It feels a bit odd that I'm not saying goodbye to my classmates, as I usually do in a physical class. So, I did it on the course blog. Why not?
Anyway, I finished my Neovox, literally just minutes ago. I thought it would have taken me maybe a few hours to write today, nope, it took me all day long...and that was with minimal interruptions. I started it around noon! I layed out in the sun, while writing my article. It got too hot, so I came back inside to "finish" it. At least it's all done now. Hope I did good on it.
I can't believe how fast this semester went. Really. It flew by! It seems just like yesterday that I signed onto WebCt to find the entire workload listed right before my eyes. I thought to myself, "oh my god..." My heart sank, and all the sudden I knew I was in for a long haul. It's now over though, and feels quite weird to me. This very minute represents my last submission for classes at Cortland. I'm now all done...no more classes to take. I graduate (well, "walk") next weekend. I have student teaching in the fall to complete yet, but as far as classes go, I'm done. I won't be traveling to Cortland anymore for classes.
I'm not sure if that makes me totally psyched, or if it makes me scared that it's finally over. I've spent 3 years of my life traveling back and forth to Cortland from Binghamton (though, currently in Whitney Point.) I guess there's something to be said in the comfort of repetition. Now I'm a bit scared to student teach,because there are so many unknowns...but I'm looking forward to it too. I guess that's part of life, right?
Here's to the Class of '07!...Looking forward to seeing you all at graduation!
Good luck with finals and the rest of your semester! Have a great summer!! I'll miss our class posts! :) Take care!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Neovox idea revised
Ha, of course I switched my idea for my second neovox article. I ended up writing about cell phones and the bee problem. Last week I heard about this for the first time, and it wasn't until today, that I thought it would be worth looking into. Although there is no solid cause for the disappearance in bees, many scientists feel it is because of the radiation from cell phones...others feel it from mites and parasites. Either way, I've learned that its still a problem for us... bees pollinate our crops so we can eat. No matter what the cause is, we need to find a solution to get back our bees!
Monday, May 7, 2007
Play Money
Play Money is quite an interesting book to say the least. I never would have pickedd this book up, had I not had this class. I think it's really fascinating how Dibbell wanted to take a risk and see how he could do with selling virual items. If I was his wife, I would have said, "you're crazy" and walked away. I certainly wouldn't have taken it seriously. Towards the end when he discovers that it is crashing right before his eyes, he says this:
"Nobody had to ask me what had finally pushed me over the edge--they could take their pick of proximate causes. Friends and family mostly blamed the shattering of my marriage, but others recognized that my career was in a crisis, too, neither clearly reinvigorated by the year at Stanford nor prestnly sustained by much more than the hanging thread of a magazine contract I had now blown off for too long, it appeared, to earn renewal when it ran out in a month or two. Personally, my darkest thougths focused on th career, which in my gut I knew to be over, while my marriage, something told me, would in time recover." (286)
The thing that really kind of irritates me with all this, is that he was always more preoccupied with the PLay MOney project, and voluntarily failed his marriage. He put his heart and soul into the project, traveling crazy miles accross country. If it was me, I would have said, YEAHHHH RIGHT.
"Nobody had to ask me what had finally pushed me over the edge--they could take their pick of proximate causes. Friends and family mostly blamed the shattering of my marriage, but others recognized that my career was in a crisis, too, neither clearly reinvigorated by the year at Stanford nor prestnly sustained by much more than the hanging thread of a magazine contract I had now blown off for too long, it appeared, to earn renewal when it ran out in a month or two. Personally, my darkest thougths focused on th career, which in my gut I knew to be over, while my marriage, something told me, would in time recover." (286)
The thing that really kind of irritates me with all this, is that he was always more preoccupied with the PLay MOney project, and voluntarily failed his marriage. He put his heart and soul into the project, traveling crazy miles accross country. If it was me, I would have said, YEAHHHH RIGHT.
Last days of my Undergrad classes :)
Ok, so I never went to sleep last night. I was working on my portfolio and website for Dr. Franke alllllll day, and ALLLLL night. Literally. I never fell asleep even for a min. Needless to say I'm exhausted...and, I have to be at school until at least 5:00 tonight for my student teaching placement meeting.
I do have to admit though, it feels so good to have two classes done with today! Technically speaking, if I were to stay in this computer lab from now until 4:30, I could be done with this Cyberspace class as well. Me and Erica finished our last podcast on Friday, but the UiTunes was not being that nice...so I figured I'd just upload it today. So that is coming momentarily. The only thing I have left to do is the 2nd Neovox, and to update my personal blog a bit more. I see it's a bit behind others'.
I do have to admit though, it feels so good to have two classes done with today! Technically speaking, if I were to stay in this computer lab from now until 4:30, I could be done with this Cyberspace class as well. Me and Erica finished our last podcast on Friday, but the UiTunes was not being that nice...so I figured I'd just upload it today. So that is coming momentarily. The only thing I have left to do is the 2nd Neovox, and to update my personal blog a bit more. I see it's a bit behind others'.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Neovox idea
So, I'm thinking that I'm going to do my Neovox article on teaching with Second Life, as I've just recently become more aware of it in regards to teaching. I never thought about it like that before. I think this is a really cool idea to incorporate into teaching! My degree is in childhood education, but...I don't see why I couldn't bring something like Second Life into an older grade, like 5th or 6th grades...I don't know, I'll be researching more about it, and how it's used in younger grades, if-at-all... I just think it's an awesome idea. I could have my classroom set up, and have my students build our community. I could do S.S. units, and science, anything really--even English.
Anyway, that is my idea for my Neovox article. I'll be doing this on Monday, as I'm still working on my website for Dr. Franke... sooooo much work............ Thank goodness this semester is almost over.. Eeeeks.
Anyway, that is my idea for my Neovox article. I'll be doing this on Monday, as I'm still working on my website for Dr. Franke... sooooo much work............ Thank goodness this semester is almost over.. Eeeeks.
Saturday thoughts...
Well, me and Erica finished our last podcast yesterday afternoon! It was so exciting. I'm so glad I decided to ask her in the beginning of the semester, to work together on it. It's funny, we didn't even know each other at first but I felt like we were both struggling a bit, so we worked together through this class, quite a bit. This online class was something we talked about, frequently, in our other class (this of course, was after we figured out that we had another class together, outside of the online class :) We became friends I think because of it. We were so frustrated with it and stressed out, so naturally, we would discuss our issues together :)
This made me think...I have to say, yet again, that I strongly believe that ALL online classes will never REALLY fully take the place of the physical interactions of a real class. Human interaction is simply, just a basic need for everyone to experience. I mean, even anti-social individuals seek some sort of connection...Newborn babies have to have a physical connection with their parents, in order to physically and emotionally develop. Kids need it, adults need it. EVERYONE needs it in some way.
In saying that, I think that out of everything I've learned from this class, I've come to realize the important quality of human interaction in a class, vs. a class purely online. I think this will really make me become a better teacher in fact. It will be a good reminder, for when the day actually comes, when administrators in school districts suggest complete online classes. Yes, this will be much later down the road, in fact, I probably wont be a teacher at that point. But this class certainly does serve as a great personal experience for me, to remember the importance of social interaction between teacher and student.
This made me think...I have to say, yet again, that I strongly believe that ALL online classes will never REALLY fully take the place of the physical interactions of a real class. Human interaction is simply, just a basic need for everyone to experience. I mean, even anti-social individuals seek some sort of connection...Newborn babies have to have a physical connection with their parents, in order to physically and emotionally develop. Kids need it, adults need it. EVERYONE needs it in some way.
In saying that, I think that out of everything I've learned from this class, I've come to realize the important quality of human interaction in a class, vs. a class purely online. I think this will really make me become a better teacher in fact. It will be a good reminder, for when the day actually comes, when administrators in school districts suggest complete online classes. Yes, this will be much later down the road, in fact, I probably wont be a teacher at that point. But this class certainly does serve as a great personal experience for me, to remember the importance of social interaction between teacher and student.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Scholar's Day Success
The last few weeks of the semester are always so hectic. Actually, the entire last month of school has been crazy. It's been hard to sit down and devote time to my personal blog as you can already tell, I haven't updated it since April 18th.
And, by the way, the Scholar's Day recording was a success...despite the first few minutes of the presentation where I accidentally opened up someone else's podcast--and it was cranked up really loud, so everyone could hear it. I apologized, and it was over. I moved on and quickly tried to open up a new episode, then pushed that tiny red "record" button. I was really proud of myself ...I was scared to death that I was going to screw something up terribly...But, I only missed the first few minutes of the first presenter, and recorded everyone else. I was really glad I was able to help out, and , not to mention..extra credit was involved :) Thank you, Dr. Reid, for the opportunity to jump outside my comfort box. As silly as it sounds, it made me feel more capable of things that I'm intimidated by, or scared of. Hey, I figured, if I can jump out of a plane at 15,000 feet, I can pretty much push myself to do whatever, even if it's scary. :)
And, by the way, the Scholar's Day recording was a success...despite the first few minutes of the presentation where I accidentally opened up someone else's podcast--and it was cranked up really loud, so everyone could hear it. I apologized, and it was over. I moved on and quickly tried to open up a new episode, then pushed that tiny red "record" button. I was really proud of myself ...I was scared to death that I was going to screw something up terribly...But, I only missed the first few minutes of the first presenter, and recorded everyone else. I was really glad I was able to help out, and , not to mention..extra credit was involved :) Thank you, Dr. Reid, for the opportunity to jump outside my comfort box. As silly as it sounds, it made me feel more capable of things that I'm intimidated by, or scared of. Hey, I figured, if I can jump out of a plane at 15,000 feet, I can pretty much push myself to do whatever, even if it's scary. :)
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