education Makes me Tired

My job from day to day could include everything from showing a teacher that the reason their monitor doesn't work is because their monitor isn't plugged in to deciding whether or not a site visit should include one, two or more representatives and how to best broach that with my potential host...It can be exhausting. What can sometimes be deceiving about what I do is that it does sometimes require sitting at my desk. I spent a few hours today on a newsletter and on a distance learning initiative. I had an online meeting using Communicator where it may have looked like I was talking to myself to the average passerby. Work (thankfully) requires that I be out and about but on days like this I struggle with understanding why I'm so tired after spending so much time in one place.

It's a different kind of teaching in what we do as ITRTs and it requires planning, just as planning in the classroom does. But today I felt the zeal start to seep back into my fingertips. I was multi-tasking and keeping it all together. I managed to finish a few things I set out to finish and I created goals to finish other items in the next few days ahead of me. It is a lot like being a classroom teacher, there are just different types of items to juggle.

I also have to apologize for the blatant sarcasm in the previous post. I felt it, I meant it and please note that I did include Education in the title of this post. Oh-somebody called me a socialist today for my political tendencies...hmph. I wonder if they'll still want help with their SMART Board tomorrow? :) LOL

Education Education Education

Perhaps if I throw the word education in the title and sporadically throughout the posting then I will escape the filter for a few more days. Education is the reason for the season. Education spurs off fun words like educators and educational and even edutopia. Perhaps the remainder of my postings will be more conscious of the use of the word education. I wouldn't want any of my readers to miss out on the connections between my thoughts and education. They are almost all about EDUCATION even if the title hasn't included the word in the past. I will carefully consider each title in the future to make sure that I reference education. I wouldn't want to stray too far away from the purpose of this educator's blog. Perhaps I should change the title to Something about Education to Share!

But most importantly, perhaps I shouldn't rant and just be okay with the fact that my educational blog has been unblocked. I'm thrilled. Now if I only had more time to share my educational thoughts in my blog...

My Blog is Blocked

Today my blog is blocked at school. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Intimidation and Change

This afternoon I went with my husband out to Pendleton Golf Course to ride along as he played nine holes of golf. He was insistent that I try swinging a few golf clubs and I was quite insistent that I NOT try swinging a few golf clubs. I won :) mainly b/c he was supposed to take me shopping today and he didn't...but my reasons for not trying it out are 1) fear of failure and 2) intimidation. Last time he tried to teach me, he laughed at me and I ended up crying and quiting. (I'm hyper sensitive.) So as I looked at the other people at the driving range and then at him, I definitely wasn't inspired to change my current knowledge of my golf swing. I like riding in the golf cart and watching the occasional PGA event on tv. It doesn't cost us loads of money (golf is an expensive sport) and Stephen has something he can enjoy without me. But if I weigh the overall pros and cons of learning versus not learning to play golf, I have to say that I'm going to lose this battle eventually. So is it fear of change? Or am I intimidated by a daunting new skill? Or afraid of failure?
It seems that I have to look back at what I have already written regarding change and progress and start expanding my approach towards the teachers I work with.
Here's to a new school year!

A driving experience

To get away from technology integration for just a few minutes...Yesterday I went with my husband up to Summit Point, WV for the Audi Driving Experience. It was FUN! I didn't think I would spend the day enjoying myself. I thought I was there for moral support and a person to keep him from driving up there alone. WELL! I was wrong. Stephen had the opportunity to drive a new 2009 A4 on a track and then do a comparison drive of comparable models from Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes. I could have done the same but I was scared. Something about high speed turning in a car that isn't mine just gave me a nervous tummy. BUT I did get to ride with the instructor in the lead car and that was uber fun! I got to ride along as he instructed the drivers behind us (including Stephen) in navigating the turns and looking ahead/anticipating the ride and staying together, etc...and while he did that, he managed to drive the super beautiful Audi S5, hold the radio he was using to instruct, listen to a second radio from a control point that connected all of the instructors, and maintain an interesting conversation with me. Talk about multi-tasking! Matt, the multi-tasking instructor, is a rally car driver with a calm driving demeanor and a good sense of humor. We managed to get a laugh about how our jobs are similar in teaching adults about new things and how 'interesting' that can be! It was very fun. I'll share a picture and links later but it was very very fun. Did I mention that I had fun? And if you think I had fun, you should talk to my husband. He had LOTs of fun, excepting the fact that his wife was in the car with a cool Audi instructor just one car ahead! LOL :)

Relaxing

Yesterday a co-worker told me that it seems like I've been at work every day this summer. :) I haven't been there every day, but I will say that I have been working a bit in the past few weeks. I've learned that I've got to do a better job with planning out my summer work. My brain has taken a vacation even if my body has not.
It's been difficult for me to focus. I don't know that a vacation away would cure me of my brain's holiday! In the meantime...I just found the muppets on YouTube. Gotta love Beaker! Enjoy!

Change for the sake of progress

I have been thinking lately about teachers and their reasons for not changing things in their classrooms. Teachers are full of excuses (some of them good ones) for not changing habits of practice in their rooms. There are teachers in every school that are doing things virtually the same way they have done them for the past ten years. Now, that doesn't make them horrible teachers or horrible people. It makes them pretty average. They may or may not have a formula for success that doesn't need changing. BUT what happens when we apply the same thought process to the REAL WORLD...

Ten years ago, I didn't have a car and my friends catered me around during my senior year of college. Not one of my college professors used a projector or (God help us!) an interactive white board. There was no blackboard access. We used to depend on the phone--landline! to communicate urgent messages. If there was an emergency, you had better hope the radio broadcast the message. The only cell phone in my life was a big one my dad bought for his work travels. Internet? Well, I was accessing email through dial-up at my apartment. Internet research? I was able to do more of that from school with a higher speed access. It wasn't a google started search though...strictly databases. The Internet wasn't so much for entertainment or daily information YET. I had a part time job at the continuing education office-then underneath the cafeteria- setting up video conferencing courses and video-taping them for archiving purposes. I spent lots of money xeroxing articles to take home for research papers AND to make copies of my papers for classmates to critique. I relied on email to remain in touch with friends abroad and had no inexpensive way to contact them. If a group of us had to write a paper, we had to sit together and hash it out face to face in a small room in the library. If we were lucky, the small room had a white board to help us outline in multiple colors! Paper maps were the way to find your way from place to place. I guess we called places for directions...did we have mapquest 10 years ago? Sharing pictures meant printing them out in multiple copies. Sharing video? Are you crazy? If somebody wanted to know more about me, they had to ask me or ask around at school...maybe if they saw my room they could surmise some conclusions from the posters on my wall or the cds stacked next to my boom box. CDs--the storage! and VHS--the quality!

Things have changed in ten years.
DVDs & cell phones & Internet & search engines & wikis & blogs & online course management systems (blackboard, angel) & MWC becoming UMW & UMW opening a graduate campus NOT underneath the cafeteria! We can email documents to each other rather than mailing them or making a bajillion copies! We can meet in virtual spaces online without too much trouble. Everybody has a cell phone. We complain about those people that share 1,001 photos of little baby joe taking his first steps. YouTube is highly entertaining...Napster came, went, and came again. Mapquest! GPS systems in your car and in your phone! Phones that are organizers and photo and video cameras! I have my very own car (yay!) and I'm not schlepping to a part time job anymore. DSL, Fios, Fiber?! Facebook & myspace...Thank goodness for HDTVs! & HD Programming...say goodbye to analog programming in just one more year...
Things have changed and I'm not even talking about the classroom.
Teachers resist change and cite that there is 'no need' for change. Why fix it when it ain't broke?
I'll tell you why. Change can equal progress.
Progress indicates forward movement. Our schools and our students need some serious forward movement.
Do we expect our children to succeed in today's world in the classrooms of AT LEAST ten years ago?
How can we depend so highly on things like cell phones, mp3 players (ipods), cable, high speed internet access, DVD players, GPS, computers, cars with fancier computers than the mechanics of ten years ago could fix, digital information management, online shopping and banking, email, texting, etc...and yet resist them in our professional environment? What kind of real world environment are we providing our students to not have the very things that shape our real lives as part of their instruction? Our schools need to experience a change so progressive and so profound that it would be monumental--a complete shift in educational practice and theory! But the thing is, we are living in that world already. That shift has already occurred in our real lives. Change has equated to progress in our real lives...so what is up with our schools?

I think I was inspired to write this post by the cell phone touting, email checking, chatty teachers from a class I was teaching a few weeks ago. I bit my tongue to not fuss at them like 7th graders. I wanted to say, "Do you see yourselves? You would NEVER let your students walk in with a cell phone, an iPod! You would kick the email checking, IMing student out of your room!" Why are we granted one level of expectation and our kids another? Are we really protecting them? Is that truly the best excuse anybody can offer? Because I think we're punishing them...they are not learning to effectively multi-task. They are bored with worksheets...I mean SERIOUSLY!! It's not that it bothered me that they were exploring and multi-tasking. It bothered me that the same people doing these things are the teachers that YELL at their kids for similar behaviors. They are SHOCKED that kids would think to carry their cell phones when we tell them not to. They cannot believe that they would dare to use a proxy to get around the filter. OMG! But why is it okay for them? Perhaps because it is a part of them that they can't disable while sitting in a classroom. Perhaps it is a part of their life and their need to communicate and work and multi-task...so again, why are we yelling at kids for doing the same thing?

I had some incredible teachers (Mr. Holder, Mr. Hills, Ms. Yalen, Ms. Mills, Ms. Wilson, Mr. Head & others) without all of the technology stuff that is available now, but they drew us in to the real world experience through projects, discussions, problem solving...many of the 21st century skills in the 20th century environment. But perhaps the integration would have been fluid in project choice, podcasts of important class lectures, notes posted online in a wiki for the class to modify...the curriculum would have been enhanced. It's not about change for the sake of change. It's about change for the sake of progress.

Tired of testing

Mr. Chapin's song 'Not on the Test' could probably be interpreted differently by people based on their perspective. Who is at fault for teachers only teacher what is on the test? And if we truly do that, why aren't they passing? I laugh every time I see the video but it's one of those sinister laughs...like I'm seeing something that is so sadly TRUE. I feel like I'm fighting against the tide.
Then I look around at my school and what different classes are doing to prepare. I have to admit that most of the year, they are trying to incorporate thinking skills and creative freedom, but in this last push until testing time we're all about (or maybe should be about) that test! There is one classroom where I see what the kids are doing and have visions of not making AYP b/c of this group of 8th graders. It's going to happen...but what do you do? I guess there are different ways to react to a video like this. Shock! Laughter! Meaningful discussion! Prayer! Empathy! Ignore it all! Part of me is stressed for those 8th graders not reviewing at this point before the test and part of me is like 'whatever!'
whatever?!
Not making AYP is painful for a school and its teachers. Perhaps some of that filters down to the students in the form of more multiple choice practice questions on a daily basis and the students who get pulled for double academics (is more really better?) and miss out on an elective. I don't know!
It's two weeks before our first tests start and it's nauseating! And I don't even teach the kids!
But don't worry...they don't teach it if it's not on the test (wink wink)
Click below to link to a funny standardized testing promotion from Tennessee. It's on Teacher Tube.

I laughed.
And that's good that I laughed because I did a whole heck of a lot of work today and walked about 3 miles in the building (yes, I'm wearing a pedometer!) and didn't leave until after 5 as I had to check on the computers that collapsed with the table in one of our labs...what a day.
Enjoy the laugh!

Rural Suburbia

I live in what I would call 'rural suburbia'. The population of my county has about the same number of people population-wise as the school system where I work has students. My neighborhood is a planned town community that will eventually be (somewhat) self-sustaining. The homes are close together, linked together by careful landscaping and sidewalks. The library and school are in place and shops will be along someday...post (dare I say it?!) recession. What is interesting about this county is that the people this neighborhood and a few other neighborhoods like it have brought with them the demand for crazy things like high speed Internet access (thank the Lord we have it where we live!) and quality technology in the schools. Hmph. Rural suburbia comes crashing down on a happily rural community!

So today I was in a meeting where somebody pretty high up where I work commented on the high speed access to our students and 'who wouldn't want that?!' and while YES! I love my high speed access, I think I can find some people who don't want that. They don't want their taxes raised and they don't understand the relevance of 21st century skills in their world. And me, being the empathetic soul that I am, sort of gets it that the concept of living in a flat world just doesn't seem to mesh with a county seeking to embrace the State Fair. But rural suburbia is pulling through and putting pressure on the school board to check in on our small school system and see that the computers are working.

But I hope a lot of things happen before my hypothetical children enter this school system of rural suburbia. They will be far ahead of their peers in access and literacy if things don't generally change. I know, I'm a snob! But sometimes the way we perceive ourselves down here v. how outside counties perceive us bugs me. Where I work is truly rural suburbia in its identity...an identity crisis happening every day somewhere in the county. Looking at where I live and how people where I work judge this county...people just crack me up! People in glass houses...seriously should not throw stones.

Social Networking and Teachers

I read this article from this month's NEA Today about the need for teachers to be wary of what they put on their social networking sites. They listed several examples of teachers being fired or 'not teaching anymore' because of inappropriate content on their MySpace pages. It said that the Ohio Education Association made the recommendation to its members to remove profiles from social networking sites such as myspace and facebook to avoid any type of attention or situation from their school systems.

I get the two sides of the argument...and maybe there are more than two sides to this one. But at what point do we ask the following questions: How real are these people you hire that they aren't going to drink and do drugs in the same percentages as your average worker in the private sector? What do our first ammendment rights truly include when it comes to online communication? Where does our classroom persona end and our teaching persona begin? Where do we draw the line? Granted, I would prefer that my hypothetical childrens' teachers not post information about their partying activities in a venue where my children view them. I would probably also prefer to think of their teachers as law-abiding citizens that aren't engaging in illegal activities of any kind and/or bragging about it. Maybe my hypothetical childrens' hypothetical teachers should make their profiles private if they plan to share more than what their students (or I)might need to know about them. But like everything, isn't there room for balance? Recommending that an entire group of public employees not use social networking sites doesn't seem effective, fair or logical.

I just started using facebook. I will not put pictures up there of me that I wouldn't want my mom to see, but I'm not stupid. Maybe it should be addressed with new teachers as they come in...sort of a reminder about public profiles and persona.

I don't know. Interesting how contradictory we can be as educators-to reach out and encourage collaboration, real-time communication, learning and growing and yet so quickly have it stifled in ourselves.

Awareness Test

Thank you to my sister for pointing this one out to me. She linked it up to her Facebook page (is that even the right terminology?!) but I'm going to embed it here.



It really demonstrates how your brain can be wedged into a tiny framework of awareness. Interesting, isn't it?!

Friday

I'm exhausted again.
Fridays.
Today was a whirlwind of a day. Thankfully I like whirlwind days.
I also like it when whirlwind days are over and my couch is waiting for me, even if it means a cold walk in the rain in between stages.
This site: is excellent, though not for the easily offended. It's a community art project online. People are people, they all have these guts inside that are shaped and beaten and coaxed into shape over time. I look at the teachers and students I work with and remember these secrets-some good, some funny, some sad and some despairing...
What would you put on your postcard?
It would be a secret, so don't tell.
Interesting to think about though, to me at least.

Taking my Work for a Ride

Since my first year as a teacher, I have been taking my work for a ride. At first it was essays, worksheets, plan books, grade books, novels, and more...Over the years, the bag got bigger, then smaller, then bigger again. Every school bag ended up torn by the weight of all that didn't need to be carried.

And here it is again. My work laptop comes back and forth with me. Every afternoon I have aspirations of greatness. Somehow I see myself sitting at our beautiful desk at home and working away while music drives me forward. It's an incredible vision. It's also a vision unfulfilled. Some days it's easier than others to be realistic and leave the work at work, but until the visions fade away, my work will see more miles than many people's cars!

Teacher Tube

The following is a video my librarian shared with me from Teacher Tube. It's a quickie. I think when she showed it to me, it was off of a completely different site. We had been talking about short videos like this being used to help teach the kids. I don't disagree with the message. Kids just believe they are invincible, up until they have to start paying bills. LOL!

Video

Let's try embedding a video, shall we?

Fast Draw on CBS Sunday Morning

I watched CBS Sunday Morning yesterday. They have a new section called 'Fast Draw' featuring two artists, Mitch Butler and Josh Landis. I went looking for yesterday's segment on YouTube today and haven't found it (yet) but did find their premier segment from the show. And it has to do (a bit) with kids and technology! I love how they incorporate audio clips into their segment...AWESOME!

Race Day

It's almost time for the Daytona 500. It's a tradition for me to start off watching the race with Stephen and fall asleep somewhere in the middle. I'll never get very excited about watching this race! The announcers are wearing puzzle pins for Autism Speaks promoting autism awareness. There is going to be an auction of wheels used during today's race. To read about it or learn more about Autism Speaks go to http://www.autismspeaks.org/index.php Okay...so there's something cool about today's race!

I finished Ysabel. I give it a solid 'B' rating. I didn't like the voice of the narrator or the way the women of the novel were all very much alike. I loved the weaving of history into the story and I liked the overall spiritual mysticism of the story. I got confused by the use of pronouns. Sometimes I would have to read and re-read paragraphs and entire pages to know which 'he' or 'she' was conducting the action. Don't get me wrong-I did really like it. But it's time for a new book!

So on to Hoot by Carl Hiassen. I read Stormy Weather this summer. It was funny, full of wit and sort of that extreme comic or caricature like feel in the entire story. It's meant to be a little shocking I think, but almost dry in delivery. Anyhow, Hoot was written for younger readers and my mom loves it. I know a teacher or two who teaches it in their classrooms with middle school students. The author's site is http://www.carlhiaasen.com/index.html

And back to the races...when is the over-commercialism going to STOP!
okay, time for a nap!

Lost Again

Time for a new episode of Lost...wondering WHAT are we watching and why are we watching it? It's like Twin Peaks all over again. The commercials are insane. Comcast should advertise its DVR service during shows like this (or Tivo for that matter). We're ready to commit!

Today at work, a teacher was complaining about the students' use of email in our course management system. They complained to somebody that they didn't know WHO was teaching them how to use it. How were they ever going to stop the students from using it in their classroom?! Oh boy...I SHOWED THEM HOW TO USE IT! I wanted to scream when I heard that story...have we ever heard of classroom management? teaching responsible use? 21st century tools? Well duh, middle school students are going to abuse an online communication tool if given the opportunity. But at what point do we admit we've lost control of what happens in our classrooms and the inmates are running the asylum?

Playlist

http://www.projectplaylist.com was one of the recent sites to go the way of blocking in our county. You can hardly blame the teachers for wanting it blocked. The kids were going to the site and searching for their favorite songs while they were supposed to be working. BUT they were also plugging in headphones and listening to their playlists and friends' playlists while they were working. I didn't stop kids from doing THAT while it wasn't blocked, though I did stop them from searching for new tracks.

The site will probably go away someday. I think that despite the fact that it is not sharing the files for download, it is linking out to sites that are violating copyright, at least as I understand copyright. I like the site and I really like putting music on my playlist. In fact, I go to my blog while I'm at work and play my playlist while I'm working. Eek! I'm like one of THEM! But I am definitely working and not goofing around. I just get it that sometimes to stay focused you need a distraction.

And if you don't like the playlist linked into this blog, please feel free to pause it! I found out about the site through a bit of fan fiction on another blog site. It had a soundtrack! I thought, "How cool is that?!" and figured that I could try to figure it out. I did! And it's easy! I don't have a myspace to link it into, but the blog will do for now.

Any recommendations for my playlist? I have learned about new artists through other people's recommendations and playlists and have bought three cds in the past month due to interest from these playlists. I don't cheat and search for free downloads. If I find something I like, I'll buy the CD or the track in iTunes. It's true. If that is true of all the users, then the music industry should like the playlist site...but chances are, the kids are finding their ways around it and not having to buy anything. I don't know! Until I do know, I will enjoy it and hope you will do the same.

Time for a new book

I'm now reading Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay. It was recommended to me by another ITRT in the county who learned about it through her librarian. Here is a link to the author's website about the book: http://www.brightweavings.com/books/ysabel.htm I haven't read far enough to really explain what it is about. I was looking for something to keep me distracted while I wait for Breaking Dawn (that's a whole lot of reading between now and August). It's like I was telling the fabulous librarian at my school, Lauren, ever since I read the Twilight series, I'm in search of a book or books that will keep me as interested and involved. I'm telling you, those books have voodoo!

The local schools are involved with the regional library system in a program called Cafe Books. The students who participate read from a preset list of books and meet over their lunch periods and/or online and have a chance to share and discuss the books with each other and librarians from the region. Why didn't they have something like that when I was in school? Here is the about page for Cafe Book if you want to see what local teens are reading and rating: http://www.teenspoint.org/schools/cafe_book/index.asp

It's hard for me to read during the week. I try to keep dinner on the table and my sanity in order before falling asleep around 10. Once I start reading, I get lost in the story and time slips away. It's not unusual for me to look at the clock and see that two hours have passed...oops! So I have to avoid it during the week. But it does help me relax at night and if I set a curfew of sorts, I get my sleep. LOL Like you care about that!

Almost Forgot!

I almost forgot to mention the release date for Breaking Dawn-August 2, 2008! Now most of you will not CARE that the release date for the 4th book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series is coming sooner rather than later, but I CARE and this is MY blog! If you do care, check out her website at http://www.stepheniemeyer.com . The books have a bit of voodoo in them, I'm quite convinced! They are delicious young adult reads. So far, my librarian's recommendation to me to read Twilight has touched seven people and they are all EXCITED about this release date. We are Twilight Teachers!

Okay, time for Lost.

February Thursdays

I attended a workshop earlier this week on Differentiation and Visual Literacy with Technology Integration led by Lynell Burmark. She was excellent. I decided to add the puzzle link below. It will take you to jigzone.com, an old favorite site of mine. Lynell spoke about the need for images and the proper use of images in teaching. There was so much to it, I can hardly get into it on a February Thursday, just minutes before the start of Lost. But I enjoyed it immensely. She had me from the beginning with a discussion of making a 'Snickers' of the standards--taking all of the good stuff and making it all happen together. She related this to the standards and the technology where so many standards and the technology we wish to integrate are taught in isolation, bit by bit. But like a Snickers bar, where the chocolate and the peanuts and the caramel and the nougat would be yummy individually, aren't they so much better all together? Yum! A woman after my own heart...

Thursdays in February are generally cold. We hope for Friday afternoons as we cuddle in our comfies on the couch. We wish for the weekend with warm socks and quiet nights and good movies. We're tired and drained, but hopeful for an end to the week.

first post

Time to start blogging!