Last year Wiki's were introduced in a staff development session. I glossed over it and said, "yeah, maybe one day". I have a website at classjump and thought that was enough. Boy, was I wrong! The story by Vicki Davis inspired me and reminded me of one of my "paperless" six week exams last semester. Each student was required to set up a blog and write what they had learned in the last 6 weeks. It was great! What I realize now was that I had one very crucial key missing...collaboration. If students were able to post on one site, or post their blogs on one site, other students could comment and reflect on what they had learned. I had a great "ah-ha" moment.
One of my favorite wiki's was theKindergarten Counting Book. I suddenly had so many ways I could replicate it in my nutrition class. I would have to make it for high school students instead of elementary, but I think it would be a great lesson for learning measurements.
Code Blue was a great group project. I could visualize my students learning about different nutrients using this method. I loved how the teacher had them use both their imagination as well as the facts. I also like how there were lots of references for them to go to in order to check facts. It seemed a slight bit unorganized but I thought it was still great. I wish that the teacher had continued to update it though.
I absoutly LOVED 1001 Flat World Tales! I want my students to collaborate with students around the world about nutrition and cooking! WOW! The free e-book is just icing on the cake. I felt this one was very well thought out and understandable. There needs to be a wiki explaining the process on how to make a wiki that amazing. :)
I also love that other students can post video's for students to watch. I can see a new wiki in my future!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
(the real) Thing 7
Commenting is not my favorite thing to do pertaining to blogging. Wait, let me rephrase that-I do not like to comment but I love it when others do it. J I don’t think it is some deep seated feeling that my opinion doesn’t count, but that I don’t want to look like a fool. After reading the Cool Cat Teacher Blog I feel a bit more comfortable in “letting go”. Another problem I have in commenting: over stimulation. Every time I sit down to complete thing 7 I can’t stop reading! I am like a kid in a candy store and want to keep going back for more! Lol I started thing 7 (for the 5th time) today at 6:00. It is now 9:30. I still haven’t graded papers, finished my lesson plans for next week, cleaned my kitchen, or gotten anything else done because I have been engrossed in reading all my blogs and trying to comment effectively!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thing 6
I had actually completed step 6 over a week ago, however, the thought process keeps getting in the way. Have I mentioned that I have grammar/spelling issues? I am sure that that issue along with all the other issues you MUST think I am one VERY high maintenance girl-I assure you I am not! (ok, maybe just a bit) Long story short...It takes me a long time to publish anything. I have to go over it with a fine toothed comb to make sure it sounds okay. I have decided to let it go. I will spell check and read it over once but that is it.
I went a bit...crazy with the rss feeds. I still haven't figured out how to put in a link with the html codes but I figure I am safe b/c of the "link" button on blogger. YEAH for blogger and their "link" button! :D I have been reading Karen's Challenge (see, link button...isn't it great?). She is so much fun! Reading her blogs about the future "things" I would be doing is what motivated me to get moving. I promised myself I would go in order-I have a tendency to NOT go in order. I am not sure if that is from the ADHD or just a personal bad habit started as a child, but I hardly ever do anything in the "proper" order. Anyway, in "thing 13" it seems we will be making images? She was so excited about it that it got me excited. :) Thanks Karen!
I will speak briefly about two other blogs that I am subscribed to. The first is New Dress A Day. Yes, I not only cook...I sew as well! LOL New dress a day is about a girl that decides to make 365 dresses in 365 days and only spend $365. It is amazing what she can do with some of the dresses she purchases. It brings back memories from my high school days. I have shown it to many of my students (I can not claim credit for teaching them to sew...that is the Fashion design teacher Mrs. Regan) whom love the concept and have taken on goals of their own.
The second is Bakerella. Having been a cake decorator for many years I love the whimsical voice of this blog. She has great ideas for baking and even has a book out about her "cake pops". I do not comment very often (that whole "sounding like an idiot" thing) but I have several times on her blog.
I love to sew but my passion is cooking. There was a guest speaker at West not to long ago that said "All great teachers have a hobby. Something that they are passionate about." What are you passionate about?
I went a bit...crazy with the rss feeds. I still haven't figured out how to put in a link with the html codes but I figure I am safe b/c of the "link" button on blogger. YEAH for blogger and their "link" button! :D I have been reading Karen's Challenge (see, link button...isn't it great?). She is so much fun! Reading her blogs about the future "things" I would be doing is what motivated me to get moving. I promised myself I would go in order-I have a tendency to NOT go in order. I am not sure if that is from the ADHD or just a personal bad habit started as a child, but I hardly ever do anything in the "proper" order. Anyway, in "thing 13" it seems we will be making images? She was so excited about it that it got me excited. :) Thanks Karen!
I will speak briefly about two other blogs that I am subscribed to. The first is New Dress A Day. Yes, I not only cook...I sew as well! LOL New dress a day is about a girl that decides to make 365 dresses in 365 days and only spend $365. It is amazing what she can do with some of the dresses she purchases. It brings back memories from my high school days. I have shown it to many of my students (I can not claim credit for teaching them to sew...that is the Fashion design teacher Mrs. Regan) whom love the concept and have taken on goals of their own.
The second is Bakerella. Having been a cake decorator for many years I love the whimsical voice of this blog. She has great ideas for baking and even has a book out about her "cake pops". I do not comment very often (that whole "sounding like an idiot" thing) but I have several times on her blog.
I love to sew but my passion is cooking. There was a guest speaker at West not to long ago that said "All great teachers have a hobby. Something that they are passionate about." What are you passionate about?
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Off topic: Hot Chocolate
I am not sure I should be posting so much off topic. It only proves that I am not doing my homework. However, I am really enjoying this blogging thing! lol! I will finish today's blog, but will then be turning all of my "non 23 things" posts to http://msharriswmhs.blogspot.com/.
Today I was supposed to attend the fair. Didn't happen. Just like everything else in my life I get sidetracked easily! My friends and I were looking for a parking spot, could not find one, decided to park by the Dart and ride the train in then decided, while looking for the Dart, to just postpone the fair and go shopping instead. It was all Constance's fault. She said "I think that spice store is around here somewhere". SPICE STORE??!! Holy Mother of God. I, of course, replied "fair, we can always go to the fair! Why don't we go to this spice store instead!" And so we did. The name of this spice store is Penzeys. It can be found online (just click on "penzeys" and it will pop up magically) as well as somewhere in Dallas. I am geographically challenged and have NO idea where. :D
I purchased several things but the most important today (I will get to the others later when I use them) was the Dutch Processed High Fat cocoa. OMG!!! If you don't know the difference let me just inform you...it is good stuff. I have made brownies as well as hot chocolate today from it. I am not so sure I can now go back to the other stuff. It is that good! This was the recipe:
4 cups milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
a splash of cinnamon and vanilla
Heat all ingredients to 145 degrees F. Top with marshmallows.
Of course I had to alter it. I only added 3 cups of milk, 4 T of sugar, 3 T of cocoa, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. It was amazing. I am normally a snob when it comes to chocolate. Only the good stuff for me! Yes, I still heat my milk in a saucepan and pour it over the chopped up high % chocolate pieces, also known as the "old fashioned way". My students usually get a big kick out of this when they make it in class. I get an even bigger kick out of it when they email me years later and ask for the "recipe". :) It made my day!
Today I was supposed to attend the fair. Didn't happen. Just like everything else in my life I get sidetracked easily! My friends and I were looking for a parking spot, could not find one, decided to park by the Dart and ride the train in then decided, while looking for the Dart, to just postpone the fair and go shopping instead. It was all Constance's fault. She said "I think that spice store is around here somewhere". SPICE STORE??!! Holy Mother of God. I, of course, replied "fair, we can always go to the fair! Why don't we go to this spice store instead!" And so we did. The name of this spice store is Penzeys. It can be found online (just click on "penzeys" and it will pop up magically) as well as somewhere in Dallas. I am geographically challenged and have NO idea where. :D
I purchased several things but the most important today (I will get to the others later when I use them) was the Dutch Processed High Fat cocoa. OMG!!! If you don't know the difference let me just inform you...it is good stuff. I have made brownies as well as hot chocolate today from it. I am not so sure I can now go back to the other stuff. It is that good! This was the recipe:
4 cups milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
a splash of cinnamon and vanilla
Heat all ingredients to 145 degrees F. Top with marshmallows.
Of course I had to alter it. I only added 3 cups of milk, 4 T of sugar, 3 T of cocoa, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. It was amazing. I am normally a snob when it comes to chocolate. Only the good stuff for me! Yes, I still heat my milk in a saucepan and pour it over the chopped up high % chocolate pieces, also known as the "old fashioned way". My students usually get a big kick out of this when they make it in class. I get an even bigger kick out of it when they email me years later and ask for the "recipe". :) It made my day!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thing 5
It is 5:47 pm, Friday. I am waiting (at school of course) for THE game to start. The West Mesquite Wranglers vs. the Poteet Pirates. GO WRANGLERS!!! :) Just had to get that in. Of course I am filling my free time by doing my homework. :D I have to be honest, I did not like/enjoy the Infinite Thinking Machine blog. Maybe I am just to country/ADHD/boring to "get" it. After skimming for about 30 seconds my eyes started to cross and I just HAD to get up and cook those cookies in my fridge. I felt I was back in college learning about Maslow, Bloom, and all of those other old, dead guys. That was wrong...I know. I am a teacher...HOW can I down some of our truest founders? I am not! Truly! Think about it...if those people could see most of the teachers now would they be proud or horrified? I can see them now "What! You have had 50-100 years to improve on what we discovered/created and THIS is what you have to show for it?!" It was not bad information that was there...it just seemed convoluted and jumbled. It might have been my ADHD acting up, but I couldn't seem to make it "make sense". I am going to visit it tomorrow when I am not so tired and respond back.
The Tech Learning however...I was like a pig in a mud hole, or a cajun at a crawfish bowl, or a saint's fan at the Superbowl last year. lol What is the first thing I see? "10 sites for creating digital comics" It was GREAT!! I was on a clicking spree! Digital comics? YES! Don’t Forget Your Audience! 5 Ideas To Connect with Real Audiences by Lisa Nielsen? Well, my students could be considered an audience...YES! I started the journey to learn several new things. However, it is 6:30 and I have to go catch a football game. Will let you know more tomorrow! Wish us luck!
Susan
The Tech Learning however...I was like a pig in a mud hole, or a cajun at a crawfish bowl, or a saint's fan at the Superbowl last year. lol What is the first thing I see? "10 sites for creating digital comics" It was GREAT!! I was on a clicking spree! Digital comics? YES! Don’t Forget Your Audience! 5 Ideas To Connect with Real Audiences by Lisa Nielsen? Well, my students could be considered an audience...YES! I started the journey to learn several new things. However, it is 6:30 and I have to go catch a football game. Will let you know more tomorrow! Wish us luck!
Susan
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Blog-ing like she's ne-ver blogged be-fore-ohhh
Did you get that? lol. Yes, I am still listening to "she's a maniac" by Hall and Oats. Funny how things get stuck in your head and you can't seem to stop. I think blogging is almost like that. It is, in my humble opinion, almost like a reality show, only you have one thing that I (and so do the students, so it seems) LOVE. I bet you are wondering why I ended the sentence there...are you? I felt the need to make you think about it for a moment. Did you figure it out? I wonder how many people will actually COMMENT on having to read another 3 lines to find out. :D Yes, my dears, it is being able to comment!!! You get to voice your opinion on anything that you feel strongly about. I went completely ga-ga (not to be confused with Lady Ga-ga) on being able to read the comments. You don’t usually get direct response so fast in regular writing. It was great!
A friend at school asked me today if I "subscribed" to any blogs. When I smiled and replied yes she responded with such verve "oh, my gosh! I have become addicted!! What are you subscribed to?" It was like talking about what happened on our favorite show (glee of course) only we were able to swap stories about our favorite topics. It was great!! I think that blogging is more open and not as constructed. To me, it allows me freedom in my choice of reading. If I lose interest...I just move on. It didn't cost me any monetary funds so I don't feel that sense of loss if I decide to ignore something.
Most people do not worry about grammar as much in a blog so that person has a tendency to speak more "from the heart" so to speak. If that person is writing about something that is near and dear to them you will usually have more of a feel of that persons personality. It is hard to "hear" the fluctuation or the sarcasm in a persons writing. I can not tell you how many times I will go over an email stressing if it "sounds" okay or not. Blogs seem to lose some of the coldness associated in written word. For example: In dy/dan's no homework blog "jonathon" takes exception to dy/dan not assigning homework. When I read Jonathon's actual response I thought "why do people comment without reading the passage?" but when dy/dan quoted him back after deciding to assign homework it sounded (to me) different, nicer, more...I don't know...educated. I guess that being able to quickly jot what you are feeling down could be bad as well as good. That goes for commenting as well.
Commenting...ahhhhh, wonderful, fabulous commenting! How does commenting contribute to the writing and meaning-making? I have two words for you: anonymous interaction. Blogs are almost like a gifted classroom…yes I said gifted, not regular. If you have ever seen both in action you will understand. I have met very few gifted students that do not have an opinion on EVERYTHING and will be happy to tell it to you. Getting most of my students to even comment in my class is like pulling teeth. BUT! Give them a computer and tell them to give their opinions anonymously and you have just opened their minds. Most students are afraid of looking like an idiot. I know I was. Most people have a switch that tells them to not say things out loud. Take away their "identity" online and they lose all inhibitions about speaking out.
Speaking of speaking out...at the risk of looking like an idiot I am boycotting this question: Is there a "blogging literacy?" What? OK, I know what blogging means and I know what literacy means...but my brain will not compute the two together...i keep coming up with being able to read what you wrote. and that makes no sense! Can someone please explain it to me?
Blogging sometimes allows us to have no rules when it comes to grammar. It [grammar] usually goes out the window. If we do not see correct grammar how can we learn to recognize it? However, <HUGE sigh> <maybe even a groan>, after reading How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci I also have to incur that it is extremely (even more so than the actual grammar part) important not to take away a students confidence so much so that you stifle their need to think outside the box. Answer: give less directions? maybe? I teach Lifetime Nutrition and Wellness (also know as "da cookin class"). I will give you one guess what their favorite lessons are. If you guessed the actual cooking ones you are correct. How many cooks will I produce every year? How many CHEFS??? What is the difference? Cooks do not create new dishes or ideas. They like to follow a recipe and they NEVER think outside the box.
I want more chefs in the world.
A friend at school asked me today if I "subscribed" to any blogs. When I smiled and replied yes she responded with such verve "oh, my gosh! I have become addicted!! What are you subscribed to?" It was like talking about what happened on our favorite show (glee of course) only we were able to swap stories about our favorite topics. It was great!! I think that blogging is more open and not as constructed. To me, it allows me freedom in my choice of reading. If I lose interest...I just move on. It didn't cost me any monetary funds so I don't feel that sense of loss if I decide to ignore something.
Most people do not worry about grammar as much in a blog so that person has a tendency to speak more "from the heart" so to speak. If that person is writing about something that is near and dear to them you will usually have more of a feel of that persons personality. It is hard to "hear" the fluctuation or the sarcasm in a persons writing. I can not tell you how many times I will go over an email stressing if it "sounds" okay or not. Blogs seem to lose some of the coldness associated in written word. For example: In dy/dan's no homework blog "jonathon" takes exception to dy/dan not assigning homework. When I read Jonathon's actual response I thought "why do people comment without reading the passage?" but when dy/dan quoted him back after deciding to assign homework it sounded (to me) different, nicer, more...I don't know...educated. I guess that being able to quickly jot what you are feeling down could be bad as well as good. That goes for commenting as well.
Commenting...ahhhhh, wonderful, fabulous commenting! How does commenting contribute to the writing and meaning-making? I have two words for you: anonymous interaction. Blogs are almost like a gifted classroom…yes I said gifted, not regular. If you have ever seen both in action you will understand. I have met very few gifted students that do not have an opinion on EVERYTHING and will be happy to tell it to you. Getting most of my students to even comment in my class is like pulling teeth. BUT! Give them a computer and tell them to give their opinions anonymously and you have just opened their minds. Most students are afraid of looking like an idiot. I know I was. Most people have a switch that tells them to not say things out loud. Take away their "identity" online and they lose all inhibitions about speaking out.
Speaking of speaking out...at the risk of looking like an idiot I am boycotting this question: Is there a "blogging literacy?" What? OK, I know what blogging means and I know what literacy means...but my brain will not compute the two together...i keep coming up with being able to read what you wrote. and that makes no sense! Can someone please explain it to me?
Blogging sometimes allows us to have no rules when it comes to grammar. It [grammar] usually goes out the window. If we do not see correct grammar how can we learn to recognize it? However, <HUGE sigh> <maybe even a groan>, after reading How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci I also have to incur that it is extremely (even more so than the actual grammar part) important not to take away a students confidence so much so that you stifle their need to think outside the box. Answer: give less directions? maybe? I teach Lifetime Nutrition and Wellness (also know as "da cookin class"). I will give you one guess what their favorite lessons are. If you guessed the actual cooking ones you are correct. How many cooks will I produce every year? How many CHEFS??? What is the difference? Cooks do not create new dishes or ideas. They like to follow a recipe and they NEVER think outside the box.
I want more chefs in the world.
Off Topic: using phrases the students use with glee
HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE. I am evil. Yep, there is no getting around it. I teach high school students and most of the time I absolutely love, love, LOVE my career choice. However, sometimes (just every now and then) they can get to be....a bit....much. <sigh> On those days I find that I get closer to that white jacket than ever before. In order to keep myself from going, oh, I don't know, CRAZY! I will find humor in the oddest things. Today, for instance, I realized that when my students use certain slang phrases that annoy me I find a way to use that phrase back in an equally annoying way. For instance (student using slang phrase): Me to student: Oh my lord! That is absolutely horrible!!!!! Student: (grinning and nodding head in such a way that shows he/she approves) “I know, right!" And my new use of student slang (me using slang phrase) Student: "Miss Harris, I can't believe you gave me that detention! That sucks!!!" Me to student: (grinning and nodding head in such a way that shows I approve) “I know, right!" :D
Listening to: "She's a maniac" by Hall and Oats
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