Unfortunately I work in a district that has decided that the sharing of pictures (and videos for that matter) is strictly prohibited. Yes, I know there are bad things on the internet out there, but more importantly, under supervision, students could be set free to discover a world they didn't even know existed.
I will update this once I have access to an out of district network.
2.26.2008
2.24.2008
Thing #3
Setting up my blog was pretty easy. This will be the 3rd official blog for me to write in.
I had one during college. It helped me a lot... just to get through the rough times. It was how I let out all the anger and disappointment about what was happening in my life. But in reality none of it was such a huge deal.... just something that a girl going through college without a best friend needed to get off her chest.
The most recent one I have kept is a blog about my year in teaching. I have not connected it to this one for various reasons. I hope to stay somewhat anonymous on that one, where as this one I am ok with everyone knowing who I am, I suppose. Again, my other blog is mostly about my struggles of getting through the first year and dealing with all the politics, crazy parents, and just all the things that keep most first year teachers from going back.
Don't worry though... I truly think this is my calling and while I will not be making any plans to "move up" to a principal or counselor in the next few years... I would be willing to start a Young Teachers of Texas group that would provide support for teachers such as myself. It would give us a way to voice our concerns and provide for the future of education. Mostly I have this idea because I am just sick of seeing only master (or just older) teachers at conferences and trainings. There should be no more references to Xanadu and other pop culture that happened before my time while learning about NEW strategies for teaching. We young teachers need to have a voice and a place in this population because without us there literally is no future for education. I know I am coming up against a big crowd to voice these things but I guess that I have just come from that generation who has grown up in a culture of technological change. Everything has changed. One day there was no internet and then it seems like overnight our lives changed and there was. We used to play games on the computer that were pixilated and very squarish (or more importantly we played sports outside) and now we have controllers that throw, bat, punch, shoot (and I'm not talking about the Duck Hunt), or whatever the game calls for and then can change again in 5 minutes if you get bored or master the first game. I mean geez.... we used to keep diaries that were private and locked up and now we write in journals that the whole world can see and yet we still post like no one is reading or maybe even cares.
While I may not be able to tell my kids and grand kids about walking uphill in the snow both ways, I will be able to talk to them about looking up things in an encyclopedia (GASP!) that my parents had strategically purchased for our education, versus just Googling something.... which my students and I do daily. While it is not perfect it has helped answer many science questions that we all just have to know... and expect an easy answer to.
And that's my soap box or as Mr. (well someday) Incredible would say that's one of my soapboxes. Except for these days I think we would have to stand on a Mac box!
Anyhow, I think the point of this Thing is to talk about the difficulties of setting up this blog but I found it to be easy. There were a few things I wanted to be a little more flexible like the colors and layout as well as my superhero outfit. I chose a superhero cuz maybe that's what I have always thought would be so cool. Now, as a teacher, I almost feel like a superhero at times as I get to pass my powers of learning and knowledge on to someone else. I wish that I could have had a superhero costume that was less daily and more super, but this one will do for now. I would, however like to have my own personal superhero avatar someday but that will take some more investigating on my part.
Now I am off to look around some other blogs and find some new information that could bring me closer to the end of my search for the 23 Things.
I had one during college. It helped me a lot... just to get through the rough times. It was how I let out all the anger and disappointment about what was happening in my life. But in reality none of it was such a huge deal.... just something that a girl going through college without a best friend needed to get off her chest.
The most recent one I have kept is a blog about my year in teaching. I have not connected it to this one for various reasons. I hope to stay somewhat anonymous on that one, where as this one I am ok with everyone knowing who I am, I suppose. Again, my other blog is mostly about my struggles of getting through the first year and dealing with all the politics, crazy parents, and just all the things that keep most first year teachers from going back.
Don't worry though... I truly think this is my calling and while I will not be making any plans to "move up" to a principal or counselor in the next few years... I would be willing to start a Young Teachers of Texas group that would provide support for teachers such as myself. It would give us a way to voice our concerns and provide for the future of education. Mostly I have this idea because I am just sick of seeing only master (or just older) teachers at conferences and trainings. There should be no more references to Xanadu and other pop culture that happened before my time while learning about NEW strategies for teaching. We young teachers need to have a voice and a place in this population because without us there literally is no future for education. I know I am coming up against a big crowd to voice these things but I guess that I have just come from that generation who has grown up in a culture of technological change. Everything has changed. One day there was no internet and then it seems like overnight our lives changed and there was. We used to play games on the computer that were pixilated and very squarish (or more importantly we played sports outside) and now we have controllers that throw, bat, punch, shoot (and I'm not talking about the Duck Hunt), or whatever the game calls for and then can change again in 5 minutes if you get bored or master the first game. I mean geez.... we used to keep diaries that were private and locked up and now we write in journals that the whole world can see and yet we still post like no one is reading or maybe even cares.
While I may not be able to tell my kids and grand kids about walking uphill in the snow both ways, I will be able to talk to them about looking up things in an encyclopedia (GASP!) that my parents had strategically purchased for our education, versus just Googling something.... which my students and I do daily. While it is not perfect it has helped answer many science questions that we all just have to know... and expect an easy answer to.
And that's my soap box or as Mr. (well someday) Incredible would say that's one of my soapboxes. Except for these days I think we would have to stand on a Mac box!
Anyhow, I think the point of this Thing is to talk about the difficulties of setting up this blog but I found it to be easy. There were a few things I wanted to be a little more flexible like the colors and layout as well as my superhero outfit. I chose a superhero cuz maybe that's what I have always thought would be so cool. Now, as a teacher, I almost feel like a superhero at times as I get to pass my powers of learning and knowledge on to someone else. I wish that I could have had a superhero costume that was less daily and more super, but this one will do for now. I would, however like to have my own personal superhero avatar someday but that will take some more investigating on my part.
Now I am off to look around some other blogs and find some new information that could bring me closer to the end of my search for the 23 Things.
Thing #2
First, I must begin by telling how happy I was to start this thing because of the intro about 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. As most of you might agree, Covey is a wonderful man with some great insight into how to be a more effective person. If you have never had the chance to go through the training, you should look into it. I was able to take it for free while in college because I was considered a "student leader." Basically I just got over involved in way too many things and it took me longer than necessary to graduate, but that is beside the point. My real tangent is that my life became a lot less complicated when I stopped worrying about things that I couldn't control or change. I don't remember the exact words, but I know it has something do with a person's "circle of influence." There has been many times that because of my 7 Habits training I was able to take a deep breath and walk away from a situation that I knew I could not do anything about. While I know I have not completely mastered this concept much less the rest of the Habits, thinking about my actual "circle of influence" has definitely helped me.
Now back to the actual assignment... After watching the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners, I have decided a couple of things. First, maybe because of my background in psychology and sociology as well as my personal insecurities watching/reading or participating in cheesy self-help things makes my tummy churn. Second, this is my ultimate weakness because while I know they might be helpful, I basically have to seclude myself in a cave to have the confidence to watch something like this... and laugh out loud at the corny photos and silliness of the self-help propaganda. This goes for the training above as well. It was not a cake-walk to sit through 7 Habits either.
With that being said, I could only narrow down to 2 easy habits for me. The first one would be "Accept responsibility for your own learning." Anyone who knows me knows that while you may want me to learn one thing, if I don't find it interesting, I won't be able to learn it, but may go off on my own learning tangent. While I may not be accepting responsibility for things I should be learning, I definitely accept responsibility for learning things that the average person would never really give a second thought. Among my favorite tangents (in no particular order) are anything involved with people relations, penguins, Christianity and other religions, women and society (work, school, marriage, dating, the suffrage, politics, religion, etc.) dancing, theater and art history, and photography. I also really enjoy finding out how and why things are the way they are... and you may hear me giggle if I were walking through a mall or other public place because I have a funny habit of making up my own stories of how things came to be. The problem with my ability to do this is that if any of the above might be mentioned... I have probably refocused my learning receptors to the new topic.
The second habit is "Teach/Mentor others." Helllllloooooo... I am a teacher and it's not because I like summers off. I want my students to know and understand all the weird things I do because I'm hoping that something I say will pique their interest. I love that my students can talk to me about anything science as well as show off their art talents, invite me to a game or a play, let me in on the latest student news, or just tell me how excited they were to do a new trick on their BMX. They know that my interests are varied and it helps me build a relationship with each one. I love to use humor and let them know that I am a real person with a life just like them and that everyone has struggles and successes. The most exhilarating feeling comes over me when I see a lightbulb turn on so much so that I have been know to jump and cheer in class. Not as flamboyantly as Ron Clark, but perhaps one day...
Now, the one habit that is the hardest for me is "Begin with the end in mind." I noticed this was the easiest one for so many other people but for me it just isn't. I don't like making a goal because I feel it will change every few minutes or days and that I will spend so much time revising the goal that I won't ever accomplish anything. I do have a list of things I would like to do, but you could probably equate it to a "bucket list." Things that would be fun and good for me to learn or do but mostly will not be life altering. I just like to go with the flow. Right now as I work on my certification for teaching, I am of course planning on the end result being a certificate but not everything I am doing is just for that goal. I go to conferences, trainings and talk to my mentors so that I can be a great teacher for years to come, not just while I am trying to obtain my certificate. Where ever this journey chooses to take me, I will go with it. I would like to keep it that way and so while this habit is the hardest, maybe it is that way only because it is the one I don't foresee myself doing anytime soon.
Now back to the actual assignment... After watching the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners, I have decided a couple of things. First, maybe because of my background in psychology and sociology as well as my personal insecurities watching/reading or participating in cheesy self-help things makes my tummy churn. Second, this is my ultimate weakness because while I know they might be helpful, I basically have to seclude myself in a cave to have the confidence to watch something like this... and laugh out loud at the corny photos and silliness of the self-help propaganda. This goes for the training above as well. It was not a cake-walk to sit through 7 Habits either.
With that being said, I could only narrow down to 2 easy habits for me. The first one would be "Accept responsibility for your own learning." Anyone who knows me knows that while you may want me to learn one thing, if I don't find it interesting, I won't be able to learn it, but may go off on my own learning tangent. While I may not be accepting responsibility for things I should be learning, I definitely accept responsibility for learning things that the average person would never really give a second thought. Among my favorite tangents (in no particular order) are anything involved with people relations, penguins, Christianity and other religions, women and society (work, school, marriage, dating, the suffrage, politics, religion, etc.) dancing, theater and art history, and photography. I also really enjoy finding out how and why things are the way they are... and you may hear me giggle if I were walking through a mall or other public place because I have a funny habit of making up my own stories of how things came to be. The problem with my ability to do this is that if any of the above might be mentioned... I have probably refocused my learning receptors to the new topic.
The second habit is "Teach/Mentor others." Helllllloooooo... I am a teacher and it's not because I like summers off. I want my students to know and understand all the weird things I do because I'm hoping that something I say will pique their interest. I love that my students can talk to me about anything science as well as show off their art talents, invite me to a game or a play, let me in on the latest student news, or just tell me how excited they were to do a new trick on their BMX. They know that my interests are varied and it helps me build a relationship with each one. I love to use humor and let them know that I am a real person with a life just like them and that everyone has struggles and successes. The most exhilarating feeling comes over me when I see a lightbulb turn on so much so that I have been know to jump and cheer in class. Not as flamboyantly as Ron Clark, but perhaps one day...
Now, the one habit that is the hardest for me is "Begin with the end in mind." I noticed this was the easiest one for so many other people but for me it just isn't. I don't like making a goal because I feel it will change every few minutes or days and that I will spend so much time revising the goal that I won't ever accomplish anything. I do have a list of things I would like to do, but you could probably equate it to a "bucket list." Things that would be fun and good for me to learn or do but mostly will not be life altering. I just like to go with the flow. Right now as I work on my certification for teaching, I am of course planning on the end result being a certificate but not everything I am doing is just for that goal. I go to conferences, trainings and talk to my mentors so that I can be a great teacher for years to come, not just while I am trying to obtain my certificate. Where ever this journey chooses to take me, I will go with it. I would like to keep it that way and so while this habit is the hardest, maybe it is that way only because it is the one I don't foresee myself doing anytime soon.
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