Back to School Tomorrow!

I can't believe the summer is over already. Just when I was getting into the summer do-what-I-want routine, it's over. So long summer '08 and hello school year 08-09. That's another one I can't believe! I started teaching in 1987-88. So, that makes this year, what, school year number 22? It just doesn't seem possible. Afterall, I'm not that old. Oh well, the time and years will pass and over this I have no control.

This year I would like to try some new things with my students. It will be a challenge this year with the kids having computers everyday all year long. I would like for the teachers to step up and help out with assigning projects that I can assist with. (I need to word that differently -- always learned that you should never end a sentence with a preposition.) My thoughts are turning to Google Earth, stop motion animation, and podcasting. I really need a couple more ideas. I really, really want to do Lego Robotics. That would be a great experience for those kids. However, have you priced those kits lately? Wow! That's what's holding me back -- the money. Time to start looking -- again -- for grant and funding sources.

Nighttime Rantings

I just realized that I haven't posted since school was out in May. Today marks the 1 week point until school starts for the 2008-2009 school year. I'm excited about the new year starting; but at the same time I'm not ready for summer to be over. This year will be an interesting one. There have been several changes made that I think are positive changes for our school. I will be very busy this year. Can't really give any details yet.

I am looking for new and exciting technology projects do to with the kids this year. I'm thinking about doing stop-motion animation. I think they will really like making their own "claymation" movies. They'll be really short, but I think that will be fun and memorable. I really want to do Lego Robotics with one group. The materials are so expensive though. I wish someone or an organization would just GIVE me money to purchase the kits.

The Internet at school is finally up and running again. Tomorrow I go to the other building to try and get them up and running with the help of ICN. I just hope it doesn't take 4 hours again. I've got a cake to decorate!

Time to go for now. If you visit my blog, please leave a comment and tell me who and where you are. Thanks! 'Night!

End of another year...

Well, the 2008-09 school year is coming to a close, very soon. I just can't believe how quickly these years go by. What a great year I have had. I love the school, love the kids, and love my content areas. Everything just seemed to work out perfectly. I pretty much have my dream job -- Title 1 reading and technology. Who could ask for anything more? I think everyday about the decision I made to leave administration. What a great decision that was. This year has been one of no stress. I don't have to make those tough decisions, deal with student discipline, go to board meetings (unless I want to), deal with employee issues, deal with angry parents, and all those other things that go along with the position. I can focus on the kids I have, develop curriculum, and go home at night and stay home. What a great feeling!

I have no regrets being in administration and will probably go back in some capacity sometime in the future. But for now, I'm loving what I'm doing.

Pop-ups and other stuff...

I have had more trouble this weekend -- started Sunday actually -- with pop-ups. I'm using pop-up blockers, ran virus scans (always comes up with spyware), added blocked websites in IE and I still was having major pop-up problems. I don't believe I EVER had that problem. I tried system restore and it wouldn't let me restore because it said I had errors on my drive. I got all that fixed and did system restore again. This time it worked. I rolled it back to Friday when Jing updated and guess what...that fixed the pop-up problem--so far anyway. I haven't had any at all since then. When I start up, Jing wants to update and I'm holding them off. The Google pop-up blocker is catching them.

I filled my hummingbird feeders today. I just love those little creatures. They never cease to amaze me.

Productive Day

Well, today was a fairly productive day. We got that trash pile cleaned up and some limbs burned. I am so ready for summer! Now, I just need to get my pond going and some flowers planted and things will feel complete.

I saw the first hummingbird of the season this evening. I think it was attracted to my red kitchen curtains. I'm going to have to make up some "juice" for my hummingbird feeders. Next weekend - hopefully - I can get to the local nursery and get some plants to attract the hummers and butterflies.

I just love this time of year! Now, if school were only out...

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.