Monday, July 5, 2010

Free Time

Ok, so I know I have been neglecting my blog!!! So here is the list of things I am going to attempt to change on my blog in the near future: (I would say week, but I don't think that will happen)
1. Personalize my background with photos!!
2. Work on design and layout of blog!!!
3. Begin to make weekly updates if possible!!
4. Possibly create two blogs one for personal/family/friends information and one for creative items such as jewelry making, photography, scrapbooking, art teaching items and who knows what else!
5. Post some of Matts photos, videos from BMT so family can see.
6. Email, test, etc family members my blog information so they can have access to the blog.
7. Add photos to blog.
8. write, write, write!!!

Ok so thats enough of a list for now! So in the next few days look for changes to my blog!
-Kat

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Week 4 Reading

In Chapter Nine, the story of the "Certain things in life are better done in person" really struck a chord with me! I agree fully with this statement. Many times when people hear you on the phone they are not thinking you are a real person, you are just the voice on the other end of the phone, but when you can put a face with the voice something amazing happens. You become real!! A face is much harder to forget than a voice on the other end of the phone! Now, the chapter went on the talk about when you reach a person with a no on their lips. I also really felt that the comment about not taking the no personally was really great advice. I know that I do take things way to personally sometimes. My husband is constantly setting me straight, by trying to explain that sometimes things don't happen to me, they just happen. I am sometimes very pessimistic and feel that everything is personal. I have recently been able to separate the personal from school. I feel I do this better in my professional life than in my personal life. My first year of teaching was very hard for the very reason that I took everything the students did personally. Then my second year of teaching I completely changed my outlook and did not allow myself to think in that way. Wow, what a difference it made!! I was a much happier person my second year of teaching. Now, this is my third year and I am even happier this year than last!! As long as I continue to work on my outlook, I see happy years in the future.

Week 4 Comment

saturday, october 17, 2009

Week 3: Playing games


I have no time to blog or write my thesis, for that matter, since I've found a new and amusing way to waste time. Tired of taking quizzes on Facebook? Try www.sporcle.com instead. It took me six minutes to name all the United States! Shameful. Plus, I forgot Arkansas. I have to do it again. Can you name all the people who were in Apple's "Think Different" ad campaign in five minutes. Yeah, I couldn't either! (see below) What educational value does this have? Probably none, but it was a very fun diversion and the spelling is a whole lot better than the lame Facebook quizzes. Plus, they don't claim to predict your future or tell which celebrity boyfriend/girlfriend you'd have. They are just trivia or facts. If you are a trivia buff, you could make your own game to share. Or, you could create your own quiz for studying and review purposes. So, I guess it does have educational value. Kinda.


Week 4 Copyright, Creative Commons, and Databases

I thought I would let you in on this live class that was held by Classroom 2.0 a Ning site that I am a member of (which by the way is a great site, I believe I have talked about it before). Anyway, on October 17th they held a class much like Wimba on a program called Elluminate. It has many of the same capabilities of Wimba such as raising your hand, voice interaction, slides, interactive questions, chat window, and whiteboard capabilities, and much more. There were two guests speakers Joyce Valenza and Buffy Hamilton. The videos are also available on itunes. The class started out copyright and creative commons. The speaker began by showing a video by one of her students that addressed creative commons. The student used South Park characters for a video creation for a class assignment. The speaker began to discuss how she was reluctant to put the item up on their school website due to the copyright laws and fair use. The rest of the class goes on to explore fair use, creative commons and how the laws are being interpreted and how they have changed. It is a long video that lasts about an hour and 20 minutes, but I thought it was perfect for week 4, since we have been discussing creative commons.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Week 4 What I learned

This video is an overview of three most important techniques or software that I learned about during this class.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Week 3 Stickam Chat


Well, that was interesting!!! I really see why we don't use the audio on Stickam. Initially, my group could not figure out how to get our video to show up, but when we put our minds together we finally figured it out. It was also interesting when the group members forgot they were on video and made a really crazy face(ok who am I kidding it was me). Anyway, I think we are all set for our group Stickam and Skype tomorrow.

Week 4 Possibilities!

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to post my lovely picture! I made this pic with my Wacom writing tablet. As you can see, I am not the most spectacular artist with the tablet yet, but it has so many different possibilities! I have used a few different times, and it has really come in handy. The example at the right is a picture that was attached to my lesson plans for the day, so on short notice my sub could see what I wanted the students to create. Again, my hand is still a bit shaky but I still really like the outcome!!