Laura's Blog

Arriving a bit late...getting nothing done!

2005-07-22T11:15:00.000-05:00

After showing up to class 2 hours later than expected....Dylan and I have accomplished nothing after sitting in class for about 30 minutes. Kirk and I are having a messenger conversation to which I can't comprehend anything he is saying. As an English teacher I would expect more from him. Here is our conversaton:

sockslb29@yahoo.com says: (11:13:02 AM)
   is jiyoon on your buddy list

kirk_r says: (11:13:14 AM)
   cha

sockslb29@yahoo.com says: (11:13:20 AM)
   yea she is???

sockslb29@yahoo.com says: (11:13:24 AM)
   is cha yes or no

kirk_r says: (11:13:46 AM)
   yo

kirk_r says: (11:14:02 AM)
   cha, and yo, are "yes"

kirk_r says: (11:14:09 AM)
   GOSH!

Thanks Kirk for making me smile :)

Question by Dana

2005-07-15T13:24:00.000-05:00

Dana:asks question about PDA
Gina: "Well if you were listening to what we said before...(class goes oooohhhhh)"

To better set up the situation: Dana is the teacher and Gina is the student-after all day of boring presentations we were that edgy! hilarioouusss Gina! I love it!

Dylan

2005-07-15T13:19:00.000-05:00

Dylan, you owe me a drink and some smokes! Dylan and I had a bet: if I got an A in the class I bought him a drink, if I didn't, he buys me a drink. After some calculating we have come to the conclusion that I will not recieve and A-but perhaps a B+

Sweet!

Last day of Fucking Class with Dana!

2005-07-15T13:13:00.000-05:00

Last day of class-thank god. Lets review what I have learned through this two week course: how to browse the web for 6 hours at a time, completely block out anything anyone says during presentations, plug my ears while dana talks, get a B in a class where I did absolutely nothing...and the list goes on.
Things I hated about this course:
-being marked down for spelling skills with a "z" to be hilarious
-Getting 10/40 on an assignment for being hung over
-Sitting while Dana's whiny voice speaks
-ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!

ALmost done!
On another note, about to head to the brewhouse with Dylan for drinks! Yes! Kirk would join but he is a pussy going to Canuck country to play ultimate frisbee! But thanks for the shout out on your blog!

Last bog for class

2005-06-27T08:11:00.000-05:00

As I sit here before class starts I can't help but think how tired I am. I couldn't get out of bed this morning and I spilled orange juice all over by shirt. Then there was construction with loud banging across from my apartment which also stopped traffic for about 10 minutes! You gotta love mondays!

About anything!

2005-06-24T08:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had our lessons using power point. It was really helpful to see everybody's lesson and I learned a lot about my teaching from student feedback. It made me realize that I have a lot to work on as a teacher.

But on a lighter note I went down to the beach today cause it was hot hot hot! I went swimming with my friend Katie and we laid out in the sun. It was gorgeous and also the first time I have actually been swimming in lake superior. I also couldn't stop itching after I got out of the water. I think I got chiggers or something-gross!

GREAT QUOTE-think about it!

2005-06-23T00:23:00.000-05:00

"I am going to be happy with the way that I am. I am gonna be happy with all that I stand for.
Be so happy with the way you are. Be happy you made it this far." Jason Mraz

Live by this quote. I believe in it so much. Life is so much better when you are yourself. From my experiences I have never been so happy then when I have accepted who I am and acted 100% like myself. Don't doubt yourself!

Blog blog blog (haha get it? blah blah blah!)

2005-06-22T23:55:00.000-05:00

So after discussing my research topic with my group, Kirk suggested doing something with putting a pentium chip into apple computers. I would like to do something like that. How can I connect that with teaching and the classroom? What do y'all think? Maybe it will affect what kind of computers schools buy or something...who knows!

My eyes hurt from staring at the computer too long. My back hurts from sitting in a chair all day. Could I complain anymore!?

Working in groups today was good so we became more comfortable with eachother. We came up with some good ideas and already through a discussion we were able to help eachother with our topics as far as reasearch tools and ideas. It was good working in groups for the rubric too-I think our group really got it!n Great job guys.

Hi Helen I hope you are having fun reading blogs!

I am off to bed now-yawn-so tired. I am gonna listen to Jason Mraz and drift away to sleep. Goodnight blog...

Blogging what??

2005-06-21T15:28:00.000-05:00

Today it was gorgeous outside as I sat couped up in class! It wasn't that bad though-at least we got a break to go outside! While searching for virtual tours I found some really good websites. One that I found to be very useful is a virtual tour of the US capitol. It gave some really good information on each room and what it is for. It also gave some good information about historical events that had occurred there. I don't know exactly how I would incorporate that into a classroom because it is just a tour. I think it is a reliable source too because it is a government website (although others might disagree). It also gave an option for low or high bandwidth which is nice for me since I only have dial up. It didn't have many pictures. Some of the other sites I viewed had some really good pictures. I think it is difficult to get a good idea of what something is like from just a virtual field trip, but it definitely gives a better picture of a topic. I don't think I would use virtual fieldtrips from the internet, but I would create them myself. http://www.senate.gov/vtour/index.html is the site I went to.

As for a research topic-I think I would like to do something that concentrates on Apple computers. I don't know exactly what I would like to do, but maybe a comparison contrast between windows and mac OS. Looking at the advantages and disadvantages of both in a classroom setting. It is still just a thought but I would hope to learn what programs students advance at better.

Well I am off to do another terrific blog!

What I learned today

2005-06-20T22:18:00.000-05:00

Today in class I learned a lot about teaching with technology. I found the article we had to read very useful. It is very true that you can use technology all you want, but if you don't use it properly it is useless. I have used powerpoint a few times for teaching at my apprenticeship site, but I had to make sure that I was utilizing the technology to the best of my ability. I met with my teachers in advance to see if they thought it would work and we tweaked as necessary. I think the biggest thing I learned today is that when using technology, you need to have an objective while teaching with technology. If their is no purpose then what is the use of bringing in computers.

First day of computer class

2005-06-20T11:54:00.000-05:00

Just learning how to use blog. I returned from Arizona yesterday at 11:30pm and drove to Duluth way too early (5:30) to be at class. Arizona was amazing I got to see all of my family and Paul! Can't wait to see him again. I went to tempe, phoenix, scottsdale and flagstaff. Phoenix was hot hot hot! Flagstaff was beautiful weather and gorgeous. It is defintiely under consideration for moving there someday.