school vacations

This has been a LONG COLD weekend for all of us on "spring vacations".....and so I am guessing that MANY of you are thinking of your overview section. Remember that the overview section is where you need to look BEYOND your vocabulary and comprehension lesson plans. Please think about ALL the ideas you have read and heard about this semester as you pull your unit together.....include at least some of them in your unit overview......this is really an opportunity to demonstrate what you are learning.....
I DID SAY THAT THE OVERVIEW DID NOT HAVE TO BE TURNED IN ON APRIL 30th......feel free to take the time you need to do it right!!!!!!!
See you on Tuesday....

Changes

I was originally going to call this post TECHNOLOGY IS ALWAYS CHANGING and CAN BE CONFUSING.....but then I was reminded......once again...that it is not JUST technology that is changing and can be confusing....it is really the act of living that requires ALL of us to personally and professionally adapt to innumerable unforseen events and "things" that come along. So let me explain.....
Sometime late last winter, my day job school district changed the night of evening conferences from a Thursday in late March to a Tuesday in late March. I questioned the change in the printed school calendar but was told that it had to be this new way based on "fairness to other schools in the district." I sighed as I was putting the finishing touches on your syllabus and decided to go with an online class....I just can not get out of those conferences as the students I work with are at risk or struggling learners.
THEN.....JUST THIS WEEK....I start getting confernce schedules together from teachers and find that the conferences are NOW on THURSDAY night.....so after thinking to myself....What??()#$&%)#(%&#%*)&....and saying to a few people WHAT(#*%)(#%&)#%*&#)%*&? I found out that my earlier protests had been heard and that changing a school calendar was harder than making life fair,,......and so NOW I AM OK TO HAVE CLASS ON TUESDAY....
THE IMPORTANT PART OF ALL THIS BABBLE is that CHANGE is part of TEACHING and a BIG PART of life. How we adapt and accept those changes is the part that WE can control. So I guess.....this class...and these changes is just a metaphor for life...
as the African proverb notes:
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
SO YOUR JOB....WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW IS>>>>

IF YOU WANT TO COME TO CLASS....you do not need to do ANYTHING BESIDES YOUR COMPREHENSION LESSON PLAN AND READINGS online....
IF YOU WNAT TO DO AN ONLINE CLASS.and not attend....THAT IS FINE TOO

BUT EITHER WAY...AFTER READING ALL THIS BLABBER....or AT THE END OF CLASS.......WRITE A BRIEF COMMENT ABOUT HOW YOU ARE FEELING ABOUT ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY and LEARNING....
I admit that I am NOT as comfortable with technology as many of you ....but I am trying....and I know that TECHNOLOGY will be more important in your careeres than in mine.....even if the GROWTH of technology slows....you will have to embrace it or.....become obsolete....and who wants to become obsolete before their time? Not me....

Sunshine and Technology

It is a beautiful sunny Sunday morning here in Stormville as I post this week's powepoint and try to update student grades on Blackboard. Last weekend was spent devoid of electricity, heat, and water...trying to do a powerpoint on a borrowed computer in Paneros! I guess that is why I am SO aware of the sunshine and the feeling of spring and hope it always evokes. Somehow, the sunshine is a reminder that there are good things planned by a higher power for all of us in the days to come. It's pretty amazing that I feel this way as last week was very stressful for so many of the people I love and care about....and the days ahead will likely have more stress than I can even imagine.....
I guess the sunshine is a reminder...to me....that reader responses, grades, powerpoints, and even finding jobs....the day to day stressors of this world...are just that...day to day stressors of this world. There are brighter days planned for all of us...in the days ahead.