A new class begins...

Here we go again. I am still keeping this blog, too. I am a crazy woman to do this, but what else is new?

I am bogged down in school work and class work! I must remember that "I am only one, but I am one; I can't do everything, but I can do something, and that what I ought to do, by the grace of God I will do." I read this or something similar when I was at Kimball Camp during my pre-teen days. It is funny how some things stick. I am not sure of the exact author, though.

Bunday V EDU590: 1989 was a very interesting year!

Bunday V EDU590: 1989 was a very interesting year!

I enjoyed reading your blog. Yes, we have come a long way since we were first introduced to computers. My first Internet experience at home was on a Gateway. I resisted getting the Internet; I didn't think I would ever use it! Now where would I be without it!?!

I also enjoyed your comments about the class. I, too, was glad to see everyone again and to see the presentations. I am really glad that I started this program; it has been since the early 90's that I have taken a class for credit. This is a whole new experience for me! J. Hale

Friday Night

I am still working on my paper. It is almost done, but I still have to add a couple of things and put on the finishing touches. I still have sites that I would like to check out. However, I have a bag full of papers that need to be corrected as well. Oh, the life of an English teacher! Essays are fun to read, but they are very time consuming, too.

I wish that Michigan were not in such dire states financially. It would be so good for education for students to have laptops. However, I know that students should also learn to do things without technology. I think there must be a happy medium for this. I don't think that technology will replace the face-to-face relationship with teachers. I think that is important to0. I wish I had a crystal ball to see what the future has in store for education.

As you can tell, I am just having random thoughts tonight. I think the cold has frozen my brain or something. Where did autumn go? She is supposed to be with us a while longer!

Our student computers at school have been really slow, but I can't understand why those are slower than others. One student was trying to log in, and it took five or ten minutes to get to his window. He also had trouble e-mailing from the school's computer. I have one computer in my room that the students can use to get their material from the server. The other computers (the e-Macs) in my room are free-standing and not on the server. Those are a little faster, but the students can't retrieve their work on those. I don't want them on the server because I want to always be able to access the yearbook material. I don't need the Internet for that. Besides, we can't just put things on the server; the tech person has to. I like to be able to do my own because my needs are different from everyone else's because of the publications class.

My wireless mouse is working very well for my presentations in my classroom. Now I think I would like to have a remote with an infrared pointer. I will have to look into that.

Wimba Classroom

Tonight several of us met again for the Wimba classroom experience. I liked the idea of being able to present a PowerPoint along with the video. Through this class, my mind has been opened to the possibilities. I can't say enough how much I have seen education change since I started teaching! I am glad that I am still here to experience the way it is going!

I need to do some more work on my paper. I just used Jonesville's part of the survey. I had better go back and look at some of the other schools to make a comparison. The paper has been hard to write because I have learned so much, but I still need to use some of the things that I learned to fully appreciate them. Putting the ideas into practice will be the real test of my learning!

Again, I want to say thank you to Central for offering this program, to Mr. Umpstead for providing me with a good first-experience in the Educational Technology Master's Program, and to my fellow classmates for giving me valuable lessons!

Document Submission

Well, I did it. I sent my lessons with and without technology and my KeyNote presentation to Mr. Umpstead via the BlackBoard. I also sent my rubric when I sent my lesson with technology. I hope my KeyNote can be opened! If not, I can try to resend it in QuickTime or something. I am now in a state of wondering if everything went through okay. This is a whole new experience to me.

I am still working on the paper. I checked everyone's blog a few minutes ago for inspiration, but I had already read the entries. My mind is swimming with so much information. I don't know in which direction to go. Where is that muse when I need her! She saw a clip on TV about Bora Bora; maybe that is where she is!

I just know that education has come a long way since I was in high school. I am glad we know longer use manual typewriters! My fingers would get sore from hitting the keys so hard! I also wonder what the next advances will be that will make what we are doing now obsolete. I am glad that I have lived in both the non-digital age and the digital age.

I still haven't graded the essays. Today I worked on the paper. I also took some time to almost finish a knitted blanket for my soon-to-arrive granddaughter. I find that knitting helps me to relax. Now I think I will put the dog out for a little run, let her in, and then go to bed. I will work some more on the paper tomorrow when my head is clearer! I advise my students that once they have written something, they should put it away and go back to it later. We can usually make better evaluations of our writing when we are fresh!

Presentations

Thank you, fellow classmates and Mr. Umpstead, for last night's class. I really enjoyed the presentations, and I have written down so many websites that I want to explore. Even though we all teach in different areas, I was able to take something away from each of the presentations.

I was exhausted when I arrived home, though (between 11:15 and 11:30)! I didn't even look at a computer until this evening! I took some time for me and was able to see all four grandkids today. One lives near me so I dropped in to see her, and then I took a trip to K-zoo. I took my older daughter and her family out to lunch. Grandbaby #5 is due to arrive towards the end of the month, but she could arrive at any time. Family is very important to me.

Now I have to finish my paper, which is on Sunday's agenda. I also have to begin correcting all of those essays! That is on the agenda after I get my paper done!

I have been thinking about the survey that I gave my students about the project. I should have added something so they could explain their answers. For instance, what could I have done to make the KeyNote presentations more helpful, or why the student didn't believe they were helpful. I know that feedback for the students' work is important, but I don't think they realize that their feedback to the teacher can be important, too. I am curious to ask the two students who thought the non-technology writing was easier what made it easier.

The main message of this blog, though, is that I thought everyone did well last night, and I learned a lot (and have been learning a lot through the blogs) from all of you. I am looking forward to "seeing" everyone Tuesday night in the virtual classroom and again later in October in the second class!

Mouse/Clicker

I can't remember whose blog I read about using a wireless mouse as a clicker. But thank you, thank you, thank you! I knew that I had a wireless mouse with my earlier Mac, but I had never connected it to my newer Mac. When I am using a KeyNote presentation in school, I have to stand near the computer, or walk back to it, and tap the spacebar to move to the next item on the slide or to move to a new slide. Wow! I can now move to the next item with the mouse! How cool is that? (It doesn't take much to excite me!)

I surveyed my students today (the ones who had completed everything) to get their reactions to what we had accomplished. I was very happy with the results. I will still have the students who have been absent take the survey, but of the 53 who completed everything, 51 said the method of writing was easier for them with technology; only 2 said it was easier without. Only 44 thought the KeyNote presentations were helpful. I also liked their comments. Even though they have taken the Business Tech class because it is required for freshmen, I had taught them some things about Word that they had never learned. Many of them liked the two places I gave them for word choice changes: the thesaurus on Word itself and www.virtualthesaurus.com. They also began to look at their sentence structure and whether or not they were writing in active voice. If they were writing in passive voice, they tried to change the sentence to the active voice.

Overall, I was please with what has transpired over the past few days! Can I still improve what I did? You bet; there is always room for improvement! Now the fun/unfun work comes. I have to read and evaluate all of the writings! I enjoy reading what they write, but it takes a very long time. I can't even begin that until I get everything completed for this class.

I am excited. My eyes have been completely opened to the possibilities. I am an old-fashioned, back-to-basics teacher who also wants to incorporate new ways for the students to learn and to become successful at the next level.

Thank you, Central, for having this program. Thank you, Mr. Umpstead, for awakening my drive to try new things, and thank you, fellow classmates, for your help through e-mails and blogs. I am looking forward to seeing your presentations Friday night. I just hope that I did mine correctly. I, more or less, just explained what I did in the lesson. I hope it will be okay. I also hope that my paper isn't too disjointed!

Have a good evening! I will see all of you Friday night!