Jan 20 - 26ish 2017

     So last weekend I experienced one of those “crazy” moments in my life so I thought I would share that experience with you so you understand why I consider my world crazy….

     Saturday afternoon Trevor and I left home for his hockey.  First game Saturday in Portage and second game on Sunday in Landmark.  We left town quite excited, as the last time that the two of us were to go somewhere for his hockey… well… it didn’t happen and I had to billet him.  So THIS time, we (or at least I was) quite excited to actually leave town together.  I considered it a success when we actually made it to Portage!  Cougars beat Central Plains 11-1 and was a better game than the score reflects.  We left the rink and headed to my friends to stay the night.  I noticed a weird sound coming from the rear passenger side, but as the seat was down, I figured that it was just another loud noise that I didn’t notice as much when the seat was up.  Regardless, had a good visit and sleep and went to leave around 8:30 AM.  We went to the gas station to get gas to make sure we would be able to make it to Landmark….  Well… I opened the gas cover, unscrewed the gas cap and saw this…

Now, that did not look great to me at 8:30 on a Sunday morning in Portage….  So kinda makin’ me crazy… To make a long stressful story short – thanks to a random stranger who assured me I could still fill up my tank with gas and recommended I go into the gas bar for twist ties, and a massive THANK YOU to Mason, one of the gas bar attendants, who came out and actually helped me, I was able to get my tank full of gas AND attach the gas tank hose to the car.  It is not perfect (still) but it worked to make it to Landmark – only 1 minute late than we need to be there – as well as home via “Hockey Life” in Winnipeg.  Not sure how I would have managed without Mason’s help filling the tank and his ingenuity with the hose clamp. Whew.  Sometimes Crazy works out.

     

Oh, and lost to Eastman 5-4 but was another fantastic game!  

This past week only totaled 5 games.  Those 2 for Trevor and 3 for Darren.  Darren's team lost all 3 they played - one league game and 2 against Wawanesa for MAHA playoffs.  Game 2 against Wawanesa was as close as we have ever been to beating them as we only lost by 3!  Was a good game.  So glad to see the whole team keep trying and not give up, especially in games where they are the underdogs.

Tech Talk

            Fantastic speaker informing us about Canadian Copyright rules.  So many interesting things that we, as teachers, need to be careful of and to watch out for.  I would recommend getting a copy of Copyright Matters!: Some Key Questions and Answers for Teachers by Wanda Noel and Jordan Snel.  I am thankful for that valuable information!

            We also learned about making a digital footprint for ourselves.  So next task at hand is to make an eportfolio which, I must admit, may be a good idea!  I can see in today’s digital world that providing future employers with a digital portfolio of you and your accomplishments might help seal the deal with that employer. We were introduced to a few different website-making sites (Wordpress, Google Sites, Weebly, and Yola) and had a chance to play around with them.

Guess that’s all for now!

TTFN

Connie

Post numero deux

Finally a night at home where I can catch up on some homework and blog!  Since my last post, I have been busy chasing around my hockey boys.  The madness started last Thursday when Darren started his 6 game stretch in 5 days!  Ya, and I wonder why he is a little tired… His team did well winning 5 out of 6 games!  One of those games he played up with the Pee Wee team and was even able to score a nice goal from the point!  Trevor, on the other hand, only had 2 games in the same time period.  Both wins for his team so perhaps now they are on a winning streak!  Will see what happens in Portage and Landmark this upcoming weekend.  Only 3 games conflicted for me, so I only made it to 5 out of the 8 possible that I could have gone to! Perhaps that is why my world is a tad on the crazy side… hmmmm

Now, let me tell you about my fancy schmancy new car!  I finally have it back on the road after only getting to drive it to school for a couple weeks before Christmas break and then it went into the shop.  So technically it is not new, but new to me!  It is a 1997 Plymouth Neon!  Yes, it is 20 years old… red on the outside and has a dark grey/black interior.  After driving a mini-van for the past 13 years, it makes me feel like I am back in my 20s with my Chevy Cavalier speeding back and forth to Alberta from Manitoba.  However, I am in a Neon driving back and forth between Hartney and Brandon – ya… not quite the same, I guess.  The best part about my car is the stereo system!  Even though the speakers in the back do not work, I can blare out my mixed cassette tape I made in 1997 (eerily the same age as my car) and listen to some of my favourite tunes from back then!  Rhymes with Orange? The Headstones? Offspring? Seriously?  Good thing I mixed it up with some Captain Tractor (my favourite band EVER) and some Disney show tunes like “Winnie the Pooh”, “The Best of Friends” (The Fox and the Hound), and “Kiss the Girl” (Little Mermaid). Ya…quite the mixed tape… Today as I drove home from school, I realized that there is an experience that most of my classmates will never get a chance to do and that is take the cassette out of the player and tap it on the dash!  They only get to listen to their CDs or digital music in their vehicles… they are SOOO missing out! 

Tech talk

So, this week I learned about Feedly.com, symbaloo.com, (and a couple other bookmarking sites) and the wonderful world and possibilities of Google Plus.  Wow.  It is amazing!  I signed up for Feedly as I think it is a great way to keep track of my classmates blogs and which ones I still need to read.  So far theirs are the only blogs that I am interested in reading, but as I go through some of my Pinterest links that go to blogs, I may just be intrigued to add those as well.

I liked Symbaloo to organize my favourite websites.  I wish I knew about it years ago, but better late than never.  Also another great tool to use for ease of finding child-friendly learning sites for classroom computer time.  I also liked how you could make a lesson plan with it although I am not sure I will be able to figure it out, if that time was ever to arise.  (I’m not so tech smart) So many possibilities out there, it is incredible!

Now, Google Plus.  I have had a Google account for quite some time and only now am I learning about the endless possibilities that it is capable of!  Incredible!  You can make forms into surveys or tests and email the link to your students. You can do a “real time” spreadsheet and everyone can fill it out and watch the other answers appear right before their eyes!  Crazy.  I will definitely be playing around more with Google Plus and everything that it has to offer.  Seems user friendly and fairly easy to figure out… I hope!

Oh, and one more tip I learned today!  If you have your own YouTube channel, you do not necessarily have to be the next Roman Atwood (who is EXTREMELY popular in my household) but you can use it to follow other channels as well as make a play list.  Very handy to have to save clips on the different levels of government, “I’m just a Bill” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-eYBZFEzf8 or even perhaps the “Log Drivers Waltz” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upsZZ2s3xv8 for Grade ¾ social studies classes – like I could have used that a few years ago now too… oh well, better late than never!

Alright, that is enough for tonight.  Seeing that I am off to Portage on the weekend and have do actually do my “job” on Friday, I figured tonight would be a perfect night to blog. 

Even though it is still technically Wednesday, have a good weekend!  (Education students are so blessed to have a 3 day weekend every weekend… so blissful)

TTFN

Connie

multi-level collage

This is a "collage" I had to make for my #bumultilevel class.  Figured I might as well put it here too so I can showcase my new tech skills at its finest! Enjoy! lol

Welcome to my first post on my new blog!  Now I am not one to be a crazy tech person so I am not sure how this is going to go!  I have to make this blog as part of the ICT course that I am currently taking at Brandon University Faculty of Education.  Otherwise, trust me, this would be one of the last things I would be doing!!  However, in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the parts of my “crazy life” that I will be posting on my new found blog.

Part of the requirements for this class is to comment on different apps or technology that we have discussed in class, so if you are not interested in that part, just avoid it!  If you do not care about my children and that aspect of my crazy life, avoid it too!  If you don’t care that I am into sewing/crochet and other “old lady” crafts, avoid that part… you may just want to avoid it regardless…. Trust me…. Otherwise, welcome to what makes my world crazy!!

Tech and me

So you could consider me to be sort of anti-tech user in the classroom, but I am open to learning about different apps and programs where I could be convinced to use tech in my classroom. Through using Padlet (comments below), I can see how offering some technology in those “older” years classes could create a nice balance from having to listen to lectures or do actual work with a pen or pencil…. So I am finding that I am not 100% against tech… maybe….

What inspired me through Week One of my intro to the wonderful world of “teching”

Padlet – now that was a very interesting app! I thought that using it in a middle years/senior years class to get real time answers from students would be fun and perhaps keep them engaged in class.  As for use in an early years class, I’m not sure… maybe Grade 3 or 4 could do it?  One problem that may occur other than technology failing is to ensure that each student has a device.

Random Team Generator

As this is just a “Google” away, I think it is a great asset to use in those classes or for those assignments where it doesn’t matter what student is matched up with whom.  Good tip to know!

Blog

Well… you already know why I am blogging and I will see how it goes and give you my true opinion at a later date… hehehe

Twitter

In a different class, Multi-Level Classroom, I learned how to tweet!  Lucky me… I have been adamant that I do not enter the Twitter world, however… now that I have been “forced” to, I think I may become easily addicted to it… ya… not so good… and perhaps that is why I have been avoiding it thus far!  However follow me there if you like but I am really not sure how much “twittering” I will be doing!  @ConnieH1310

Alright!  I think this is enough information for today… at least I am done typing as I am sure that you are done reading!

I hope you have a fantastic Friday the 13^th, as I know I am going to!!

TTFN,

Connie

My Word Cloud