Here is a video I did for one of my classes...it was my favorite assignment!

Life

I know it has been a long time since I have posted a blog. Life has been a little crazy this summer and it looks like it isn't going to get any better! On a good note I am over half way done with my master's program....YAY! I have now finished 6 out of 11 classes. My next class is up in the air because they changed the weekend dates to it last minute and I can't go to the Saturday classes. I called CMU to see what my options were and I may be able to do an independent study for it or I can take it through the main campus, up in Mt. Pleasant...which is a lot farther than Saginaw. Also, the main campus class is 4 weekends instead of 3 so it is a lot more driving (and with gas prices...OUCH!), not to mention I would have to take 4 Saturday off work and stay in a hotel room. Another downside of that option is it starts in September but doesn't finish until December. Meanwhile my second fall class starts in October and ends in November. One class at a time is rough but there is no way I could do 2 and these overlap! I pray I will be able to do the independent study. I can make it to the Friday classes but 2 1/2 of the Saturdays I would have to miss....which is a lot of class time. GRRR! I thought I was supposed to rest and relax during my month off of school...no such luck.

In other news, the brunch that I help put on every summer turned out great this year and I am once again amazed at my God above! I could see him working all around me. Our goal this year was 340 people and we had 354. We were running out of seats! Our speaker arrived safely and she was phenomenal! What an amazing testimony she has!

Things with Adopt a Pet are going great and I have been trying to volunteer as much as I can this summer since I can't during the school year. I just helped out at the last event for the summer last weekend. Currently I am fostering 2 6 weeks old puppies that are adorable!

OK, I'm headed to actually read a book for pleasure...thanks for reading!

It's spring!

I know I haven't posted in a while but things have been a little crazy in my life. I am almost done with another class, yea! In my spare time I have been trying to help my sister make a scrap book for my nephew's openhouse. It has been a lot of fun looking at the old pictures! Memorial weekend I went to my friends, Maria & Aaron's, house for their son's baptism. It was great to see friends from college and we had a lot of fun catching up! I am so excited to have some more gorgeous weather so I can work outside and also just relax in the sun....with my flip flops!

overloaded

Well, my next class has started and so my works begins. I am starting to feel overloaded and that there are not enough hours in the day to finish my work. I am looking forward to spring break next week so I won't be working as many hours and maybe I can get A LOT done...that's the plan anyways but we all know how well plans work sometimes. I don't think the work would be so bad if there weren't so many chapters to read and if the text wasn't so boring. I am having a hard time reading the book and then understanding what I read well enough to answer the questions. I have the night off and I really should get some done...but all I want to do is go take a nap!

Life

I know it has been a while since I have blogged and for that I am sorry. Life has been crazy lately and very busy. Between working 2 jobs, going to Florida, fostering dogs and being in school I'm lucky lately to be at the right place at the right time. I have been getting quite a few subbing days in, which is good, but last week I was asked to be a long term sub as an aide. This is a new position for me and I have mixed feelings but I'm excited to be at the same place day to day, and also to know I am working the next day.

I did sub some last week in a second grade classroom and I have something new to share. We were reading an article about global warming and the Arctic melting. We talked about the Arctic being the North Pole. I asked "what will happen if this continues and the Arctic melts?" All the students said " then Santa won't have a place to live!" I thought this was so cute and definitely in the minds of 8 year olds, this is truth!

Florida here I come!

Well, I am sooo ready to head to Florida! I need warmth! I finally mailed in my CD portfolio, which was a huge relief. I also finished my essay and emailed that to the professor but I haven't heard from him on if he received it or not. Now that my homework is officially done I can start packing. I have no idea what I want to take with me. At least I know what I will be wearing to the wedding! That is one of the advantages to being in the wedding.

On another note, I now have a tooth that is giving me a lot of trouble. I went to the dentist, he thinks it might have an infection so he gave me antibiotics. While I was there though he kept tapping my sore tooth with his instrument and now that aggravated it and made it worse. Isn't going to the dentist supposed to fix that problem, not intensify it?

OK, enough complaining. I think it is time for a nap!

Class is done...maybe

Well, my class is done, kinda. I still have to finish my CD and do my essay question, plus I need to start getting ready to leave for Florida. I feel like there is so much I need to get done this week with not much time to do it. Luckily there is no school tomorrow so my 'plan' is to get a lot of it done then, but we all know how well our plans work sometimes! I hope I can get much of it done.

On another note, I am really looking forward to the time away in Florida. Sometimes we just need to get away and I really feel like I do. It will be refreshing, and hopefully warmer. I really pray for warm weather since I am going done there for a wedding and the wedding is on the beach. Yea!

Well, I am going to try to go relax and figure out a game plan for the week. I hope everyone has a great week!

Times almost up!

Well, I am sitting down and finishing up my "lose ends" with my homework. It is now time to reflect on my experiences. Some of the assignments I have really liked and will probably continue using but yet others are just not right for me, although they may work well for others. I have enjoyed this class, it has definitely put me in state of disequilibrium several times but that is a good thing. It has made me get out of my comfort zone and explore. I am really looking forward to a few weeks break from homework. That will be nice. I joined this cohort so I could be more tech savy and more comfortable and confident with technology and I really think I am reaching my goal. Being out of school for a couple of year though I had forgotten how much work could be involved! Don't get me wrong, I have learned A LOT but I will really enjoy the next couple weeks.

Well, I think this will be my last blog until after class so good luck with your homework and I'll see you in 2 days!

Random thoughts

Well, thanks to the help from a friend and A LOT of exploring and experimenting I am getting close to being done with my website. It is such a relief! I have learned so much but I am starting to feel the time crunch. Did Dr. Merrill say he wanted us to keep our website simple and easy? I was trying to save my lesson plan stuff onto the CD and it wouldn't work so even though I am almost done with things, I am running into problems. I think my E drive is not working. Now I am emailing my work to myself....and going to try to save it from another computer. I hope it works!

I can't believe that Friday is our last class. This month has flown by so fast! It will be nice to have a few weeks break between classes. It seemd unreal to think about how much more is out there for us to use in the classroom!

Once again it is snowing here....again! I know I shouldn't complain because I do live in Michigan afterall but we haven't had this much snow in a long time. I guess you could say that we have been a little bit spoiled with how little snow we have gotten in the past several winters and now that we have gotten this much snow we can't believe it. Also, it is FREEZING outside!!!!

Well, I think I am going to take a break from the computer and homework. I hope to get everything done tonight so I can burn it all tomorrow and then not worry about it anymore.

Good luck with your homework!

Exhausted

Ok, today I just feel exhausted. I feel like there is SO much for me to do and I am tired. There is no energy left and I am still trying figure out this website. I have it created...sort of but I can not figure out how to link sites and attatch other things. I think I am going to call it a night and spend more time, earlier in the day to work on it. I feel completely lost! Anyone else feel the same way?

snow day again?

I can't believe we had another snow day! I don't ever remember having this many! It was nice to know Wednesday night that there would be no school on Thursday because then I knew I could sleep in. I also got a call a little before six in the morning on Friday that school was closed that day too. Even though the call came late I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to get some things done and also able to go visit a friend of mine. The only problem is we have had so much snow and ice that as of Friday we are officially over our limit of snow days and have to make one up! One doesn't seem that bad but then I think that it is only the beginning of February and if this weather continues it will become more than one! Is anyone else's school districts over on their snow day count?

On another note, less than one more week of class! I need to get busy with my homework! ;-)

politics

Well, it is icy and snowy outside and as much as I want summer to be here I also am ready for November. Why you may ask. I am already tired of the presidential debates and campaigns. Every time I turn on the TV there is more about it. Also, how do you know what and who to believe, and what each person stands for. It is very hard to make an informed decision on any of the candidates. There is so many smear tactics that you don't know what is truth. I must say that I am not one too interested in politics but I also want to make sure to vote and I want my vote to be based on facts, not lies. Does anyone else feel this way?

Votes are in!

Ok, the final result from the poll is more people like fall! NO ONE voted for winter....probably because most people are ready for it to be over with until next year! Unfortunately it doesn't look like that is going to happen anytime soon. It sounds like another storm is headed this way. I am soooo ready to break out the flip flops though, and they may come back out soon. Even the students I have been working with seem to be ready for sunnier and warmer weather! It's sad when 40 degrees feels like a heat wave! I would be just as happy skipping spring and heading right into summer, although I do enjoy seeing the flowers start to come out during these times. As for now, I will just look forward to heading to Florida at the end of the month. It will be nice to have a change of scenery.

Snow predictions

Well, the storm has now passed. It is funny how they were predicting this HUGE storm! When I was subbing on Thursday a student even came up to me and asked if they could do Friday's work instead of the plans for the day because there wasn't going to be school on Friday. There was even a few cancellations in the area on Thursday night before a snow flake had even fallen! I had been watching weather reports and some were saying we were going to get 6-10 inches and others were saying 5-8. By the time the storm has passed we had a whopping 3 inches!!! I must say I am kind of glad since I am not particulary fond of the white stuff but every one was getting ready for so much more. Oh well, it is pretty but if they are right about tomorrow's temperature it will all be melted tomorrow!

Yea for time off!

Well, today we had another snow day and I have been able to enjoy it and get a few things done. One of which has been to set my computer back up. It was in getting fixed and also getting more memory. I felt lost without this one piece of equipment and I am very thankful to have it back! It makes me wonder what we ever did without computers!

Snow days

It is a nice surprise to wake up to a snow day. At my other employment we don't have snow days and now that I am back to subbing I get to experience them again- maybe! Of course today is the day that I work at my other job in the morning and couldn't sub! I hope everyone enjoys their day off and either a) does something productive or b) just relaxes! Have a great day!

Forgotten loves

So, recently I went from full time to part time at work and as a result I have started substitute teaching again. I was a little apprehensive about it, even though I enjoyed it before. It was just the whole fact of changing the routine I have become to love. I subbed for half a day on Tuesday and today was a biggie- my first FULL day back in a classroom. For the past year I have still worked in education and with students but it's been more of an administration position and more 1 on 1 time with them. The most I have had at a time has been 3! But today I found myself in a middle school classroom. Usually I don't sub higher than 6th grade so this in itself was different for me.

Once the day started I began to remember how much I loved being in a classroom and teaching in this setting! I have missed this. Another cool thing was the students remembered having me as a sub before! yea! I enjoyed my day very much.

I also had a time to reminisce today because several of my students were children that were in my student teaching class! It made me think back to that time and also made me realize how much they have grown up! WOW! Some of them I almost didn't recognize!

Before I close this post I would like to comment that I also enjoyed my half day teaching. Several of the students I had remembered from the last time I had been there. I was pleasantly surprised to see the growth of maturity that have reached some students. It is fun to sometimes just take a step back and make observations.

Blogs

I am enjoying having a blog more than I thought I would. It is fun experimenting with different options and "revamping" it. It is so cool to learn what is out there. I am discovering that the best way to learn on the internet is to explore on my own. This is exactly what I am doing with my blog is trying new things. Is anyone else having fun with this?

Amazing Technology

I am learning so much in my classes at Central. I never knew about all these tools available to use in the classroom. I have heard of some, like blogging, but I hadn't heard of teachers using them for classroom purposes. I am excited to learn about the new ways we can involve children with technology.