Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, today I celebrated my birthday. It was a relaxing, non stressed day. I really like those days. Everybody let me sleep in, which was great. We got a lot accomplished today. Russell worked in the yard, we took the storm windows down and I did lots of laundry.

Late Night Blogging

This could be dangerous. There is no telling what will go through my mind at 11 p.m. I just finished a draft of a report on my music program for my superintendent. I used Google docs and shared it with the superintendent. You know, that Google docs is a great feature! Who needs an expensive word processing program when Google has the basics that you need for free? What a great invention -- thanks Google! The more I explore Google the more impressed I am.

Since I've taken this new job, I have become even more tech savvy. I have found tons of resources, tricks and tips out there. This summer, I have the opportunity to teach technology workshops (I have to remember to get that application filled out and sent). I've been thinking about what the teachers who I work with would find the most beneficial. My thoughts are SmartBoard software, the Office Suite, and maybe some extras like MS PhotoStory. However, now my thoughts are turning to including the many Google features, Twitter, Skype, and Jing -- to name a few. I'm just not sure there are enough hours to get all this done. The Will Richardson presentation back in February really got me thinking and I refer back to his presentation wiki frequently. After that presentation, I signed up for so many things (probably too many things) that I can't remember all of them and didn't think to bookmark every one of them.

As a result of his presentation, I now Skype, blog, tweet, and I use a wiki page with my students. The wiki page has been great. My 8th graders have been using it to learn new things in PowerPoint. Their directions are posted on the site, along with free videos from AtomicLearning. They can work on their projects at their own pace and refer back to examples and videos as needed. It's worked quite well. They love the web-based method of learning. One student asked me if I had it my way, would I do web-based hands-on learning activities all the time. Then they told me they wished that I was their teacher all the time. Well, that made me feel pretty good. I have a feeling though, the web-based stuff would get old after a while.

Moodle is another thing I'd like to try. I have to do some more reading on it though. Some of the tech stuff they talk about is over my head right now -- I'll get there though.

Skype is kind of neat. I'm trying to decide if it's something I really would get use out of though. I have Yahoo! Messenger. It seems that it's quite similar. If I understand correctly though, I can actually talk to the other person just like a phone call. If I'm not mistaken though, Yahoo! Messenger has that capability as well. I would like to get the Skype headset I saw at WalMart recently. What a geek I am!

I'm still trying to figure out Twitter. I have 2 friends on Twitter. Now what? Guess I'll be reading the help section of the website. Still not quite sure what usefulness I'll get out of it.

Okay, it's now 11:27 here in the central daylight time zone. I'm exhausted and am not feeling so well -- allergies. Time for bed.

My ClustrMap

I was just looking at my blog. I noticed that my ClustrMap has 3 dots on it. Wonder where those people are from and who they are? One looks like it's from California, one in Canada, and the other one is probably me here in the good 'ol midwest. Hey, if you happen to stop by to look at this blog, please let me know who you are and where you are from -- just leave a comment. Thanks!

Today started out in an interesting way. Earthquake. 4:37 a.m. I hear rumbling and things rattling then feel shaking. It seemed to last quite a while. I checked the US Geological site this morning and they were comparing it to the earthquake in '68. I've heard my mom speak of that one often. I don't really remember as I was 2 at the time. But she remembers exactly where we were at the time. We were in Krogers and cans started falling off the shelves. Amazing what one remembers.

The second one hit around 10:00 or so. I had a few 4th graders in my room and I did have them get under the table. Earthquakes are strange experiences.

About time I updated!

I can't believe that's it's been nearly a month and a half since I've updated this blog! Time sure has flown and with the duties of my current position and all of the other stuff in my personal life, this has been put on the back burner.

Several things have happened since I last posted...

My cake decorating business is getting pretty busy. My dream is to one day have my own little bakery. I would love to have a little shop separate from our home. Wonder if I could talk my husband into that? He's pretty handy with that sort of thing. Maybe when I'm ready to retire.

We've been working hard on redoing our bathroom. We have a new tile shower surround; which I am proud to say that I did all by myself! We also have new flooring and a new sink and vanity. It wasn't the most expensive thing in the world but it looks nice and was affordable. I will not have carpeting in the bathroom again. Of course, I didn't put this carpeting in the bathroom to begin with. My grandparents put it in many years ago. It was really bad. We are not finished with the bathroom yet, it's a work in progress, but that's okay. It'll get there.

On the school front, we have started a morning newscast. There are 5 eighth grade girls who are collecting announcements, reminders, weather, etc., writing a script, and taping the morning news. They are very excited about it. We've done it 2 mornings now (didn't today, I had a sick child I had to stay home with) and it is only getting better. I wanted to do it live but I only wanted our teachers to have access to it. The only resource we have available is our computer network. So, the girls tape it, I put it into MS Movie Maker (if anyone from Microsoft happens to read this -- I love it!) and save it to a folder on our server. I then go around and let the teachers know that the newscast is ready for them to play. My goal is to go around to each computer and setup a task that it will automatically come on at a certain time each morning. That may happen next week if I can pin down a time that the whole process will be completed.

I have been working on the Take One! program for National Board Certification. I'm proud to say my work is nearly completed. I need to go back and reread my paper and make sure I have all the materials required. Oh, yeah, and I have to burn the DVD. Why do I get myself into these things?

I received word this past weekend that a former student in a former district in which I worked as principal died in a house fire last Saturday night. How tragic! I'm still in shock.

I'm exhausted and I'm hoping the little one is asleep so that I can go to bed.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. G'night!