September 30

I am so frustrated! I was having trouble getting to other blogs, but I think I figured that problem out. Then I couldn't remember which gmail account I used for this blog. I guess that means I shouldn't have so many accounts (2). I use one for personal and one for school-related things, but when I created this one, I inadvertently used my personal account.

I finished reading the book, and I thought the book was very helpful. Now I need to put some of the ideas into use. Because I committed to a writing project that will end tomorrow last spring, I have had to concentrate on that. Once that is completed, I am going to complete my technology lesson with the students next week. We have been working with writing so I am going to use a word processing assignment to compare the non-technology writing to the technology writing.

This week has been jampacked! Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in the cold taking cross country pictures. It was our only home meet. Most of my students are involved in sports or after-school jobs, and I enjoy taking the pictures. However, it takes a lot of time. In addition, it is Homecoming week and fair week. I think my head is spinning!

I have been working on the computer for almost three hours, but I haven't accomplished too much. I did send e-mails to different people giving my choices for the twenty questions. I had trouble doing that, too. I tried to send to several people at once, but I kept getting the message that addresses were invalid. I ended up sending them one at a time.

I am slowly learning things!

Week Two

I am not progressing as quickly as I would like to be! I decided that I wanted to read the book before I did too much with the two projects. However, my first obligation is correcting my students' papers. Because we are getting ready to be part of a pilot test, my students have been doing more writing than usual. The project will be concluded next Thursday (October 1). As a result, I have only been able to read between correcting assignments!

I do like the book. I have so many ideas. I need a semester for this class so that I can try several of these and tweak them. I think I know what I want to do for my technology in-class assignment, but I won't be able to do it until the first full week in October because of the writing project. That won't leave me much time to get the assignments done, but I think I can handle it.

On top of that, I signed up for two PhotoShop classes (one on the 19th and one on the 26th of September) and a Canon camera class (September 25). My head is overwhelmed with technology and its possible uses in my classroom. Actually, I think my brain is on complete overload. I hope it does not explode!

Did I also mention that I am the person responsible for the yearbook and this is both Homecoming week and fair week at our school? She said with her tongue-in-her-cheek, "It just can't get any better than this!"

The good news is that I do love to learn and that I like a challenge. We shall see how much multi-tasking I can get done in the next two weeks. We have a county-wide teachers' in-service tomorrow. I am hoping that I can gain something from that that I can incorporate into my projects.

My First Blog Ever

I keep thinking of the saying about teaching old dogs new tricks. That is how I feel right now. I have never done a blog. I am not overly comfortable, but to move forward, one must take the first step. Here goes.

I am excited about the 590 class, but I am also feeling some anxiety. I have a lot of learning to do. I am from the manual typewriter generation. I moved comfortably to the electric typewriter and even to the computer as a wordprocessor and for e-mails. Now I will be learning the other things that technology can do. I have so much to learn, but I do believe that technology is the way that education is moving. I want to stay progressive, but please bear with me if I seem backward! I need all the help I can get.