Been Awhile
I can’t believe that it’s been a week since my last post. My life has been a whirlwind, but then again, when isn’t it? I’m going to be a bit choppy in my delivery of events in this post. I’m completely brain dead.
I attended the Science Blogging Conference on Saturday. As much as I admire David Warlick, I do have to disagree with his assessment of the conference. Maybe, I was expecting more of a focus on science blogging in the K-12 setting. I felt there was more discussion by the scientist and collegiate level professors than teachers. But, that might have been my misunderstanding of the purpose of the conference.
There were some very intelligent people in attendance. I might have been intimidated, but, I kept telling myself, those intelligent people couldn’t be here without teachers like me who taught them. I think sometimes, we, as educators, don’t give ourselves enough credit for the influence we have on young people.
We did receive a great amount of “goodies” and they fed us well. I do appreciate all the time and effort that was put into planning and conducting such a conference. Kuddos to the planning committee for all their hard work.
I finished my application to graduate school. Yippee! Now, I’m waiting on the last of my three references to be returned. Hopefully, I won’t have to take the GRE again since I already hold one Master’s degree. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I was a lot more intelligent 10 years ago. Brain cells tend to die over time – well, after working with middle schoolers for 13 years.
We’re having a lot of trouble, mostly from our 6th graders, with Gaggle. They’re trying to be sneaky and slide in curse words and innuendos. Silly, silly children. They don’t realize that we were once young and have already tried everything they are trying. So, I’m having to speak to each class and explain that everything they write is being monitored. Basically, the same conversation I have had with some of the teachers. For the record, that’s close to 2200 kids plus teachers.
My first session with a group of advanced 6th graders got off-track and ventured to a Myspace discussion. Interesting. I guess I never realized how advanced these kids are, yet, still little kids. They don’t see the dangers and only see us, the teachers and parents – heck anyone over 30, as being overly protective. Oh, the agony of youth.
I taught my first workshop to teachers on Wikis. It was great! I was so impressed with the willingness of the teachers to work on something so very new. I overheard one of the teachers say, “I don’t even know what this wiki stuff is. That’s why I came. I just needed to find out.” Well, whatever gets them here…. It was my first attempt with making a Camtasia production. It turned out fairly well for a first timer.
I am going to a luncheon meeting with the governor on February 1st. Actually, one of my friends is a Kenan Fellow and she invited me to attend with her. We are going to be discussing teacher working conditions. Should be interesting.
My aunt had surgery on two aneurysms near her heart. Thank God she doesn’t seem to have suffered any paralysis.
Well, enough of my rambling. I think it must be sleep deprivation – do I even remember what my pillow feels like?
Until next time ~ Danita
