WEEK 12 post: About last week

Last weeks post looked really good on one browser, a little askew in another, and was a complete disaster in the last one I viewed. Sorry about that folks...

End of class blues, especially with the class you wish could go on forever. People you enjoy hearing from and sharing with get involved in their own battles in other arenas. One of the benefits of the information age is an ever growing ease of access to other peoples lives on agreeable terms.

I have been told it take 30 days to make or break a habit. Hopefully posting to this blog has become habitual for me. Check back next week to find out. Thanks to all who have read and contributed.

More soon

WEEK 11 Blogging on and on

Now I see how to...

Last week I was experimenting with font size and tried to import an entire html page. (not allowed by blogger) That is the biggest thing I think I have internalized from all of the years of gaming I have done; try stuff! If the electrons won't line up for you one way try something different. No electrons will be harmed, hit reset, and try, try again.

The title for last week was supposed to look like this.

Bloggity blog blog blog....

The quest is to keep life interesting and fun. I took Green Goddess dressing to school and most the other teachers said they had never heard of it. Trying new paths has never been easier thanks to our techno world. This freedom to explore never ceases to amaze me. Every time we think we have conquered the last, latest and best, along comes someone with something new and amazing.

I thought I was a pretty good bicyclist, even got the unicycle thing down for a while. Then along comes my son. http://www.verdebmx.com/2008/ I don't ride a bicycle anymore; in fact I am scared just to walk next to him most of the time. Watch the clip, he plays video games too, who says they never get out and do anything in the fresh air.

WEEK 10 Bloggity blog blog blog

They say if you buy a certain kind of car you suddenly begin to notice how many of them there are on the road. I know this was true when I bought my white Jeep; suddenly there were millions of them. Eerily, the last ten weeks have made me wonder if this same phenomenon occurs when taking a class. Without and prompting on my part, conversations and school problems would revolve week to week around the same topic we have been studying in class.

It happened this week with the Learning Objects, all week, when not complaining about database woes; we pondered the same questions in our discussion forum. Same thing last week with LSM/LCSM struggles as we implemented a testing platform. (Shouldn’t someone tell the companies who develop testing programs for schools that there are security issues with allowing students to save to the desktop and other places they may not have permissions for?)

And so we blog, as the pieces fall together...

WEEK 9 Reflections

The more I play with the possibilities, even the most trivial stuff like putting the text on the right, the more I can see opportunities for learning.

Today I was in a conversation about how to get the students to see things in new ways.

I pointed out that first we need to get them to see things.

I admire my students

the ones

who

keep plugging

away until the very end

no matter how well or poorly they are doing

Too often I encounter quitters who are trying to mitigate their own short comings

by claiming that the prize doesn't matter

doing well isn't as big a deal

as just doing something

anything



google

maggie and milly and molly and may

by e. e. cummings

and don't forget to become a better person by going to www.freerice.com

WEEK 8 and the thoughts which have been thunk

Why I study hard is also the reason I stop from time to time. I spent part of my summer on Bear Island, Maine. No Internet, no phone, no mosquito netting...

Here are my two favorite bears.

That said, wow, what a week. Our little hospital waiting room of a class keeps finding tech based solutions to staying on task, cool. The support of our work from fellow students is more than I have seen in any class, be it brick and mortar or online. This leads me to believe (yeah I used the "believe" word, ain't blogs grand) technology based communication may be one of the best collaborative tools available. I spent my school collaboration day helping one of my science teacher friends edit some video, and bringing us closer as colleagues. Rose Ann keeps sending me to new and fascinating web opportunities whose opportunities to download toolbars has rendered windows Internet explorer even more useless than it was when I began this course. To top it off I got a Skype reminder that today was Pam Eder's birthday; giving me an excuse to give her a Skype call instead of just a chat.

The projects are impressive, the people I have surrounded myself with are great, and the learning experience enormous. Virtually, a great place to be.

flypen

coming soon to a website near you