A Gal Named Al

Thing #11.5: Evaluation

2010-06-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

I'm DONE! I gave myself a deadline of July 1st to complete this, and I'm surprised that I finished ahead of my personal schedule!

Reflecting on this experience:

1) What was my favorite discovery?

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED screencasting. I will definitely use this in my classroom (with a mic, I promise!) to show students how to navigate certain things that we do on the computer. I will also be using it to have my students this year make screencasts to share with my students the following year, as I'm a big believer in having peer to peer tutoring in place when needed.

2) How has this program assisted my lifelong learning goals?

Library2Play2 has forced me to learn new things, regardless of how many years I've been out of college. It has shown me that you can't give up if something doesn't go the way you think it will and to always try again and/or look/ask for assistance when you need it. Also, you guys got me back into my family blogging, which I had put on the back burner for months, so I appreciate that! :)

3) Were there any takeaways or surprises from this adventure?

I was surprised that I disliked Second Life so much. I thought I would have enjoyed it, but in the end, it turned out to be my least favorite thing. My takeaway is that I need to challenge myself to use more technology in my classroom. Maybe I'm hindering my students because of my own fears of technology, so I need to get into the trenches and learn how to use things with them instead of just limiting the technology use to what I feel comfortable with.

4) What could L2P2 do differently?

Not much- maybe just check that some of the links on the things are actually linking to what was originally intended. Some of the links to particular blog posts were to the blog but not to the specific post, and seeing as this program was set up last year, most of those bloggers have blogged a whole year's worth of stuff, making it hard to find the intended post to read. Also, the majority of the things can be used with ELL students, but I think any extra goodies you guys could find that directly benefit ELL students would be super appreciated by all teachers.

Thanks for everything, L2P2!

Now, I'm off to read textbooks, manuals, and lesson plans as I delve into a new year of teaching a new subject at a new school!

Thing #11: Digital Citizenship

2010-06-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

I like this image from Cool Cat Teacher. I looked at her blog, Digiteen Digital Citizenship, ISTE NETS-S, and ISTE NETS-T.

Here are my 5 topics that I would make sure I covered with my students in regards to digital citizenship:

1) Safety and Security: My middle school students need to be aware of the dangers on the internet, whether it is online predators or malicious software that can destroy their computers. I would discuss not giving out personal information, trying to talk only with people they know, and not downloading files from people they don't know. (Maybe discuss things to watch for in e-mails- don't open them if you don't know who they're from.)

2) Etiquette: Students need to realize that the same golden rule that we use in the classroom should be applied to the internet. I cannot tell you how many times fights and arguments have erupted in the halls, classrooms, or lunch room this past year because of what so and so said about so and so on MySpace. If you have nothing nice to say, it's probably best to not say anything at all.

3) Validity of websites: I go over this every time my students do a research project. I model how I check the validity of a website and use rubrics/checklists to see if this is a site that is really worth my while when I research.

4) Give credit where it is due: I think it is important for students to understand that plagiarism can spill over onto the internet. You can't take something and pass it off as your own work. The internet is a great place to share ideas and findings, but you always need to let others know where you got your information from.

5) If you put yourself out there, be prepared for criticism: Sometimes, our students think that they live in a little protected bubble. As much as we as teachers and parents don't want to see our children harmed, we have to realize that we can't protect them from critics. If they are going to be blogging on a public level or posting their work on YouTube, anyone in the world will be able to read what they have written or view their video, and some people may have some not so nice things to say. Students need to understand this and know that just because there are a few nay-sayers in the bunch doesn't mean they should give up on their dreams.

Thing #10: Virtual Worlds

2010-06-28T15:16:00.001-07:00

Sorry L2P2. This has been my absolute LEAST favorite thing. I'm not a gamer. I've never gotten into Sims or anything like that. I tried to be positive and try Second Life out multiple times, but I just don't enjoy it.

Here's a picture of me: AggieAl Viper at the airport for NOAA. I have no idea why I have a skirt on over jeans and two completely different shoes on. I tried and tried to get myself in an outfit, but somehow, this is what my avatar turned out as. During my first session, my avatar somehow managed to down an entire bottle of wine and then stumbled across the lands while onlookers yelled out, "Hey, she's hammered!" Great start. I found it sometimes easier to talk with other avatars to get information on how to do things. In the morning, people were pretty helpful.

The search option is NOT user-friendly. One avatar kept telling me that I needed to learn to use my search box. Well, I may be blonde in RL (real life), but that dumb search box was not working well with me. I went to several of the places suggested on L2P2, but when I went there, no other avatars were there. You could open up links to read online, but there weren't really people there to interact with.

When I went to random places on SL like a ski chalet, beach, and dance club, I truly realized how much I wasn't enjoying my experience. My avatar got hit on by a 13 year old boy (who shouldn't be on SL in the first place!), a blue fairy tried to eat me, some guy kept calling me a w**** and shouting the f-word, and when I asked questions about how to get to places where I could learn, lots of avatars told me to stop trying to learn and just play, buy stuff, etc.

I even Googled "How can I use Second Life in the classroom?" I found these slideshares (go figure!) I read through some of the posts about using SL and even asked a few avatars why they thought SL would be useful in the classroom. A lot of what I heard was: You can make learning more fun, and some students who are reluctant to do classwork may be more willing to learn in this gamer setting.

Okay, points taken. I'm sure SL can be a great tool for education and for getting students motivated. Can I be the reluctant one now and say that I'll pass on SL? It just wasn't MY type of thing. (Update: I don't think any of my current beach buddies have gotten to this thing yet, so I looked at blogs from last year's class. Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way, so I feel a lot better about not being into this one! Whew!)

Thing #9: Slideshare

2010-06-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

The question for this thing is: Would it be important for students to use Slideshare? If so, why?

My answer: I don't know that it is necessarily important or essential for students to use Slideshare, but I do see a few advantages to the program.

- You can share your presentation with others on a website instead of just through e-mail.

- You can do voice over instead of just having the audience read your slides/notes.

- You can search, view, and download others' slideshows.

- You can embed your slideshow onto your blog and other websites.

I'm not sure about high school as it has been a while since I was in it, but I know in college, slideshow presentations were a requirement for many of my courses. If students are able to practice making slideshows, they will be able to work on their presentation skills, something that will only help them later in life when they have a job.

As a teacher, this program is beneficial for the same reasons I listed for students. If students are absent, they can download your slideshow and listen to your presentation instead of just asking someone for the notes. I think a lot of the teachers who attend professional developments would find this useful to look at after the presentation to review the key concepts.

I looked through the channels on Slideshare, and there are currently only two contributors to the Education channel. Maybe this will pick up in the next few years so that educators can share ideas for their classrooms?

Thing #8: Screencast

2010-06-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here's my try at a screencast. I used ScreenCastle. I made one about how to take screen shots and post them on your blog, hence the post below. When you click on it to play, please make it full-screen. I didn't use a mic (I detest listening to myself speak!), so I wrote commentary out and highlighted it as the screencast takes you through taking screen shots of websites. I think this was super cool! I could use this tool to go through instructions before heading into the computer lab and then leave it on my blog for students to refer to if they forget and without me having to repeat the same process seven million times! (I would use a mic for my actual classroom projects.) I also like how L2P2 suggested having students make screencasts so that next year's students could watch and see how other kids did something for my class. Sometimes, you feel like you say the same thing over and over in so many different ways that it would be nice to see it done and to have a student help another student with a classroom process.

How to add a screen shot to your blog

2010-06-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

How to take a screen shot and load it onto your blog...

1) Open up whatever page you would like to take a shot of.

2) Hold Ctrl and the button that says "Print Screen"

3) Next, you should open up a document like Powerpoint

4) Now, you can paste the screen onto the document

5) Here, you can crop or add text- whatever you need or want to do

6) Now, you want to save that Powerpoint page, but make sure you change it to a JPEG file.

7) Finally, you want to add the page onto your blog by adding a picture to your blog.

8) And there you have it! Hope this helped!

Thing #7: Video Resources

2010-06-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

I viewed the video and looked through some of the information about fair use. On campus, we usually have posters in the copy rooms about legal limits about what can and can't be reproduced. I understand that I can pretty much show videos that I have found online. Does fair use correspond more with if I took videos I found online and put them into a video I made? This is what I was gathering from what I viewed.

I had trouble searching on The National Archives Video Collection. However, I went to their link and found a lot of great stuff to use in my class with reproducible primary sources!

Here are two videos that I found that I could use in my history class. Both are from PBS.

This first one I was able to embed because it had a code. This is a short film that reviews the key causes for the Civil War. This would be good to use with my eighth graders before and after the unit to help students quickly recall the main ideas.

The second video, I have to link to. (I guess because of its length.) I like that this video brings the history to life. (And I think students will like this option of seeing history in action, instead of just through photos) Instead of it being a slideshow, actors act out what happened and is mixed with interviews with historians. We Shall Remain

Watch the full episode. See more History Detectives.

Thing #6: iTouch Apps

2010-06-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

As stated in previous posts, I have a phone from when dinosaurs first roamed the earth. My husband has an iPhone, and I find it helpful when we're looking up directions (if we're in my car that doesn't have GPS) or when we want the answer to a random question we have while driving: (How many albums did this band put out? What movies are playing this weekend?) I personally don't want an iPhone or iTouch for my everyday life. I just don't think I would use it.

Now, in the classroom, I can see students getting more excited about learning when you throw in iTouches. However, watching some of the videos, a lot of the students were talking mostly about how they like them for Facebook, MySpace, or for downloading music- not necessarily for helping them with their learning. I think the YouTube feature, camera, and internet connections would be useful in the classroom. Students can easily look up information, regardless of where they are. Students can communicate with each other, their teachers, and other resources via e-mail, blogs, nings, wikis, etc.

Here are some apps that appeal to my U.S. history class:

U.S. History Trivia Quiz (my 8th graders take a TAKS test in the spring)

McGraw-Hill U.S. History Quiz

Top 100 Milestone Documents- U.S. (look through documents that have shaped America)

iHistory (explores people, events, wars, inventions, etc)

Today in American History (significant events for each day)

Constitution (the U.S. Constitution right at your fingertips!)

I'm still not totally convinced, but then again, I'm NOT a Mac person.

Thing #5: Microblogging

2010-06-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

I started Facebook when I was a freshman in college and had been on up until January of this past year. Even with my privacy levels at a maximum, certain "friends" kept posting links to something I had posted on my account. I grew frustrated and decided to set certain friends at a minimum viewing zone. Well, then that person found out from another person that I had posted a new picture and why couldn't they see it, I've ruined their life (really, you have a life when it revolves around what you can and can't view on Facebook?), etc. So, I went on hiatus for a few months. It was nice being away from there for a while, but then I was offered a job at a new school, and I would be sad to not see some of my good friends and co-workers on a regular basis, so I re-joined to keep in touch. (Plus it's summer- I openly admit that as a teacher, during the summer, I have zero life, and that's just the way I like it, thank you very much!) When it comes to school use- maybe students could set up groups for a class to have discussions about what's going on in class, find someone to tutor, set up a study group, etc. I'm sure there are tons of pages for organizations that I could join as an educator to get ideas or invites to special events that correlate with my subject area. Oh, there are! I just checked!

I set up a Twitter account last year and didn't stick with it. I don't think anyone really cares to know that I'm headed to the grocery store or am just back from buying shoes. Have you seen that commercial? I laugh every time! I don't have a smart phone. I've had the same phone since I first started dating my husband five years ago. If I did have a smart phone, then I'd maybe keep up with stuff like this. I was reading through some of the suggested readings for this thing, and I did come away with these two ideas: 1) You can learn to say what you need to say in short, succinct statements. 2) Need help with something? Someone out there is bound to have some sort of advice or opinion. For educational use, you can follow people in the edu world, but you can also create an account for your students to reply to. Keep them on their toes- ask meaningful questions and see what they have to say in response.

I LOVED reading about back-channeling, and I loved how it was described as passing notes during the presentation! I think this would be really useful in professional development courses. Sometimes you have a question you're dying to ask, but then you either forget or there ends up being zero time. I think back-channeling would be awesome in a classroom setting especially for those students who are too shy. As a teacher, you can gauge how the lesson is going- what do I need to re-teach? What do I need to go more in-depth on? Students can also start up conversations that you would never have even thought of.

Thing #4: Video Hosting

2010-06-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! I thought that would have taken FOREVER, but it literally took 2 minutes of my time!

I had to go back to Library2Play 23 Things to remind myself how to embed this video. (I had to go back to learn how to screen shot and such, too! That's what I get for not keeping up with my blogging this past year!)

Some of the advantages of having teaching/learning videos available online are:

* You can get ideas from others to try in your own classroom (Like Harry Wong says, "Beg, borrow, and steal")

* A lot of videos find a way to make the learning interesting, fun, and/or memorable which is super important for my middle school students. I always have to think about, "How can I teach this so that they'll remember this in 10 years?"

* Sometimes it's helpful for kids to hear or see a concept in a different way than you've taught it by yourself. Some teachers feel like they should be able to do everything by themselves, and if you're not willing to try something new or let someone else show the same concept in a different manner, you're just setting yourself up for failure.

As for student created work, I think the advantages would be:

* Students are more likely to take pride in their work if they know others will be able to view it. I created a classroom reading blog this last year with my sixth graders, and when they knew that anyone from anywhere in the world could see what they had to say about a book, they thought about it a little bit more than they would if it is was just a pen and paper assignment.

* Students would be able to share their work with family, friends, and the whole world.

* Students would be able to receive feedback from people other than just their teachers.

Thing #3: Like Skype

2010-06-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Skype and other programs like it would be great for the classroom. When I was in college, I had a class where we had to help students in Hong Kong with their English. We worked via e-mail and instant messaging. However, if we had Skype, we could have worked on their English through practicing speaking and listening instead of just reading and writing.

I looked through the list of 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom, and here are some of my favorites:

* Chat with an author, historian, artist, etc.- just like in Thing #1- sometimes, you just have to ASK! I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who wouldn't be able to get on a plane and talk to your class in person but would be willing to get on the computer to talk with students about whatever you ask them to talk about. You never know unless you ask.

* After-school help- If students are working on homework and message you on Skype to chat, you have the ability to tutor after school over the computer instead of in person.

* Skyping with other classes- This would have been beneficial for my college course. You can connect with other classes in the district, city, country, or even in foreign countries. Sometimes wikis and blogs just aren't enough, and if you're working on a collaborative project, students may get more out of talking and seeing.

* Inclusion- If a student has a circumstance that leaves them out of the regular classroom, it would be really cool to be able to include them in the every day classroom experience, especially when there's a project involved. I know my students can't stand when a group member is out of school while they're working on a project, so this is a good option for situations like these.

Thing #2: Wordle, etc.

2010-06-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

I think the internet hates me. Nothing is working properly this evening!

I love Wordle AND WordSift! I can't decide which one I like more. I like Wordle because it's pretty. Students can use it to help with figuring out main concepts. You could have students make a wordle with a page or notes and then have students discuss which words are biggest (most common) and what words and ideas could we put under those main concepts. I like WordSift because of the links and pictures that it comes up with. A lot of students need a visual, so it's cool that clicking on a word that was used often in a text can pop up pictures to go along with it.

Glogster was neat. I hate the fighting and clean-up that comes with traditional poster making, so for students to have something online that can be easily created, easily changed, and the ability to put videos on the poster makes this tool an awesome resource for students and teachers. The thinking is similar in the fact that students will think about: What are the most important things to put on my poster? What should the layout look like? How can I make my poster attractive? The thinking is also different because when you add in sounds and videos, students will have to ask: Why am I using this feature? Does it add to or take away from the presentation? Is this a reliable source, worthy of being used in my presentation?

I tried Animoto. Just to put 4 pictures in the show was taking 30+ minutes. I'm not really sure what was going on. I tried to do another one, and same thing. I'll try again tomorrow, but this just wasn't cutting it. Plus, you have to pay to make videos longer than 30 seconds. I'm not sure this would be valuable for student use if the videos had to be 30 seconds or shorter. Since Animoto didn't work, I moved to the Voki. I made my avatar, but when I went in to type the speech for her to say, she refused to say any of it, regardless of the voice choice. The internet gods really must hate me this evening!

As for Bookr- I got nothing but Internal Service Error. Is anyone else having this problem? I tried it on my Google Chrome, my Internet Explorer, and from my home computers. Guess Thing #2 will have to be continued tomorrow...

Tuesday morning follow-up: Guess the internet connection at my house was super slow last night. Everything works today. Here's the Animoto I made with photos from Father's Day weekend:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

As for Bookr, I thought it was cool and seemed pretty easy. The only thing is that you use pics from Flickr which I don't feel totally comfortable with. I just don't use the program, so I don't know how easy it would be for me. However, if the pictures are all tagged, it might be easier to use than searching for Google Images.

Thing #1: The Networked Student

2010-06-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

And we're back!

I'm very happy to be back at these "things," but this summer has presented a completely different challenge than last year... toddler lurking around, wanting to play, eat, and make mischief. So, please pardon the crazy random time stamps on my posts!

After watching the video about networked students, I'm thinking:

Students: When I was a kid, someone who had all of this information would've been considered a complete dweeb. Now, having access to various resources (and knowing what to do with said resources) makes you intelligent and in some cases, powerful. I'm amazed with all of the advances in technology. I'm even more amazed how quick students are to embrace it and become experts. Even though a lot of my students don't have a computer at home, they make it a point to get to the school or local library to access technology. Those who step outside of using it strictly for Facebook and MySpace will surely find that knowledge is power.

Video: I love the simplicity of the video. I've never played with Flip cams or any of the movie making software programs, but I'm sure this wouldn't be too hard for my students. It's nice for students who need visuals along with the audio, instead of constant lecturing and flip charts. I'm moving to a new subject area this next school year (social studies), and I will have a section of newcomer ELL students. I think making these videos would be a goal I could set for myself, as well as for my students.

Teacher/librarian: I agree with other L2P2 players. The librarian is a teacher- no question about it. He/She teaches students, as well as classroom teachers about how to access resources in a room full of books or on the web. I think it was very important for viewers to understand the part about how students must be taught how to judge a source's credibility and to distinguish between fact and opinions. As old-school as I can be, I truly see the value of using the various internet resources to network for information, career opportunities, or just for fun.

Looking forward to completing a few more things,

A Gal Named Al

P.S.- You can follow along with my family's blog: Life with the Lees

Thing #23: Summarize Your Thoughts

2009-07-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I enjoyed playing with PhotoStory, Rollyo, Wikis, online image generators, and mashups.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

This program has helped me to realize that I am capable of learning about and actually using cool programs and tools of the internet for my personal life and for my professional life as a teacher.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I did not expect to want to bring blogs into my classroom, but I am determined to bring more technology into my language arts class. Students will have tons of fun and probably not even realize how hard they are working!

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I really can't think of much; you guys did a great job providing us with videos and other web resources to explain each thing. I especially loved the videos from the Common Craft guys!

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

Yes, I would probably participate. I enjoyed the fact that I could work on this program from home over the summer, even after having a baby!

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?

I explored 23 "things," but I left with a million ideas to use in my classroom!

Thing #22: Nings

2009-07-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

I'm glad that I read the 7 Things You Need to Know About Ning because I went into this thinking that a Ning and a Wiki were the same thing. Obviously, they are not! I had a little bit of experience with a Ning when Cheryl had HawkSpace up at SWMS for students to talk about books. I explored some of Ning in Education and read a discussion about Nings in middle school. I would use a private Ning in my language arts classroom to have students discuss books and characters. However, I will be teaching sixth grade this next year. One of the posters on the Ning asked how to get around COPA as most of the students are under 12 years old, and I know that with HawkSpace, students had to be at least 14 to join. Some of the other posters on that particular discussion mentioned using other platforms like Moodle, but maybe it is best to just stick with a blog and Wiki for my younger students.

Thing #21: Podcasts and Videocasts

2009-07-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

I like playing with PhotoStory! I had taken a class on how to use this back in September of last year and had hoped to incorporate it into my curriculum while working on poetry with my students, but I was advised to work on other projects and therefore didn't get to use it with my students. :( I'm determined to get it in this next school year though. I think it would be great for the students to use for short stories, poetry, songs, etc. Here is a PhotoStory that I made with pictures of my son, Trip.

Embedding videos

2009-07-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Let's try to embed a YouTube video...

Hmmm...for some reason, when I view my blog on Internet Explorer, the videos work! When I view my blog on Google Chrome, they do not play at all.

Thing #20: YouTube, TeacherTube, and Zamzar

2009-07-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

I thought that I would have a lot of fun with this thing, but I was actually a little aggravated while searching for videos, especially on TeacherTube. I would really like to incorporate educational videos into my classroom. This past year, I used the Discovery United Streaming videos while working on our Holocaust project. I thought it was great a great resource that is already in the district. It also was very easy to search for videos that were actually relevant. I used Blinkx to search also, but it brought up the most random videos ever, so I don't think I will try using it again. I guess I'll just give it time when searching for videos on TeacherTube and YouTube. Here are some videos that I liked from TeacherTube:

This one is inspiring for teachers who want to use blogs in the classroom:

This is one that I could use to inspire students to write:

Okay, something is not going right when I embed these videos. I copied the code for the embeddable player and pasted it in the Edit Html portion of my post. What else should I try?

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards

2009-07-19T12:11:00.001-07:00

I enjoyed exploring this thing. Some of the sites were not free, but they sound like they would be incredibly useful. Mango would be great for me to learn (or re-learn) conversational Spanish in order to better communicate with some of my students and their parents. I know that there are free podcasts available on iTunes, so I may try those instead. Also, Backpack looked really neat and would be great to use with a team of teachers. You could keep all of your meetings, schedules, documents, and reports in one place for the team to view and use instead of having to e-mail or call each other.

I currently use Twitter as a status updater. I have been on Facebook for years to keep up with friends from elementary, high school, college, and work. My husband set up a profile for me on Linked In, but I have never really used it. He tells me that it is more like a professional Facebook to use to network. Also, I just used Zillow yesterday after my mom told me about it. It was neat to be able to see what your house and others in the neighborhood were being appraised for.

Several of the resources that we have already played with in 23 Things made the list. However, I explored three others that could be beneficial to my own needs. I liked .docstoc a lot. I will definitely use this in my classroom next year. I was able to find documents for character analysis, plot diagram, and a really helpful document with writing prompts- 501 to be exact! Lulu was another site that I visited. There you can create and publish your own books of writing or photos and then sell them! My husband's Memaw and I have been working for a few years on a book that she wrote about the family's history. I have edited it for her, but she has just kept it sitting on a cd. I can use Lulu to print up her book and distributed among the relatives. The last site that I visited that is helpful to me personally is MothersClick which I can use for my new parenting needs.

Thing #18: Online Productivity Tools

2009-07-18T17:35:00.001-07:00

I played with Google Docs in Thing #7 and didn't really enjoy it at the time. Now that I took some time to play around with it, I like it a little bit more. I also played around with Open Office Writer. It is fairly easy to use, and it had a lot of neat features that I don't think you can use on Microsoft Word unless you know all of the secrets. For example, I was able to easily draw pictures and add symbols to my document. (I'm sure you can do that on Word, but I just have never figured it out after years of use!)

I really don't see too many disadvantages to either platform other than the fact that you may have to take some time to explore and use tutorials to create documents, drawings, spreadsheets, etc. I think there are many advantages to these platforms:

* You can send people to a link of a document or presentation instead of having to remember to attach the document to an e-mail.

* Ease of use

* You don't have to spend outrageous amounts of money on Microsoft Office.

* People who don't have Microsoft Office (or maybe have outdated versions) can view your documents and presentations. This is especially helpful in my situation. Many of my students have a computer or access to a computer, but they do not all have the Microsoft Office suite, as it is very costly. They can create documents or view documents from me without having to purchase expensive software.

Here is the very basic presentation that I made using Google Docs.

Thing #17: Rollyo

2009-07-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

Wow! Wish I had known about this when my students and I worked on a Holocaust project in May! Rollyo allows the students to search for information from reliable sources as established by the teacher, and therefore, frees the teacher from worry that the students will be using information from unreliable sources. I don't think students would feel restricted by this at all; in fact, they would probably be happy to not have to sit through a lesson about what kind of websites are trustworthy, and they would have their search limited to "good" information only.

I created a search called "Baby" to help me answer those random new parent questions. My search looks for information from the following sites: Baby Center, Parenting, Pampers, WebMD, and Mayo Clinic. My son has been eating a lot compared to what we were told in the hospital, so check out what I found from my Rollyo search.

Trip is here!

2009-07-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well, he is finally here! We went in on Sunday night to be induced, but Trip was not responding well to the contractions. After trying three times to induce, it was decided to go ahead with a c-section- talk about a VERY strange experience! Trip was born at 12:41 p.m. on Monday, July 13, 2009. He was screaming his head off, and speaking of his head, it is covered in hair! We did not expect that at all!

After my surgery, I went to recovery, and Trip went to the nursery. Most women spend about 2 hours in recovery, but my temperature was low, so I spent an additional two hours there, covered in blankets and was even put under a heater. When my 96.5 degree goal was reached, I was wheeled out to see Trip in the nursery's window and then to my room. Within a few minutes, his pediatrician and one of the nurses brought him in so that I could hold him. After just two minutes with him, they told me that he was going to the NICU because of some breathing problems. Robert, his mom, and my parents were all able to go up and see him in the NICU.

Later that evening, the NICU pediatrician called and told us that he had an elevated white blood cell count, so they were keeping him for at least 48 hours. I didn't get to see him again until Tuesday at lunch. Robert and I went every couple of hours to sit with him and feed him. By Wednesday, Trip was moved into the stable room of the NICU and was eating like a champ. We waited anxiously until 11 that night for the call that Trip was going to get out of NICU and stay with us and in the regular nursery.

We didn't get much sleep that night, as Trip decided that he liked more than the standard 2 oz. bottle offered. He and I got the all-clear on Thursday, and we left the hospital at 2 p.m. on Thursday. Robert and I are adjusting to life with an eating, pooping, crying, and sleeping machine! Our dogs, Mercedes and Berlin, are trying to figure it all out as well. As tired as I am, I am so happy to be home with our little guy and can't imagine doing anything more exciting than just staring at him!

Thing #16: Wikis

2009-07-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

As always, I love the Common Craft videos. You would think that since I'm "young," I'd get all the technology stuff like that, but I definitely am a "watch and learn" kind of girl. As I mentioned in the sandbox, my husband and I have been debating different ways to get my students to submit reading responses over the internet. When I first started reading about wikis, I thought they'd be the perfect solution to my problem. However, after looking at the slideshow Wikis: A Beginner's Look and thinking about it, I have realized that my tween students may not all be mature enough to contribute to a wiki for an assignment without being vengeful and deleting their arch-enemy's post. Instead, I may use wikis for students involved in group assignments. They can use the wiki to create lists of tasks they still need to accomplish, who will bring what supplies, etc. Students could also use a wiki to brainstorm ideas or contribute to a test review. While exploring some of the wikis suggested by 23 Things, I came across a 10th grade classroom's blog. I'm even more inspired to start blogs for my classes, and this way, students can respond to a question without clogging my e-mail inbox and not be able to delete any of the other students' posts.

This will probably be my last blog post for a few days. I'm headed to the hospital tonight to be induced and will have a son sometime tomorrow! I'll post pictures when I get back. Goodbye for now!

Thing #15: Library 2.0

2009-07-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...where to begin on this thing? After watching the video, A Vision of Students Today, I found myself torn. Not too long ago, I was one of those kids sitting in the huge lecture hall, bored to tears, thinking of my weekend plans, and trying not to fall asleep while the professor who barely spoke English rambled on about metamorphic rocks. I could empathize with those kids, yet I was also a little offended as a teacher. Were they trying to tell me that my existence as an educator was not important? Am I not beneficial to my students because I'm not allowing them to submit assignments via MySpace? Could my job be outsourced to someone in another country who sets up some Powerpoints and reading assignments for my students to complete online?

The answer is yes and no. Yes, in the idea that you could just sit your students down in front of a computer, have them watch some videos, take a quiz or two, and possibly learn something in the process without ever having to deal with another human being. No, in the idea that although technology can be awesome and beneficial, human interaction is so vital to the development of children.

For example, my uncle-in-law is an award-winning administrator and someone who I respect very much. I aspire to go back to school and earn a degree to be a secondary school administrator as well. I have a few options, but the two that stand out most for me are:

1) Earn my degree via classes online through Texas A&M University- It would be nice to have a second degree from my alma mater, I could stay at home and learn without having to leave my son, I could self-pace myself easily, etc.

2) Earn my degree the old-fashioned way and take night classes at the University of Houston- I would have to sit through classes after working all day, find a babysitter for my son if my husband works late, spend money on gas to drive, etc.

Option 1 sounds the best, right? After much thought, I hear the echoes of my uncle, "Earning your degree online seems economical, but think of all of the camaraderie you'll lose. If you take classes at the local university, it's easier to network and make friends with people in your field who you might want on your team as your career advances." Although I am very capable of navigating the web and taking classes online, I truly value one-on-one time with my instructors and classmates. Sure, you can have an online discussion or post to blogs, but sometimes, it is more important to have those discussions and A HA! moments in person with the help of your peers or teachers.

So where am I going with this? It is the 21st century, and I think it is time to merge both schools of thought. You know the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Well, I think the whole 2.0 world is calling for us to keep the things that work but add some of the new and innovative technologies to effectively educate our children.

I like how Rick Anderson says, "But if our services can’t be used without training, then it’s the services that need to be fixed—not our patrons." I am just imagining my 80 year-old, recently widowed Nana walking into her local library to pick out a book, only to be bombarded by a computer instead of a librarian to help her with her search. (For the record, I have the coolest Nana on the planet who has signed up for a class at her local library to learn how to use a laptop and the internet so that she can e-mail and shop online.) I would hope that the computer would be a user-friendly, self-explanatory service vs. a hinderance to my sweet little Nana. After reading from Michael Stephens' perspective, Cheryl Laucher pops into mind. (Sorry Cheryl, I'm going to toot your horn yet again b/c you're so awesome!) I grew up going to the local HPL where the librarians shooshed us if your voice was anything more than a whisper and acted annoyed when you asked them for help in searching for a particular book. I admit, after growing up with this mind-set, I do get incredibly frustrated with my middle-schoolers when they are being loud in the library. However, Cheryl is the exact opposite of those crotchety, old, shooshing librarians. She has set up fun stuff for the kids like HawkSpace and a Beat the Rap competition. She is always helpful to both teachers and students, and she truly encourages us all to use technology to better our classrooms and ourselves.

With all of that in mind and with the completion of this project, I find that it will be very easy for me to go back to school in the fall with my technology goals already written. I am determined to find a way for my students and I to build a classroom full of innovative yet user-friendly technologies BUT without losing too much of the beneficial human-interaction that so many of my tween students so desperately need in their lives. That wasn't TOO long-winded now, was it? :)

Thing #14: Technorati and How Tags Work

2009-07-09T12:20:00.001-07:00

Apparently, I'm not digging the week of tag-related things. I understand their validity and how they can be useful, but I'm just not feeling sites like del.icio.us and Technorati. (I'm sure a lot of techies love it; I probably would too, but keep reading to find out about my experience...) After watching the video about the updates to Technorati, I was excited to try it again after much disappointment with the site in Thing #9. However, the site looks nothing like it does in the video. It is not set up anything like it is in the video. In the video, it makes the site seem VERY user-friendly, but when I got there, I was incredibly overwhelmed. You cannot search for tags and blogs the way it was described in the video about updates.

When doing the keyword search for "school library learning 2.0," I found that the same results came up for blog posts and blog directory, but a different list came up in tags.

I searched for "new parents" on my own. If you search for this in posts, you get incredibly random, off-topic blog posts that have absolutely nothing to do with the search. When you search for it in the blogs, you find blogs that are more relevant to the topic. I found Dear Dr.MOZ Baby Blog and The Opinionated Parent. When I go back to Technorati right now and search, I come up with the screen that I posted at the beginning of all of this. (Not just once, but several times!) I don't think that I will be claiming my blog anytime soon. Maybe one day I will be inspired to be the next Cool Cat Teacher, but for now, I'm totally tagged-out!

Thing #13: Tagging and Discover Delicious

2009-07-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

I personally did not enjoy this thing AT ALL! I understand the point of del.icio.us, but I guess I'm not so advanced in my technology needs and skills that I would use this if I was on someone else's computer. I have not figured out how to really share my bookmarks with other people, but I'm sure that it would be beneficial to use with my students and peers. I plan on keeping a website or blog for my classes this next school year, and I feel that I could just as easily share bookmarks on there vs. del.icio.us. I did like how you could see the most popular and even all of the sites that other people on the site have tagged with a particular tag. I would be careful about using this in the classroom with immature students. I'm sure the site wouldn't necessarily open in the district for the students due to firewalls, but I still don't need a student to click on a particular tag to see what is most popular only to come across highly inappropriate sites/titles.

Just a few quick questions/comments:

1) Why did I watch the video about podcasting? I enjoyed it, but I don't really get what that had to do with this exercise.

2) Ma.gnolia does not work; the site says they are to start back up sometime this summer.

3) In regards to Thing #12: Is there any way that I can be updated if someone has left me a comment somewhere on my blog other than me just looking through my blog?

Social Studies teachers: Check this out!

2009-07-09T05:16:00.000-07:00

Read about this on my Google Reader today from Free Technology for Teachers: Flight simulator on Google Earth. Check it out by clicking HERE.

Thing #12: Creating Community Through Commenting

2009-07-08T19:23:00.000-07:00

This thing was difficult for me because I prefer to just "lurk" and read websites and blogs, but here I am, out of the shell and commenting away on perfect strangers' blogs! I very much enjoyed reading How to Comment Like a King (or Queen!) by Cool Cat Teacher. She made it easier for me to get our there and comment. The etiquette discussed by Drape's Takes is important to me and reminded me of one of my education courses at Texas A&M where we taught students in Taiwan English via the internet. We have to remember that as bloggers, we are reading words, not sitting there having a face-to-face conversation with a person, so we don't know if someone is being sarcastic and funny, or if they are genuinely trying to hurt another's feelings with their comments. I used to read the message boards on The Bump (a website for pregnant women), but people were so catty and snide that I got tired of the site and jumped ship. So I think the most important things to remember about blogging and commenting are:

* Remember internet etiquette

* Hyperlink to help out your readers (Also, this can serve as free advertising to your peers!)

* Respond to comments when possible

* Attempt to make comments that are helpful

* To get more comments, ask questions in your blog (Vaughn is excellent about answering mine!)

I commented on the following Library2Play blogs:

Linda09, Hawks Rule BJS, Hodgepodge, Mrs. Ford's Third Grade, and Elmore's Glue

I ventured over to Dr. P's Blog due to the mention from Cool Cat Teacher. He is a principal in Arizona. (I'm very interested in becoming an administrator.) While on his blog, I found his mention of Chris Lehmann, a principal in Philadelphia, and went on over to his blog, Practical Theory. Both bloggers have similar "circles" as Cool Cat Teacher, and I'm looking forward to reading what they all have to say about education and administration. Alright, I'm blogged out for the day! Good night to all, and please feel free to leave me any links that you think might be interesting about teaching, administration, being a new parent, etc!

Thing #11: LibraryThing

2009-07-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

LibraryThing was fairly simple to use. I'm going to have to play with it some more to get things really going, but I went ahead and added a widget to my blog so that people can see my visual bookshelf. I currently use weRead on my Facebook page to keep track of the books that I have read, am reading, and want to read. However, I like that LibraryThing has groups and discussions, as well as a lot more reviews than what I currently use. This is beneficial to me as a language arts teacher. I will be able to use it to find out some great new books for my students with the recommendations guide, and I can also use it as a "cheat sheet" for when I have to conference with students who are reading a book that I have no clue what it is really about. (Sorry, you couldn't pay me to read the Harry Potter series, Eragon, Bluford, etc.) Also, I've only been in a book club for textbooks, so it would be nice to become a part of a book discussion without actually having to leave my house or classroom.

Thing #10:Online Image Generators

2009-07-08T07:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, this was my favorite thing so far! I had way too much fun, and if I kept playing, I would never get to this post! We have a long-standing joke about how Stan from the cartoon American Dad is the cartoon-version of my husband, Robert. (We even looked for American Dad figurines to put on our wedding cake, but we didn't find them in time!) These image generators were awesome! If I had this much fun playing around with them, I am positive that my students would have a blast. My favorite generators were:

Comic Strip Generator (where I made Stan)

Foto Trix (where I made Robert)

Image Chef (where I made baby Holland)

and Wordle

Comic Strip Generator and Foto Trix would be great in my LA classes, as we already use blank comic strips to allow the students to use their words to convey what is going on in the picture. With this web generator, I wouldn't have to go searching through newspapers, I could just search through the site. There were a lot of different things you could do on Image Chef, but with the picture I created of baby Holland, you could use the site to make rewards and acknowledge students who did a great job on a project or by being an outstanding citizen. Wordle is definitely a program that I will be bringing into my class to make signs and maybe tags for group assignments. The only thing that I did not like about it is that I couldn't figure out a way to keep my words in order if I wanted to have it make sense; I couldn't take a quote from a movie or book and keep the words in order.

These generators will come in handy when students are ready to publish pieces of writing, teachers want to create special reminders of assignments, or if you want to have a fun and unique warm-up.

Thing #9: Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds

2009-07-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

I was very inspired by Cool Cat Teacher's post about creating my circle. I loved how she summed it up:

" Let me ask you this: if you were able to read the writings of Abraham Lincoln, or CS Lewis, or Ghandi, or Dale Carnegie on a daily basis, would you have done it?"

I think it is very easy to see why she won Edublog's award for Best Teacher Blog. Therefore, I went ahead and added her to my Google Reader. It will be very interesting to see what she has to say in the coming weeks as I gear up to go back to school.

The easiest search tools for me to use were Google Blog Search and Blogline's search tool. Edublog was set up very oddly, at least I thought. (And, they do not apparently know how to spell the word them... great, an education site that does not spell properly!) Syndic8.com and Technorati were frustrating to me (even after attempting to watch the tutorial).

I found a blog that I have added to my Google Reader using Blogline: Free Technology for Teachers. This blog also won an EduBlog award in 2008. I chose to add this blog to my feed because I am getting an ActivBoard in my classroom this next year, and I would like to be able incorporate more technology into my classroom than I did this past school year. I will be looking at both of the blogs that I added to see who is on the blogrolls as suggested by Cool Cat Teacher to continue forming my circle of the wise.

Off-topic, but something I would like help on: How do you do a snapshot of a website to include in a post? I'm going to go Google it and see what comes about, but if you beat me to it, please let me know. Thanks!

Houston: We have Twitter!

2009-07-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am Twitter-fied. Follow me!

Thing #8: RSS Feeds and Readers

2009-07-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my post earlier this morning, my husband is a Google Reader addict. After talking with him about the gadgets I played with on Google for Thing #7, I found out some incredibly shocking news: My husband follows Ashton Kutcher on Twitter!!! I just about died laughing. (Apparently, the actor's Twitter page is "really funny sometimes.") So I went on to set-up my own Google Reader.

I like what readers are all about- get the headlines without having to deal with all of the ads and pop-ups that are usually associated with just regular web-surfing. It's like getting the newspaper without having to deal with the giant Macy's advertisement for their sale on summer swimwear or Mac Haik's great discounts this week only! I also like the fact that I can organize my subscriptions, so I can make part of my reader for fun stuff and another part for educational/work-related stuff. Also, it is great that you can share the top stories with friends, families, and co-workers with just a click of a button. (This is how my husband has been keeping me in the loop with random celebrity gossip without me actually having to start back up on my Perez Hilton addiction.)

I think the second and third questions for this thing can be grouped together in my instance. My reader is going to allow me to stay updated on the latest happenings in my district and advice from fellow teachers. It can also be used for pure entertainment. Luckily, I have the option to separate the two worlds, so I can hop on my reader to be Professional Teacher Allie, or I can scroll through Celebrity Junkie Allie headlines.

Here are some of the sites that I have subscribed to:

Cheryl's blog (SWMS librarian extraordinaire)

Vaughn's blog

Mike Falick's blog

SBISD on Twitter

The Book Whisperer (A LA teacher in Texas who blogs for Teacher Magazine)

Any more suggestions? I am very interested in LA teacher blogs.

Also, I think I will be checking out setting up my own Twitter page. It may be the best thing to do with the child on the way.

Thing #7: Cool Google Tools

2009-07-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! I thought that I knew Google fairly well, but apparently, it is still full of surprises. I use Gmail (even though I don't totally love the format), and I use Google Chrome to explore the internet because my computer seems to hate Internet Explorer for some reason. Let's do a quick walk-through of the various Google tools mentioned, shall we?

Google Alerts: I signed up to receive a daily alert about baby/infant care (for obvious reasons). I think this tool is pretty neat. I had a horrible addiction to celebrity gossip sites like Perez Hilton, and I had to go cold turkey. I could use this tool to keep up with Jon and Kate's latest drama without getting sucked into an entire website of celebrity drama. (Don't worry, I won't be signing up for an alert like that, but I could!) My husband uses Google Reader to keep up with all of the websites he reads and the latest news in finance, diesel racing, and movie info.

Google Calendar: My husband and I both already use this feature. (He is better at keeping his part of the calendar updated than I am, but I'm working on it.) It is nice that we are able to share our appointments and meetings with each other online, and if I keep at it, we won't have to ask each other when a doctor's appointment is or what time we're supposed to meet some friends- we can simply check the Google calendar. I could use the Google calendar to create a calendar of assignments and due dates to share with my students as well.

iGoogle: I'm sure this feature is very valuable for some people to use as a homepage. As mentioned on the Library2Play blog, students could use this as their homepage and keep up with their assignments for various classes, athletic practices, birthdays, etc. I personally will not be using it as my homepage, as I prefer to just use our district site as mine, so that I can keep up with what's happening.

Picasa Web Albums: I have a few family members who like to use this site instead of Flickr to share their photos with everyone. It's very accessible and a great alternative to just using Google images search.

Google Scholar: This seems like a simplistic approach to research and probably a better fit for students as the information that pops up is from scholarly literature vs. doing just a simple Google search. This way, you don't really have to worry as much about the legitimacy of the source. However, the information appears to not be suited for middle-school students, and I will probably stick with using some of the other sources geared towards kids that we have on our library resource page.

Google Advanced Search: I actually just used this feature a few weeks ago when I was looking for safari photos to use in my son's nursery. I had originally used Google images to search and had found some great pictures, but when I went to enlarge them at my local Walgreen's, the image sizes were so small that they would become grainy if enlarged to the size that I really wanted. So I used Advanced Search and narrowed the images down to larger .jpg sizes and was able to get some really cool pics that enlarged beautifully and are now hanging up in Trip's room.

Google Earth: When this feature first became available, I thought it was really cool. If I am going somewhere that I have never been, I can view the place from the street so that I know what to look for as I am driving. However, sometimes it can be a bit creepy knowing that people are able to type in my address and view my house. All in all, a useful tool, but possibly too useful for robbers and bad guys!

Google Docs: I thought this was going to be great, especially for those people who always forget to hit "Attach document" when sending an e-mail. However, when I attempted to create a document to view and e-mailed it to my husband and myself, it came up with errors that said I was not allowed to e-mail people to view it. I'll keep playing with it, but I was disappointed that it would not let me do what it says it is supposed to do.

Google has some great tools for students and teachers. I could see a social studies class using Google Earth, a language arts class using Google Scholar, an art class using Picasa, etc. Something that I'm very interested in and would like more information on is setting up a classroom website with calendars and homework pages. I know that a lot of teachers at MMS use this for their classes, and even though the majority of my students may not own computers, they are always at the local libraries getting on MySpace and Facebook, so I know that they could access our class site as well. Any suggestions for a good one to use?

Thing #6: Mashups and 3rd Party Sites

2009-07-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

I have been MIA for a short while now, but I'm back in the game. This thing was interesting- I loved all of the stuff to do with Big Huge Labs. The picture I've included is from Warholizer of me and my husband with my horse, Bella. Kids and adults alike would have fun playing around with all of these- definitely gives me an idea for places to go to make cool products next year with my LA students when they're ready to publish pieces. Mappr seemed neat, but I also like Yahoo! Travel Trip Planner. I think I may use this when my mother-in-law comes to town to stay with us when the baby gets here. Flickr Color Pickr was great, especially for an HGTV junkie like myself; it reminds me of the inspirational color wheels that some of the designers use to get clients to pick room colors. I definitely want to play with the Mosaic Makr, but you have to sign-in to use your own pictures. When I get more than a few minutes, I will take advantage of that little gizmo. Can you say Christmas card 2009?!?! Oh, and apparently, I figured out how to link inside my post...sorry if I got a little link-happy! :)

Thing #5: Explore Flickr

2009-06-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

Today was the first time that I did a search on Flickr. I have some relatives who post their photos to the site and then send me e-mails with a link to check them out, but I had never looked at random photos on the site. If I have a search, I usually use Google Images, but Thing #5 reminded me of the copyright laws with images. In college, I HATED putting together presentations with images because you always had to include the information about where you got the image on the PowerPoint slides. I attempted to read the information on the Creative Commons page about licenses, but I'm still a little confused. I understand that attribution is going to be the least stringent about copyright and that no derivative works is, "the most restrictive," but am I supposed to be giving some sort of credit to the photos I use from the attributions group? I looked through some of my fellow bloggers' posts and didn't see anyone who had posted a credit. Thoughts, anyone???

I think I could use Flickr in my classroom in at least two different ways. First off, I am DETERMINED to get PhotoStory into my curriculum this year, and Flickr would be a great resource for my students to use when creating their own PhotoStories. Second, I would like to use Flickr to find an interesting photo to put up on the projector and have students create a story to go along with the photo. Now, I'm going to leave you with some images I found about reading, because that is my main goal today. Well, that and to have my electrician hardwire my dining room with electricity for my chandeliers and wait on a window repair man to come fix my front bedroom window which my loving husband destroyed after mowing over a rock in our front yard! Ciao!

(Okay, I got the images on here, but they posted at the beginning of the post, and I don't like where they are! How in the heck do I change this? I've tried a few different things, but I haven't figured it out. If you have some suggestions, please let me know.)

Thing #4: Register

2009-06-19T07:05:00.001-07:00

I have successfully registered my blog, but if you look for me on the Library2Play Players list, I'm showing up as, "Gal Called Al sb." Not really sure why, but that's how you can find me.

Thing #3: Setting up the blog and avatar

2009-06-17T19:30:00.001-07:00

So I have officially set up my blog and created an avatar. Honestly, I hated making the stupid avatar and will spend time putting up real pictures when it is not time for bed. I had to follow the note on the Library2Play blog about saving my avatar as a JPG and then using the picture gadget to put it on the blog. I REALLY want to re-design my blog to suit my personality better, but after a day of tie-dying with ten year-old triplets and shopping for an anniversary present for my husband, I'm going to call it a day and will "redecorate" at a later date.

To quickly answer Thing #3: It was not hard to set up a blog or create the avatar. I viewed other blogs last week, but I have not made comments on any. I feel a little awkward doing that, but I'm sure I'll get over it soon. Good night!

Thing #2: 7.5 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

2009-06-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm officially a slacker... I viewed the online presentation about lifelong learners over a week ago and am just now getting around to setting up my official blog! Yikes! I am definitely pro people being lifelong learners- you live, you learn, right? I aspire to go back to school for an advanced degree or two (someday!) and have this sweet tooth-crazed notion to eventually enroll in not just any old culinary institute, but rather, a pastry school where I can bake and indulge in chocolate-filled croissants a la my favorite fast food French- La Madeleine. Therefore...

The easiest habit for me is obviously habit number one: Begin with the end in mind. Set goals for myself? Check. Accomplish those goals without procrastinating? I'll get back to you on that one.

The hardest habit for me is habit number three: View problems as challenges. As much as I hope to teach and raise my own children to be optimistic and happy, I often find myself full of self-doubt when things go awry. It is very hard for me to see the obstacles as just a small hurdle (Quite ironic, as I was the captain of my high-school hurdling team!) and often end up thinking, "Why me!?!" I'm 23, so I feel like this is something that I will be able to work on as I live and learn.

Well, those are my thoughts in a nutshell on the habits of lifelong learning. Fingers crossed that I actually publish this post without messing it up!