Thank you

Thanks to ALL of you who have been so kind.  I feel like I am at a point that I can share with you what I have recently been going through.

I was diagnosed on Tuesday, February 16th with liver cancer.   It is the primary cancer source.  Often, it is in indicator that cancer is in other areas of the body.  However, after numerous tests and bloodwork, we are confident that it is just in the liver.

I am doing alright as my district had this whole week off. 

Brad, I appreciate the help that you have offered.  I may take you up on that as I am behind and I am hoping to get a few of the projects finished today.  To be honest - I haven't even made a list of everything I have yet to finish.  And YES, my husband and I would love to come and take a walk around your property.  I will put it on my list of things to get me out of the house and do.

I am so appreciative of this cohort and the willingness to share and the support that you all have been throughout the first 3 classes.  My hope is that I can continue, as I am anxious to keep busy and finish as much as I can.

I meet with my specialist on Wednesday, the 24th.  I will know more from then. 

I am trying to be as open as I can with my diagnosis.  I believe that education is so important in finding a cure.  My symptoms were very benign and NOT at all indicative of cancer.  My doctors have been very "shocked" that this is where "we" ended up.

Please do not hesitate to contact me (using my school email from the last 2 classes) instead of the CMU if you would like to check in!

Thanks.
Ruth
( I will most likely delete this post after a week or so since this is an "open" bog site. )

Finally

I realize that I have been very behind is all my assignments.  I am making a last ditch effort to get this class finished. 
NOTE:  I have been really sick this last week and in and out of various testing sites.  long story short, I have been given a really shocking diagnosis.  I am going to try my damndest to finish this class.  However, I may have to drop the next two classes and pick back up with you in the fall.

I know that probably doesn't count for official blogging...

But, I recently set up a new blog site and I have made it private and invited my close friends and family.  My Question is: is it truly private?  I will begin blogging about my "journey" and am hoping to get my family to log on and be able to keep up on daily updates and respond.

I am hopeful that this little piece of technology can help bridge the gaps for those who can't be with me an yet need to know what is going on.  Weirdly enough I am excited that if I can get my technological challenged family to grasp this one concept - I will be so excited!

Thanks!

Uuugghh!

So, as I sit here finishing up some school stuff... have been reading other people's blogs and so impressed.  Pete - perhaps a school to watch!  Sara - so much planned on your storytelling!
I just finished grading 90 Math tests.  Then, today I had a substitute teacher who didn't bother to read my plans....aahhh.  Really?  I asked him to read specific directions to my students - which he didn't.  Then, I asked him to collate my test ( staple part 1 and part 2 together and put together with bubble sheet).  He didn't have to do ANYTHING else but "watch" my students take a test.  He didn't do that either.  Then, my intern told me he showed up in jogging pants (whoosh-whoosh ones).  Who does that ?

Tiffany, I didn't have our number to cal you last night...please email me with it so I can call next time!  Thanks!

 A podcast would have definitely come in handy!

Privacy Issues on Facebook

So yes, while reading this article , Privacy, Facebook and the Future of the Internet
from ReadWriteWeb by Marshall Kirkpatrick, I realized I was one of the unaware people who had their privacy exposed.  I had my Facebook account rather hidden.  I was only visible to friends and unable to be "found".  I thought that would give me the ability to be friends with those whom I really wanted to be. Instead, at times I find myself in that really awkward situation of deciding if I should "friend" someone just because they requested to join my network.  Then, I have to decide do I want this person to see my updates and such.   aaaahhh.  I thought being a grownup was so going to be easy. Haht!  So I say Boo to Facebook.  It's too bad that you keep changing so much stuff and constantly making your users upset instead of listening to them.  Why can't I just talk to my friends instead of blocking and ignoring stupid application requests?  bblpppttt

Students punished for Facebook

A student at Roxboro Middle School created a Facebook page that "bashed" a teacher.  Other students quickly became fans and added postings.  The School District took action by suspending one student and giving the other kids after-school detention.  One parent was angry and expressed that his daughter did nothing wrong and would not be attending her detention.

In this age of social networking and cyber-bullying this story gives me reason to pause and think.  I am curious to see where the rest of this story goes.  I teach 6th Graders and frankly, they can hate you one day and love you the next.  I also, would like to point out that obviously the parent in the video was not monitoring their students accounts.  I think that as a parent, that is one safe guard that needs to be in place. 

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=17819441

Apple ipad, Kindle....

I was catching up on my rss feeds and I noticed a lot of hype about the Apple ipad.  I am curious to know how long it will be before books are a thing of the past.  There has been a lot of talk about newspaper and magazine subscriptions have been declining.  I am sure that book sales are as well. 

I just saw recently that schools are offering to "rent" textbooks instead of purchasing them.  Soon I am sure textbooks will be downloaded onto Kindle, ipad or some other "reader".   I am sure Apple is sure to give Kindle a run for their money.

What will be the next "hot" new gadget or website.  Who knows, Apple just may make Bing the newest and hottest search engine and wipe out Google's supremacy.  Lok at what Apple did for AT&T by making them the sole carrier for the iphone.

Children of today!

I had to share...mostly because it is cute and partly because it just shows how today's children think....

My nephew said his bedtime prayers and said the following:

"Dear God...please help the people of Haiti...you can go to www.Haiti.com to help them."

Intel Math

As I was reading my rss feeds I came across one about a program called Intel Math.  The Intel corporation is launching a Math program to help teach math to teachers.  Is an 80 hour course taught by s PhD Mathematician and Math Educator.  Their goal is to educate math teachers in
 - Problem solving
 - teaching arithmetic, geometry, and algebra together
 - discuss the parallels to English
 - solve problms
 - leverage and build upon existing knowledge
 - the necessity of collabortion

They are launching this initiative in 4 states to begin.

I am interested to find out more about this and the success of the program.  One piece that I found interesting is that the teachers that participate must be k-8 non-math majors.

Wild About Math!

As I was attempting to complete my assignments, I wanted to find a good site to subscribe to for my rss task.  I found this site, of course I teach Math.  I must admit, I am truly one of those "Math Geeks".  I do sometimes sit around and talk and discuss mathey topics just for the fun of it.  One of the reasons this site appealed to me was because of the video on the St. Louis Arch. 

If you get a chance, you should watch it.  It is also a nice digital storytelling example.  It gave me hope that perhaps I can create a worthy clip as well with Math included.

I am enjoying the features of Google reader.  I just have to get into a better habit of checking it more often!

Embedding an Avatar with .html code!

Go to http://avatars.yahoo.com/  and create your avatar.
Have fun and create your avatar.
Along the right hand side, there is a box that says"yahoo! avatars". 
One of the options is to export.  Select this option. 
This will open a new window. 
Then adjust the size, format ( I used .jpg) then click the select all button at the bottom of the page. 
Copy the html code.

Then open up here you want to place the avatar.  Make sure you are in edit mode.
Paste the html code.
(This is not how to add the avatar for class though!)

Video: K-12 Students Today

Many of the facts in this video do not surprise me.  I am not a technology coordinator for my building, however, I help troubleshoot technological issues on a weekly basis.  I think there are several reasons that contribute to the slow and lagging technology education.

Yes, there are older teachers who are slowly getting into the digital age.  But, please do not stereotype and say they are all afraid.  There are young teacher who are just as slow and afraid.

I think one of the biggest reasons is money!  Look at your own laptop.  As soon as you buy it, it is practically obselete!  There are newer, better, and faster computers everyday. 

Districts do not have the resources to replace each computer in the district to keep up with the ever changing world.  I know in my district the desktop that I have is more than 6 years old!  We have no idea when we will be getting updated hardware, much less software!  Our computer labs were recently upgraded, so when students complete work in the lab, they cannot view it on our classroom computer.  In addition to that, how many of our computers at home are equally compatible with the computers in our classroom?

Next, of course that goes hand in hand with that training!  How many of our teachers really know how to effectively use their computer, the basic "Office" programs or freeware on the internet.  Which leads to how often can we not download freeware without signing over an arm and leg to the district and even then we get told no.

These all get in the way of creating a digital classroom for our students.  I have college interns coming to me asking me how to use basic technology! 

In addition to reports of how other countries are doing it better then us - we get money cut from school budgets on a yearly basis!

Also, in addition to teaching the numerous GLCE's per subject, we have to fulfill multiple roles in our students lives, not JUST teaching them.  Please don't compare us to Asian countries until you let us teach as the Asian countries teach.  They do not have to teach with behavioral disruptions.  They are able to teach students who are all at the same level, etc.

I am not saying I am against a free and fair public education for all students.  But, are we really doing students any favors by insisting that everyone should be in the same exact environment, same exact classroom structure, with one teacher who is supposed to teach 10 different ways to meet each student's need?  Why not have 10 different teachers who teach in different methods and match the students accordingly?

But, I digress.....I think it is easy to point out where we need to improve and easy to point to our lack of technology.  I am waiting for lawmakers, administrators, and PARENTS to please out your money and time where your mouth is!  Help us educate your child, don't just point the finger, give us merely a pencil and pad of paper and expect us to teach your child about the digital age!

I love my Mac

I know..I couldn't imagine saying that a few years ago. However, I am a convert an I truly love my Mac. The more classes I take, the happier I am that I chose to switch. I have friends who bought other brands with Windows when I bought mine. They have had such difficulty with Windows and spent numerous hours with service technicians.

I have been trouble free for over a year! Hooray Steve Jobs - Apple was so smart to bring you back!

Podcasts

I am especially interested in this part of class. I have thought about this piece of technology when I have substitute teachers. About 2 moths ago I had to be out for district curriculum work. I leave pretty detailed instructions for my substitute. The topic that we were studying in Math class was division of fractions. (My district uses CMP and it is truly from a constructivist perspective) My students were given problems and they were supposed to draw pictures, and determine the answer from the pictures. I just wanted them to continue their thinking.

When I returned, my substitute teacher had totally ignored all my highlighted notes (from the Teacher's Guide) and my notes. He had simply taught them to cross-multiply. Which really causes more confusion (in the future grades) and does nothing more than have them memorize an algorithm. Of course as I checked their answers, kids were drawing arrows and multiplying incorrect sets of numbers and placing them in the wrong place. AAAhhh!

I attempted to redo the lesson and much to my chagrin several kids fought me tooth and nail until I told them, that if they could give me sound mathematical reasoning and proof of that procedure, they could use it.

Long "blog" short - I feel that if I could podcast my lesson plan, the kids would get the information that I want them to. Also, for kids that are absent they would be able to see what they missed or kids could review in class material.

I am very anxious to try this out and see how if works.

Wikipedia

Congrats to all of you who have been busily posting. I am behind - again. But, I am making valid attempts to get caught up. So, we have to post 3 per week as well as reply to 3 per week?

Okay so on to my real blogging. The part about the credibility of Wikipedia really gave me a lot to think about. I know this came up in our first class we well. I found the experiment that Professor Halavais did very interesting. He picked various pages and created 13 errors. They were all fixed within hours (page 56 of our textbook). It also goes on to discuss the powerfulness of getting information on the web. One of the examples they use was the earthquake in the the Indian Ocean in 2004. Within a matter of nine hours. In light of the recent events in Haiti, I looked up information on Wikipedia. There is a tremendous amount of information already out there.

The idea of letting students use Wikipedia as a trusted source is truly something I will think about and review. According to page 58, some major news sources already consider it reliable. I also think the point about it gives our students information to question and analyze for validity is also important. I do believe it can help students become critical thinkers, questions, research and then come to a conclusion of their own.

And so it begins!

Happy New Year! I am already behind. I have to order the textbook yet. However, I have my wiki up and running and my blog started. I feel the stress and sleeplessness beginning already! Aaahh!