Thing #4

Okay~~~I sent the email to register~~~I will now wait for my confirmation~~~that wasn't hard to do although I used a seldom used email address to send it with~~~I hope I remember to check it~~~ :) I need to start using that one more often anyway~~~ I am not going to write long this time~~~There was not much to it~~~I sent an email and now I eagerly await and answer~~~ besides, my son is bugging me to get off the modem so he can play XBOX 360~~~ I need to call the phone company and get a phone line installed in his room~~~ he is driving me crazy and so is this ethernet line running down the hall and across my living room~~~ after reading some of your suggestions I have definitely decided that I will keep this blog open after I finish the 23 things and try to get my high school kids involved with book and current event discussions~~~ am I opening pandora's box with that?

Thing #3

I have been reading other peoples blogs for years. I love that part of MySpace and it is why I keep a MySpace account. I love to read what others have to say and reply to them. Sometimes it is hilarious to watch people going at it in blogs. And it is always informative. However, I have never actually made my own blog. I have thought it might be fun, but never took that step. Now, I have.

Setting up the blog was easy. The hardest part was trying to make the blog homepage reflect who I am. I believe that in this age of communicating with the written word through computers and cell phones, the art of "getting someone" through non-verbal and other visual clues is becoming lost. Again, most likely because I am a visual learner, I need to "see" who someone is by their pages. By the same token, I need to show who I am. So, I tried to choose a title that would show my passions and my personality. Same with the background and the avatar.

I had a picture of myself up and I my very well put it back up again, but the avatar is me. I am always at a ballgame of some sort. I couldn't find books to put in the picture. I usually have one with me to read and get over my nerves. I get very nervous before games and having something else to do really helps. I had this avatar on Yahoo already that I had used for Yahoo messaging. I changed her up though. She needed a new hairstyle, some new clothes and I added the glasses. I also moved her from a football field to a gym because right now, that is the sport my kids are playing.

Setting up this blog was actually so much fun. I am just going to have to try not to get addicted and start thinking that y'all want to know every little thing about my life.

Thing #2

When I was actually in the classroom, I taught reading in middle school. I used to tell my students that if they could learn to read and learn FROM reading, then they could teach themselves anything. I told them that they would never be dependent upon someone else to decide what was and wasn't important for them to know, because they would be able to determine that themselves. I am an avid reader and love any and all information, but am I, myself, truly a life-long learner?

The "habit" that I am weakest at is setting personal goals of any kind, not just learning. I am quite capable of setting and working out a plan for professional learning goals. But, when it comes to myself, sometimes I am not so organized. I think it is partially due to the fact that I am very visual and I will read whatever is put before me. So it is very easy for me to be introduced to something new and the next thing you know, I am all into it without really thinking it through. I will be hours into something and not quite know how I got there. I am also easily distracted when it comes to following a plan for a personal goal. For example, I recently did an online tutorial for the K-12 Databases that was supposed to take about 3 hours. It ended up taking me almost 6 because I kept going off here or there when I would get interested in something.

I believe that my strongest "habit" is taking responsibility for my own learning. I am always hearing colleagues saying how they wish the school would have an inservice or training for this or that. Or that they can't find anything they want to attend at the service center. Or, what's worse, they won't attend something by themselves. I just go out and look. And it isn't all about CPE hours for me either. For example, since this course was not offered by our service center or my school district, I don't know if the hours will count or not. I hope they do, but if not, at least I will have the learning. As a matter of fact, in case they don't count them, I have registered for an on-site at-risk conference that I know will count. And that I would attend even if it wouldn't because of the number of at-risk students I work with. I also am planning to do a few more online tutorials for the K-12 Databases because I just simply need to know about them. I am moving from a PK-1 campus to the high school campus next year and I just feel like this course and those on the databases are musts for me to be able to try and help these kids get excited about information. I don't even necessarily care if it is information they need for class. I just want them to get excited about finding out about the world.