EDUC 685 5:45 pm
Running Out of Steam?? « Jsarnett’s Weblog
My steam is gone! I am on the edge of a cliff and ready to jump; at least the world would maybe stop spinning out of control. As I posted in my previous post, I can honestly say I have never had a semester become as “out-of-control” as this one has with my family, work and college classes! What is a girl to do? Maybe instead of jumping, I may run off to the beach somewhere! That would be a much better resolution to my problems 
EDUC 685 9:29 am
In all the semesters that I have been attending college (undergrad and grad) I have never seen a semester to come up with this one! Except maybe the last semester that I gave birth to my second son during the week of finals but we won’t count that one!
It seems that three grad classes, working full-time and having two boys haven’t worked out very well this semester; the combination is a hurrican waiting to happen. If my children aren’t vomiting then we are spending the night in the ER with a broke arm which is what I did last night.
This event happened yesterday at school and as I drove to the school to pick him up to take him to the emergency room, I realized how wonderful it really is to have small rural schools. After arriving at the school, it was even more apparent how nice an environment that is for children. As I walk into the gym, there my child set awaiting my arrival with a group of caring individuals that have been with him since the age of five (he is now ten) that truly knew and cared for my child. I am really sad to know that next year, that type of environment will be coming to an end when the district consolidates two other schools with this school for the sake of finances! I will really miss knowing that my children will be more like a number and not as well known as they once were! Then on a lighter side, it may not be a bad thing for my youngest son which is too well known if you know what I mean!
EDUC 685 9:19 am
I am lucking enough to work with Jeff Arnett which is also in this class and when the extra credit was presented to us, we thought that this would be a really neat way get our students engaged and work with teams. Jeff choose a group of four students and I choose a group of four students and we sat in a computer lab and between the ten minds, was able to get to level 5 of Dr. Lowells MUD.
I usually start my class out every day with “get out a pencil and a piece of paper”. My students act as though they are amazed they must have something to write with and something to write on. For the first time, I actually heard one of my students yell: “quick, get me a pencil and a piece of paper” when working on the MUD. I can honestly say that I haven’t seen my students more engaged in reading then when they were trying to problem-solve through the levels of the MUD.
This activity was very enlighting for Jeff and I because of the interaction we witnessed between the students along with those playing the game out in cyber space. Our students were also very interactive with Jeff and I because they not only were learning the game but they also became teachers to the teachers. It was really funny because Jeff and I let the students pick what they wanted us to be in the MUD and how funny were they, I was and Ogre and Jeff as a Dwarf. Jeff is about 6′2″ tall which would not in any way represent a dwarf. One could possibly say that I meet the qualifications of an Ogre (ha ha). As we played the game, it became a big joke to “Kill the Rabbits” which became an intregal part of playing.
I can really see how this type of game could be used in the educational setting because even though there weren’t any visual images for the students to see (which I thought would really discourage them from playing), in their minds, they created their own visuals. It was wonderful to see how the students really worked together as teams to help determine what needed to be done to accomplish a common goal not to mention the ability to effectively communicate with others that they didn’t even know. I think the part my students and I enjoyed the most was the fact that they told me what to do!
EDUC 685 4:58 pm
Hope everyone had a wonderful “turkey day”, I know I sure did. I was surrounded with wonderful food along with the company of my family and friends; who could ask for any more to be thankful for?
As I looked around my house and saw all the people who are dearest to me enjoying great food, I realized what a wonderful life I have been blessed with! I hope that everyone is as lucky as I am. I also realized that if it weren’t for all the fearless individuals fighting for our country, that we may not be so lucky to enjoy the lives we have. I hope everyone remembered our service men as they ate their Thanksgiving dinners.
Life is a short and precious thing even if one lives to be 100 years old – the older I get, the more I see this. To be an innocent child once again, complaining over the “small stuff” would be a wonderful thing. The children ran and played without a care in the world or the burden of the terrible things happening in other countries yesterday; that is the way it should be. Life will happen to them fast enough!
Just a reminder – Be happy with all you have, not the things you do not!
EDUC 685 2:44 pm
Just to let all of those that were interested in how mine and Jeff’s students did at the STLP competiton – GREAT!! Once again, our students rocked when it came to technology! We had one showcase, two presentations and one student that interviewed for the position of Jr. Engineer (Networking) for the KTLC (Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference) which is held each year in March. Our showcase scored a perfect 120 out of 120, our student for Jr. Engineer made it to the alternate level and out of two presentations, one scored 74 out of 80! Our school once again will have many wonderful students attending the state STLP competiton in May!
Everyone had a wonderful time and now maybe I can rest until May!
EDUC 685 3:09 pm
I am currently working on Dr. Lowell’s MUD and I must say, I am not working on this thing along. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from your students which is exactly what I am doing. Some of my students and I are adventuring into the game, “The Last Outpost”. This is a very challenging game in that the students and I are deeply entrenched in reading and problem solving for the purpose of keeping my Ogre alive! Stay tuned for more updates.
EDUC 685 8:04 pm
Help, I am drowning in my work! Crunch time is upon me in that my students are preparing for their annual regional STLP (Student Technology Leadership Program) competition to take place on Thursday November 15th. They have been putting the finishing touches on their projects. I would like to enlighten you on the wonderful projects that are happening at the secondary level when it comes to technology.
I will have two groups of students competing in the presentation category and one group of students will be competing in the showcase category. For the showcase category, the students have to create a booth that demonstrates how they have helped the community and/or school through the use of technology. The group of students that are competing are demonstrating a showcase called “Technology: Bridging the Generational Gap”. The students conducted four technologically driven workshops for senior citizens throughout the community. The workshops were designed at an introductory level that would help older citizens become comfortable with using technology.
The two presentations deal with students teaching others how to utilize technology. For example one of the presentations demonstrates how the students are teaching teachers how to use new technology that was purchased through a grant at the beginning of the school year. Each teacher received a new 60″ plasma television along with new Airliner Wireless Slates for the purpose of enhancing classroom instruction. There was a team of students that went around from classroom to classroom training teachers on how to use their new technology. The second presentation demonstrates how students are using blogs to help enhance their communication and writing skills across the curriculum.
Very exciting things are going on but it makes for a stressful life for me! I love it though!
Wish my kids good luck!
EDUC 685 1:40 pm
Our district is currently in the process of consolidating the elementary schools due to the fact that they are around forty years old and the buildings are declining in health. This has been a double-edge sword for many including the students in our county because even thought the buildings are old they belong to the community in which they are placed and have sentimental value. Three of the major elementary schools will be consolidated into one school and two of the other elementary schools will be consolidated into the second elementary school. As a parent, I am not very excited about the new schools because I feel that smaller schools are better schools! (But that is another blog!)
After careful consideration of how to make the transistion smoother for the students, it was discussed between me and the TRT (Technology Resource Teacher) at one of the elementary schools that we would utilize blogs and feed aggrators for the purpose of setting up a communication network between the three schools that would be merged at the beginning of next year. Since I had been working with my high school students having them use blogs as a classroom tool for communication, it was determined that I would have my high school students teach six students at the elementary level how to create blogs and set up “gators” for the purpose of creating a communication tool. After the elementary school student’s were familiar enough with blogging among themselves, they were then required to visit the other two elementary schools and teach them how to set up blogs and “gators”.
It is really interesting to witness how this type of communication can occur not only at college and/or high school levels but also at the elementary level. The students are so advanced with technology at all levels, that any concept relating to technology is very easy to teach them. It is also interesting to watch how quickly they learn how to insert pictures, change font, along with other concepts that wasn’t explained to them in the initial lesson of blogging!
EDUC 685 7:01 pm
It has been brought to my attention through a pingback on one of my blog entries that some (or one ) of you may have felt as though I was being “disrepectful” to Dr. Lowell because of my post regarding “What’s In A Grade?”. I find this very amusing because if many of you haven’t noticed by now, Dr. Lowell thrives on controversy. As a teacher, should one feel disrespected if our students question our methods or should we be flattered? As a teacher, should we feel less important or less respected in our classrooms if our students question or don’t agree with words that we have said? My blog “What’s In a Grade?” revealed no profanity toward Dr. Lowell or called him any “mean” names which in my personal opinion would have consitituted “disrespect”!
We all view life differently, this is what makes living so interesting. As a teacher, I try to take all the differences my students have and learn from all of them. I remember one of the best lessons I ever had in my class, was when my class became divided on how a computer should and could be repaired. It begain with two students who felt that they were right on how to fix a computer. There were some students who weren’t sure as to the solution to the problem and was required to pick sides as to which classmate they felt was right based on their presention of the solution. This debate went on for a week and both sides were becoming heated and even tempers flared! It wasn’t until Friday of that week that the two groups of students could try “their” repair. At the beginning, the students wanted to know if they could “get bonus points” if they were the team that could fix the problem. The students that wasn’t really sure of themselves on how to fix the problem would jump from side to side (it was really funny). By the end of the week, they really didn’t care about the grade (neither did I, as a teacher) they just wanted to prove their point! One of the best learning environments I ever had in my classroom and I didn’t even create it! And for those of you who are interested, I gave them all bonus points because they worked so hard and didn’t even mean to!
If I have learned one thing thoughout my days here on earth, it would have to be; listen to constructive critiques of what someone has to say about your views and/or opinions of topics because you can really learn a lot by other people’s words. It may not mean that you will change your view but you may learn to look at things from a different angle! For those of you who may not understand the “tone” in writing, I am here to let you know that I have nothing against Dr. Lowell; in fact, I really enjoy that he likes to dispute issues and/or topics : ) . This aspect has kept me reading when normally I would not have because for those of you that can remember from the beginning of class, I hate to read and write! This type of environment has really kept me engaged!
EDUC 685 5:27 pm
I think that Kimberly of G-Town Blog has a profound blog entry: G-Town Stops Talking. This blog in my opinion demonstrates how anything can become “old” or “overused” in the right situation. I think that Kimberly is very fortunate in that she does have a voice in which she wants to be heard. She always has interesting blogs to read that I can relate to but then again, she is in the “trenches” of the educational system. But on flip side, I can understand that now since she has obtained a new position, that her voice is now changed and she feels as though she has nothing to talk about. I do feel that once she gains experience and has exposure to different topics, she will soon find her voice returning!
