You wanna know what's sad? I'll tell you what's sad- IT'S FREAKIN' 11:30 AT NIGHT AND ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS THAT COMPUTER PROGRAM KIDSPIRATION! I have a math test in the morning and all I can think about is a stupid computer program!!! I just keep thinking, "I wonder what else you can do on there..." Dumb, I know. But it's all your fault, DOC Waters! Why do you have to teach us such freakin' useful stuff! Dang it! I'm going to TRY to go to bed, now. *even though I know I won't be able to sleep* Thanks a lot doc! :)

I know I probably shouldn't be admitting this, but I'm sitting in one of my other classes, actually kind of bored with the discussion, so I thought I'd write my blog entry. I'm hoping that I am doing the right week (week 12, right?). Anyway, the video was...let's just say interesting. I didn't really like the music, for one (it was kinda psycho technoish), and the way the creator distributed her information was kind of...well...boring. I also thought that she could have used more entertaining or more technologically advanced ways of showing her information. Even some actual resouces would have been nice. I don't know, maybe I'm being just a little too harsh, but in all honesty, I was watching the time and couldn't wait for it to be over! I think, as teachers of the 21st century, we should use the most up to date technology to convey our lessons to our students. Afterall, if we're bored by a video like that, our students will be twice as bored (at the least!). On to a better subject, I LOVED THE DIGITAL CAMERA LESSON! I actually own my own photography business and it was kind of an easy, yet fun, lesson for me because it allowed me to play along in my own element. :) Keep up the good work, doc! I'll see you in class on Tuesday. :)

Funny video

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Okay, so I am WAY confused as to why we are working on week 10, even though we are in week 8 (week 9 tomorrow). I checked the announcements and there isn't anything about working on week 10 in there, although there is something in week 8's page that says we're supposed to be working in our pods, which I tried doing. On week 10's page it says 'Spring Break'. So, what the heck! I'm confused, but I guess I'll find out why tomorrow. Which brings me back to this- this blog is late because I was confused as to what I was supposed to be doing, so I just did week 8's blog yesterday. So, about the video: I liked 3.0 A LOT better than 1.0 and 2.0 because it had a lot more graphics and was more visually appealing to me. It also seemed like it had more information in it than the other 2. Just reiterating what I said about the other videos in my past blogs- I really think that this information is useful and will help me be able to really think about why I'm teaching- I want to make a difference!

Okay, so this time the video was kinda funny, but it didn't really do anything for me. Maybe I'm just not in the funny mood today. I've driven 12 hours straight today (up to Boise, ID and back, all in one trip!) and I just don't really feel like writing on my blog, but here I am... writing to do homework that I just don't really want to do. Anyway, as far as this week's lesson went- Internet Safety, I really enjoyed it because I feel like it is a really major issue in teaching. Mostly because there are tons of parents (my sister, for one) who refuses (or refused, but now allows, as in my sister's case) to allow their children to even venture near the computer for fear that they will bring up a porn site on accident or even just a plain website that might have vulgur language in it. I honestly think that we, as teachers, should educate parents on how wonderful the web COULD be, as long as they are responsible parents and caretakers and simply keep a close eye of their children and teach them why they should be careful. That's pretty much all I could muster up today, although, I could talk your ear off and ramble on about my own troubles to make this longer if you wanted me to (though I really wouldn't because that wouldn't be school-related). :)

Update to last reflection: I have since gotten my validation email and finished my pioneer scavenger hunt. I actually think that I've benefited just from doing the hunt because it has forced (for lack of a better word) me into actually reading and learning about the core curriculum and lesson plans for my future students. I LOVED the cool interactive global thing, I think it was called the culture grams. This interactive link will be very helpful to my future students so they can learn about their world and the different cultures. I also think the pioneer website will be extremely helpful to my students when they are trying to do their homework, or maybe even just browse for fun! Another cool thing that I loved about the UEN website is the lesson plan builder (this will be extremely helpful when I am having writer's block on what to write) and the nifty outline of Utah's core curriculum, all on the same page! Just a little note: I have spent the last 2 hours looking for some sort of virtual tour on the UEN webpage and I could not, for the life of me, find any sort of virtual tour, only videos. So, I apoligize for not completely completing my assignment, although I gave it my all.

Okay, so Doc Waters said I should basically type whatever I'm thinking, so I don't seem so shallow in my blogs. So here goes nothing... I actually really loved the video! I've even recommended it to my molly mormon sister who homeschools all 5 of her children (crazy, I know! :) - the homeschooling part, not me recommending it part) and she loved it, too! Ever since I showed her how to use the internet and how to look up things on teacher tube and you tube, she's addicted! :) By the way- all of these things I've only taught her how to do, has only been since I've been in this class! She didn't know anything about any type of computers at all- especially not the internet. Actually, she was afraid of the internet, and now she loves it! She says it's an "awkwardly amazing information source". *She was an english major at UVU when it was still a tech school* So, I loved the video. It's actually even inspired me to start my own educational video library on my computer. I just google the educational videos and then google the lyrics to them, so far I've been successful *knock on wood* to finding the lyrics to the songs I like. I do think that the videos on the internet are pretty cool, and I will definately use them in my classes when I teach. I honestly think that if I wanted to stop looking up the educational videos, I couldn't because my sister would make me find her more and I would get straight back into wanting to look for more- BOY the internet is ADDICTING!!! :) I have to admit, though, I do LOVE IT! :) as far as the UEN assignment is going- I HATE IT! It doesn't matter how many times I try to resend the validation email (I changed my email on file so I could have complete access to the tools on UEN.org) I STILL DON'T RECEIVE THE EMAIL! I'm so frustrated! I'm hoping I can get one of my classmates to logon for me tomorrow so I can get this assignment finished on time. So, I hope this blog was just what you were looking for, Doc Waters. If not, i guess I could babble on some more next week. :) HAVE A HAPPY DAY! :)