http://teacher47.xanga.com/718727176/play-time-web-20-tools/

Watching the Packers crush the Giants while sprawled on boyfriend's couch... he's hoping the Packers win because he detests Eli Manning; I am a "True Vikings Fan" in that I'm loyal to the Vikings AND I root for anyone who plays the Packers. Amen. Anyhow, he's prepping for a ice-fishing trip, and I'm being super lazy. It's wonderful; however, I did find a link to start with this week or next week as far as next semester goes. Yeah. True story. Or something like that.

More later?

Before diving into a TED talk I found via a teacherly blog... I thought, "What am I doing that needs some shaking up?" And I pondered a few things at once:
Does a composition class have to be about writing?
Do I have to start the first day the same way I always do?
Do I have to do X the same way I always have or is there a Y or Z or B I should try instead?
My projects will undergo some revisions, as always, but my approaches may see the biggest changes. My introductions... yeah.

 
---Go through my delicious links to see if there is anything there to add to any of my classes, like the "Something Cool" feature I plan to implement into English110, etc.
---Go through my teaching blogs (I'm sure more will be posted by next week).
---Create reminder images for projects; these will make emailing students easier.
---Syllabus updates, etc. about .rtf usage and all that jazz. Yeah.
---Export Delicious links again because the site may be canceled soon?
---Watch the 22 videos about online teaching mentioned on the Free Technology For Teachers blog. I think I linked it somewhere.

From a student in my Online English 120, Gabriella:
"This class really exceeded all my expectations. Or let's say, it was totally different from what I expected. English is not one of my strengths (at least that is what I think); it fills me with dread to even think about writing an essay. Thank you for making in enjoyable and "different".

What I liked:
* weird projects, especially the flickr projects. It was fun to learn something new.
* extra credit opportunities. It is good to have some extra cushioning to fall back on.
* the reading material was fun and interesting
* Sybil did not look for work that agrees with her views. She wanted ideas, whether or not we think alike. Very different from my high school days, thanks!
* mini arguments. Writing short essays made it easier to feel comfortable writing longer ones. Thanks for the large number of topics to choose from.

What I did not like:
* my words. I don't think I will use (or even remember) most of the words I found.
* Doc Sharing has too much stuff in it. It would help to remove some old stuff and unnecessary stuff to make it easier for students to sort through. Leave the examples, though.
* Shortfolio. I think it is very hard to find time and ways to work together with classmates in an online class. After all, most of us choose this method because we want to be flexible in our schedule."

Today, I have quite the load of assessment to complete... after our dept lunch, of course. First things first: food & good conversation are good ways to jump-start assessment, kids.
Anyhow, I just wrapped up, from home, the Course Reflections (as seen above) in the Online 120; I think I have Tests and Shortfolios left in that class as well as Tests and P7s in my English 110s.
World Lit will get wrapped up this weekend since they have a Friday deadline. Oh wait, they did have something due last night... I could assess that from home I think.

From Shelby's paper -
Ten Ways to Boost Your Creativity:  
To facilitate your personal development and self growth, here are some creativity tips you can use to resurrect, refresh and enhance your creative faculties:
1. Look after yourself. Sleep well, eat well, do what you enjoy and do it more often. Creativity is reduced when your senses are dulled.
2. Do something different. We do so much automatically... Vary one element of your regular routine for a while. Take a different route to work or watch a different TV show.
3. Be curious about your world around you. It always amazes me when people don’t see what’s around them. See the area you live/work in as a tourist would. How would you explore it if you were a tourist?
4. Read a book on something you previously had no interest in … and see if you can create interest while reading it.
5. Do something childlike once in a while.
6. Create quiet time for yourself everyday. Not to do anything, but just to clear and refresh your mind.
7. Ask “what if” questions. Just for fun and see where the answers take you.
8. We often make assumptions …about the people we work with (especially if we don’t like them!) try treating someone you don’t particularly like at work as if you liked them. How would you act towards them?
9. Write and storyboard your life …as if it were a script you had to sell to a film company.
10. Talk to people you routinely ignore. Imagine their lives from their point of view, the often have viewpoints which you may never have considered before.

Some more stuff, because I know you like it.
From Ivonne's paper-
Camus was an Existentialist, and he explained it. “The existentialism maintain that the individual is solely responsible for giving his or her own life meaning and for living that life passionately and sincerely, in spite of many existential obstacles and distractions including despair, angst, absurdity, alienation, and boredom.”

From Skylar's paper-
“I think the world is run by C students.”  ~Al McGuire
From Krista's paper -
“I don’t believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents.” ~Pablo Picasso
“Sibling relationships...outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship. They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth, loyalty and distrust.” ~Erica E. Goode
From D.J.'s paper-
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8
From Emily's paper-

So, I've been thinking that I'd like to start responding to goofy student email ("goofy" = makes no sense or is a crazy request or is answered in the syllabus or was answered in class, etc.) with random and abstract and silly responses. With the help of Karen and Lennie, I have the following ready to be used next semester, or for the remainder of this semester:
You're a goober; ask Lennie.
Your calculations are making me dizzy.
Johan has a headache; please call back later.
Don't mess with Johan. His apostrophes are being very possessive today.
[Johan is a little purple rubbery ball I purchased at Target yesterday in order to chuck at students in class; Lennie named him.]

Yes, I met him. The TIES conference has not failed me yet, and this year I drove down specifically to hear and meet Sir Ken Robinson. His talk at 8am was awesome (I wish I could be that inspiring at 8am), and his Q&A session was even better. I got to ask the second question, and I think I figured out that it's not my cool projects that need revising (although there's room for that always), it's my approach. The path to the introduction of said projects needs to be tweaked. He gave an example of paragraphing that'll stick with me; basically, he had the students think of soap operas and the formatting behind the scripts there. THEN he brought in paragraphing going so far as to take out the paragraph breaks and having the students put them in... very interesting. Could even be useful for Peer Review. Anyhow... I wrote all over my conference booklet, as usual, so I'll post more notes in a wee bit. I'd like to catch up on some assessment first.

Oh, and.... an article in
shows that we're kind of cool around these parts.
"COLLEGE HAS STRONG WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH COMMUNITIES
The North Dakota State College of Science is one of the educational components that helps the two communities thrive. The two-year college has historically been associated with Wahpeton and Breckenridge since 1903. Now, it offers three components – Career and Technology Education programs, transfer programs, and workforce training across the state of North Dakota. “We really see ourselves as a state agency graduating and placing students in the state,” says Dr. John Richman, President of the College. “We are listening to their workforce needs providing customized, short-term training that an employee might have.” More than 2,800 students attend the 125-acre campus with 38 buildings, including a $5.7 million renovation of Horton Hall, which is one of the largest instructional facilities on campus. There are 300 fulltime and 300 part-time employees. One of the largest challenges is with the heavy emphasis in career and technological education, the school requires 8-10 times more resources than the college’s transfer programs. This includes physical space, equipment, the cost of training, and remaining certified. What has helped in all aspects of the college is the strong working relationship with Breckenridge and Wahpeton. “We share resources whenever possible,” Richman explains. “We look for partnerships and collaboration.”

Intriguing quotes from Downtown Owl, by Chuck Klosterman:
" 'Kids don't learn things anymore,' remarked Marvin Windows, the quietest of the six coffee drinkers. [...] 'They go to school all the time, but they don't listen to anyone and they don't read unless you stick a gun to their chest. All they care about is boom-boom music and computer games. And the teachers don't care. They teachers are just waiting for summer vacation. They're worse than the kids.' " (page44)
"If people only realized that you don't need someone else to invent your happiness, situations like [pregnancy as a teen] wouldn't happen." (page45)
"Society is so confused, Mitch thought. Everyone wanted to become the person they were already pretending to be." (page108)
"More than anything else, the point that 1984 kept ramming home was that Big Brother knew everything about everyone, and everyone just accepted this as part of being alive. No sh*t! How was this remotely different from reality? Everyone in Owl knew Laidlaw had impregnated Tina McAndrew. Everyone. [...] Everyone knew everything. So how was 1984 a dystopia? It seemed ordinary. What was so unusual about everyone knowing all the same things?" (page 111)
"Being a decent guy was no easier than being a terrible, secretive jacka**. He didn't feel less anxious or more content. He still had responsibilities and pressures. Most of the time, being a normal person was harder than the alternative." (page173)
Toby Haugen, page186. )
"What I have come to realize is that totally different people are still basically the same." (page224)
"The middle class does not exist. If you believe you are part of the middle class, it just means you're rich and insecure or poor and misinformed." (page229)
"Sometimes you think, Hey, maybe there's something else out there. But there really isn't. This is what being alive feels like, you know? The place doesn't matter. You just live." (page257)
"It's hard being wrong. It's hard being wrong about what you think you can do, and it's hard being wrong about who you are. People who are wrong during particularly important moments inevitably spend the rest of their lives trying to explain how their wrongness was paradoxically correct, or - at the very least - why their wrongness 'felt right at the time,' which is very, very differently from being authentically correct." (page261)

Good writing, Chuck. I wasn't sure how I felt about you doing fiction, but it was good. Almost as good as Killing Yourself to Live. Almost. That one is at the top, then this one. I need to check out Eating the Dinosaur next. After The How of Happiness.

[A few bloggers, who've popped up on my Google Reader lately, have written letters to their 16-year-old selves. I think this is neat, so I'm going to give it a go...]

Dear 16-year-old S,
I don't want to tell you too much because there are some things you'll need to learn on your own. But I will save you some stress - the first few guys you date are all test-runs; they are just growing up themselves, so view what they say and do like you do Mom's words. Speaking of Mom, what she has been telling you - that high school doesn't matter & that everyone becomes friends later at reunions - is half true. High school doesn't matter, but neither does college. In fact, there are popularity contests all through our lives, so don't worry about whether you are cool to others or not. You'll love graduate school, but I'm not going to tell you how you get there. Stick by your core group of friends; you'll reconnect with them at different points in your life. Stick by your family, and enjoy those Friday nights at home as you have been.

You are not fat, you are very smart, and you need to continue to ignore those who bully you for fun - they end up having crappy lives later on (that may be their own karma at work). Your hair and teeth get much better; you will not peak in high school with your looks - you have a nose to grow into, afterall.
Take care, and try not to worry too much,
-S