wk 4 Publishing Presentation Project

I really can't believe this is almost over. It's been WELL over the amount of time from when I started, and I'm glad it's over, but in a way, it's not over! I really LOVED my AR project, and don't want this to be the end. I've become the "tech" person at my school; the person everyone goes to for answers. I can't wait to facilitate my cycle 3 soon! Publishing this paper seems so definitive. I really have something to show! I can't wait to see where the end of this program brings me... to new beginnings!


wk 2 Think Out Loud PPP
wk 3 Think Out Loud PPP
 PPP

wk 4 response to Kathy's Blog

I agree with this spark! We as educators DO have a responsibility to carry it around and ALWAYS light up our students no matter what. The second we don't have it or don't want to is the moment that our relationship with students heads nowhere. Education is a RELATIONSHIP that should be constantly growing. Positivity DOES lead to possibility!

wk 4 response to Stephen's Blog

Isn't this a great book for educators? I think we have a responsibility to light the spark in students every day! We have such an affect on their lives especially, and we CAN control the outcome of being successful! That's what the journey should be all about- seeing success at the end for BOTH sides will empower everyone.

wk 4 reading- the art of possibility

This week's reading reminded me of the Yes Man movie with Jim Carrey. He says "yes" to everything for a period of time, and realizes that his life actually gets better! We have such an active role in our own lives, and in the lives of others. If we don't like the way things are going? CHANGE IT! Take chances and risks and stay positive about it. We can't just complain about things and expect it to work out for us, or to just "deal with it"... if we do that we'll never really solve anything. Whether we want to believe it or not, we attract everything in our lives- the good and the bad. So when I'm stuck with a string of bad things, I find it helpful to reassess what I have in my life, and how I've been acting. More often than most, I've been thinking negatively, or I've been mean, or whatever kind of stupid behavior you can think of. I catch myself sometimes, and change it in time to change the things I want to. I'm not quite there yet where I'm confident to love every aspect of my life, but I tend to get off track, and things like this book bring me back to realize what I was doing.

Image obtained from creativecommons.org

wk3 Think Out Loud PPP

I've decided to publish. I know! I'm normally a presenter, but, I don't know.. I just feel like this project and it's results would be best presented in a paper. I've decided to submit it to the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education.
The submission guidelines don't look too daunting, and I'm excited!!

wk 3 response to DaMarcus's Blog

DaMarcus, I also try not to lower my standards, and sometimes it makes me feel like I might be too hard on my students, but when they surprise me with meeting my expectations it makes it all worth it! I agree with you about passion. Why not be passionate about everything you do? If you're not passionate about something, why are you doing it?

wk 3 response to Sharol's Blog

Sharol, I completely agree! Isn't it always funny how administrators normally have been out of the classroom for entirely too long, that it reflects in their decision making? It's not their fault, this is just the way things are. Students remember things better when they have a stake in their education. I can't tell you what I learned in high school, but I remember almost every moment of higher education because I had a choice in the matter!

wk3 reading- the art of possibility

Leading from Any Chair: I was really struck by this, because I feel as teachers we are supposed to do this every day. There's that old saying, to not be the sage on the stage, but the guide on the side? That's exactly what I thought of when I read this chapter. It's giving students more "power" in the classroom to learn. Once we do that, students will be more confident and might take more risks! I have a few tattoos that my students love to ask about, and one of them says "Believe" on my arm, so they always ask me what that means. I always tell them that everyone needs to believe in something, and even if you don't believe in anything, you need to especially believe in yourself. I think leading from any chair means that students need to believe in themselves to take charge in the classroom and in their lives!
I also love Rule Number 6! Speaking of my tattoos, I have another one on my ankle that says Live Laugh Love, and it's another one that my students ask about. This one is kind of self explanatory, and we see it all the time as it's a common expression, but do we really take that advice? Each day, do you make an effort to live, laugh AND love? Live and Love are the easier ones- everyone is already living (although I challenge you to take it to the next level and LIVE every day), and everyone loves something (their self, a family member, something else, hopefully!), but do we take a moment to LAUGH every day? Just remembering to never take life seriously (because we won't get out alive!) has saved me MANY a day when teaching in my school seemed impossible. Even this year, my classes are a little crazy (they gender-ized the freshman class, and I teach the majority of the GIRLS, so there's a-WHOLE-lot of attitude in my classroom on a daily basis), so just remembering Rule Number 6 makes me feel much better each day!

image obtained from creativecommons.org

wk2 Think Out Loud PPP

I haven't decided if I want to publish or present. I'm more partial to presenting, so I think I might wind up doing that. I've checked out some journals and conferences, just in case I change my mind. My AR project focuses on teacher technology training and use in the classroom. This is a topic that is popular, as it's very necessary for every classroom and school to get on board with. I've narrowed them down to two conferences and two journals. I think my decision is really going to have to be a last minute, pick it and stick with it type of choice!
Possible journals/ conferences:
Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education 
Journal of Technology and Teacher Education
Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education  
ISTE 2010 

wk2 response to Barry's Blog

wk2 response to Allen's Blog

wk2 reading- the art of possibility

How can we unlock our greatest potential? By thinking outside the box of course. The authors present us with a few examples how. By using the nine dot challenge, we learn that everything is not as it seems. We need to shift our focus. This reminds me very much of positive thinking. If we think positively, anything is possible. We need to stop letting others, or ourselves define us. If we define ourselves, then we're setting limits. In order to be truly potential for anything, we need to be LIMITLESS. This almost seems impossible, since people (especially THESE days) are very... what's the word... nervous? Power hungry? Money hungry? You get the picture. We're so worried about our lives and about being successful that it's too risky to believe we are capable of doing anything and everything. But what if we fail? What if we invest everything and fail, like many people have been doing these days? If we get into that mind set, then yes, we WILL fail. Because then we think nothing is possible. We also need to realize that each person affects everyone else. We need to get out of that mind set of "well, it's only me, so what impact can I have in the grand scheme of things?" Yes, I am only one person. But as that one person I have the ability of affecting everyone I meet everyday. No matter what anyone's profession is, we all make a contribution to life EVERY day. By paying it forward, we start a trend to affect others, creating that great ripple effect. And in turn, we'll get that back in extraordinary amounts in the future.

Image obtained from creativecommons.org

wk1 free choice

Maybe this is me being unappreciative, but I don't understand why copyright law needs to be so harsh. I mean, I know you need to give credit where credit is due, but I feel like some of this stuff is a little ridiculous. Does everything always need to be about money? I'm not saying that if you create something it should be public property for anyone to use, but I feel like if it was me, I'd be ok with just people telling everyone that they got it from me. Then again, I'm not an artist. I don't do a lot of creating, and I consider myself a sharer. Isn't it true what they say: imitation is the best form of flattery? I think most people don't mean to use stuff maliciously- they just really like it and are inspired by it. I feel like the world is too money hungry (you can sue anyone for just about anything it seems like), and it's hurting us more than it's helping. Let's say there is a copyright infringement. Won't that take forever in paperwork and courts to get settled costing even more money? I don't know. There's always a few rules (or in this case, laws) that we might not agree with but that we need to follow anyway. I guess this is the case for me.

Is it like shoplifting? 

Image from creativecommons.org

wk1 Response to Lania's Blog

 

 

Images from http://web.me.com/laniaclark/Lanias_MAC_Blog/WK1/WK1.html

wk1 response to Fary's blog

Fary, I agree completely! I live in a city and the same thing happens with bootleg movies! With music, I have not really experienced those "mix tapes". Education is always tricky isn't it? Before this program I too used everything and anything in my classroom without thinking another second. Don't we all? Even still I might use a movie or two that may need to be readjusted because of copyright. Teachers need to be educated on this, because many of our students have no idea. I'm still struggling with students plagiarizing written works. ALL of my students get their music from other means- not many of them can afford to buy it anyway, and they don't think there's anything wrong with it. Ad educators we need to fix this!

 Images from http://fary72001.blogspot.com/

wk1 reading: copyright

 

 

Image from creativecommons.org

Copyright is always something that not many people know about, unless you experience a program/course like this. We've ALL done it. Burned a CD/DVD? downloaded music/movies? At one point in our lives we ALL have done it... perhaps unknowingly, but we've done it. GirlTalk? I LOVE his stuff. It's different...but then again it's the same. I understand people need copyright to protect their stuff and give credit where credit is due, but some stuff personally I think gets a little too complicated. I mean, I've made some instructional videos that I was pretty proud of. If someone used them and claimed them as their own, sure I'd be mad. But as long as they say "Hey, this was made by Kelly Grapentine," I'd be ok. But that's just me. Can't we all just "share share that's fair"? Never! Whenever I think about copyright I always think of Vanilla Ice, and how he used Queen's and David Bowie's "Under Pressure" beat. I remember an interview on VH1 or MTV where Vanilla Ice tries to explain "no no, it's different. Their song was bum bum bum bada bum bum, while MY song was bum bum bada bum bum..." You get the picture. It sounded ridiculous. But then after seeing this video I got it. You can stretch a beat out so that it sounds completely different, and yet it's the same, and the people who altered the original can get sued. It's mind boggling. If it sounds that much different, why bother fighting? That's why I'm glad we have things like Creative Commons, which I discovered in a previous class. While Creative Commons does not have EVERYTHING a person might want, it has many things that are usable. I mostly enjoy it for the pictures. But it's an option for people like me who don't want to be yelled at for borrowing things for various uses!

What a difference a year makes

Wow. I kind of like forgetting about my blogs, and then discovering them later. It makes me reflect about the time I didn't post anything. One year ago I was just starting my first full time job. It was crazy! In only a year, I have had crazy whirlwind events that would only come from a Lifetime movie, I've started my second year of teaching, and I've become a cheerleading coach. I'm almost done with my master's, which took longer than I would have liked, but due to the circumstances of life, I took some time off. I'm not quite there yet where I have time to myself, but what second year teacher does? I'm looking forward to finishing up at Full Sail- I'm making every attempt to really stick this out since there's a possibility this could lead to a really cool job at my school!