Computer Problems!

1. Computer won't turn on! We tried plugging in several things (a cable: the keyboard). Then we noticed that our computer didn't have a blue cable while the others around us did, so we went to get it. We also got a thicker cord. 
2. We figured out how to plug things in just by reading the symbols and finding what fit where. Huzzah! It started up!

Charlotte Bronte's Classic Novel

I just finished putting together a presentation on Voice Thread with my roommate Jayne on Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre. To my surprise and utter satisfaction, the application was easy to use and a great deal of fun, too! The two of us are English majors and Bronte lovers, so the topic seemed obvious, especially when we considered that we wanted to present something that could be used in a high school English class. Most high school students read this novel, and many go on to read the prequel written by Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, so this seemed particularly relevant to what high school English teachers might be teaching.

Jayne and I have each read the novel several times, and last semester we watched the BBC miniseries version together with our housemate Heidi. I also had background studying Charlotte Bronte on my semester in England, during which our class visited the Bronte's home in Haworth. We already knew quite a bit about our topic, and voice thread provided a fun and easy way to share our knowledge with a wider audience.

Voice thread has great potential; it's easy enough for students to use but intriguing enough that teachers can and should use it as well. Using digital cameras, students could take pictures of themselves, their family, a trip they took, or something else they want to share with the class. It's the 21st century version of show-and-tell! Check out my voice thread presentation!

Another Weekend Adventure

I have been quite the traveler lately!

This weekend my housemates and I drove south to Temple City, home of the illustrious Jayne Gee! It was such a treat seeing the town she grew up in, meeting her family, and seeing the sights with her.

Perhaps the most fun I had was bike riding with Heidi and Jayne through some of the nice neighborhoods in Arcadia, where peacocks roam as freely as bluejays and squirrels. According to Jayne, the story is that one wealthy household used to own several peacocks, until one day they escaped. Since then, they've been multiplying and now they are a permanent fixture of which the city is quite proud. Signs are posted prohibiting feeding of the peafowl, and there's a fine for hitting a peacock. I think the peacocks must know this, too, for they strut across the streets as slowly as they please, making cars swerve to avoid them. They love to congregate in yards with especially green grass or trees with lofty branches where they can perch. Pretty bizarre, but pretty cool, too. I wonder if the residents of those neighborhoods ever tire of their presence. Either way, they were sure fun to see!

A Fast and Furious Yet Fabulous Fourday

I'm all about the alliteration lately! ;)

For President's Day weekend we had two days off, making for a nice four-day weekend, so with the extra days some friends and I decided to road trip up to my home town of Lodi. We spent some time picnicking at the lake, playing games, and watching movies, which was fairly relaxing. Then, on Sunday, we drove into San Francisco for the day. I love that city, and it's so exciting to be in the middle of it. There's so much to do there--too much for one day--but we still accomplished quite a bit. In the morning we attended City Crossroads, a church Jayne worked with over spring break last year that ministers to the homeless in a poor neighborhood on 6th Street. Afterwards, we went shopping in Union Square, then drove down to Fisherman's Wharf, where we got Ghiradelli ice cream sundaes, saw the seal lions, tried on crazy hats, and viewed some Dali and Picasso paintings. When we were hungry enough for dinner, we walked farther into the city for some delicious Thai food. Mmmmm!

Overall it was a great weekend! We also got to celebrate my friend Callan's 22nd birthday.

Dinosaurs!

I found this article this morning while looking at digg.com. It's been so long since I've thought much about dinosaurs, but they are cool! We don't often think about our recent past, much less the prehistoric past. When I think of North America in ancient times, I'm more inclined to picture Native Americans and buffalo, beautiful forests and rivers, hardly dinosaurs. But they were here alright, as this article confirms--they've been discovered in Alberta, Canada, and now there are several new ones being dug up in Coahila, Mexico. How cool is that?

Ash Wednesday

There's so much happening this week: SuperTuesday, Chinese New Year, the beginning of Lent. A monumental week in our year of 2008.

With so much happening, it's nice to have a reminder to slow down and think about the bigger picture. And to have a reminder that, though things seem chaotic right now, Easter is coming: the promise of rest, hope, and renewal. It's good to have a reminder that time still goes on, that God's redemptive work never ceases in our lives, though it we may not see it clearly.

Not that I want time to move much faster than it already is ... already I'm realizing how this semester and last semester seem to run together in my mind. We're already five weeks into Spring 2008; in less than three months I'll have graduated! And as much as I look forward to that day, it's also a scary one ... the ending of this chapter of college in my life and the beginning of a new one, the content of which is unknown. Still, just as God is sovereign in this period of my life, I trust that he will continue to be faithful through the next.

Here Comes the Sun

Looking at my last blog, I'm even more thankful for the beautiful day and the sunshine. I sure missed it last week! I guess it shows my roots as a Californian, but then, Santa Barbara has me spoiled, too. In any case, I'm glad the nice weather is back, even if it is still cold.

This week I really enjoyed creating my own website, which, through google page creator, proved much easier than I expected. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun adding pages and finding pictures and links to add to it. Here's the address. Check it out!

Motivation

These are the mornings I worry about teaching. The rainy, early mornings when I'll struggle to get out of my warm bed and be at school myself, not to mention inspiring my students to get excited about what they're learning. I guess I'll just have to muscle through it, not think about how warm and comfortable my bed is, or how wet and miserable I'll be on the way to school, but try to focus on why I'm doing what I'm doing in the first place: for my students, for my God. I fell as though teaching is something I'm being called to, and if I can keep that in perspective, I can face anything. Even cold and miserable 8 o'clock mornings. ;)

Look How Far We've Come

Technology forms a huge portion of the college student's daily life. We do a large bulk of our assignments using our laptop wireless computers: writing essays, lab reports, research papers. We communicate largely through the computer, chatting on Instant Messenger, writing on walls through Facebook, and emailing. We enjoy music and share it with others through iTunes. We express ourselves through blogs and web journals. We use our computers as extensions of ourselves; the part they play has become so natural that we rarely consider that they have only recently come into existence.

When I hear tales from my parents, or even from adults who graduated from college less than ten years ago, I have to remind myself that the world was a different place back then. To my mind, college and computers go hand in hand, and it's a phenomena most other college students relate to. College students across the country know the time that can be wasted procrastinating while surfing on Facebook, the resulting giggles when a roommate IMs you from across the room, and the despair felt when a computer crashes the night before an assignment is due and loses that essay you've worked on for the last several days. Such experiences have become common place among young adults, but they are completely foreign territory to a majority of the older generation.

My grandmother has had little contact with computers in her seventy-four years on the planet. Up until last year, while he still lived, my grandfather was the one in the house who experimented online, sending emails to friends and downloading pictures of the great-grans sent from family. Very recently, however, my mother has convinced Granny of how vital to modern life a basic knowledge of computers is. Every day, despite fear of the unknown and frustration when things get confusing, Granny tries something new on the computer, whether simply downloading and organizing pictures, replying to an email, or searching for RV parts on ebay. I really admire her for stepping out of her comfort zone to adapt to the changing times.

Though it may seem that the older generation has the most to learn from us, the digital generation, we should not allow ourselves to grow conceited. We still have much to learn from our elders, the least of which is to remember our roots, to refuse to succumb to the temptation of taking our many entertainment and time-saving devices for granted. It's cliche, but it's true: with great power, comes great responsibility. We've been empowered with the amazing technology at our fingertips, and along with that comes the responsibility to use that power wisely, to make a point of practicing the fading arts of face-to-face conversation, hand-writing notes, and not being ashamed to learn "linearly" by reading a good book cover to cover. We should also take the time to learn the history of the tools we use so often, of how the internet came into being, when the first computer was made, and who made it. This is important stuff; let's not forget who brought it to us!

Another Blog Already?

I know, after what I wrote earlier, it seems strange to me, too. But after customizing my blog and adding a picture I really like, I think it's pretty cool! I knew that Facebook could be addicting; now I find myself not wanting to get off the computer, although I really need to do my Spanish reading for tomorrow.

After reading ways that blogs can be used in the classroom on edublogs.org, I've been inspired. If kids really are the digital generation we've been calling them, the more we use technology in the classroom the more engaged they will be in the material.

Last semester I had the opportunity twice a week to observe Steve Shelton's 8th Grade GATE English class at Santa Barbara Junior High. I loved it; I learned so much from Mr. Shelton, and I wish I had time to go on helping in his classroom this semester. One of the things I admired so much about him was the way he so skillfully infused technology into his classroom. It wasn't anything super hi-tech, but certainly a lot more technology was involved than when I was in 8th grade. Everyday, as the students walked into class, Mr. Shelton had a writing topic projected onto the overhead for them to begin working on while he took attendance and updated students who had been absent the day before. It was a cool projector, too; not like the dinosaur transparency projectors I remember from school, whose loud fans forced teachers to raise their voices and whose bulky equipment often blocked students' views. This projector worked with a video camera that sat on Mr. Shelton's desk, underneath which he could put ordinary computer printouts so that they came up on the screen in full view of the entire class. Apart from this, Mr. Shelton often had students email him assignments when they had printer trouble. He sent news on upcoming events in the classroom to parents through email, as well as through newsflashes from his website. This website included information on current assignments, extra resources, and personal information so that students could contact him as well as get to know him better on a personal level. Finally, for Mr. Shelton's second period journalism class, he had enough wireless apple computers so that each student could work on their assignments at their desks, typing away throughout the period and submitting their work to him via email. So cool!

Anyway, the edublogs website reminded me of how well Mr. Shelton used technology and how much I hope to be like him when I have my own English class. I love their practical ways blogs can be used to enhance a class and more effectively reach out to students.

I'm so excited to blog, and I'm so excited to use my blog to better reach my students!

By the way, the picture is a photo taken by Steve Shelton of Santa Barbara Junior High, where I observed last semester. So technology advanced, yet still so beautiful!

Day 1

Our first day blogging! I've done something similar with xanga--I think you'd call that a blog. Still, this is pretty cool, I guess. I don't know how I feel about people reading my postings ... I'm such a perfectionist; if I think too much about people reading this, I won't write anything.

Besides, I have a journal of my own, and sometimes I feel like we spend too much time on the computer, what with facebook and email and instant messaging, along with random surfing, listening to itunes, playing games. And I'm not on the computer nearly as much as some people I know. Where do we draw the line? How much is too much? And what seems like too much today might be the bare minimum in the future, with the way that technology is going. So much can be done with the computer. I guess we should embrace it and be glad, but I would hate to think that we would sacrifice other things to more and more time spent on the computer. What about practicing good handwriting, or the satisfying feeling of drafting a paper with a pen and pad of paper? Or taking the time to sit down and write a letter to a friend, despite the ease with which we can shoot off an email within seconds. Isn't there a value there that we lose if we never take the time to practice it?