In a Corner In a box...

Let the Turkey Carcasses do their work!

2011-11-25T08:02:00.002-05:00

I could not pass up the two turkey carcasses, they were begging to be made into soup. This house is going to smell good all day.

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Learning to say no...

2011-09-25T08:11:00.000-04:00

Clearly I have issues with the word no. I cannot say it when it matters. I cannot say it when I am already overworked and stressed. I need to make this word my new best friend.

I cried over this one...

2011-08-06T21:21:00.001-04:00

Pearl's Oyster Bar

2011-07-29T13:34:00.002-04:00

I love taking my friends and family to the Redding Market Terminal, but some places are better to visit on a food crawl than others. I am an oyster lover, so Pearl's was definitely on my to-eat-at list. I assumed that since they were famous, they cared a bit about their product and offered up famous-worthy fare. Unfortunately, the oysters were very small and contained a green slimy rim inside- they don't really clean out the shells. Now there are purists out there that will argue with me about the slime, but as I wasn't sitting right on a dock or boat, it seemed out of place. The soup was decent, bu nothing to write about.

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2011 Teen Arts Festival

2011-06-27T09:40:00.001-04:00

The Bishop

2011-05-16T08:57:00.002-04:00

The Bishop by Steven James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, this book was total guilty pleasure, as a result I did not use my time as wisely as I could this weekend. I have never read a Patrick Bowers Mystery, and I appear not to have read the first books, so I have to go back. It was a very good read, I give it five stars and would have given it more if I could. An interesting book all the way through, combining family dynamics, serial killers, virtual lives, and a corrupt government system. You know, our usual everyday problems. I was kept guessing for a long time, and I appreciate that in a mystery, as many red herrings as the criminals were supplying to the FBI, the author Steven James was supplying to the reader. Consequently, I was almost able to get to the end of the book before all the disparate pieces came together. It would have been so easy to to assume other endings, which is a testament to the author. I appreciated the inclusion of Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Dolye. It appears that there was a debate within the the story, and of course I sought out my edition of Hamlet right away to compare my thoughts to James'. I can hardly wait to get back to the library for more...

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Techy Things Teachers Should Try: My Avatar Editor

2011-05-11T23:01:00.000-04:00

Techy Things Teachers Should Try: My Avatar Editor: "My Avatar Editor is a free online site where you can create and edit avatars. Gender, height, size, hair and eye color, along with other ph..."

Crashers

2011-05-11T06:46:00.002-04:00

Crashers by Dana Haynes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW! Could not put it down! incredible and dangerous implications for the technology we unthinkingly use everyday. This was a cliffhanger- all the way through, with nice little dalliances into romance and matters of the heart- Plane crashes, huge investigations,FBI, NCIB and more. I especially like the way the investigation played out in the timeline from initial crash point. Reading about the underpinnings of our investigative bodies and how they manage a scene was a big draw for me. I like knowing how things work...

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Bury Your Dead

2011-04-20T08:29:00.001-04:00

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At first I was confused, I got characters mixed up and had to go back a few times to straighten them out in my head; it was well worth the effort however. Louise Penny managed stories within stories, some critical, others secondary but no less important for the characters involved. The humanity each character has makes me want to go back in and find out more about each of the people who made this book such a rich reading experience. They are all flawed, have feelings, histories and messy lives where they are sometimes forced to make difficult choices. I have not read much about Canada, in particular I knew next to nothing about Quebec other than what my school textbooks taught us about trading. I come away after reading this piece with a glimpse of a world unexplored and a need to know more. Chief Inspector Gamache is a man to follow, so I will be looking for him among the stacks.

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Good Friends on Good Reads!

2011-04-18T19:19:00.002-04:00

Last one is a rotten egg!
No seriously, the last one is my epal from Guatemala

My epal from Guatemala is finally on Goodreads.com. I am thrilled! With all the social networking going on out there, I cannot seem to get my friends to join easily. I know we all read books, maybe they don't all read as voraciously, but they do keep up a respectable pile by their beds. I have sent out invites a few times, and they slowly trickle in. After a whole year, I am now up to a whopping seven friends. Ugggh! I hope if you are a reader, you will take the time to participate. I have found some good books my friends have suggested to me this way, and I always know what they are reading. I LOVE talking about books more than technology. I tell my students about this web 2.0 tool, I want them to track what they are reading while they are young. Hopefully it will stay free as they grow up. Yeah Goodreads.com.

Epsilon System Hacked: Has Your E-Mail Been Stolen?

2011-04-18T19:18:00.000-04:00

I know mine must have been, I received eight different emails from various companies that my email information was exposed due to the Epsilon hacking incident. I wonder how many of you got that same message? United retail group, Best Buy, Target and College Board all sent me Epsilon warning notifications in one day. We use a specific email just for any online transactions, but it doesn't help. Ultimately, we cannot have a throwaway email. We actually need some of the information companies send when we buy stuff online. For instance, at the Apple store, they email us our receipts, well, I need those receipts. I need the entrance ticket to the SAT test for my daughter, I need the concert tickets and boarding passes. There has to be a secure email associated with my banking and shopping where I can receive notifications if there is a problem. This past month, I have received three emails from friends that were clearly not from them, they were hacked and now I have changed all my passwords again in case they start getting some from me. I send out quite a few emails, I know that may be weird in this world of texting, but it is how schools get work done. I do not need people scared to open my emails. I have eleven email accounts and have started just opening them all on my phone, rather than on my computer, I can handle a virus on my phone easier. The sprint store is closer than the Apple store. Haha! Meanwhile, I just keep changing my passwords and trying to stay ahead of the hackers.

techtocktoe: Epsilon System Hacked: Has Your E-Mail Been Stolen...

2011-04-18T19:16:00.000-04:00

techtocktoe: Epsilon System Hacked: Has Your E-Mail Been Stolen...: "I know mine must have been, I received eight different emails from various companies that my email information was exposed due to the Epsilo..."

Bananas Freeze Beautifully!

2011-04-09T20:25:00.002-04:00

My sister told me to freeze the bananas!

I have been chucking out dead bananas for years that were just ripe enough for banana bread, but too ripe to eat. If I didn't have time to make the bread, out they would go. Now I know to just chuck them in the freezer. After 2 weeks I have enough for a few loaves of bread. The family loves it, I don't have to throw anything away and I don't feel guilty buying bananas a few times a week.

I always add extra bananas to my recipe. The secret is to add two more than they ask for in a recipe and leave some nice chunks- don't over-mix if you want moist bread.

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Is Your Apple Cozy? You can help out.

2011-03-29T08:36:00.002-04:00

My apples are super cozy thanks to a local crafter who showed up at knitting last week. She is looking for other crafters to benefit Emmie Mangione at a Spring Festival Fundraiser.

It will take place on Saturday, April 30th,
10am-3pm at the Marlton Assembly of God
625 East Main Street in Marlton.

If you are a crafter and want to book a table to benefit Emmie, call 609-980-2240.

Emmie is a young lady from Marlton, NJ with DiGeorge Syndrome. She is in need of a special wheelchair with shock absorption to prevent fractures. Her family also needs the family van adapted to accommodate the chair. Emmie has four siblings and has been through so much, seven open-heart surgeries, several strokes, a cardiac arrest and continuous spine fractures. You can meet Emmie at her website.

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After Ever After

2011-03-28T06:34:00.001-04:00

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Late effects- I never thought about them before. We have a teacher in our town who has been fighting her battle with cancer for the last two years. We are all focused on fundraising, getting her well and into remission, but we don't think about the after, when she may lose her career and not have control of her body again. All those poisons may help her turn a corner, but they may also devastate her golden years. As a follow-up to Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, Sonnenblick tells the other part of the story, what happens to people after they "make it." The long-term effects on family, friends and finances still lurk in the future...

Moving on with a life that was once ruled by cancer can be as uplifting and as heartbreaking as the progression of the disease itself.

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A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Lantern

2011-03-28T06:06:00.000-04:00

These pictures are shot from angles I was not privy to, alas we arrived too late for choice seats. I should have driven into the city the way I intended, over the Ben and through the woods... but I took the Walt Whitman, and we all know how long-winded he can be. Just saying. The largest cast I have ever seen at the Lantern Theatre Company's yearly Shakespearian production did not delight as much as their Hamlet or Richard the III. Considering it was a comedy, I thought I would enjoy it more than the amazing tragedies I have seen by this theatre company. For all the costuming (which was highly unusual for the lantern) and large cast, it was the small moments that made this production work. Wall for instance, fittingly played by Mark Cairns, who also played Snout and Mustardseed, carried a large portion of the comic relief on his shoulders. I hope to see more of him at the Lantern. Our beloved Benjamin Lloyd made a reappearance and his resounding bellows as Bottom brought life to a production that can be a drag, no offense William, but it is not one of your best plays. The staging was particularly good, staying true to the company's sparse style but offering moments of magic with the fairies. I did wonder at the costuming though, I could not fathom why Mary Folino would have chosen linen of all fabrics for Helena and Hermia. I kept imagining the frantic ironing that needs to take place to bring those mangled costumes back to life. When I write mangled, I mean it, these actors commit fully to every fight and struggle, shedding and tearing at one another's clothes. I only hope that they had a few spare outfits, or they will never make it through the run. As costuming goes, in some areas it can detract, but with performers playing double and triple roles, I can understand the necessity. I need to see this play staged by other companies to make any true review because I never warmed up to the main characters at all, and I am not sure that I am supposed to. Puck (Dave Johnson) stealthily stole this production out from underneath all other players. I found myself watching his face above all others. It was me watching him, watching the action... hmmmm what does that remind me of?

Digital summary of Synectics

2011-03-22T17:34:00.003-04:00

I have officially exceeded my cognitive load

2011-03-08T20:16:00.003-05:00

Cognitive Load Quiz » quiz

Who knew learning spanish numbers 11-20 would be so stressful for me? Perhaps this is the way our students feel everyday. We should slow down- wish we could, we shoud have more fun- wish we could. It makes me reflect on how busy we all are and how Sundays aren't sacred anymore and how much we need to project a balenced mood in our classrooms. In this class I am taking right now- there is a lot of pressure, there are many intelligent people who constantly keep us on our toes. The stakes feel high, otherwise, why would I be worried about ten little numbers? I was though, and so grateful for the handout- or I would have failed. I guess I need more time (as our students frequently do)with concepts that challenge me.

I need a break, Seriously!

Connectivism Lesson quiz

2011-03-08T19:14:00.000-05:00

Connectivism Quiz » Create A Quiz

Research Reflections

2011-03-08T08:55:00.001-05:00

I was grateful for our time last week with the librarian. It reminded me of how much my students enjoy a guest speaker. Although we had taken library tutorial last semester, I definitely benefitted from the reinforcement and I was glad she reminded us to remove the "Noise Words." Since we are doing so much research right now, this was just-in-time learning. I also benefitted from the folder conversation. I finally found out what went wrong in 2005, during my senior seminar with Professor Tompkins. All my Northrop Frye research disappeared from my folder after a long night of research and I had to do it all over again. The discussion of the Interlibrary loan (ILL) was lively, especially since one of our classmates is so far away. I hardly think it would be cost- effective to ship books to Panama, but it is nice to know we can get what we want when we are on campus. I did take advantage of this on a number of occasions and was happy with the result.

Love, Honor and Betray

2011-03-05T15:52:00.002-05:00

Love, Honor, and Betray by Kimberla Lawson Roby

I am sure there is a market for this type of book, but it is not me. I just picked it up on my weekly run through the library, I think I liked the pink dress.
What a mistake, after the first chapter I thought, "hmmmm", then by the second, I knew it was a trashy sensationalist novel that was not for me. If you are into serial adultery set against the backdrop of a church, by all means, pick up the book yourself. I drove it right back to the library and threw it into the book return with a thud of satisfaction. I think the thing that bugs me most is that there is a market for books where people are selfish and lie and cheat on one another. It reminds me too much of the poor friends I have on the other side of that selfish behavior, the kids whose lives are changed as a result of the deliberate "mistakes" their parents make. It goes on my digital shelf of "Awful books I will not finish reading." I couldn't give it less than one star, I am sure the author worked hard on it, but I wish her thoughts took a different direction.

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"The Tenth Song"

2011-03-03T20:07:00.003-05:00

The Tenth Song by Naomi Ragen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Surprise ending and I won't spoil it here- though it did seem a bit rushed. There was build-up but it never actually had a satisfying crescendo. That said, or in this case written, this is the first book I have read by Ragen and I may go back for a second helping because of the simple truths that she reveals. We can surround ourselves with people we think we need approval from, but none of that really matters. Reading the passages about the relationship of Kayla to her mother Abigail reminded me of how we don't always have to have expectations of our kids- we just have to enjoy them.

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Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwall

2011-02-27T06:15:00.005-05:00

Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The most disjointed book by Cornwall that has ever come out. It is a fascinating story, but too much. It is hard to feel for the characters because they all veer on the side of being too flawed at this point, almost like a mid-life crisis. The demons of the past have cropped up in so many stories, now the past IS one of the characters. Fielding's past was de rigueur, as was the recent Briggs connection. Unfortunately, the whole locked box/apatheid story could have been a completely different narrative; too many elements all crammed into one made it a convoluted and tangled mess.

I am not used to being disappointed by this particular author and everyone knows I am going to snap the next novel up, but I can not help but point out that I was at times frustrated by the pace and the enormity of detail that all takes place in a two-day period. I do believe the assumption that Scarapetta could go from a pcp-induced rant to being able to sift through data and remains without sleep or food is expecting too much. I want to be clear, each story line and detail was good, just not this particular amalgam in a miniscule time frame. It would be nice to stay within the realm of possibility and not be removed from all the action at the same time. Expecting us to believe that Marino, Lucy and Benton and other staff would knowingly allow so much to go awry in Scarpetta's absence is not bearable either. She was blinded on such a monumental scale that we lose faith in the character. It may also be time for Scarpetta to be able to work a crime scene or case without being in physical danger or under threat herself. The helicopter inspection didn't really connect to anything later in the story. It was setting us up for Lucy to be in danger ...and then...fail.

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Rest in Peace

2011-02-23T10:37:00.003-05:00

The Word "said" lived a long and busy life, gracing the writing pieces of novice writers world-wide. Although he was just a simple word, many people adopted him and used him on a daily basis. Unfortunately, "said" tired and overused, gave in under such intense pressure and gasped with one last breath, "Please forget me when I'm gone."

Tech Quiz

2011-02-22T19:48:00.004-05:00

MAIT Technology Quiz - Michelle » funny quizzes

We were asked to post our quiz results here, and for now it will clutter up my blog. While not immediately valuable to me, I did see that some people in our class learned how to grab an embed code for the first time to post various assignments and assessments to their blogs. I can see the value in this when working with my own students and asking them to post their results. This works only if the quiz locks them out after the first try and if the students are comfortable posting their grades in an online forum. Hmmmmmm... food for thought. I am conflicted because I KNOW that I have students that would be horrified and some students that wouldn't care a whit. I know I took the quiz a few times just so I could post my best score. If the quiz is being used to LEARN, and not as a FINAL assessment, it could be valuable to post the score certificate, such as " When you score an 80 or above, post your quiz certificate." Another observation I had is that I would ask students to use their first names or nicknames so their full names would not be published on the certificate.

Bit of a control freak here

2011-02-22T11:29:00.005-05:00

I now have a direction for our lesson, but I am not inspired to write much about it here yet. I am still digesting this upcoming lesson for tonight's class, it should be interesting to create a pln graphic using only text. I was a little confused by the directions because we were supposed to be able to work on something we wanted to work on, but if we are in groups maybe we will be arranged according to the topics we selected. Anyway I created my own for tonight in case we have more rough snowstorms- here it is.

Perhaps I need some coffee to get motivated- I was up all night waiting for a snow day to be called or not called for kids and myself- amazing that I can never sleep when a snow day may occur. I am glad my partner and I got together for our project- I always feel unsettled with things that are not certain. I get anxious, just like the snow day thing. I guess I am a bit of a control freak. Since many people in class exhibit these tendencies- because we prefer to work alone rather than give up control, I thought I would share this picture...

I hope they are all headed in the same direction...

Who wants to follow them?

2011-02-08T21:19:00.000-05:00

After tonight's lesson in class, I am so much more aware of how the stakes have risen. A perfectly executed lesson is a hard act to follow. I particularly noticed how the assessment quiz related to the instruction and with the flashcards. The end result was tied in with the actual lesson, and if I took more time I would have aced my quiz, as it was I got a 60% because I kept selecting what I would do rather than what Gagne would do. I would dissect at least part of frog to gain student attention rather than show a video clip, but that is just me.

I already have too many flashcards, but I can narrow them down to 10 assessment questions easily. In fact, I think I may have already done this without knowing. Let me explain, the quizlet application creates quizzes as well as flashcards- so I really just have to copy and paste 10 of the best into proprofs or word. I can see if I can use quizlet to give me a link for others to take the kind of quiz I want them to take. Of course, Brian was going to do that part so we may have to shift roles yet again and trade jobs. We will see. I was so glad Dustin and Erin used the notebook software, not only because it is my favorite software and so much fun, but because it worked in WIMBA! Finally, something works in the Wimba window the way it is supposed to. I learned some new things tonight about teaming up in the wimba environment. Clearly the chat window was always being monitored by at least one of the presenters. They handled the whole environment very well. The bell ringing and little horn were nice touches. I am glad Dustin and Erin used the people in the room to their advantage to assist them in making it such a great lesson.

Happy Birthday

2011-02-04T18:27:00.008-05:00

My husband is having a birthday and that day is special enough for me to splurge on the most fantastic cupcakes that exist. I will share some of them here with you in the hopes that someone inspired enough in your area will make these mouth-watering treats for YOU.
The flavors are divine and fit for the angels.
The shop has a wonderful baker who lives- GASP!- 6 blocks away from me. Thank goodness her shop is out of town or I would weight 300 pounds. I do not eat sweets often, I prefer carbs- all carbs- all the time, but these creations are good enough to make me turn a blind eye to macaroni and feast on sugar!

Can you just die looking at them?

I have to remember to put it all in one place!

2011-02-01T21:18:00.000-05:00

Theory presentation notes:
A jog may work, I have been using Tolis' tool since last semester with a vengeance! Here is a sample of some jogs I have created for various content areas. I think for Brian and I, we may have to put everything in one place to present. We run the risk of people running ahead- but it will save time in opening files and avoid the whole sharing nightmare that I had before in Wimba. Last semester, I pre-loaded a powerpoint- and then once I hit the archive button, it wouldn't load properly in the screen. I hate the lag of presentations in total share mode, it just gets annoying for me. Therefore, I must stick to my guns. Other questions remain--- what lesson to teach? Which Synectic strategy to use? I do not want to over-think it, nor do I want to leave anyone confused as to the application of Synectic theory. Last semester was definitely simpler, but I am grateful that Brian and I do not have to present first. I made the powerpoint too long last semester- so I am glad Brian will do our digital summary. He is bound to get right to the heart of the theory.

Reflection on class:
I was kicked out of wimba a few times- that means Brian and I each have to have total access to everything we are creating- so we have a back-up plan. I felt bad for John and Ryan, because they did not have the benefit of watching some of us struggle last semester with Murphy and his "anything that can happen, will happen." I thank them for paving the way. Can't wait for next week, the avatars are my favorite elements of the presentations so far. I want puppet avatars.

School Tech: 6 Important Lessons From Maine's Student Laptop Program

2011-02-01T09:47:00.000-05:00

School Tech: 6 Important Lessons From Maine's Student Laptop Program | Diigo

Since we are involved in the Talent 21 grant in NJ, I thought I would share this article.

Chicken Marsala

2011-01-28T16:52:00.001-05:00

To prepare chicken tenderloins or thin breasts, pound flat and salt and pepper to taste. Dredge in flour and then egg, then sauté in oil and butter 4 minutes each side.

To prepare sauce:
Start with a liberal amount of olive oil and one dollop of butter in a heavy skillet. Add 1/4 cup onion, 1 garlic clove (smashed), and sauté.
Add 3 teaspoons flour to make a roux, deglaze pan with 1 cup marsala wine. Add mushrooms and chopped fresh parsley. When mushrooms are tender, add 1 1/2 cups beef broth. Let thicken, pour over chicken breasts. Salt and pepper to taste.
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Sticky Lemon Chicken with Champ

2011-01-26T15:56:00.001-05:00

Sticky Lemon Chicken with Champ

My husband made this wonderful dish for us for dinner and I had to share. It is Gordon Ramsey's recipe and there is a youtube video that teaches how to make it. When I came home after a very long Monday, this was a real treat. We had to eat late as the kids had tons of activities, but it was worth it. I brought in leftovers to school the next day and I literally had a circle of people around me after I heated it up. They all wanted some. In case you want to try to make it, here is the video.

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Everybody's Different...

2011-01-25T22:02:00.003-05:00

During our class tonight, I really noticed how everyone can hear the same thing and come up with a completely different understanding of what they heard. We all bring our own filters to the table. People who were familiar with Learning Theory Families knew certain things and the rest of the class played catch up. The ones who understood the way the product could look or what it should represent, didn't necessarily understand the content. THANK GOODNESS we had each other. We all come from different backgrounds and don't all have the same starting point.
After examining some of the products, I knew we shouldn't have second-guessed our inclination to have some text in the product. I felt like the link we created for the two families was not clear. Halfway through the exercise- I realized someone else had joined our team, so that was a surprise. When I tried to load Ryan's PowerPoint, it fragged my macbook and I had to switch to another macbook. I was lucky I had another on hand. Whew! I may have to re-download the Office for Mac software because I think my PowerPoint is corrupted. I have had trouble a few times with it and I do not have time for that in this class. It just won't do if my macbook freezes up when I open a PowerPoint. Half the time we are opening PowerPoints.

Our Class- as different as the two sides of the brain

I was unaware that we could have two wimba rooms, though we can't be in both at the same time. If we can I haven't figured our how to do it. I truly enjoyed working with new people tonight. Even though we each brought different understanding to the communal table, I feel like we worked well as a team. We LEARNED as a team, made decisions as a team, what emerged was our shared understanding or misunderstanding, which is an example of George Siemen's connectivism. Here is a link to a nice Connectivism glossary.

I love pot luck suppers because you never know what you are going to get, and there is always the potential to find a new dish to enjoy. In the case of this class, the mixture of students who are familiar with each other and the students who are fresh to the group are going to make this an interesting and rewarding semester. The scavenger hunt activity was fun and we were so careful to leave breadcrumbs. Consequently, when we opened another group's hunt, we were laughing because they left just the bare bones for clues, and we still found what we needed to find. It goes to show that one method can be just as right as another, or there is MORE than one way to skin a cat. I wonder who came up with that saying? Who wanted to skin a cat anyway?

Pseudostupidity

2011-01-23T16:02:00.003-05:00

"The tendency to approach problems at much too complex a level and fail, not because the tasks are difficult, but because they are too simple." (Elkind)

Trying not to over-think the tasks in front of me, hard to do. I couldn't even make breakfast happen right this morning, burned the wrong sausage- the plantains not ripe enough, not happy with rice cooker, hated the back-up breakfast choices, and over-thinking my schoolwork enough that I don't even feel confident enough to take the syllabus quiz. I should have moved past this stage during adolescence, but apparently, I am still stuck. Sorry for complaining, trying to move past it all. I would help if I chose ONE direction to concentrate on for more than five minutes. I keep going back and forth. You can tell because I am here blogging instead of working. My process of learning stinks on a regular basis, and today it is just a mess.

UPDATE:
Ok, after a little nap and some amazing macha refreshing me, I have returned to life, though I do not plan on cooking or baking anything until I am sure the curse has worn off. The syllabus quiz was too easy for all the stress I assigned it (I hate timed assessments), and I have looked at many examples of Synectics. I am taking it slow, I will get to the personal learning theory papers next after I am done looking at all the synectics examples. I am grateful that they are all posted for our benefit in the course materials section. It would be helpful to know which ones were the best- if there was a rating system so we know which are the absolute BEST examples.

After looking at a few websites that showed "best practices" I came to the conclusion that it is easy to slap a "best practices" label on anything. As we have peer-reviewed articles available to us through the library or other internet sources- it would be helpful to have peer-reviewed websites for all teachers to access for any best practices claim. I know there was some talk about an alternate internet of only peer reviewed "stuff" Forgot what it was called. Waiting for it... we all know what works BEST for us or for our students, to have websites rated not by number of hits but by scholarship and experience would be amazing (Plus just think of all the jobs that would be created this way).

On another positive note, I was on EBSCO and realized that some of the articles has associated mp3's what a boon to my tired eyes!

My Learning Style

2011-01-18T17:36:00.013-05:00

I had to decide what my learning style was, I think this is it. I like a model, I am not very creative on my own, but I can find applications and tweaks ONCE I have a model. Tonight's class was good, some fresh faces and lots of familiar faces as well. Brian is mine, hopefully he and I have fun discovering Synectics, I have NO idea what that is. Sounds fishy to me.
The syllabus is a furry, smelly beast right now that I have not yet made friends with. I know once we start rolling, it will stop having eight heads and a thousand claws, but I also know it will be a lot of work in a very short period of time. So enough of my jawing, I have to get back to work. Honestly I do. My readers need to ready themselves to read another smattering of weekly class posts interspersed with my real life, my non-academic life, which fits into like TWO hours of my day, when I should be sleeping, or showering or something extremely creative or fun.

My Learning Style

I have planned some fun in the next week and then officially my life is over until this class is behind me. I will be done by Easter break, that is a blessing because I plan on visiting some friends far away. I posted a plea for an epal from Paris, France, I will have to see if I get one. I need one for this course, so if you know anyone, and DRINNE, I am sure YOU do, please let me know.

Time

2011-01-12T22:00:00.006-05:00

Bridge

2011-01-12T22:00:00.005-05:00

NYC ##

2011-01-12T21:58:00.003-05:00

Meditation

2011-01-12T21:57:00.001-05:00

So thankful for my home right now

2011-01-12T17:02:00.001-05:00

My home may be small, I may have one bathroom, but I have a place to go every night. I am so sad for the family from my school who lost their house today. I can collect clothing and gift cards to give them, to replace some of the things they have lost. However, I cannot give them a place to go tonight, and for the coming months, that they can call home. There is nothing like the feeling of pulling into my driveway and having my home waiting for me. Just imagining how they feel is depressing beyond words. If you care to help, I will update this post with an address where donations can be sent.

A Skull in Connemara | 2010/11 Season | Lantern Theater Company

2011-01-12T16:54:00.003-05:00

A Skull in Connemara | 2010/11 Season | Lantern Theater Company
I cannot wait to see this Saturday night with my daughter and her friends. I will review after the show and update you here.

UPDATE: Ok, we saw it and laughed our faces off. There are times NOT to read a play ahead of time, and this was one of them. I think I still have bones in my hair, and now I know there should not only be a warning about possible smoking on stage, but a directive to PLEASE WEAR GOGGLES to this show if you value your eyesight just the tiniest bit. Since it is an extremely small, black box theatre, everyone got hit with a bit of skeleton. After all, they have no room left in Connemara, so we may as well take the remains home with us.

Jake Blouch was a true delight as Mairtin, he was a fresh face to the Lantern Theatre Company and I hope they bring him back for more, once they fix his skull and clean him up a bit. Completely engaged in his character, his lewdness and moronic demeanor kept us alternately gasping with horror and hilarity, especially when he became particularly intimate with a pair of skulls. Stephen Novelli was equally impressive and also new to the company, I plan on following his career to see what else he shows up in. As the play progressed, his character (Mick) was pulling on our heartstrings one moment, then shocking us with his swaggering show of bravada and might in the next. I could not believe I was seeing the same Jered McLenigan I saw in Taming of the Shrew and Henry IV Part I. I do believe it is time for him to update his program photo, I didn't recognize him either time, he is good at either not looking like his picture, or else the extremely short haircut was throwing me off. McLenigan's too-tight, too-short pants reminded me of Queen's lead singer, Freddie Mercury. He was also quite adept at strutting around the stage playing Thomas Hanlon, the man we LOVE to hate because he is just that good at being a nasty bugger. Ellen Mulroney's back was to us most of the play, which I think is an oversight in blocking, normally the Lantern manages those bits more effectively, so I don't feel up to giving her Maryjohnny any kind of review. I could not see her face. Trust me, the merest expressions on the other three actors would carry this show even if the script wasn't as hysterical as Martin McDonagh could make it, with the digging up of one's own wife and all the bones being flung about. The choice of actors is a triumph for director Kathleen MacMillan. I only hope they don't run out of bones before the end of the run. It is a shame it is only a three-week run, I would LOVE to go back and see it again.

Prezi for the ipad!

2011-01-11T13:59:00.005-05:00

Are you on the lam?

2011-01-08T09:58:00.002-05:00

My baby enjoying my old woobie

Those of you close to me know that I love my woobie, I am like Linus, I carry it around the house and it gets beat up. I have had my latest one for almost ten years. My woobie was left behind on our family vacation to comfort my dogs. We were going away for a week and I felt awful about leaving them in a "Doggie Resort." Even thought the place was nice, the staff were friendly and it was all clean, I know that my dogs are used to comfort. They loll around on couches and rugs all day, not hard concrete floors. Even though the cage was the size of my tiny kitchen, where my dogs typically spend their days when I am at work, I couldn't relax.
My husband came up with the brilliant idea of leaving them my woobie. I have been asking for no less than five years for a new one and each Mother's Day, Valentines Day and Christmas Day passed by with no new woobie in sight (Birthdays are for big-ticket items like couches and vans). My husband promised I could go out and get a new one if I gave mine to the dogs. I dropped my babies off with my woobie and KNEW that it could never grace my bed again after living in a Doggie Motel.

My Temporary Woobie

We came back from vaca and I FORGOT I had no woobie to sleep with. IMAGINE! My husband gave me his blanket, which I hate, but he slept with a little kid's blanket until I could get a replacement. After a few cold nights I stopped by my local quilt shop to select one. I will not mention the name of the shop until the mystery is solved, but here is my new Flannel Quilted woobie. It took a few minutes to decide from what they were WILLING to sell. I picked the better of two evil patterns. I got the granny one instead of the great-granny one. Actually, I chose the thicker of the two because it is so cold right now, but it will never work for the summer months. I really wanted the ones hanging on the ceiling (they were so amazazing) and will have to wait until they run out of the fabric that they used for them.

So I am announcing that is is my temporary woobie. I prefer one with many piecings and a gentler design with GOOD color choices. Here is the strange part of my story, I wanted to photograph the women who made my woobie; one jumped right in and the other was strangely reticent. She would only show the side of her face and I assure you, she is quite pretty, not deformed at all. I know I take a bad picture, but I would never hide my face on a creation photo. Truly weirded out now, I wonder what the deal is. Is she on the lam? Did she kidnap her child and run away? Is she in the witness protection program? Hmmmm. I feel a little bad speculating like this when she could just be shy, or maybe she hated the quilt she made. It's a mystery...

She almost wouldn't take the picture

It's all who you know

2011-01-03T20:48:00.003-05:00

Biggest Hit Day Ever

Thank you David Pogue, you brought my obscure blog over 5,000 hits in one day. You tweeted my post to your over 1,328,181 followers, and I was famous for my 15 minutes (My brush with fame). You also have me tweeting again after a little hiatus. I have forgotten how much information and how many cool people I met on twitter. New items I learned from twitter this week: how long the lines were are Seaworld, Delicious is up for sale, and people get real sappy around the holidays. Mr. Pogue, since you were so generous with me I will re-post your latest book here in hopes that anyone reading this will run out and support your latest endeavor.

Portobella Escargot with shaved Parmesean

2011-01-03T16:14:00.001-05:00

This was so delicious! The Hurricane in Pass-A-Grill, on St. Pete Beach.
10 ESCARGOT SAUT`EED IN GARLIC BUTTER with a touch of parmesan cheese Served over a PORTABELLA MUSHROOM CAP WITH GARLIC BREAD
Everything was so delicious, but this was a total surprise, I have never had escargot prepared this way. They also had an amazing drink that was a cross between a Margarita and a Mojito. I drank my husband's all up before I even noticed it was gone.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Colonial America

2011-01-03T13:39:00.001-05:00

Colonial America Wonderful resources for teachers with smartboards or one-to one laptops focusing on Colonial America studies.

Stick a fork in it

2010-12-30T20:07:00.002-05:00

You know you are licked when you have to place the white flag in your food. We tried everything at this resturant in Orlando, Bento Cafe. The price is right and they have a huge variety of foods, Japanese, Tai, Vietnamese and Chinese. They were out of the Udon when we ate there, but everything was tasty. They do takeout as well.

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Vacation?

2010-12-27T14:46:00.002-05:00

Watching my husband stand on an entertainment unit and hang massive pictures.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Empanadas from Mr. Empanada

2010-12-26T11:08:00.002-05:00

I have to find out of they ship, these are the best empanadas we have EVER tasted.

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Shrimps with Oyster Sauce

2010-12-26T11:05:00.004-05:00

Yes, I calls em shrimps- I did not get a lot of this dish- as the sides were high and I kept forgetting what was in the dish as it sat at the wrong end of the table. My husband loved them- so I will have to make them.

Here is the recipe:

1 lb. large shrimps with shells and tails on
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 tsp. fish sauce
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce (Oyster sauce is made with dried oysters, soy salt and brine)
salt
me

Directions

Invite me over for dinner, I will bring the wine or beer.
In a large pan, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté garlic and onions until fragrant and translucent.
Add fish sauce; stir. Pour in tomato sauce. Simmer until slightly reduced and thick.
Add shrimps; stir. Cook until shrimps are coated with sauce and the color of the shrimp JUST turns pink (Do not overcook this dish or I won't bother eating it!).
Add oyster sauce. Continue cooking until shrimps are cooked and coated with sauce. Adjust seasoning with salt as needed.

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Holiday meal

2010-12-25T19:55:00.008-05:00

Kare Kare Pata

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
I posted this picture of our holiday meal from my cell phone, and now I am going back to tell you about it. This is oxtail with Bok Choy, green beans and chinese eggplants. It is a Filipino dish called Kare Kare Pata (Oxtail stew). Our friends made us the most fabulous holiday meal, we were able to have the traditional Filipino foods that we only get about once a year. Lets face it, we can eat turkey and ham anytime of the year, but there is nothing like a friend slaving over a hot stove to make you something special and traditional to their culture. The other dishes are posted separately, but since this is my husband's favorite, I will start with this one.
Everyone has their own special way of making Kare Kare, this is a fairly mild version where no particular flavor will stand out, it is balanced well. Of course, by adding the shrimp paste (bagoong) on the rice, you can change the flavor by degrees. I love Baby Bok Choy, so I would add more to this dish than you might. I would also make the eggplant smaller than this photo, they are easier to cut when raw. They are slippery little suckers to cut once they have been in broth.

Ingredients

3-4 pounds of oxtail

(6-8 cups) water

2 beef bouillon cubes
Baby Bok Choy

1/4 pound long green beans cute into 2 inch sizes, or just cut in half

1 Japanese eggplant (cut in bite sized pieces) or a few small chinese eggplant (brinjal)

1 medium onion, chopped finely

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp achuete (annatto) powder

1/2 cup peanut butter for thickening (creamy)

Bagoong (shrimp paste) to taste
salt and pepper

How to make it:

1. Boil oxtail for at least 2 hours in the salt and pepper seasoned water. Add the beef bouillon cubes. Skim off fat as it cooks and at the end. Remove the meat from the broth and set aside.

2. Cook the Baby Bok Choy, long beans, and eggplant in the broth until they are just tender. Season with salt and pepper.

3. In a different large pan, saute the onion in the olive oil and add the peanut butter. Add achuete powder for color and add garlic right at the end so it won't impart a bitter or burnt flavor.

4. Pour in half the oxtail broth and cook 5 minutes. Add the oxtail and cook for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the broth and the vegetables. Serve with brown rice and bagoong(shrimp paste).

Did I at least get an honorable mention?

2010-12-23T19:17:00.005-05:00

I was on David Pogue's page today and noticed he had a new book for sale:
The World According to Twitter
By David Pogue and His 500,000 Followers
The wit and wisdom of the Twittersphere captured in a collection of hand-picked tweets.

Now, I am tempted to buy this book just to see if he gave me credit for sucking him into the twittersphere. Let me explain...
A few years ago, when I was "into" twitter, I noticed that my favorite tech guru was listed, but had no tweets. He had many followers, but no tweets. I emailed him, despite his page-long explanation of why he doesn't normally respond to emails, and asked him why he had not tweeted. Here is my email to him, which I have lovingly saved for 2 years:

On 12/5/08 6:58 AM, "michelle -----"

wrote:

By now you know that twitter is like crack for some people, you have a decent following and you haven't tweeted in a year. I am just wondering why you stopped using it. Was a fun toy that couldn't sustain itself, did you not find anyone interesting to follow? Just curious. There are tons of people who throw up twitpics and the applications are multiplying day by day. I think there are a lot of annoying marketing people on there, but there are also some very funny people, i just dump the ones I don't like. I'm a bit of a twitch that way. throw your followers a bone, too lazy to correct this i am drying my hair at the same time.

His response:
I’m glad you wrote... I was just thinking about this last night...

I DON’T GET IT!

I need a Twitter teacher.

I’ve sent out tweets several times, and they just... disappear into the void. How do I know if anyone’s listening? Sometimes I pose a question ... nobody answers.

I once saw a guy with a Twitter program that runs in the corner of his Mac screen, so he doesn’t have to be logged into the Web site to do Twittering. What was that?

Can you help me?

Hope your hair dried OK!

dp

My response:

I think that application is called twitterific, it is for the macs. I have a

gadget on my blog so when I am workign there I can tweet from my blog and see

what is being posed by the people I am following. You have a bunch of

followers already so THEY will see what you are tweeting every time you tweet,

you will see the people you are following. A lot of twitterers talk to each

other, they put an @sign in front of the username they are addressing. then

when you are in your home page you can look to the right and check your @

messages first to see if anyone had something to say directly to you.

you can also DM each other if you are following each other.

Tweets can be general or specific, it depends on your style. I will email

more later, go to get back to the class.

Michelle -----------

A short relationship followed with questions asked through twitter on DMs, but they were BORING, so I won't share them here. Since he dived back in, Dave has tweeted 3,500 times has 1,327,540 followers, has written at least five columns about the application, and has now written a book. I think I deserve an honorable mention.

My most successful student...

2010-12-17T18:24:00.001-05:00

Test blog from phone<3

Science Fair Jog

2010-12-02T09:35:00.005-05:00

After last week's tooltime from Tolis, I was inspired to test out his web2.0 tool, Jog the Web. I have had occasion to use it twice in as many days for two differet teachers. Thanks Tolis! Here is the jog we created this morning for teachers conducting science fairs who don't want their students looking at conclusions, just the project ideas and structures.

Science Fair Jog for Ms. DeTullio

Our Science Fair Jog

UPDATE: Using this resource almost every day now for many different teachers. I love the organization it offers- just link the jog on their sidebar and students have a ready made webquest or digital map to follow.

"The Gift"

2010-11-30T11:30:00.001-05:00

My daughter's Select Choir Group singing "The Gift" on Lite Rock 96.9 this morning. I cannot believe how this all worked out. I was sick this morning and stayed home from work and then my daughter texted me that she was on the radio and to turn it on. I heard her say something about GOING to a radio station, I did not hear anything about her SINGING on the radio with her choir. How cool! I am so glad I did not miss it. Divine intervention, Dr. Ackerman called it. So this is what happens when dad signs a permission slip I have never even seen. Now I am so full of holiday spirit I may actually write out a Christmas card or two, after I take more aspirin and get some rest.

"My Favorite Things" and "Sleigh Ride"

2010-11-30T11:24:00.002-05:00

My daughter's Select Choir Group performing live this morning on Lite Rock 96.9.

"My Favorite Things"
Powered by Podbean.com

"Sleigh Ride"

Chasing the Night

2010-11-27T16:17:00.002-05:00

Chasing the Night by Iris Johansen

My rating: 3 1/2 of 5 stars

I really liked the plot, it was interesting and contained many of the CSI type elements I look for. However, there are many characters who were only half developed. I do not know if they are in her other novels, SO, I may revise this review as I read more from Johansen. I just found out that this is a the latest in a series, though I cannot tell from the book where in the timeline it falls. SERIOUS ERROR! I can already tell that Johansen favors a strong heroine or in this case, a few strong heroines. Each character had a rich, serious back story that we only get glimpses of, so I wanted more, More, MORE. There were possible conflicts that never quite reached the boilover point and the dialogue doesn't always reflect the inner struggles of the characters. I would favor a more human vulnerability from time to time over the struggle to always be strong and driven. Great cliffhanger ending that makes me think I missed some MAJOR character development in other works. I did read Silent Thunder by this author and it was unconnected to this story. I will definitely read more. It is clear that each character from this book could have their own spin-off series, so now I have to go and research who is in which book in which order. It would have been nice if this was included IN the book as a guide.

View all my reviews

IKEA Thanksgiving Parade Finale 2010

2010-11-25T12:34:00.000-05:00

My baby in front of Santa!

IKEA Thanksgiving Parade 2010

2010-11-25T11:14:00.004-05:00

My Daughter's Choir performing in the parade.

42 of 3123...

2010-11-22T18:08:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to de-authorizing my computers in tunes, and reauthorizing two of them. I had only one computer left and was sure I had not de-authorized two machines I used in two different schools a while back. I think it is a shame we can only do this once a year, I mean, what does it cost Apple anyway? the 42 of 3123 represents the fact that I finally turned on home sharing between my two macbooks. Right now 3123 songs are making their way through space to live on my other laptop. It is a beautiful thing. I will update later and tell you how long it took. Here is a link telling you how to use home sharing in itunes. Now I have to figure out how to share the playlists and the settings for each ipod and nano.

Blood Vines

2010-11-22T05:44:00.003-05:00

Blood Vines by Erica Spindler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I rate books by my ability to put them down. If I can, they don't reach the top of my pile. While I COULD put Spindler's Blood Vines down, I was also happy to pick it back up again. It was worth the overdue fine at the library. I thought I would get more wine country, but it was a book about personal relationships and family ties set against the backdrop of California Wine Country. Fast paced action, a bit of steaminess, and enough murder and mystery to keep the reader engaged, Blood Vines will while away the hours and challenge your mind to find out who is behind all the blood in the wine caves.

View all my reviews

Private Life

2010-11-22T05:37:00.000-05:00

Private Life by Jane Smiley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I did not care much for this book except for the historical relevance to Einstein, Word War II, and the San Francisco Earthquake/fire. Long suffering woman married to a man who lives on his own level. Not enough hope to keep me going. I did finish it, but it became a chore.

View all my reviews

Weekly Floride Treatments-Weird to me

2010-11-16T19:43:00.000-05:00

The school nurse came by the classroom this morning and left these little cups filled with green liquid. "Are they mouthwash," I asked the other teacher?
Chuckling, she replied, "No honey, they are fluoride treatments."

I had heard of these mythical treatments but have never seen them before, outside of that stuff the dentist puts on our teeth twice a year. That is what living in the country is all about, well water you can't drink because of high sodium content and Fluoride treatments.

All she does is smile?

2010-11-16T19:29:00.000-05:00

During a Skype session with my evil twin Sheila the students clustered around and wanted to extend their greetings. They could see my face and Sheila's as we talked to each other. Then, we lost connection. When we reestablished it, Sheila did not automatically turn her video; on her avatar was showing instead. One of the students stopped by my desk and watched for a few minutes and then scoffed, "All she does is smile?" I could not stop laughing.

"In the midst of my preparations for hari-kari"

2010-11-16T18:53:00.001-05:00

I did not SEE the calendar mention about class not being held this week, and I was waiting for everyone to show up so I could finally get my tooltime out of the way. To my dismay, no one appeared. After about 10 minutes, I looked at the calendar again and realized I was looking at the wrong week and I was two weeks off. "In the midst of my preparations for hari-kari" I decided to just go ahead and have my tooltime! I It has literally been hanging over my head for weeks and I archived it for your viewing pleasure. I am sorry you all missed it, but I can be persuaded to redo it live, for a nominal fee.

Technology Invasion!

2010-11-16T18:29:00.003-05:00

I was teaching a bunch of teachers how to use blogging with their students and a teacher mentioned the invasion of technology. WHAT A MIND BLOWER! I am an integrationist, not an invader, but ultimately, this is how the teachers view these changes to their curriculum. I know where they are coming from, no one likes to be told to do something that is not of their own choosing and teachers have had to deal with NCLB and many more mandates for years. They are fed up. I have to walk on eggs sometimes because they are so adamantly opposed to technology. Don't get me wrong, they act like they are interested, they do their best to "fit it in," but I can hear them the second my back is turned, complaining to each other about what they have to do now. Technology upsets their pacing charts, it gets in the way of content during the learning curve process. They make little digs about technology and I have to really try not to get upset and take it personally. But I am the face of what they are hating and that is difficult.
I have to remind myself that there are things I do
not like to do either. After all, I hate math, I really really hate it, and I try to act excited about it when I have to teach it, but lets face it, we all have different interests, and that is what makes us interesting to other people. I respect the teachers I work with and pray that I keep understanding their pain as they try to change the way they teach to fit the interests of the generation we are teaching. It IS hard, technology integration is unlike any other educational reform that has ever taken place. It is constantly changing and shifting and is sometimes like working on quicksand.

You have to get it done and fast because the internet could go down, the moviemaker could freeze up again, the edublog logins will fail due to timing out. It is stressful and uncomfortable for anyone who doesn't love and embrace technology. For all the teachers forced to integrate technology, I feel for you. My hope is to be less of an invader and more of an organic presence over the year.

What really happened to the Roanoke Colony

2010-11-15T19:06:00.004-05:00

This was a project that my son and his 7th grade friends worked on for a weekend. They had to explain the disappearance of the Roanoke colony. They also had to explain the word Croatan carved into a post. They clearly had lots of fun. It looked way better on the big screen with a disk. but you know how much resolution is lost when uploading to youtube. Welcome any suggestions about boosting resolution. Someone gave me handbreak, I have to figure out how to use it.
This is not a repeat post but rather an update as to my progress burning the project. Again, I do not have a superdrive but I WAS able to save as a disk image and burn that with an external drive. WOW it works, I read it in the forums as I mentioned in the earlier post, but I implemented it last night and burned copies for all my son's friends who took part. It would have been better if the kids had seen what I did for them so that they could do it, but they all have piano and babysitting and all those other things going on.

Identity Crisis

2010-11-08T11:20:00.004-05:00

Sometimes our plans do not always pan out exactly as we wish. This mixed media piece by a local artist became an amalgam of an idea and the result of experimental painting and oil pastel techniques. It was meant to be one thing for his class and grew into another. Abstract painting was not as he expected it to be. His description of his painting process and the process of this particular piece was quite interesting. For more information on this artist, contact me. I would appreciate if you could comment on what you thought this painting represented. I will be happy to forward your feedback to the artist. I will not tell you what it was meant to be, I will await your comments.

Can You See Me Now?

2010-11-07T22:35:00.001-05:00

One of my friends, who shall remain nameless, thinks that he is invisible when wearing his "Digital Camouflage jacket." Since I am a techie, I should not be able to see him. What do you think? I think I can still see him, but I do need glasses you know.

Not There Anymore

2010-11-07T22:11:00.004-05:00

I am not a happy person all the time, I get depressed or tired and I tend to take it out on the people around me who love me. I know I can get away with it. But if I was to stay that way for an extended period of time, it would wear on them and they would stop caring about me and my feelings. It would affect them too.

I can put up with a lot, but I am not impervious to depressed behavior either. People who are miserable do affect the ones they love. Because they are depressed and want to bury themselves away from the world, they are free to wallow in their misery. They are perhaps not aware of the ones they leave behind. What about the people who enjoyed talking with you and hanging out? Are they not important?
Losing someone to depression is a loss, it is like a death, because they are just not there anymore. They have left us behind and can't get beyond their own misery. Think about it, when someone you love dies and you can't just pick up the phone and call them, it hurts. You get that little shock all over again every time it happens. When someone you love is depressed and refuses to answer the phone, it is not much different. You still have that instinct to call only you also know that you are not stronger than the depression. Not strong enough to break through that veil at all. Either way, it is sad being the one left behind.

Convention 2010

2010-11-07T21:44:00.005-05:00

Another year passes and we crashed as many hospitality events as we could. In an effort to not lose my mind over being charged twenty bucks a day for valet parking at the Sheraton at the Convention Center, I made sure they could not charge me for anything else if I could help it. I will not reveal my secrets, because I plan on using them in the coming years. I love getting together with my friends once a year and staying over, even though we all live close enough to drive home each night. The chance to catch up and share our lives is worth the few hundred bucks we spend for our outing. Shopping was out this year as I did not feel like braving the rain to get to the outlets. Consequently, my son STILL does not have his new winter coat. I will have to go out this week and get one. I also have to return a sweater. I was busy in class HOTEL WIMBA and ordered in some delicious room service from the Tun Tavern on my first night in AC. Never did get around to returning that sweater but I was relieved that my class went well. I was worried that my connection wouldn't be good enough to participate in the online session. As soon as I was done, I met my friends for the dirtiest martini ever and we spent the rest of the night laughing our butts off and sharing our latest news. My friends may live far away, but it only took a hug to get back into the swing of things and it was like we never parted.

PLN

2010-11-07T20:41:00.006-05:00

Working hard on my PLN, I met a lot of very grr people at the NJEA convention this past week and I am connecting to them using Grouply, Ning, Thinkfinity Community, Linkedin and Delicious. I have learned how to USE my network on Delicious instead of just treating it as a repository for my bookmarks. Adding my Delicious feed to my blog was easy but it is disappointing that I only get the last five bookmarks I added on this Blogger site. I will start to post the feeds of the people in my network and this will give me a bit more of what I really want. I have taken charge of connecting to people outside of my personal Facebook and have started honing my Twitter friends into categories that match the different interests in my life. While this takes lots of time, I am sure it will be rewarding and will help me stay on top of my game in my field of study. My fingers hurt. Now I have to have a professional look over what I have done and get back to me with more direction. I have to wait for people to accept my friend requests on the various social platforms as well.

We have had lots of problems with the grouply, apparently only the group creator can send invites to our group, in the Ning platform we could all invite people into the group. It could be an administrator setting that is off, but whatever the reason, it is not acting as user friendly. I have 119 members to connect to in this group, but the never share anything. I guess if it is a mandatory thing instead of a passion, you just don't get participation.

My blog is getting some major updating, I have been tagging appropriately, so that I can split off some of my posts to specific blogs if I need to do so in future. Zemanta in Firefox has been helpful as it suggests tags I do not think about. You all know I just throw everything in here and sort later, so I am in the sorting process. I have added feeds of some of the blogs I follow in my personal life and in class on this site as well.

This Weekend's Work

2010-11-07T18:39:00.006-05:00

I am very tired. The toughest part was letting the kids take total charge of their project. I just manned the cameras and assisted with editing for like 15 hours.
Problems we encountered:

Objects in park that did hindered our commitment to historical accuracy (such as cars, trash cans, and someone blasting "Eye of the Tiger").
Wardrobe malfunctions and misinformation.
The noise of the fire station horns every half hour, along with the church bells.
One weird looking duck that kept distracting the actors.
A table of donuts and coffee that distracted the crew AND actors.
Not enough baby wipes to get off all that face paint.
Taping over the opening sequence- having to copy another scene and reversing it in imovie.
Not being able to match the sepia tone in the movie clips to the picture clips and having to use all black/white instead.
Not being able to edit out the rope tied to the canoe, the canoe club, the outbuildings, the trash cans, the cars, or the barbeque pits in video clips. (We could only do this in still shots).
Not having a super drive on my macbook to burn the DVD movie for best resolution.
Not being able to get George's Mom's superdrive to work and having to upload all our beautiful work to the internet instead, at only 12 frames per second on youtube and 30 frames a second on iweb. ( I could just cry).
Just found this tidbit in the forums and it is too late! "If you'd like to transfer a file to burn on another mac, go back to the project on your mac and use the Save As Disc Image command. This creates a virtual DVD that you can move to another computer and Copy to an actual DVD."

SO WHY WAS IT A GOOD WEEKEND?
I got to work with my son and his friends for this 7th grade project, they were extremely prepared with a script, a storyboard in mind, costumes and a boat. They were creative, flexible and funny as all get out. While I am extremely tired, I am so glad I had the opportunity to assist them.

Who Follows Directions Anyway?

2010-11-02T20:47:00.004-04:00

Do we read directions anymore? Sometimes I do, and it is the thing I complain about to my son, "Always read the directions, honey." If I followed my own advice, I could have saved myself some time in last week's class. This week I had a new dilemma, after setting up edublogs for 25 students and having to go into their emails getting their logins, and then logging in to change their passwords to be the same as the other web 2.0 tools they use, I could scream. Turns out I could have set the password if I had clicked on the advanced blog creation button and set the password from the very beginning. I WAS looking for the manual but all they had were a bunch of pdfs, not even addressing the issue. It seems that when I go looking for directions I never find them. When they are there, I may ignore them and play for a while instead, trying to figure out the solution.

I have always liked to explore as opposed to going the way the arrows point in life, and there lies the crux of my problem. My happiest days are the ones when I strayed off a path to see what else might be there. I do not ignore signs that point out danger, I am not that ridiculous, but I always like to play with tools as opposed to reading about them.
I do usually go to manuals when I cannot immediately discern the way to work something. Since I started going blind as a bat, I am less inclined to read, except for pleasure (Can't live without my books). I just can't be bothered to take out my glasses so I don't have to squint. My days of "Dreamweaver for Dummies" is behind me, it better have a video tutorial for me to follow or you will hear me complaining as I search for those stupid Progressives. I can't make them work anyhow, the reading zone is too darn small.
I am willing to get a Kindle or ipad this Christmas just to be able to make the text bigger. Of course I will have to make friends with so many people so I can borrow the books they bought. I read way too much to buy the books I read, I go to the library every week and stock up. I am not really interested in free ebooks, they are books that I don't really want to read or I have read already. Wow, I have really strayed off topic here, another thing I tell my students and kids not to do. Back on topic, following directions.... Good or Bad? Hmmmmm, ask me next week... meanwhile I have enclosed a helpful article about teaching students how to read directions.

Why are you raising your hand?

2010-10-29T09:52:00.003-04:00

Mrs. V asked, "Why are you raising your hand? So the computer can see you?" She was using the Smart word randomizer feature to call up students to share their daily journal stories. The students wanted to be picked, and kept raising their hands. It was the funniest thing. Apparently that paradigm shift has not yet occurred.

Tech Slam

2010-10-28T20:36:00.004-04:00

Check it out, tech slam.

Smartboards need Smart Teachers

2010-10-27T14:15:00.006-04:00

In the last week, after our training from Faisal, I was really struck by how well the mimeo worked. I have heard of mimeos hiding in closets in some districts and I personally know some teachers that have Easyteach boards in their rooms that they never touch. Why? They lack training. It is not a good idea to spend money on technology and not FULLY train teachers how to use them. I had no training when I received my Promethean board. It took a me a year to fully understand how to use all the features and I would have used it for more if I had been trained for a few full days. The training has to involve not just the features, but the content area toolbars and resources. Teachers need TIME to build or change resources. Unfortunately, districts want the biggest bang for their bucks, so they choose increased technology over training. If we had the chance to learn our craft, we would be more effective and could turnkey our knowledge with other teachers in our district during district professional development. I am seeing a trend toward this area in some schools, simply because districts cannot afford to bring people in from outside. It is not enough.
If there is a teacher in a school who knows what they are doing, we can use prep times to be in their rooms and learn from them as they use the technology. Both can get professional development hours for this. We started off in the field as simple observers in our fieldwork classes, and it is still a wonderful method of learning as we attempt to keep up with the latest innovations in education. Here is a district goal outlined by Alan November, senior partner at Educational Renaissance Planners in Evanston, Illinois:

Develop a technology budget, earmarking funding not only to acquire technology and design the infrastructure but also to ensure successful plan implementation by means of professional development for school staff and adherence to rules of thumb for professional development. Include funding for a technology specialist to provide ongoing support and feedback to staff.

Since this is the job I am performing right now, Technology Integrationist, I am more aware than ever of the lack of technology education our teachers have. The little things like saving to a jump drive and printing in greyscale are big dilemmas to teachers who are now expected to provide interactive lessons using Smart boards. I only hope that we move away from the drive-by trainings that don't provide the ongoing assistance teachers really need. Only some of the teachers are comfortable with screencasts and webinars, a huge population of teachers need hands-on training that can be repeated as they need it. As I try to squeeze such trainings into lunch periods and preps, I get frustrated. I feel like every other teacher feels when their students are just about to complete an objective and the bell rings. I will be pushing for some substitute coverage so I can get more time with individual teachers. Luckily I work in districts that have technology-rich goals, so I may actually get somewhere.

Parent Night for Talent 21 Grant

2010-10-22T07:42:00.002-04:00

It was a rewarding evening for the parents of the Talent 21 students in Woodbine, NJ. They were able to use their child's new laptop and learn about the acceptable use policy, insurance options and the rationale for the laptop rollout. Parent asked questions abou the use of laptops in their homes and in school.

These students are the lucky few, they will have one-to- one computing for three years, across all subject areas. One of the challenges they face is the learning curve to use the technology in a constructive way to learn content and share what they have learned with others. Every day new challenges arise, new technologies are available, and they will keep pace with theses lightning changes. This ability to adapt will serve them well in the future as they compete for jobs in a technology rich society.

Hazardous Waste Drop-off for Atlantic County

2010-10-20T15:04:00.003-04:00

It is that time again! Bring all your hazardous waste to the drop-off this Saturday instead of dumping it down the sewers. I know some people in my neighborhood do this , because there is a scour hole in MY backyard. I see the paint and the oil and the pesticides and the everything else as it trickles out of the sewer pipe, and into our beautiful town lake. For all my readers who do not live in my county, please look for your own Hazardous waste disposal day in YOUR county.

Here is the Official Announcement:

Atlantic County residents will be able to drop-off household hazardous waste from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 6^th,2010 at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority Environmental Park located at 6700 Delilah Road in Egg Harbor Township.

The next household hazardous waste drop-off date is scheduled for 9 – 2 pm on Saturday, January 8th, 2011 at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority Environmental Park located at 6700 Delilah Road in Egg Harbor Township.

The household hazardous waste program is open to Atlantic County residents only. Those wishing to participate must bring proof of residency. The maximum amount of household hazardous material allowed for disposal is 30 gallons and/or 200 pounds (dry weight) per household. Participants may bring materials from more than one household, which can save you and a friend or neighbor time and gas money.

Materials cannot be brought in containers that exceed five gallons and no containers will be returned, no exceptions. Most importantly, before bringing a material please be sure that it is an acceptable product. For more information, please call (609) 272-6950 or visit the ACUA’s website at www.acua.com/hhw .

Robert J. Chitren, C.E.P

Associate Director

Know your Demographic!

2010-10-19T12:13:00.002-04:00

UDL & Audience

After last week's class I knew that demographics plays an important part
of every advertising campaign. I always knew it, but until I personally had to develop a product it didn't impact me as much. In writing class we always teach our students to be aware of their audience. This week as I assisted a school librarian build her own website, we had some incredible conversations about the choices she was making for including images on her pages. She looked for African-American student photos because she thought her students would not connect with pictures of children that were
from a different demographic. She was unhappy at the lack of images associated with African American students reading magazines. There were more caucasian students reading than the diverse images she was looking for. Looking at her process from a UDL perspective, she builds images into her lessons that she knows the students will identify with.

Technology-enabled Substitutes

2010-10-19T11:13:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, The substitutes of one of the school districts I work for participated in professional development. They learned how to access the teacher's websites and to use the Smartboards. Technology-enabled substitutes will be able to carry on with lessons in the technology-enabled classrooms when the teachers are away. The laptops can still come out and the students do not have to complete worksheets all day long.

The substitutes spent the morning in trainings and the afternoons with teachers in their rooms learning how technology is used in the classroom. This experience was the first of its kind that I ever witnessed. The principal also conducted a training session with the substitutes on how to be an effective substitute in the district. This planning for school-wide and student success is commendable. We will provide substitutes with a list of every teacher's website until the district website can be updated to include that information. They were also given directions for laptop basics and turning on projectors and smartboards. An issue still outstanding is the ability to log into the teacher laptops. A substitute username and password will have to be enabled on all machines and laptops that are connected to the smartboards. It would
be helpful to create hotsheets for each room that is technology enabled for the subs with quick reference sheets for the programs the students may be using. We should also create a substitute website that has information and training tutorials. Since the technology-enabled substitutes will be called first to serve in those classrooms, it does provide incentive for them to learn on an ongoing basis.
UPDATE!
On a sad note, in another school, the susbstitutes allowed students from another class to use the 6th grader's laptops. Substitutes need to follow the plans we leave for them as teachers, they definetly shoud never allow students to tell them what they "usually" do, because the students "usually" lie to substitutes. When in doubt, check with another teacher nearby, call the office and just maintain that it is your responsibility to follow the teacher's plans. As a teacher it is hard enough to miss a day with our class, it causes huge problems when susbtitutes deviate from our plans. We spend time getting those plans ready and it is frustrating when we come back to havoc. In this instance, the offending students tried to visit blocked sites, they changed the students backgrounds and settings and added items to their favorites.

Sunday Morning Discoveries

2010-10-17T12:29:00.003-04:00

I love my Sunday mornings with the NY Times, I have a little more time to read each section and enjoy myself. There are always the alarming articles, such as the bedbug situation at the Lincoln Center, but the technology section usually provides me with something I like, from Pogue's Posts and video to amazing vignettes like this one. Incidentally, Atomic Tom has a great sound.

Upping the game

2010-10-13T08:13:00.004-04:00

After last week's incredible presentations, I have upped my game when giving internet resources to my teachers. Instead of looking for Prepositional Phrases PowerPoints for one of my English teachers, I was haunting Prezi and looking for presentations that would make the most of the Smartboard. Most of the lessons in the Smart exchange are a bit young for the 8th graders so I was seeking other quick solutions. Now I am off to investigate how the two programs can work together, can I upload an old PowerPoint to Prezi and then work with it? I will update you when I get the answer. So far Prezi does not have a lot of grammar teaching resources on their site, just those made by students, and I do want to be able to provide the best alternative to spending hours making Smart Notebook lessons.

8th Grade Prepositions~Mrs. Groom on Prezi

This was the best one I found so far. It appears that most of the grammar Prezi presentations were geared for English language Learners. I will be sure to share them with my friends that teach Bi-Lingual and ESL students.

Teacher Interview Questions

2010-10-13T08:01:00.001-04:00

As an offshoot of last week's discussion in my Intro to Ed. Tech class, I though I would share a helpful link with anyone out there still looking for a teaching job this year. You know that if we get the interview, and that is pretty hard these days, we have to make the most of that moment. You may have read about some of my worst job hunt moments last year in this blog, and I hope to help alleviate some of your fears.
The Apple posted this article recently on how to answer the toughest interview questions effectively. There were some admirable answers, especially to the question, "What is your greatest weakness?" We hate to have to answer that one! It is impossible to do correctly without being self-serving and we want to be honest, but we can't because then we would appear weak. If you like, please post YOUR toughest interview question in my comments section. If you would like to share YOUR worst interview moment, I can give you a link to be a guest blogger on this site.

The Help

2010-10-11T07:50:00.003-04:00

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a read! You would never know this was a first novel. Tell- all book of the secrets of southern maids and the women who employed them during the civil rights movement era. Maids/ mothers who don't get to raise their own children, instead they take care of a procession of white babies who turn on the when they are "educated" about color distinctions. Jim Crow laws and their implementation in everyday life. Power-mad Junior League ladies don't stand a chance against their maids once they get to "writing" about what really goes on in the households they work in. The stories remind me of Flannery O'Connor's way of expressing things that are too ugly to speak about, but it's uplifting nature allows for hope.
View all my reviews

Poll Everywhere

2010-10-05T20:28:00.013-04:00

Make your own poll voting question with Poll Everywhere

Try this audience polling system at Poll Everywhere

Create interactive meetings at Poll Everywhere

Try this audience polling system at Poll Everywhere

Need Time to Play and Blow Off Steam

2010-10-05T18:23:00.001-04:00

I created this little creature and uploaded it with my son's accounts in Spore and Youtube. Even teachers need to play sometimes...

Post Tutorial Search Behavior

2010-10-04T21:09:00.005-04:00

Hating life and PowerPoint right now

2010-10-03T21:39:00.002-04:00

PowerPoint fragged up on me three times today with my macbook making the most incredibly weird noises. Having to employ the hard shutdown always makes me nervous. I had to redo a few areas of our group presentation many times because it refused to SAVE! Even when it did the backup every few minutes, it still didn't have the changes. Since my entire weekend has become this project, I could have done without this nonsense. I still couldn't embed video, like I can do on non- mac machines. I just couldn't find the feature on the PowerPoint for mac. I wanted to upload the whole thing to Issuu as a flipbook, but it wouldn't take the formatting. I had to go to Plan B for the Web 2.0 component.

I used slideshare instead. I did not yet use the narration feature, because we have to narrate as a team. I look forward to doing that on my own when we are done. It would be too hard to do it with three of us in different places. Slideshare has been a resource for my blog when I want to post a bunch of pictures from an event. As a presentation solution, I was thrilled with some of the free options it offered. It has some great features and I wish I could change my tooltime to that tool.

Can you read our Webspiration?

The most illuminating thing that happened this weekend was having to work as a team. Giving up control of even part a project has to be the most challenging feeling ever, and one we have to remember stresses OUR students out as well. I had to understand and implement what Brian's main ideas were from our mindmapping in Webspiration. I hope I stayed true to his ideas, if not, it is tooooooooo late. I started working on what we had, then he added more and I had to match it all up again to make sure I didn't miss anything. Note to self: Don't even start until it is all done. I have no idea if Roma finished our Timeline activity Gant chart, our meeting this evening did not come about due to scheduling issues. So now I have to rely on the email for communication until we can all talk again in Wimba. Wimba as a crutch? I am officially spoiled and hate having to go email everyone as they are not on Skype right now.

I chose the peace sign because what is contained in the this Tagxedo
just a "piece" of the whole IT picture. I know, very corny.

Spending the entire weekend tracking down appropriate pictures, videos and articles to make the mindmap come to life was accompanied by the endless sneezing and snuffling of my nose. Infection from all those school kids has finally set in, and I am tainted. At least now I have a comprehensive understanding of the history of Instructional Technology and a trash-can full of tissues. I could have just read the textbook, but then I would have had no reason to yell at my family for asking me silly questions when everything was going wrong.

I also made a Tagxedo to enhance the presentation and spent some time rearranging the Webspiration so it wasn't so busy, then Brian really fixed it and it looks nice now. Too big to actually read the screen capture in a photo here, you will have to be content with my Tagxedo instead. I was unable to do the things I REALLY wanted to do with this project. I wanted a blinking eye between the time eras, and I wanted to shoot words out of a cannon or a rocket as a transition as well. I especially wanted a photo of Tompkins with the macs from the 80's to include, but I can't always get what I want. The transitions won't work well in a web 2.0 sharing scenario unless I convert the entire thing to a movie. This will not work for me because of the video clips I want to have in it. The audience will be able to just move ahead after they watch what THEY want. Oh, well, best laid plans...

Exposed

2010-10-01T17:28:00.003-04:00

Exposed by Alex Kava
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Excellent, learned more about Ebola Zaire and others I didn't know about. Maggie O'Dell under the "gun" once again. Kava is the master! The scenario Kava builds is so completely plausible, it is scary. You never know what is going on the minds of the people around you. Everyone has their demons, but some choose to act.
I cleaned out the whole Kava section in my town. Sorry everybody! The'll be back in a week, can't put them down! I will have to check the county before we lose the inter-library loan service due to budget cuts.
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Holt's Intro To Educational Technology: Waiting for Superman

2010-09-29T08:33:00.000-04:00

Holt's Intro To Educational Technology: Waiting for Superman: "There is a new documentary out in select theaters entitled 'Waiting for Superman'. It explores the inefficiencies of America's school syste..."

Reflections on Wimba, Skype, and Project Management

2010-09-28T23:19:00.002-04:00

The Wimba Whiteboard or Eboard.

This week I spent hours on Wimba and Skype, meeting with my team members and working on our History of IT project. It was an interesting experience. When I took online classes before, they were asynchonous and our group projects involved emails and posts, not live communication. After using Wimba for this, I do not know how I will be able to give it up at the end of our class. I will have to use something like Adobe Connect or Go to Meeting to get a similar experience. As I use Wimba more, I learn new things. I took the tutorials a while ago, so I was relieved when Brian showed us how to get the whiteboard feature back by pressing the eboard button. I also learned about project management this week and gant charts. I've never heard of them before and apparently people have been using them forever. "What a concept!" Amy, my professor, was pushing us to use a free Web 2.0 tool. I found Tom's Planner, it looks very visual and you can share your chart online. Another I found was Basecamp. It will be interesting to see what my friend Adrienne, the quintessential project manager, writes in my comments. Anyway, my team member may choose a product that she is comfortable with over the ones I just mentioned. We will have to wait and see.

How I search for Web- Based Tutorials

2010-09-23T20:00:00.005-04:00

Whitewash

2010-09-21T19:39:00.004-04:00

Whitewash by Alex Kava
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book had me running back to the library to get all the other books by KAVA. Glad I found her, I love murder-mysteries, CSI-type and criminal-profiling books! Quincy M.E. was my favorite TV show as a kid; I just thought that Dr. Quincy was fascinating and I seem to gravitate towards those kinds of books as an adult. There are a few surprises in the end of Whitewash that I never would have guessed.
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Loving it!

2010-09-21T19:25:00.002-04:00

She gave me top status!

This morning I walked into the teacher's room whom I had worked with last week. She just started teaching again after having a baby and does not have a lot of technical experience. She is by no means afraid of technology, but she has not had exposure. Nor did she attend any of the summer trainings. She saw me and her face just started glowing, she had three new ideas for for technology integration that she wanted me to teach her how to implement. An OnCourse teacher website, uploading word documents to the smart assessment tools and assessing her students with the PE clickers and having her students blog their daily journals, WHEW! She also shared her experiences of technological mishaps that happened when I was away from her room. The most impressive thing she said was that she felt like she could be helping other teachers by the end of the year. A teacher-learner becomes a teacher-leader! I wish we could all have "students" like this; people who are just dying to know something and can't wait for you to give them that little nudge in the right direction. I couldn't have been prouder than her mom when she told me how she had figured out some things for herself and shared them with her team. The she showed me how she had "added" me to her class. At the end of the day I was wrung out, trying to get her trained in everything she wanted to know, but it was so worth it!

Mindmapping is supposed to be clear, isn't it?

2010-09-19T22:49:00.003-04:00

I was looking at the examples of the mindmapping exercises that previous Intro to IT classes had completed and there were many that were too busy for me to want to look at. I recently had to get glasses so this is an issue for me personally, but it may not affect a younger generation. I enjoy the clean lines of Facebook and find them preferable to the busyness of Myspace that my younger students frequent.

This image is from the Worst PowerPoint Presentation

I teach my students that when they create PowerPoints, that they should use images effectively and no more than 2 per page. The type should be 30 points or more. I was impressed with the inventiveness and creativity of many of the IT History projects, but there was just so much going on that the message of the history of IT was lost. It would have been helpful to have the guidance of the presenter to take one through them.
I started looking at various mindmaps on the web to see what I liked and what I disliked. I loved this simple drawing of the life of William Shakespeare, but it was not interactive. Another one I enjoyed was the ICT/Glow and Learning styles Mind map, again, it was not interactive. I did eventually find a few that I thought were useful and interactive using free software called Freemind. This mindmap on Ubuntu was compelling, I liked the mouseover effects. It reminded me of annotating The Heart of Darkness for our Litt. Reaseach class with Professor Honecker's class. It will be interesting for me to see how busy our group project turns out...

Apps for Special Education

2010-09-15T21:28:00.001-04:00

Wow, thank you Dustin, for sharing this information. We will make use of it. I am re-posting it on my blog so I do not lose it. I never know when a blog might go down, so anything I need to have, I tend to re-post. Plus, Dustin's blog was SO popular I just had to post a link to it here.
iPhone, iPad and iPod touch Apps for (Special) Education

Halo and Geography Lessons?

2010-09-15T21:24:00.003-04:00

Link to website that bears this photo

I have been living with Halo in my house this summer. My son and my husband play it all the time. They can't wait for Halo Reach to come out. Today my son got a geography lesson. The kid he was playing online with at 6:00 at night, our time, told him he had to go to school. My son argued with him," It is six at night, you are going to school now?"
They had a whole discussion of timelines and datelines, "What day and date is it in Australia anyway?" So now my son is busy looking up timelines on the computer to track when this player will be home from school. It will be 2 am and my son better NOT be online then. I may have to set my alarm clock to check to see if he sneaked out of bed. This gives me a tool I can use when teaching geography now. For extra credit homework: Get the time and date from three online players and try to figure out where they live using the international datelines. You may NOT ask them where they live (Poor playing behavior anyway).

Watch it, you made the plist

2010-09-14T21:00:00.000-04:00

Ok, after three hours with Apple Support, it turns out that one of my Macbooks has more issues than the other. The new one started working right after two hours of TLC by Titianna and Matthew. The older one, the one you all chipped in to buy me, needed another hour. Apparently, it wasn't just the DNS server connection, but the library had plist issues and doc issues and more. We were all over the preference files and in places on my Macbook that I should never need to go. I hope it doesn't feel violated. Happily enough, now I can post from my favorite computer, in Safari instead of (insert cough here) Firefox(Apple needs to purchase Firefox BTW, that is my solemn recommendation).
I know that my PC, which is a very nice four-year old Dell, was getting excited thinking I was actually going to use it more frequently, but I had to break the news to it gently. It needs an update, a bigger hard drive and a makeover that does not involve dust as its main outfit. My graduate class is saved and as an extra bonus the Fantasy Football site my husband was having trouble with is now fixed as well. If you ever have trouble with your Macbook loading Safari pages on Blogger, do all this first.

Empty the cache. Check it.
Reset Safari. Check it.
Unblock Pop-ups. Check it.
Plug in the ethernet and see if it is a wireless problem. Check it.
Install all updates. Check it.
First verify and fix disk permissions. Check it.
Reset the PRAM. Check it.
Make a new administrative account and see if the page loads that way. Check it.
Check DNS servers in Network.Check it.
Check for Safari plist stuff in home library preferences. Check it.

I AM JUST KIDDING, CALL APPLE SUPPORT AFTER NUMBER 5 FAILS TO WORK.

The Emergency Blogging Scenario has been implemented.

2010-09-14T19:11:00.001-04:00

Yep, there is a lot of strange things happening here.

The Emergency Blogging Scenario has been implemented.

I am posting by email for the first time because blogger has apparently decided not to play nice with my macbooks. However, there is always a silver lining, I have my first guest blogger from Apple, Titianna. She spent a hour or so with me, and even posted on my blog. I am now talking to some mythical, Apple guru named Matthew (Senior advisor) who may or may not be able to help me. I have discovered that I can post in emergency situations- not like any of you are going to send 911 to me if I post an SOS here. I can post hyperlinks and SOME pictures by email. Okay, so these are features I always knew existed, but I never had the need to check em' out. Why do I need to do that?Read my earlier posts about my graduate class, Intro to Instructional Technology.

So, that is the continuing saga of my blog life. I CAN post and make different features come to life through the power of my email. Since I have been hating email lately, and those of you who read my Facebook know what I am talking about, it is nice to know that email is good for something today. Here is my hyperlink to the support page from Apple, apparently my DNS server keeps getting lost. It keeps looking for the old server.