Learning, Love, Life

New Chapter

2010-02-28T17:34:00.001-08:00

From student to teacher and back to student again. I have finally taken on the teacher. I find myself learning more than the students I am teaching. I am also finding that a key part to succeeding in this profession is collaboration and being able to ask for help. I started teaching in January... so part way through the semester and have found it very difficult. I don't know exactly what they have learned or what they need to learn and I am having a hard time with behaviour and respect. I am trying to make it engaging but for some subjects I'm just not sure how. How do you make math interesting? How do you do learning centers for science when they break half of the equipment because they are goofing around? So many questions and so few answers. I've also resorted to reading alot of professional resources on differentiation, behaviour management, and assessment. I am also trying to do some collaborative projects through epals with other schools. I don't know exactly why I'm writing on here... put it in the open and maybe someone will have some insightful comments I guess. Thanks

science questions

2009-03-31T08:56:00.001-07:00

What did you learn about the teachers (yourself in particular as well as your cooperating teacher)?
Guiding question – how is your identity (your race, language, culture, worldviews, values, experiences, your strength and limitations, etc. etc.) shapes your teaching practice, and the way you interact with children and family? What did you learn about yourself?

I learned that as a teacher my view point is very dominant in my teaching. I believe in being organized and prepared and my coop teacher also held this belief. This was very evident when entering the classroom. It was very organized, there were clear routines, subject duotangs, book boxes and so many other practices that I would and will use in my classroom. I noticed that during my teaching I shared many of my travelling experiences and the things that I had seen and done. For example we were looking through a book about shapes and there was a diamond shape on a snake and we started talking about snakes. I talked about the snakes that I held and saw when I was in Australia. They really wanted to hear more about it so we went off topic for a bit. I think it is better to make the connections because these are the things that students remember.

I also learned that I can do it. I am so much more confident in my abilities to be a teacher. I used to be very confident in my abilities and was an excellent preschool and daycare teacher. Entering the third year all my confidence was thrown out the window. People are constantly saying that you can never reach every child, there are so many hats to wear, the first year of teaching is the worst, you have no life... all these thoughts are being put into our heads and you wonder why we are questioning our career paths. The focus needs to be changed to the good things about teaching. There are so many benefits. Seeing the growth and progress in children, constantly learning new things, exploring and creating, being up to date/current and collaborating with others. Being in a cohort, we have so many supports, friendships, and people to bounce ideas off of, it is great.

What did you learn about the learner?
Guiding questions – how did you consciously try to create a welcoming, safe, and inclusive learning environment for all children to be and to learn? What have you learned about your learners?

I learned that my students were all different. They have similarities but they have more differences. By recognizing this I was able to adapt my lessons and vary my teaching strategies to be inclusive of the students in my class.

What did you learn about the subject matter (particularly the science subjects)?
Guiding questions: what broad range of resources have you (and your cooperating teacher) drawn upon to plan for and to assist you in teaching the subjects? What teaching approaches have you tried and how did they impact students’ learning?

I didn't teach science in my preinternship, my teaching partner did. Resources can and do come from a variety of resources. They came from books, online, other teachers, and from past experiences. I was able to get resources from the university. Block manipulatives and tangrams played a huge part in my teaching and without the use of these from the university I would have had to alter my lessons competely. I also used a lot of the assessment and activities from the Math Makes Sense program. This program is excellent, there are so many good ideas and ways to assess.
I tried many teaching strategies. I used direct, experiential, questioning, leaning centers, individual, group, and indirect stategies. Thses worked well in my class. It kept me from being bored and it kept my students engaged. By varying my strategies I was able to connect with most intelligences and this created a better understanding for students in my class.

What else have you learned from this pre-internship experience?
I learned that I can do it, and I can do it well. I do not have to know everything as long as I am honest with my students I will be good to go.

Science Resource Package

2009-03-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

I didn't feel prepared for this presentation. I felt this way mainly because I did not teach my unit. Rachel and Danelle both had the opportunity to teach their lessons and use the resources that they used. I had to find resources and I was not a hundred percent sure if they would actually work with my unit of not. I wasn't able to discuss what the students enjoyed and what worked or didn't. I really felt like I was at an unfair advantage. I know that I did the best that I could and I did a lot of research into different resources to include. But at the same time I felt like I didn't have as much to share.

My group worked really well together and we easiy agreed on what we wanted to do and how to get it done. We encouraged each other, helped each other, and bounced ideas off of one another. We had a great relationship.

I think our presentation as a whole was very successful, we treated our peers as professionals. This was important to us. So much of what we do in education we are pretending to be elementary students and this gets extremely tiring and annoying. I like learning strategies and ways to teach but it is nice being an equal some of the time.

Science Engagement Reflection

2009-03-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well it has been awhile since I did my engagement activity...but here goes nothing. My engagement activity was skewering a balloon. I had some difficulties getting things organized in the morning, I assumed that there would be other people presenting the same day as me and I would go second. This wasn't the case and I had to scramble to get set up. I had a number of substance and objects to use with balloons. I wanted an activity that was inquiry based. So I gave the class the material and asked them to try and skewer the balloons after blowing them up. I had many hesitant partipants as they were scared the balloon would pop. Many of them did pop but many were successful. They each had their own theories about what substances worked and wouldn't work and experimented several times. I really enjoyed doing this activity. The best part was watching my peers faces as they tried to skewer the balloon... they were unsure if it would pop or not and would screw there faces up. I learned that inquiry based learning helps to maintain engagement. My peers were having a rough day maintaining attention and moved into discussing plans for the weekend and things that were going on. This was frustrating but at the same time I know that they are not in elementary school and this experience was aimed at that age level. Overall I think this experience went really well.

learning centers

2009-03-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

My last two days of teaching I did learning centers. These went amazingly well with the exception of one boy, which was expected. I explained each of the centers and had them retell me what was going to happen at each center. Then I explained that when they go back to their table I want them to stand behind their chair and wait for me to say go. When the buzzer goes, after ten minutes, students need to put any sheets on the table and then hold their pencil in the air and wait for my instructions. Then students would rotate to the next table and I would say "go" and they would begin their next station. We rotated through three activity centers each day. Two of the six stations were performance based assessment stations. We assessed the math objectives for my geometry unit. This was such a great way to assess every student and keep all students engaged. The one boy that I had a few problems with has asbergers and was not in the class during instructions and came back half way through. So he was not aware of what was going on, he was okay the first day because he didn't have time to join in the centers. The next day I had to go to each of the centers with him after getting my group started. I had a lot of issues arise with him. The first of which was that he came to my group first and was mad, he took his pencil and broke it in half. Then he was all concerned with having a pencil that wasn't broken. The next station went well but the one after the pencil broke again. He started crying and I had to remove him and he had to sit on the carpet. When he calmed down I took him back to the table and he was good for the rest of the time. It was challenging but it was realistic. It was a good experience.
BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.

all done

2009-03-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe pre-internship is all done. It seems like it flew by, yet some of the days seemed like they would never end. Over the past week I finished off my unit and completed my evaluation of the students... I can't believe how difficult it is to distinguish between what is good and what is excellent.

I tried out activity centers and they were unbelievably successful and the students were very engaged. I set students up to succeed by setting out clear guidelines and directions and encouraged the behaviours that I was expecting. I have to say that I will definately be using learning centers in my future classroom.

My last day of school... I did not want to leave. All the kids were hugging me and saying that they will miss me. Karmen and I taught the whole day from morning to end. We did our evaluation and learning centers before lunch. After lunch we made fruit pizza and went to the gym. I loved the gym the best. I decided to play Dead Pirates, where they lay on the ground and try not to laugh or crack a smile. It was hilarious, I had one boy try and make the other person laugh by giving himself a wedgie... so funny.

I had such a positive experience and will take much of my experience with me into my internship and my teaching career.

I am however not looking forward to going back to classes and doing assignments that are not relevant to teaching in the field. When am I ever going to have 2 50 min. sessions with one child to read a book or have 5 people read one story to a class. I just don't understand why we are doing some of the assignments... it seems like busy work to me. There are many of us that would love to boycott them, but at the same time we would like to pass. I guess we are stuck doing them and will have to put in enough effort to get by.

science questions

2009-03-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

1. What comes to mind when you hear the words "sustainable" or "sustainability"?
To me this means trying to make the earth's resources last for the future. The way people consume and waste; we are in serious trouble. I know that I am not completely environmentally friendly and there are things that I can do to improve but at least I am aware. There are so many people who don't have a clue and just use and use without any thought or regard.

2. What is your understanding of education for sustainability (ES)?
Teaching students that they need to recycle and try and make the world a better place. Spending time going over current issues and why they are important to our class and why we should care. Answering the questions does it really effect us? How does it effect us? What can we do? How can we do it? Can we really make a change? Taking on an action plan and following it through. Explore how we made a difference, even it it is just a small difference.

3. What's your understanding of the relationship between environmental protection and economic development? They are polar opposites. Environmental protection is trying to preserve what is left of the natural environment where as economic development is only interested in how much money they can make from a business or an industry. This question stirred up some comments from my grandpa and he reminded me that not all economic development is bad. I'm adding in his comments because I don't think that I can say it better... I always forget that this is his specialty, helping with enviromental economic development.

I am sorry but EP and ED are not necessarily ‘polar opposites’.
Of course it depends largely upon the definition of each that is used or assumed. Environmental protection (making money from it) has in itself become a huge industry and will grow rapidly as our knowledge and concern about the effects of industrial activity grows.

It is suggested that a new industry that creates employment, wealth, and is conducted in an environmentally sustainable manner could be developed to in fact protect the environment.

Examples could be:

Reforestation, the planting of trees to enhance water sheds, protect soil resources denuded by forest fires or industrial activity, enhance the visual/aesthetics of the area or region and provide habitat for wildlife including birds, game, fur and predators including men and women, create recreation areas and provide sources of wild fruit. In the full extension of this scenario, the forest created captures carbon while growing and may in the future, be harvested in an environmentally responsible manner to construct shelters for people that would have a smaller ‘foot print’ than the existing housing and use energy efficient technology to sustain the lives of the human element of that forest and region.

Establishment of an industry to build, assemble and market clean energy systems whether they be wind turbine powered electrical generators, run of the river turbines and generators or central/district heating systems to utilize waste biomass as feedstock or other waste heat sources as an energy source. Geothermal heat sources and systems can be included with this point.

Commercial fish harvesting is an industry that utilizes existing fish populations to harvest, assemble and distribute food for humans and animals. This can be done in an environmentally responsible manner that maintains the fish populations and may enhance the wild resource by modification of the fish populations, removal of some size classes and limiting populations of some species to have the water body produce a larger percentage of the more desirable sizes and species. This can be achieved while the water body sustains and maintains an active and desirable fish population to satisfy the recreational fishery, of course the recreational fishery must also be conducted in a sustainable manner and preferably the anglers would paddle or row their watercraft and thereby have good physical exercise that would help to maintain their health and not contribute through the burning of fossil fuels to environmental degradation.

4. What's your understanding of the relationship between human and nature? We are part of nature. Without nature and the environment we will not exist. I think there is so much unnecessary destruction of nature to allow for someone to have a huge mansion that they don't use half of the rooms in. So many things that are wrong with how our society views material things and doesn't think about the consequences of their actions.

5. What's your understanding of the relationship between "education for sustainability (ES)" and your professional work as a teacher? It is my job to be a positive role model, to be aware of current events and what is going on in my community, and to do professional research on the topics that I want my class to explore.

6. Do you plan to help your students develop an understanding of sustainable development when you become a teacher? Why, or why not? I think that you have to help students gain an understanding. Without this understanding nothing will change, we will continue to overconsume, pile up garbage, pollute the water and kill the earth with stuff that is not essential.

7. Feel free to share any other thoughts you have about the ESD topic.
I wish there was a way to make people be more responsible with what they waste and what they use.

flying by

2009-03-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

Wow I can't believe we are in our last week. I am absolutely dreading going back to classes and assignments. After being in the field it makes so much of what we do seem inconsequential. I have learned so much working with my coop and my partner. I have become very comfortable in this classroom and with the routines of the day. Goes to show with an open mind and willingness to try you are open to possibilities.

I have really grown to love the students in my room and each them has their own distinct personality. I of course have some favorites but I do not let it show. One of the little boys came up to me last week and told me that he wished Karmen and I were his step mothers and that he loved me. It was so cute.

My coop has been great, she asked us what grade we were going to be in next year and she has made arrangements for us to go and visit those grades and get a feel for what those grade levels are like. This is such an amazing opportunity. At least I will not be going into internship and be blindsided.

We had the opportunity to go outside when it was warm out and go sliding and build snowmen, followed by hot chocolate and rice krispie cake.

This week is going to fly by but I am looking forward to doing some of my lessons that I have planned this week and trying out activity centers.

intro lesson

2009-03-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

My intro lesson was alot of fun... stressful but fun. I brought in a ton of boxes and Karmen and I spend recess taping up boxes and getting things ready for my lesson and then spent an hour taking them all apart. But as they say a picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few pics.

Preinternship

2009-03-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

So much to do and so little time in a day!

Well going into the school the first few days I was still nervous and didn't know what was expected of me. Now... I am alot more comfortable. I am learning more about the students in my class and my coop teacher. I am learning so many new things and trying them out. I learned how to do benchmarking and dolch words for reading and will try my own guided reading group next week. I am also teaching my unit and it has changed so much that I will have two units when I am finished.

I have to say that I am finding many things that my coop teacher does that I will take with me and I know that there are many other things that I would do differently as well. But things are going much better than I anticipated. I am trying to be very open and observe the things that are happening within the classroom.

The last couple weeks of classes are being highlighted in my classroom. The Wong video is one of those things that I am finding to be highlighted the most. I believed that my classroom was very structured, and it is, but they are established routines. The students could perform them without the teacher present. The first 45 minutes of the day are all established routines and they know what happens during that time period. They also know what the signals are for different activities. When the timer goes off, how to get ready for lunch, etc.

I have also learned that praising is a very powerful classroom management tool. They want to do better to get chosen to do an activity. This is behaviourist but it works.

found poem

2009-02-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

I was going through some of my old stuff and came across some poems that I wrote a long time ago. I used to love to write poetry and I was even published. I wanted to add this poem because it still applies to what is going on in my life. I just don't know what I want to do.

The Road

The road I'm on,
Goes so very far;
But all the signs,
Have long since been gone.

Which way should I go?
Should I turn?
Where will it lead?
What's going on?

Is the road going to be bumpy?
Or smooth as can be?
Will I meet someone?
Or go all alone?

After I'm gone. down my road,
The signs are up;
Saying I can't go back.
Or change my mind.

So what's done, is done.
I guess I can't complain;
So I'll smile and say thankyou
And keep moving on.

by Janine Smits

diversity

2009-02-24T17:25:00.000-08:00

I learned alot during the treaties four workshop. I know very little about treaties and I feel a little bit better after taking this workshoip. I know that I still need to learn more about them. I really enjoyed having the perspective of people that went through the hardships of the treaties and residential schooling. It made an impact on me. I had heard about some of the things that had happened but not by a person that it had happened to.

One of the things that was said that has stuck with me is that it is not my fault. I always believed that I was being blamed when issues with the treaties were brought up. I think it was something that I needed to hear so that I could get over the idea of being blamed and defending myself. When I feel blamed I always feel defensive and cornered. I can't change the past, I can only help to make my classroom representitive of all cultures.

I hear numerous racial remarks and jokes and it is so normallized. Why is it okay to make fun of a culture? a hair color? ethnicity? I do this, I laugh at these, I make jokes about myself being a blonde. So is this right? Is this wrong? Why does it seem to be more okay if you are making fun of your own ethnicity or haircolor? After going to the treaties four workshop I went to a comedy show that featured an aboriginal man. Almost all of his jokes were about his culture, his family, and his experiences with the world. I laughed at most of his jokes as at the time I thought they were funny... the next day as I thought about it i really had to stop and wonder why they were so funny. Would they have been funny if it would have been a white guy saying them? Probably not then it would have been racist.

questions

2009-02-24T16:14:00.000-08:00

One of my professors wrote this for me to think about:

"I challenge you that rather than searching for others' great ideas and practices, you start to look into yourself - what interests and passion do you have? what talents do you have? what dreams do you have? and what it takes for all those to come out and meet/enrich the world? "

The answer to these questions is I don't know. I have a variety of interests, passions, and talents. My dilemma is that I don't like to remain on one project for an extended period of time. I think that may be one of the reasons that I like technology so much, it is constantly changing and there is something new to explore.

I don't know if I want to be a school teacher. I do love teaching but at the same time I am in the school system doing preinternship and there are so many things that I see that I just don't want to do. I'm learning one way of teaching at school and another way in the classroom and I don't get to practice what I want to. I am very uninspired by my current placement. I am not saying that she is doing things wrong because she has some really good ideas and practices. I think I am unexpired because of the lack of choice within my lessons. I don't get to try what I want.

Another reason I am unsure is because I am used to playing with students to help them learn (early childhood) and all the playing seems to stop once they hit grade one. This is one of the reasons that I am drawn to inquiry based learning. Students questioning, exploring, learning, and following their interests deeper. I haven't seen this in action and won't have the change to explore it fully until I am a teacher and I am scared that before that happens I will pick up other habits that are easier and become complacent. I know that I can fall into rutts and if I am not inspired I will not try. I can see myself doing this constantly right now in my classes. I am happy just floating by. So far the class that I have put the most effort into is Arts Ed and that is because I really like the arts. I also really like technology and loved taking my ECMP classes and learing new things with technology. The outdoors and field trips are another thing that I think I would really enjoy doing with students. I love being outside and i believe that so much learning can happen in a real situation compared to from out of a book.

As for dreams, I dream of travelling. I love going to new places and experiencing different cultures. I am put outside of my comfort zone and forced to meet new people and experience new things. I don't do this often enough when I am at home although I have been trying to more and more. So right now, I would like to travel to another country for my first year of teaching. I believe there is alot that you learn from other places to do with the education system. Different techniques, strategies... I learned so much when I was in Australia and taught there that I didn't know. I am not very socially aware although I want to be. I try and make a difference everyday personally but I still live in my own little bubble. I think that is why I like travelling because I am always outside my bubble and learning new things.

I wish we had the opportunity to go into a classroom and just try out what I would like to try and then go back to my section and debrief with them. You have an opportunity to learn without complete failure and then have a support group that can help explore options with.

I just don't know is my answer... I have answers but they don't seem to give me direction. I want to be inspired and have a vision of where I want to be but I just can't seem to find it. I don't know if there is a way to find it other than through trial and error.

I want to be a passionate person and teacher. Right now my passion is travelling and I'm not sure how that relates to teathing.

Inspiration

2009-02-20T07:07:00.001-08:00

I want to be this type of teacher!

I love quotes

2009-02-15T17:04:00.000-08:00

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
-- Albert Einstein
“A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.” - Anonymous

Environmental Education

2009-02-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

I found this video very inspiring and so true. Children are the future and by teaching enviro ed early on things can change. Imagine if a program like this was implemented in our school systems.... think of the possibilities. The extra resources and funding would be amazing. Teachers try their best already to teach Enviro ed but having an organization that would help with these types of things would be a huge help. There are some systems in place through outdoor education but I don't think that is enough. We only have one earth and why is it not the most important thing to think about. We could teach english and math until we were blue in the face and if nothing is done about enviro ed than what is the point...

I love this video... the power of the outdoors. I want an outdoor classroom, why do schools have to be within four walls.

wonder

2009-02-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

I am really enjoying doing experiments in my Ed Science class and learning from my classmates how to engage students. At the same time I'm not sure that I am learning the dos and donts of teaching science. I don't know what is acceptable, what is outdated, what are best practices. I can look up science experiment online or in a book but to learn how to do the activities or chose the activities that are appropriate is another story. I understand that we are relating curriculum to our experiments but I still don't know the fundementals of science education. What makes it different than any other subject?

university

2009-02-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

On the weekend I ran into a peer that I went to school with 5 years ago. We were both taking Early Childhood Education. I got talking to her and she is back at university taking psychology and trying to get into the BEAD program. We were talking about how our classes transfered into the university and how it was such a joke. Why are university's in Canada so ridiculous? When I went over to Australia on exchange their whole four years of university focuses on their Education degree, there is not two years of arts and science and then lets learn about Education. As an Education student I feel unprepared to go into the classroom and that is mainly because here I am being in university for the last 4 years and this is the first year that I have taken strictly Education classes. What a joke. I also don't know who in their right mind would go and take Early Childhood if they were planning to go and upgrade their education. There are Early Childhood Degrees offered through UofR and the credits that transfer from a two year diploma are 3 or 4 if you are lucky. How pathetic. You spend two years strictly focusing on Early childhood and then go to do a degree with it and you are back down to having almost no education. The whole transfer system leaves plenty to be desired. I have fought nail and tooth for the credits I have and it still doesn't even come close to the amount that I should have received. I would love to see the university offer strictly education classes and prepare teachers... there is only so much time in each semester to take the classes that you want to take that would be beneficial, so why not get rid of the electives that are pointless.

Reflect

2009-02-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

I really do not like reflecting, and have found that I enjoy looking and seeing what others have to say. In this past week I have come to learn that I do this with many things. I like sitting back and scoping out the situation before contributing and forming my ideas. In a way this is good because I take into all opinions and facts before making up my mind but in another way I feel like I am not knowledgable. I don't have a direct opinion. Meeting a person for the first time I tend to feel that person out before putting myself out there. Once I know the person then I know how to react and where my boundaries are. I am beginning to think that maybe I have some trust issues.... I also feel like reflections are personal but I know they are a big part of the education profession. I do think about how things could be done better or differently but I do it at the time and then move on, I don't live in the past... I live in the here and now and what can I do next.

21st century teacher

2009-02-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

I guess I am going to answer some of my own questions. I can start small and then move bigger as I am employed in my own classroom.

Are we learning to be 21st century teachers?

2009-02-03T16:29:00.000-08:00

So how do I become a 21st century teacher when alot of what I am learning is 21st century theory but what I have to practice is not. I would love to do a thematic unit integrating all subjects and using technology. I have big ideas and want to put them into practice but the educational system doesn't allow for complete control.

I also want to be a more civic minded teacher and person but starting is so hard especially when I am so so busy. I have to find balance and balance does not entail doing any extras. In the future I hope to be.

Playground wisdom

2009-02-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

This video is a great reminder as to the simple things in life...
1. What ever you do MAKE IT FUN!
- I am having a difficult time doing this because it is such a busy semester with so much information to comprehend. I do make time to curl and do a hip hop class each week. It is a time for me to have fun and be myself. Another way that I make it fun is by talking and being around friends.
2. Practice Gratitude
- I am grateful for my friends that are going through the same experiences as me and sharing their thoughts, ideas and dilemmas. I am grateful for my dog, Scrapper, because he is there to greet me with a jump and kiss everyday when I get home, no matter what type of day I have had. I am also grateful for my family who is there for me no matter what.
3.Reach For the Stars
- I want to do the best job in my preinternship as possible. I am trying to think of new and exciting ways to make my unit come alive. I am also striving to accomplish my degrees.
4. One Step at a Time
- This is key in my life right now. I have come to accept that I can only do one thing at a time. I can't focus on the distant assignments I need to start small and go from there. At the same time it is always a concern in the back of my mind. But I'm working on it.
5. Always Play Nice
To me this means working with others and being professional. Not going behind someones back and talking about issues you may have with them. It is trying extremely hard to get along with others and work in the best interest of the children. It is working collaboratively and sharing thoughts and ideas that would and will benefit others.
6. Challenge Yourself Everyday
Think outside the box. Don't settle for the boring paper and pencil. Say my students can do it and so can I. Prove to the myself that anything is possible if I believe. The only limitations on myself are the ones that I place, so going out of my comfort zone is a huge challenge.

Nature of Science

2009-01-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed this video and what he had to say about the nature of science. It really made me stop and think about my own beliefs about how the world works.

science

2009-01-22T17:34:00.000-08:00

Science articles/poems:

I have learned that as humans we are constantly changing out ideas and thoughts, rediscovering information, asking questions, interacting with the environment, and trying to be successful in our chosen path in life... these all have aspects of science linked with in. So as a science teacher I want my students to understand that we are all linked to the earth and one persons actions ay not immediately affect us but when a number of people do the same things it can have irreversable effects. I want my studnets to know that "We Are the Earth" as David Suzuki shares in his videos. I want to make a difference and I want my students to be civic minded as well. Students also need to be able to interact with their environmens and know that change can occur with one person.

These poems helped me realize that science is interwoven in everything that we do. From looking at a tree, to a piece of art, to just living. I learned that I want my classroom to be interactive, exciting, a place for exploring new/old ideas, and understanding the many whys we have in life.

2009-01-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

Americans Stop and Listen Obama's inauguration speech affected Internet use patterns
By Stuart Fox Posted 01.21.2009 at 12:56 pm 0 Comments

Plugging In a Different Way: akeg (CC Licensed)
Sure, people said they were working during yesterday's inauguration, but the Internet tells a different tale. It seems that a large portion of Americans actually stopped working and searching the Internet while Obama was speaking, and on the flip side, Twitter and Facebook shot through the roof.

Google, on its official blog, reported a substantial drop in queries lasting from the time Obama started taking the oath of office to the end of his speech. Similarly, the Merchant Circle, a company that helps small business expand their Web presence, noted a sharp decline in Web traffic while Obama was speaking.

But while Americans seemed to turn away from business, they turned towards social networks. Twitter reported five times as many tweets per second during Obama's swearing in than the service usually records. This led to delays of up to five minutes, an eternity for a service used to delivering content in seconds. Facebook also saw a huge jump in use, reporting 4,000 status updates a minute during Obama's speech.

The inauguration was also a boon for streaming video, the viewing of which reached its highest level ever during the speech. For some cable carriers, Internet traffic spiked by over 400 percent during the event, easily topping the record set last year during the US Open.

Once Obama finished his speech, and the poet Elizabeth Alexander began speaking, the traffic returned to normal. This, combined with footage of the crowds attempting to leave the Mall while Alexander spoke gave the impression that the poet was not as well received as the president. However, that may not be the case. According to data provided by Amazon.com spokesperson Sally Fouts, Alexander's work, "Praise Song for the Day: A Poem for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration", jumped 2,878 precent in sales rank to 369, up from 10,990 earlier in the day.

So that's what everyone did once they got back to work from watching the inauguration: they all started buying Obama-related merchandise.

It is interesting to see that there is such an interest and so much support for the new president. I can only hope the same for Canada. Why are we so passive? Why is it so hard to create change? What would I do if I was primeminister for a day? So many questions and so few answers.

One question I have about the new president is if race is not suppose to make a difference in what you can do and who you can be how come one of the most memorable facts about the new president is that he is black. I understand it is evolution and the changing from slaves to equals but that is how he is forever going to be remembered... as a colour. He has good messages and is very inspirational but it still comes down to that fact.

Down and dirty

2009-01-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

Okay I have to get this out there.

I am going insane this semester. The classes are longer, they are front loaded, there is tons of reading, a unit plan due in a month, approx 10 projects due before preinternship and another 5 after preinternship... where do we find time? Personally the amount of information that I am recieving from a few of the classes I could skip for a few weeks and do the readings and not miss a thing. At least I would have time to work on my unit plan. The assignments are not laid out ahead of time to start working on other than our units that we are not suppose to know how to do.

I also feel that we are learning all these theories and idealistic ways to teach on paper but they are not being modelled in the class room. Everything looks good on paper but personally to learn something well I need to use it hands on and practice and see it in work. I learn by observing and then repeating with alterations and adaptations that suite my personality. Reading the text book for over 2 hours a day does not benefit me. I read to memorize until the exam and then forget it because it wasn't relevant to my immediate need for it. At least the reading for Assessment we talk about in the class and then we work on how we would use that information.

I just want to run away to somewhere warm and forget about school, exams, and readings. So, I am off to go curling.

Powerful Thoughts

2009-01-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

Technology

2009-01-14T18:07:00.001-08:00

Ideas

2009-01-14T16:51:00.000-08:00

How a small idea can grow.... you really can make a difference if you put an idea into action.

post below

2009-01-14T14:09:00.001-08:00

Looking back on my blog I used for ECMP 455 I really wanted to repost this because I think it is valuable to think about.

future classroom really long - repost

2008-01-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

Well to start off I am kind of going to go off topic. I know that we are suppose to explain our future classroom but I found this music video on Youtube and it really does explain what I want the school that I work at to be like.

The students and teachers are excited to come to school... the school is like a community made up of numerous ethnic backgrounds and languages.

I want a school where sharing and technology is the norm. Teachers don't mind sharing their ideas... they aren't secret. Technology is more than just 30 min on a laptop every 2 weeks. It is integrated into the classroom on a daily basis.

I was searching through Alec Couros's blue dots and came across this site. It is a site that has over 400 web resources available. It really helps to illustrate that through social spaces on the Internet we can help each other and we can learn more about anything.

I want to create creative children. I don't want to discourage creativity. This video I really can't post it enough, I really absolutely believe in it.

FlashVars="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/SIRKENROBINSON_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true" quality="high" allowScriptAccess="always" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" scale="noscale" wmode="window" width="320" height="285" name="VE_Player" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer">
(someone really needs to fix the embed feature because it is not correct... took me forever to figure it out)
This video also shows why creativity is so important and why I really believe that it is important in the classroom. It also explains why I keep going to school for a while and then leaving and living life and then going back. I have to balance life with what people expect of life.

I want to be part of something like the flat classroom project from the get go. To be one of those teachers that other teachers look to for great ideas and resources.

I want my classroom to be one where the children are excited to come to class and I'm the teacher that they all look forward to getting.

There are so many great ideas and concepts at our fingertips, why not embrace them.

Anyways that is mainly what I would like my future classroom and school to look like.

time flies

2008-01-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

Well I just got back on to high speed and I am in Regina taking more classes. Things are going well. New Zealand was amazing.

new zealand

2007-12-08T22:39:00.000-08:00

Things are going great in New Zealand. The three of us girls are closer than ever. After sleeping in the back of a van in on a airmattress for the majority of our trip, that is the only option. We have been sea kayaking, glacier hiking, jade making, driving (lots of driving), and today we went sledging(doing white water on a board). It was amazing. Internet has been far and few and expensive so pictures will be coming when available. Anyways catch ya later

scubadiving

2007-11-25T16:11:00.001-08:00

Hey hey...
Well we made it up to Cairns and went scubadiving and snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. This is me and my mommy.

Things are going great... we are heading to Naideen and Allen's today. Anyways... short and sweet, thing to do and see.

quick

2007-11-19T02:04:00.000-08:00

Well my mom has made it here safe and sound and we have been at Conrad and Carols for the last couple days. It has been extremely hot 38C. We have been busy harvesting garlic and visiting with Peter and the rest of the family. Everything is going great and I will hopefully get on here and write a longer account when we get to Cairns.

no computer for awhile

2007-11-12T04:34:00.000-08:00

Well I have decided that I can't hull my computer around with me for the next two weeks, so I'm giving it up tomorrow and leaving it at a friends place. I'm going to feel naked without it, it has really been my lifeline to everything. Schedules for trains, buses, phoning, travel info, homework and anything and everything else. So I won't be writing on here for a while. I should get the opportunity to do so at either Conrads or the hostel along the way. No guarantees. I have almost everything packed, I don't know how I'm going to fit the rest in my bag but that's okay. I've had to give alot of stuff away, at least to people who will use it. Anyways that's it for a bit.

travel expo

2007-11-11T00:19:00.000-08:00

Well classes are finally finished. Hooray!!! I'm just putting some final touches on my last essay and I have one exam. I'm glad I only have a few things left because my roommates and I are not seeing eye to eye and I have to move out the day my mom gets here or pay rent for two more weeks. So out I go. Luckily I have met some really nice people and I can store my excess luggage at their place until I leave to NewZealand. Today I took a break and went down to the travel expo and then down to Bondi Beach. It was nice to get out and go down to the water and find more information on Cairns and NewZealand. I'm getting very excited, my mom leaves to Calgary tomorrow morning and flies out. She will be here in 4 days.... doesn't seem real. Anyways here are a couple pictures of the travel expo.

didn't get there

2007-11-04T00:32:00.000-07:00

Well the weather did not want to cooperate with me this weekend. The majority of the weekend was cloudy and rainy. So I did some shopping at the markets and some homework. Then I spent all Sunday morning loading programs back on my computer because it decided to crash over night and all my information was gone. Was not a happy camper. It is the second time that it has happened to me. Needless to say I spent the rest of the day and still continuing to do assignments that were erased and starting new ones that are due. I haven't checked to see if I still have my pictures on my camera or not... I'm too scared to look. Next weekend will have to be my weekend to go to the mountains and to the beach. My classes end on Friday and I only have one exam, so I can sit on the beach and study and study on the train to the mountains. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

nearly over

2007-10-29T00:38:00.000-07:00

Well I have less than 2 weeks of classes left and two assignments to go. Hopefully this will mean that I can go to the Blue Mountains this weekend and do some exploring. I'm also trying to get everything organized for when mom gets here. Booking hostels and diving and all that good stuff. We are all getting excited. I just got an email from Con and Carol and they are starting their garlic so they may be done by the time we get there. There may be no rooting or stripping left for us to do.

crunch time

2007-10-15T23:44:00.000-07:00

Well it is down to the last month of classes and I have a million assignment to do and don't want to do any of them. I'm getting excited about my mom coming, it is less than a month as well. Time flies when your busy. The weather is getting hotter and hotter here, it was up to 30C today.

a couple more pictures

2007-10-08T18:25:00.001-07:00

A few more pictures

The guesthouse we were fixing

My home during my visit

Flying kite

long time no write

2007-10-08T17:54:00.000-07:00

Well I had a really long unexpected visit at Conrad and Carol's this past week. I went up there last weekend just to stay the weekend and ended up staying a week and a half. They asked me to stay and do some work there instead of coming back to Sydney and working in the daycares. I enjoyed working with them much more than coming back to Sydney. It also gave me the opportunity to visit and meet more of their friends and family. We worked on getting their guest house finished and harvesting some of their garden to sell at the market in Braidwood. Luckily I didn't see any snakes and only a couple big spiders. But I did see a few Wombats and wallabys. Saw one Wallaby way closer than I wanted... Conrad hit it on our way to Canberra. While in Canberra we checked out Floriade, which is quite impressive but at the same time I think it needs to be seen from the air. It is a whole bunch of flowers in different shapes to represent different things. Here are a few pictures of my visit to Little Oakley.

Brian, Conrad, Carol, Ellie

Me at Floriade

Canberra city

Wallaby

Nelan's place

two weeks off

2007-09-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

Well for a little while my life will slow down slightly. I have 2 weeks off from school. But smart me has decided that instead of going travelling I would stay in the city and work so that I can afford to live. And get some extra homework done and out of the way. I am also planning on going to Conrad and Carols again next weekend. Looking forward to that. I actually made it down to the harbour yesterday and took some pictures of Sydney's landmarks. The Opera House and the Harbour bridge.

swamped

2007-09-14T21:41:00.001-07:00

Howdy,
Well I've been swamped with assignments this week and trying to get somethings organized for New Zealand. New Zealand took priority over assignments of course. We have finally decided that we are going to fly to Christchurch which is on the south island and drive upwards in a cargo van. We will buy a bed to throw in the back and crash in there if we want or if we need to. We are all looking forward to the trip and trying to decide what to do and what we have time for is occupying alot of my thoughts anyways.

more pics

2007-09-09T02:58:00.001-07:00

Little Oakley Creek area

Conrad Fire Twirling and me attempting to do so

conrad and carols

2007-09-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

Well I had a really good time catching up and seeing Conrad and Carol and Carol's mom Elly. The only down side was that I was sick the whole time I was there and it rained the whole time. So they were stuck babysitting me and my cold. I lost my voice almost completely but they were all really good and kept pumping me full of echinacia and tea. I am feeling alot better now, not 100% but better. I took a few pictures and I was going to post them on flickr but for some reason I don't remember my password or log in name... it's been a long day. So I'll post them right here.

If you look really close you can see the joey in mom's pouch.

Carol and Elly and Conrad in the far back

Conrad walking

slide show

2007-09-04T03:49:00.000-07:00

Well I have to do a project about me so I used the pictures that I had to create a slideshow.

long time no write

2007-09-03T03:15:00.000-07:00

Well time really is flying by. I'm heading to Conrad and Carols on Wednesday and staying until Sunday. I'm really looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and getting out of the city. The buses and trains have been all messed up because of the Apec so getting around is more difficult. School is going well, lots to do. I will hopefully be posting pictures when I get back from my trip to Conrads... I still haven't gone anywhere worth taking pictures of. Anyways next week.

officially working

2007-08-24T05:49:00.001-07:00

Well I have officially begun working. I worked for 8 hours yesterday a few train stops north of me and then I worked 4 hours south today. It is really hard going into a different daycare everyday but at the same time if you don't like the daycare one day you never have to go back there again. Luckily the daycares I've been at so far have been good. I forgot how much work there is to do and how much I like working with children.

been awhile

2007-08-21T01:55:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't posted anything for almost a week...

I found a job, not the one I was hoping for but it works out better for me. I am working for an agency that fills daycare positions when people are sick or on holidays. So I can work when I want and not work when I want. Which works out great for me because I have plans of going and visiting my cousin(Conrad and Carol) here in Australia and then I think I'm going to head to Melbourne and area for a bit and see the great ocean road. My mom finally officially booked her plane ticket to here and in turn I booked us plane tickets to Cairns to go snorkellin/diving and make a didgeradoo, and then to Brisbane to see my aunt and uncle (Allen and Naideen) and the Australia Zoo. I can't believe it is only 3 months until she is here and then we are off to New Zealand where my sister will meet up with us and we will have a girls trip around New Zealand for 2 weeks. I really can't wait. School is flying by and I just found out that I recieved another scholorship, so that will really help. I've been really lucky in that way this year.

brad paisley

2007-08-16T01:53:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching the ECMP455's last session, unfortunately I had to leave early so I missed being interact with the dream team as Dean calls them. But I really wanted to post the music video of Brad Paisley's song on here because I think it really reiterates the fact that you need to watch out with who you are talking to on the computer. The person you are talking to could be a pedophile or they could be completely normal... just be aware.
I can't embed the video but just click here and away you go.

research

2007-08-16T00:55:00.000-07:00

I have a big assignment that I am doing over here in Australia. I am doing a policy analysis about youtube, social spaces, and internet sites being banned in schools. Also about anyways in which schools are accepting the programs and using them to benefit the children. I am comparing Australia with other countries and what is going on in classrooms around the world. I'm looking for anyone who comes across an article to paste it in the wiki that I just started to create. I would really appreciate the help. Thanks
http://youtubeinternetschools.wetpaint.com/

teacher-astronaut

2007-08-15T04:24:00.000-07:00

I stole this article from Collette Cassinelli's blog. I really like the comparison between teachers and the importance that the article places on teachers.

We explore, we discover and we share.
By Colette Cassinelli

Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan took questions and spoke to hundreds of youngsters packed into the Discovery Center of Idaho in Boise:

“Astronauts and teachers actually do the same thing,” she answered. “We explore, we discover and we share. And the great thing about being a teacher is you get to do that with students, and the great thing about being an astronaut is you get to do it in space, and those are absolutely wonderful jobs.”

We explore, we discover and we share - yes - it IS the greatest job there is.

Image: Clockwise from left are STS-118 mission specialists Dave Williams, Barbara Morgan and Alvin Drew and Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Clay Anderson. The astronauts participated in an educational event with students asking questions from the Discovery Center in Boise, Idaho. Image: NASA

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animal youtube

2007-08-14T01:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to think of this video. I like Animal Planet but this was almost too much for me.

prospects of a job

2007-08-13T02:01:00.000-07:00

Well I am so so so excited. Today I had class out at Kuranggui so I wasn't home all day and when I got home it was too late to phone home so I started doing homework. When my room mate got home she said there was 3 messages on the phone for me. I had applied for a couple jobs on the weekend and they had phoned me back today, The one is not to exciting, it is working in the childcare field at various places. The other one is the one I am extremely excited about. It is a job going from school to school in Sydney and taking 3 children from a classroom and working with them on the computer until I have gone through the whole class. I don't know all the details yet but I will find out more tomorrow and can't wait. It will really give me a chance to work with children and technology. I can really see myself leaning towards this in my educational career. I think technology is going to be huge in school systems in the next 5 years and I want to be the one that is helping the other teachers adapt and grow to use the programs. Anyways that was my excitement for the day. So hopefully all goes well and it works out.

busy busy busy

2007-08-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well I've been really busy this weekend... not really but it feels like it. I've been trying to get ahead on some of my classes. Trying to convince my mom and sister to come to Australia and New Zealand and looking into flights for them. I've discovered different features on Skype. I've also discovered in regards to Skype that Canada is behind the times for allowing Skype to have telephone numbers. There is a part of Skype where you can get a telephone in a different country than where you are and then people can phone that number and not pay the long distance and get you on your computer. It is an amazing feature but like I said it doesn't help me because everyone I talk to is in Canada and that is where there free calling is. Oh well... maybe in the near future. I hope. I am planning on trying to get out of the city and see my relatives for the first weekend in September... the G8 is in the city and it is going to be crazy, not to mention I have pretty much a whole week off right then. So I'm looking forward to that. I'm also trying to plan what I want to do for spring break... I have 2 weeks off and want to travel and see some of the things that I didn't see last time when i was here. So I've been glued to the computer for the last day and a half, looking for info, completing wikis, reading rss feeds, doing homework, reading for classes.... I'm glad I have my laptop and internet access.

blogging, are you addicted.

2007-08-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

55%

Mingle² - Dating Site

I don't consider myself as addicted to blogging. I mainly blog for my ECMP class and occasionally through some interesting tidbits about what is going on down under. But apparently I use it more than I thought.

2007-08-10T03:35:00.000-07:00

Well I think I our collaborative project is as good as it is going to get. I have had a good time working with the others in my group. It has definately been a learning experience. Trying to decide what to do, how to do it and having a deadline and expectations to meet. I learned how to embed music into a wiki, create a wiki, contribute to a wiki, absolutely everything I know about wikis. I had never created one or been involved with one until this project. Our page is laid out so that others can continue to add to our site and hopefully it will grow and grow.

video about math

2007-08-10T00:17:00.000-07:00

This video shows that different teaching methods really does make a difference.

interesting to find

2007-08-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

I found this article and it absolutely shocked me. We have been learning in our ECMP455 class how to incorporate technology into the class room and I think that youtube is a big part of that. In Victoria, Australia they have banned youtube.

State bans YouTube
By Stephen Withers
Thursday, 01 March 2007
Access to YouTube will be blocked from computers in public schools in Victoria, Australia.

The ban will be achieved by adding the popular video sharing site to the blacklist already applied to school's Internet feeds.

The primary reason for the ban is not (as you might expect) the waste of time and resources involved. Instead it is part of an anti-bullying policy.

Last year a group of male Victorian students gained notoriety when they attacked a female student and distributed video of the assault on DVD and YouTube.

Education Services Minister Jacinta Allan said "The Bracks government has never tolerated bullying in schools and this zero tolerance approach extends to the online world."

She also noted that it was parents' responsibility to prevent students posting harmful content from outside schools.

I don't see how one incident of bullying at a school should mean the banning of a useful resource. There are so many good messages on YouTube that if you teach children the difference, it is a great tool.

education in australia

2007-08-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

I'm finding some of my classes really interesting because I am learning about the education system in a different country. It was really interesting to learn that they have the curriculum and the hidden curriculum like we do in Canada but they have added in their curriculum values to teach. This is a very controversial issue here and for the most part people I have talked to, think there is no place for it. How can schools teach values to such a wide range of cultural backgrounds. When you come from a certain culture you grow up with certain values and then you go to school and are taught a different set of values that may contradict those of your parents. The values that are listed in the curriculum are listed on this site. Although they are basic values that sure we would try and instill in the children I found it really odd that they are part of the curriculum here and that you are suppose to teach them. This came about because alot of people were taking their children out of public schools and putting them in private schools and the gov. wanted to stop this and supposedly this was suppose to do it. I don't know what to think... you have to teach values or you should teach values in the hidden curriculum. So what is the difference? The have to and the should.

figured it out

2007-08-09T05:45:00.001-07:00

Well I figured in out and now I just have to find good music to stick on here.

I really like this blog music site they have almost everything on there and make it really easy to add music to your blog.

2007-08-09T05:30:00.000-07:00

2007-08-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

Trying to embed music into blog.

meeting

2007-08-09T03:02:00.000-07:00

Today I met with Niomi and Pam on Skype and discussed our collaborative project. Gillian had problems connecting to the meeting so she had to be updated afterwards. We decided that we would keep the comparative page and keep all the other pages that I started so that they can be added to in the future. We decided that we would try and add music on the home page and help each other finish off our pages and help find info for the comparative pages. We talked and discussed for about an hour. We discussed the pros and cons of keeping somethings and adding somethings. We also discussed what we thought the outcome should be and what our teachers are expecting from the project. I think that we did a good job meeting the expectations and exceeding them. We have laid a really good foundation for the site to continue.

classes in Australia

2007-08-08T03:23:00.000-07:00

Classes here are going okay... I have two teachers that I absolutely love and they are going to be amazing classes. And the other two well the teachers are pretty boring and so is the class content. That's not to bad half and half. I still haven't done a bunch of exploring or touristy activities. Maybe this weekend. I did make it to town hall and hyde park.

Other than that my room mates are great, we joined a gym close to our place and have been attempting to get healthier. I over did is on Monday and had problems walking for 2 days. I'm much better now and went swimming this morning.

I'm spending way to much money on food, and small things that I need for school and my room but I guess that comes with being away from home.

I'm really really missing my car. I hate taking an hour to go somewhere when it would only take 10 min in a car... or hauling groceries and killing my arms on the train.
I miss everyone else at home as well but I have been talking to everyone pretty constantly, except my baby (dog) I miss him lots.

ECMP455 session

2007-08-08T03:18:00.000-07:00

Well todays session for me was a bust. By the time a location was found I had to go to class here in Australia. So I am again left to play catch up... but that is okay. Technology again is good in some situations and not so good in others. If everything is working well technology is applauded but as soon as something goes wrong then everyone is complaining. It is always good to have a backup plan which Dean had.

copyright materials

2007-08-07T03:42:00.000-07:00

I'm not to sure what to think of digital copyright materials. I have been posting my pictures on our wiki, on flickr, and on my blog and I don't want someone else to say that they are their pictures but at the same time I don't care if they use the pictures. I guess that is where creative commons comes in and is a great idea. This way you still get credit for your work and the other person can still use the information/pictures.

Many people download and burn movies and music. You aren't suppose to, it is illegal and the artists don't get their credit for their work. I don't know thought.... some people download music to check out the artist and if they enjoy it then they go and buy the cd and they go to concerts and they buy clothing at the concert... so are artists still not getting the credit for their work??? But then you have others that will just download the whole cd and not do any of the other things, so what is right and what is wrong? Before the internet people shared music by bringing their cds to their friends house and listening to the music. Downloading and uploading is just a broader form of this. You get to listen to music from people that want to share their favorite artists.

So what is right and what is wrong? Is copyright realistic? Many people don't care that an item is copyrighted and use the information/music/pictures/movies anyway. This youtube movie shows that copyright is constantly changing and is exploited constantly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWR6eiiBhf8

So is copyright good, bad, or inbetween? I don't know. Depends on how you view it and what you know about it.

project

2007-08-07T03:37:00.000-07:00

Working on our collaborative project is going okay. There are some small bugs that we need to work out and will be talking more on Wednesday. Pam suggested adding and did add a comparison page but i think that it really limits the sites ability to expand. The purpose of the collaborative project is to expand and for others to add and to keep growing. I think that the site is a good base and that others will add more pictures and info to the site to create virtual tours of cities/towns/places they have been, and use the wiki as a place to explore places they want to go. At least that is my view of the wiki that we are creating.

wiki

2007-08-07T02:25:00.000-07:00

Well I have just created my first wiki. I don't have a whole bunch to put on it right now but I thought it was a great idea. It is a place for Saskatchewan teachers to put their lesson plans and exchange ideas and thoughts. It should be a valuable resource for teachers and education students.
http://sasklessonplans.wetpaint.com/

collaboration

2007-08-06T01:29:00.000-07:00

Well our collaborative page is slowly turning into a final project. I have alot of information to add still. It is taking alot more time than I anticipated and it needs to be completed by Friday, so it is down to the crunch.

how far

2007-08-06T01:25:00.000-07:00

How far should teachers take technology in there classroom?

I love technology and the idea of incorporating it into my future classroom. Is there such a thing as overdoing it? If the material you are using is relevant and couldn't be done any better than with technology could you use too much?

future of education

2007-08-06T00:28:00.000-07:00

I was reading through my feeds and came across Chris Lehmann's blog. In his blog he links to this video and I just had to include the link in my blog. The video talks about the value of creativity in the educational system. http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/66

Ted talks about the value of creativity in education. I believe everything that Ted talks about in this video. He describes the education system as forming children into professors. Schools value the learning of math, science, and language. Ted also says that all the school systems throughout the world value the same things. None of them focus on the arts. Is this because the arts have fewer job opportunities? Is it because teachers teach what they know?

The main point that stood out the most was:
Children lose creativity by being wrong or being scared of being wrong.

So as teachers how do we change this?
What can be done?

quick post

2007-08-03T02:43:00.000-07:00

I was looking on my facebook account and Alec Couros has added a link to a support blogging wiki. I thought I would add it on my blog to help spread the word

interesting feeds

2007-08-03T01:38:00.000-07:00

There are so many good ideas and thoughts out there and I love the idea of this one. http://thinklab.typepad.com/think_lab/2007/08/on-the-road.html#comments Travelling around in a RV for a month with students and teachers. Exploring the country where you live by taking the backroads, eating healthy and bonding/fighting with other students/teachers. I would sign on to this project. It reminds me of my time spent in Katimavik. http://www.katimavik.org/section/index/id/1 This program was instramental in my discovering the joys of teaching, helping to adjust to living with others, team work, responsiblities, and budgeting.

I love the idea of taking time during the school year to explore. Working, travelling, and being in close proximaty with others is a learning process that can not be gained by any traditional school. So much could be learned and discovered... possiblities are endless.

collaborative project

2007-08-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

Well I joined the touring cities collaborative project yesterday. I thought it was a really good idea. Being able to share pictures and information about places you live and have been. This project I can see growing and growing. There are so many little towns and places that not many people know about. This will give those places more attention as well as will provide valuable information for people looking to travel. http://citytours.wetpaint.com/

Time

2007-08-03T00:42:00.000-07:00

I finally have time and internet access to read some of my RSS feeds. I was looking though and found this blog very interesting. http://thinklab.typepad.com/think_lab/2007/08/which-story-cat.html
In essence it asks what story catches your attention. I would really like to know which story does get the most attention. They are all very interesting stories but the story that caught my attention the most was "e-Learning market predicted to top $52 billion by 2010" http://www.thejournal.com/articles/21046 This one caught my attention just because I take alot of online classes and didn't realize that the market was so large for e-learning. I actually think that expected number will be even high than that. With e-learning being so accessable and easy to fit into scheduling many undergraduate degrees will be gained this way.

face book

2007-08-01T02:17:00.001-07:00

Facebook is it good or bad???
Here is an article that I found while browsing.

Alarm over Facebook predators
Email Print Normal font Large font Saved July 31, 2007 - 4:28PM
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Facebook came under fire on Monday from a state attorney general who accused the fast-growing social networking site of falling short in protecting young users from sexual predators on its site.

Facebook came under fire on Monday from a state attorney general who accused the fast-growing social networking site of falling short in protecting young users from sexual predators on its site.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in an interview his office had learned of "at least three" convicted sex offenders on Facebook's site and that may be the "tip of the iceberg."

"These individuals are using their real names after convictions for felony sexual offenses," Blumenthal told Reuters. "There may be thousands or hundreds of thousands using aliases or false identities who have never been convicted."

The state official said Facebook appears to suffer some of the dangers from predators and pornography that larger and more freewheeling social network site MySpace does. Last week, MySpace said it had deleted 29,000 convicted sex offenders from its own service, which attracts 60 million US. visitors.

Started in 2004 by then-undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg as a socializing site for fellow Harvard University students, Facebook opened up more than a year ago to allow users of all ages to create personal profiles to share with friends.

Facebook, with privacy features encouraging members to share personal details like phone numbers, political loyalties or dating status for an approved circle of friends, has grown by more than a third to 33 million members in the past two months.

Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly said Facebook has privacy features unlike other social network sites that segment users by age, organisation and region and make it hard for adults to contact users under the age of 18.

In particular, Facebook protects users under 18 by preventing adults from contacting them if the adults are not affiliated with a specific school network, Kelly said.

Kelly acknowledged Facebook has detected sexual predators and other abusive practices on the site but said the numbers were small.

"There is a non-zero number. We have been able to handle abuses with the accountability of having a real-name culture versus a 'screen-name' culture," he said.

Kelly said Facebook had been notified Monday afternoon by the Connecticut attorney general's office of three specific profiles set up by known sex offenders and that the Palo Alto, California-based company had quickly removed these web pages.

"There is no city in existence, let alone one that has 33 million citizens, that doesn't have occasional crime," Kelly said. "The question is: Does the site make it easier or harder to commit crimes and what does it do to address them?"

Blumenthal and attorneys general from other states have been pushing for state and federal laws to require social network sites to seek age and identity verification from users as well as parental consent for minors to join such sites.

But critics of laws that rely on voluntary verification measures say there is no simple way to screen for sex offenders and kids masquerading as older users or to ensure whether parental authorization actually is given by parents or by kids pretending to be their parents.

Companies such as Facebook and MySpace are scrambling to develop technologies that automatically seek to protect underage users from predators as well as other forms of abuse including pornography and threats against individual users.

"We believe, and they (Facebook) agree, that screening out those images as well as age and identity verification are all affordable and feasible with today's technology," Blumenthal said after a meeting between his staff and Facebook on Monday.

"Their response, simply, was that they want to cooperate and do the right thing," he added.

MySpace has turned to background verification company Sentinel Tech Holding, which has co-developed the first nationwide database of convicted US sex felons to make it easy to detect offenders online. There were 600,000 registered US sex offenders as of May.

"It's when adults and kids play in the same space that things get sticky and the effectiveness of age verification seems to go out the window," Sentinel CEO and founder John Cardillo said of the dilemma facing social networks.

Kelly said Facebook has designed its site from the outset to protect users' privacy and has developed additional technologies since then to offer further protections. The company is evaluating technologies from outside vendors to help it increase its surveillance of potential predators.

"It is better to have some sort of verification on the front end and various forms of behavioral verification on the back end," Kelly said of Facebook's approach to site safety.

Reuters

http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/alarm-over-facebook-predators/2007/07/31/1185647889575.html

I recently bit the bullet and signed up for a facebook account to extend my social network and link with people that I don't often see. Watch who you are adding and what you are sharing.

Yahoo

2007-08-01T02:05:00.000-07:00

My class today deals with current issues and policies. My teacher gave me this article to examine and I found it extremely interesting. It really makes a person think about what is discrimination and what is protection.

God is fine, but internet users take the name of Allah in vain
Email Print Normal font Large font By Nick O'Malley and agencies
February 27, 2006

YAHOO! has changed its rules on the words it allows in email addresses after a man discovered he could not register an account because his surname contained the word Allah.

Ed Callahan said he tried to establish the email account with the internet portal in the US after his mother, who has the same surname, could not get one.

He discovered that email addresses with other religious words were allowed, but not those that included Allah.

"On one level this is just silliness. But we have a war on terrorism and it's migrating to be a war on Muslims - this just shows the confusion there is between the two and how pervasive this is," Mr Callahan told the online journal The Register.

The incident has become a talking point on technology blogs. Many engaged in the debate have noted that Yahoo! was at the forefront of a recent campaign to keep the internet free of Government censorship in the US.

Yahoo! now says it has changed its policy to allow the word. In a written statement, the company defended the previous policy as an attempt to protect users from hateful speech.

"A small number of people registered for IDs using specific terms with the sole purpose of promoting hate and then used those IDs to post content that was harmful or threatening to others, thus violating Yahoo!'s terms of service," the statement said.

Another internet user with the letters of Allah in his online name, "Kallahar", claims to have tested Yahoo!'s system before it was changed to see which other words were banned. God was allowed, but Allah was banned; Bin Laden was banned, but "terrorist" was allowed.

Mr Callahan, who set up a webpage in protest at what he saw as discrimination against Muslims on behalf of Yahoo, has a new email address which includes the phrase "alla is in Callahan".

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/god-is-fine-but-internet-users-take-the-name-of-allah-in-vain/2006/02/26/1140888748193.html

So is it right to block certain names to protect themselves from having inappropriate material posted? Or is it just plain discrimination?

social networking

2007-08-01T01:51:00.000-07:00

I was reading the paper on the train and found this article about Piracy hits high note. I can't find the article online so I will type away.

"Social networks are changing the way people consume music at a time when piracy is on the rise.
Apple today boasted it had sold more than 3 billion songs at its iTunes online store.
But researchers said the growth of legal downloads had slowed and industry players had to adapt or watch profits fade.
A survey by Entertainment Media Research found that more than 50 percent of people surfed social networking sites to find music.
A further 30 percent said they went to buy or download music they had discovered on a social network site.
On popular sites such as MySpace and Bebo, the numbers of people who use sites to find music rises to about 75 percent.
John Enser, head of music at the law firm Olswang that coauthored the survey, said social networking sites represented a new platform for the music industry.
"Discovering music is widespread with the latest generation of consumers, but the process of actually purchasing the music needs to be made easier," he said.
The survey found music was increasinly key to social networks.
The number of people claining they illegally downloaded music tracks had risen and legal downloading was in decline.
Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research , said the findings represented a new era of "democratisation" in the way consumbers interacted with music and artists.
"Social networks are fundementally changing the way we discover purchase and use music," he said."

This article was interesting because it touched alot on what we have been discussing in our ECMP455 class. We have been talking about social networking as being the key to the future. Sharing each others work and learning new ways to teach and explore. I never thought of finding music on someone elses network. But if information is being shared I guess everything else is being shared as well.

photostory

2007-07-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

This is my photostory that I created for ECMP455. It is my trip to Europe last summer.

europe 2006 from janine and Vimeo.

my new place in Australia

2007-07-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

Well I am sitting here and listening to one of the two classes that I have missed in ECMP455 and heard that Dean would like me to post pics and other things in our blogs. So I will post a pic in here.

pictures

2007-07-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

Once I get organized I will be adding pictures to this website.
http://www.flickr.com/people/janinesmits/

australia

2007-07-29T01:31:00.000-07:00

I'm finally here. I arrived in Sydney yesterday and stayed at a bed and breakfast overnight. I also found a condo being rented out by a couple to rent. So far they seem very nice. I tried to write on here the other day and check my feeds while i was in the airport but the comps there wouldn't let me, they had those sited blocked because they may be malicious. I'm not sure what they expected to find but anyways. I am overly tired and ready for bed.

started my journey

2007-07-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

This last week has flown by. Everyone kept asking if I was excited and I really wasn't but as I sit here in Calgary my stomach is doing flips and I am getting nervous. The apartment that I had tentatively lined up fell through so now I'm back to square one. Looking for a place to live!!! I'll be homeless for the first few days and stay in a hostel. My brother drove me to Calgary yesterday and we arrived at 2am.... was suppose to be earlier but there is something with my car and me travelling. Everytime I am getting ready to leave to another country I swear my car gets lonesome and puts a hole in its tire. The last three trips I've taken I've had to either replace my tires or patch my tires on the day before or day I am heading out. Oh well, at least it didn't happen during my drive to Calgary. I'm falling behind a bit in ECMP 455 I haven't had time to read feeds, do assignments, post blogs, nothin.... but hopefully I will have more time once I get to Australia and get settled in. I'm off to surf for a new place to live. Wish me luck.

2007-07-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

Listening to our webconference tonight was great. David Jakes was talking about stories being very important to learning and I think that they are essential. Storytelling is how I learn about my grandparents and what it was like when they grew up. It is where you come from!!!

I also enjoyed the link http://www.uthtv.com/. It is important to listen to the children they have alot to say.

2007-07-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well I was just reading a few of my rss subscriptions and I found this one really interesting. It talks about incorporating childrens learning into building games and working in the classroom.
http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/2007/07/15/games-%e2%80%a2-learning-%e2%80%a2-society-classroom-strategy-guides/
I really like the idea of the children making up their own test on wiki and then use that information. I think the children would learn more because they would have to create. You learn by teaching.

Technology

2007-07-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

Technology is great!!! I have been searching online for a place to live in Sydney and with this wonderful system I have found a place, seen pictures of the place and can even make a deposit on the place (won't but could) if needed. I couldn't imagine just going and trying to look for a place... to much hassle. Did it before and spent way to much on rent for a crappy place with fleas and cockroaches.

Transfer credits

2007-07-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

If you can help it never transfer from University to University or College to University. You get royally screwed over. Or you have to fight for over a year to get any kind of credits. Or you have to do all the work yourself and figure out what classes will transfer and then pass them on and they don't transfer as what you think they should. It is not fun!!!

ECMP 455. Looks like it should be a good class. I'm hoping that I can still attend the online sessions with the time difference to Australia but I'm not sure because I have class that day. We will see.

New Blog, New Look

2007-07-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well it's my first blog for a few months. I find it difficult to blog when I'm on dial up for the majority of the time.

I am going to Australia on exchange to the University of Technology in Sydney. I'm getting excited it is only two weeks away.

That's it for now.