23 things #3

The hardest habit for me is to play. I have a hard time finding the time and the energy after working with students all day to indulge myself in an activity just for the fun of it. Unless I can count the weekly soak in a luxurious bubble bath. I understand the importance of play and relaxing activities, but they seem to be the hardest for me to schedule into my week. I have found that when I do take the time to play on the computer, I end up learning a lot of new ways to use different programs. Of course, I usually have some type of project that I need to accomplish that is the original motivation for playing on the computer. Time to explore and make mistakes is key for me.
The easiest habit would be to view problems as challenges. I am a problem-solver by nature and I've had enough problems in my life to be able to get over the "I give up" stage. I am not saying that the problems are easy, or the challenges are a piece of cake. That is hardly ever the case, but a lot of learning and creativity takes place in recognizing the problems and turning the brain around into seeing the new possibilities during the solution process. That is the skill I hope I can instill in my students.

Comments on Thing #1

Yeah! I figured out how to cut and paste into the blog and into the comments box from a word document. So you can view my comment on the Thing #1 page. I wonder how kids do it. They seem to have no fear when it comes to maneuvering around the computer programs and keyboard. I will say that most of what I have learned has been trial and error and just playing around with a program. It takes an initial investment of time and maybe a glass of wine, but I think I am a little more tech savey than some. I still have a lot to learn and I think that the more we learn, the more there will be to learn. So I guess we need a little of that "no fear" mentality of children as we explore this new frontier.

23 Things #2

Ok, so here I am again making another blog. This time it is for professional purposes and I am supposed to come up with really intelligent things to say. Even though I have another blog from my trip to Guatemala, I still feel like a beginner on this trek into the world wide web of information. I wrote a comment for the Thing #1 and can't figure out how to post it. Of course, to make sure it sounded intelligent, I first wrote it in a word document, and now I can't seem to cut and paste it into the comment box. Of course, I could just retype the comment, but that seems silly since technology is supposed to make life easier. SO, this blog will be a running record of how I progress in this land of technology. I get the big picture, but it is the little stuff that trips me up and makes this journey cumbersome at times, as all beginnings are.
Answers to question:

1. A good blog is interesting, colorful and easy to navigate. It should be easy to publish posts and comments to keep the flow of interaction going. The blog should also allow for creativity in placement of pictures, ease in uploading and downloading of documents, and ease in the sharing of information.
   
2. Right now it seems redundant to have a class web page and a blog page. On the web page I can supply all the information I need to for my students and parents, but the blog seems more like a diary, or a conversation rather than a tool for information.
   
3. Yes, blogs make it easy to self-publish and I see it as a tool for students to improve as young writers and also to be able to peer-edit as they comment on each others blogs.