Because, I had a great time at the wedding last night! Reading the last post, I didn't have the greatest expectations for the wedding and I honestly thought I would be home in a couple of hours, but I drank and danced the night away. I had a great time with my friends and co-workers and I drank a lot of red wine! I staggered home with a couple that I used to work with, played with my doggie and then fell into bed. And I don't even have a hangover this morning!!!!! Bonus! I did sleep until almost 11AM, but to be fair, I was going to get up at 9 when I woke up, but it was thunder storming and I just didn't feel like it, so I went back to sleep until my mother called at 10:45.
Today, I'm having a lazy day. I cleaned my whole house really well yesterday and the only think that I might do is a bit of laundry. I will have to take the dog out for a walk, but after that I'm going to watch tv, read a book, work on my knitting-- whatever I want. Good day!!
So, in conclusion, I had a great time unexpectedly. A pleasant surprise indeed!
That's what I now think about weddings!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Am I a bitch?
I really do want to know.
I have been asked by my friend to accompany her and her boyfriend to the wedding of a coworker who is getting married tonight. Here's the rub, I wasn't actually invited. Yes, the bride put up a sign up sheet in the staff room for people that wanted to attend, but my friend also received an invitation; I did not. I thought that I would be on a road trip with my cousin right now and so I didn't sign up. I also have issues with signing up for a wedding. It's like I'm begging to come to the social event of the year and the Bride will look at my application and see if I'm worthy. If you want me to come to your wedding, print off an invitation and give it to me so that I feel like I'm wanted.
I am happy for the Bride and Groom, but I am in such a funk these days, I don't think I'll be much fun. I don't actually enjoy weddings as a rule. I can't remember the last wedding that I went to where I thought, "Boy, that was a fun wedding!" I've had an okay time at a couple of weddings, but I haven't had a blast. It doesn't help that I'm a singleton and I usually go solo. My cousin is getting married at the end of August and I'm excited for that wedding but more because all of my extended family will be there and I have a blast with them. It is also going to be held at a nightclub, so dancing will be much better than at other wedding venues where you either have to be shitfaced or you just sway back and forth because the lights are so bright and you are self-conscious.
Well, I'll go for a few hours tonight and try to have a good time. I think that I've just answered my own question. Yes, I am a bitch. But, I'm not the only one out there- this I know for sure!
That's what I think about weddings. Harumph!
I have been asked by my friend to accompany her and her boyfriend to the wedding of a coworker who is getting married tonight. Here's the rub, I wasn't actually invited. Yes, the bride put up a sign up sheet in the staff room for people that wanted to attend, but my friend also received an invitation; I did not. I thought that I would be on a road trip with my cousin right now and so I didn't sign up. I also have issues with signing up for a wedding. It's like I'm begging to come to the social event of the year and the Bride will look at my application and see if I'm worthy. If you want me to come to your wedding, print off an invitation and give it to me so that I feel like I'm wanted.
I am happy for the Bride and Groom, but I am in such a funk these days, I don't think I'll be much fun. I don't actually enjoy weddings as a rule. I can't remember the last wedding that I went to where I thought, "Boy, that was a fun wedding!" I've had an okay time at a couple of weddings, but I haven't had a blast. It doesn't help that I'm a singleton and I usually go solo. My cousin is getting married at the end of August and I'm excited for that wedding but more because all of my extended family will be there and I have a blast with them. It is also going to be held at a nightclub, so dancing will be much better than at other wedding venues where you either have to be shitfaced or you just sway back and forth because the lights are so bright and you are self-conscious.
Well, I'll go for a few hours tonight and try to have a good time. I think that I've just answered my own question. Yes, I am a bitch. But, I'm not the only one out there- this I know for sure!
That's what I think about weddings. Harumph!
Friday, July 29, 2011
A time for reflection
It is almost August and I am reflecting on a few things. The past few months have been very difficult for me, both personally and professionally.
The school year ended with teachers in Saskatchewan going on strike for three days. This was not only a financial burden, it was also a blow to my professional self-esteem. I found the comments about teachers on the news sites and in the paper to be a big wake-up call for me. I always thought that teachers were well thought of by parents and students- in general. There is always a few rotten apples in the barrel, but the ignorant comments from Joe Public really stung and for the first time I was feeling bad about my chosen career. Not only did I feel attacked by the people of Saskatchewan, but I also felt that my government created a campaign against teachers to break us down morally and emotionally. A fact that was basically confirmed by our bargaining committee. I think this was the most upsetting; a government is supposed to protect and stand up for all of its citizens and here they were- planning and implementing a strategy designed to hurt. I know that I am 30 years old, but I think that my childish innocence about government was shattered. I am still sick to my stomach when I think about it and now we have gone to mediation for a small percentage more than the government offered and I wonder what it was all for? Why did we walk off the job, put ourselves out there for ridicule and to be broken? Was it worth it? I don't know.
Now it's summer and I'm supposed to recharge my batteries except that I have volunteered for a non-profit organization and the drama that has ensued has made my summer more stressful than working. I joined the board to help and a few of us seemed to do nothing but try to "manage" grown women who should know how to behave. Our leader is sick in the hospital and is fighting to recover from a serious illness and this drama was picked up by myself and a few others. I am exhausted and not sure how much longer I can do this for. I now feel like I can't resign because we've lost three pretty big contributors already and I feel as though I would be leaving the organization high and dry. I am also afraid that I will look like a shit for quitting. I don't know where it will end, but I know this, when I go back to school at the end of August, I will be cutting back.
When I get back to school, I will be faced with a multimillion dollar renovation and I am dreading that. We have basically been told that it will be 2-3 years of hell and we need to be prepared. Goody! I am prepared, but when my volunteer work is stressing me out and my work is stressing me out, something will give and I can tell you that my volunteer work doesn't pay my mortgage, so I know what will be cut out of my life. I hope it doesn't come to it, but I am prepared in case it does.
This blog has changed for me. It started out as an assignment for one of my grad classes, then became a sort of professional blog and now I think it will be my personal blog. The title fits. Nobody reads this, so it will be an online diary for myself and I will be able to trace my life through the postings. If you have stumbled across this blog by accident, I hope you will leave a comment and let me know that you were here.
That's what I think...
Katie
The school year ended with teachers in Saskatchewan going on strike for three days. This was not only a financial burden, it was also a blow to my professional self-esteem. I found the comments about teachers on the news sites and in the paper to be a big wake-up call for me. I always thought that teachers were well thought of by parents and students- in general. There is always a few rotten apples in the barrel, but the ignorant comments from Joe Public really stung and for the first time I was feeling bad about my chosen career. Not only did I feel attacked by the people of Saskatchewan, but I also felt that my government created a campaign against teachers to break us down morally and emotionally. A fact that was basically confirmed by our bargaining committee. I think this was the most upsetting; a government is supposed to protect and stand up for all of its citizens and here they were- planning and implementing a strategy designed to hurt. I know that I am 30 years old, but I think that my childish innocence about government was shattered. I am still sick to my stomach when I think about it and now we have gone to mediation for a small percentage more than the government offered and I wonder what it was all for? Why did we walk off the job, put ourselves out there for ridicule and to be broken? Was it worth it? I don't know.
Now it's summer and I'm supposed to recharge my batteries except that I have volunteered for a non-profit organization and the drama that has ensued has made my summer more stressful than working. I joined the board to help and a few of us seemed to do nothing but try to "manage" grown women who should know how to behave. Our leader is sick in the hospital and is fighting to recover from a serious illness and this drama was picked up by myself and a few others. I am exhausted and not sure how much longer I can do this for. I now feel like I can't resign because we've lost three pretty big contributors already and I feel as though I would be leaving the organization high and dry. I am also afraid that I will look like a shit for quitting. I don't know where it will end, but I know this, when I go back to school at the end of August, I will be cutting back.
When I get back to school, I will be faced with a multimillion dollar renovation and I am dreading that. We have basically been told that it will be 2-3 years of hell and we need to be prepared. Goody! I am prepared, but when my volunteer work is stressing me out and my work is stressing me out, something will give and I can tell you that my volunteer work doesn't pay my mortgage, so I know what will be cut out of my life. I hope it doesn't come to it, but I am prepared in case it does.
This blog has changed for me. It started out as an assignment for one of my grad classes, then became a sort of professional blog and now I think it will be my personal blog. The title fits. Nobody reads this, so it will be an online diary for myself and I will be able to trace my life through the postings. If you have stumbled across this blog by accident, I hope you will leave a comment and let me know that you were here.
That's what I think...
Katie
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Assessment?? Of whom exactly?
As part of my professional venting system, I will continue to blog. I have found that this is a way for me to get my frustrations out even if it just sits in cyberspace taking up room on Blogger's server. It is my zen.
Can I say that I am sick sick sick of talking about assessment. Not so much the ideas of assessment and that we should be doing authentic assessment (what is that really anyway?). But that it is being shoved down our throats by the government and school division. I feel like they are saying that we, as teachers, have been doing a terrible job and we need to be re-taught how is should be. Many of these concepts that they are preaching, are done every day, we just don't sit down and feel the need to name them and make us feel important. We had to sit through an entire day on assessment and guess what? I don't even remember enough about it- apart from that I hated it- to even complain about!! Yes, we've got the free books and yes, we have to call it a name, but please don't treat us like we are stupid. Please don't shove this at us and say, "This is how it should be done." What happened to professional treatment? I have a Bachelor AND a Master of education degree- I understand the concept of assessment vs. evaluation. As high school teachers, assessment and evaluations were the lone weapon that we had to make kids hand-in assignments, behave in class and study for tests. Now we are told that we can't take marks off for lates, can't assign a grade for participation and attitude (even if we have a rubric) or let kids fail a test if they didn't study. No! Now they tell us that it won't be an authentic record of what kids are learning. Well, please give us an alternative.
The other point that I have issue with is the fact that this is another band wagon that everyone has jumped on. I guess that I should stop complaining and wait until this fad peters out. I'm just saying that in the 8 years that I've been teaching, I've seen a few fantastic educational leaders come and go. Does anyone remember the Dufours?? I'm sure as hell not doing and PLC's anymore. Just sayin'...
That's what I think about the "new" assessment.
Katie
Can I say that I am sick sick sick of talking about assessment. Not so much the ideas of assessment and that we should be doing authentic assessment (what is that really anyway?). But that it is being shoved down our throats by the government and school division. I feel like they are saying that we, as teachers, have been doing a terrible job and we need to be re-taught how is should be. Many of these concepts that they are preaching, are done every day, we just don't sit down and feel the need to name them and make us feel important. We had to sit through an entire day on assessment and guess what? I don't even remember enough about it- apart from that I hated it- to even complain about!! Yes, we've got the free books and yes, we have to call it a name, but please don't treat us like we are stupid. Please don't shove this at us and say, "This is how it should be done." What happened to professional treatment? I have a Bachelor AND a Master of education degree- I understand the concept of assessment vs. evaluation. As high school teachers, assessment and evaluations were the lone weapon that we had to make kids hand-in assignments, behave in class and study for tests. Now we are told that we can't take marks off for lates, can't assign a grade for participation and attitude (even if we have a rubric) or let kids fail a test if they didn't study. No! Now they tell us that it won't be an authentic record of what kids are learning. Well, please give us an alternative.
The other point that I have issue with is the fact that this is another band wagon that everyone has jumped on. I guess that I should stop complaining and wait until this fad peters out. I'm just saying that in the 8 years that I've been teaching, I've seen a few fantastic educational leaders come and go. Does anyone remember the Dufours?? I'm sure as hell not doing and PLC's anymore. Just sayin'...
That's what I think about the "new" assessment.
Katie
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Final Reflection
This is my last blog post for ECI 832 and I have to admit that it is bitter sweet for me. I have really enjoyed the opportunity and freedom to explore and play in the sandbox with everyone in my class. I am genuinely going to miss posting my thoughts and reading others' ideas and experiences. As with my last class to use this blog, I will try and keep my blogging up as I go through and experience more in my teaching career. I still have to write a paper and post to the forum in my other class, but after April 15th, I will have completed my Masters in C&I and will not have to take classes. I have stated before that the best part of all of my classes, be it online or on campus, is the interaction with my fellow educators and the learning that I get from them- from you.
I'm going to answer each of Marnie's questions and then post some final thoughts after. I don't want to get too far off track! J
Question #1-
- What new understandings of the role of educational technology to support learning have you gained, acted on or perhaps strengthened?
I think that I have always had an interest in technology, but I always thought of it as a gimmick and not as a way to enhance student learning. I thought that it was something flashy that I could use to impress the students and my fellow teachers. Through this class and by taking a step back to evaluate and critique various technologies, I have been able to look at them as a way to deliver content and to reach students. I've never had much luck collaborating with my fellow teachers and through my final project, I am now working with two ELA teachers on their particular topics. I have had the chance to follow some other educators through their blogs and read about their ideas and questions about technology and gather information to form my own opinions. I also got the chance to explore programs that I never thought I would ever use (such as Second Life and Twitter) and have found them to be extremely interesting (going to the Globe Theatre in 17th century England was a highlight) and such an interesting way to reach learners. Above all, I have found that through this course I have had the opportunity to objectively look at my own teaching in general and my own views and beliefs about technology. It has opened my eyes to a new way of reflecting and growing from my experiences and to be ok with making mistakes and to embrace them as learning experiences. I think that the blog has been a safe way to express myself and this is another reason that I will try and continue using it as an electronic journal.
Question #2-
- What has had the most influence on your horizon of understanding?
I would have to say that it was a combination of my edu-tech blog (Will Richardson) and my classmates' blogs. I really enjoyed reading about the experiences of everyone in the class and even though I didn't always have time to leave a comment, I read a lot of your information and I found myself nodding my head with you or having "a ha" moments at my computer desk. I also have to say that the sandbox exploration also had an influence- I was asked to play and to explore new ideas and that was a lot of fun.
Question #3-
- What new questions have emerged for you?
I have a few of questions swirling around in my head:
- How can I get the teachers at my school to be more enthusiastic about technology? How can I get them to try a few of the things that I have tried and get them to use it in their teaching?
- How will I keep up with all of the technology?
- Will I still be as pumped up about all of this in two months? Two years?
- How can I get the division on my side and work with us to start heading in the same direction? Is it possible?
- What is the new stuff coming down the line? Are there trends that I should be looking out for?
Some last thoughts
I want to thank everyone for their time and comments- I really had fun.
I am applying to go to the eLearning conference in Edmonton this year. I saw an email about it and I am very interested in what I could learn there and it is primarily due to this course and that is exciting for me.
I am going to pledge to try and keep up my blogging and to try and keep a critical and open mind about technology in the future.
Cheers!
Katie
Monday, March 22, 2010
Online PD
This week's topic was very interesting for me because of my seminar that I am leading this week in 830- my topic is Technology and Professional Development, so this is a very timely topic.
As I was doing research on professional development and technology, I came across a couple of articles that suggested online PLCs and social networking sites and I was very interested. So, for this week's exploration, I chose to join the Classroom 2.0 site. I was very glad that I did because it is a really neat way to do PD!
I joined the Beginners site to start with and found lots of really useful information. One of the discussion topics was called Twitter for Beginners. I recently joined Twitter and I found that the suggestions and information in that discussion thread was really useful for me. I also found the wiki section really useful, even though I have used wikis in the past, there was information in the discussion that I wasn't aware of and suggestions on usage that I had not thought of previously.
I also like the idea of an individualized PD opportunity and also an ongoing one. It is nice to be able to ask questions and get feedback. It is not a presentation on something that I have no interest in (like some PD that we get), but it is an online community that is accessible 24/7.
As I was doing research on professional development and technology, I came across a couple of articles that suggested online PLCs and social networking sites and I was very interested. So, for this week's exploration, I chose to join the Classroom 2.0 site. I was very glad that I did because it is a really neat way to do PD!
I joined the Beginners site to start with and found lots of really useful information. One of the discussion topics was called Twitter for Beginners. I recently joined Twitter and I found that the suggestions and information in that discussion thread was really useful for me. I also found the wiki section really useful, even though I have used wikis in the past, there was information in the discussion that I wasn't aware of and suggestions on usage that I had not thought of previously.
I also like the idea of an individualized PD opportunity and also an ongoing one. It is nice to be able to ask questions and get feedback. It is not a presentation on something that I have no interest in (like some PD that we get), but it is an online community that is accessible 24/7.
Friday, March 19, 2010
What's Wrong with the Web?
Will Richardson posted something very poignant for me today- he was addressing a recent article in the New York Times called "Texts without Context" and he lists major issues with the internet today, by summarizing some of the issues in the article:
* Copyright and intellectual property are no longer respected
* Plagiarism is rampant
* Originality and imagination are being lost
* We are losing our ability to think deeply and creatively
* We now just want immediate gratification
* Information overload
* Further polarization of political views
* A loss of the ability to read extended texts
* An impatience with nuance
* A loss of focus in a world of distraction
* The sense of immature entitlement on the part of social media users
* Decrease in overall quality of work
* “Cyberbalkanization” or a growing comfort in the echo chamber
* Loss of serendipity
* Loss of an objective reality (i.e. the debate over climate change)
* The end of authorship
* Groupthink
* Etc.
Wow! This is very similar to a lot of the issues that I have been discussing with my classes (ECI 832 and 830). A lot of these points have been discussed through the chat room, forums and on the blogs. The comments that have been made, and there are only 5 so far, have been interesting as well. Some people blame our society, that we now all have forms of ADD and our attention spans (or lack of) have caused these problems. Some say that education is the key to solving these problems, which I think is a pretty broad answer and as we've been asking- How?? How can we solve these huge issues? Can we use these issues to our advantage? Does knowing what the issues are give us an edge to be able to reach learners in a more informed way?
My head actually begins to spin when I look at that list because I've really been intensively involved in looking at them for about three months now and it's all getting a bit blurry- I'm sure those of you who are also in the two classes or any other technology course are also getting a bit battle fatigued. This is what I will be thinking about for the next little while, but it is nice to actually have a nicely constructed list to work from.
Until next time...
* Copyright and intellectual property are no longer respected
* Plagiarism is rampant
* Originality and imagination are being lost
* We are losing our ability to think deeply and creatively
* We now just want immediate gratification
* Information overload
* Further polarization of political views
* A loss of the ability to read extended texts
* An impatience with nuance
* A loss of focus in a world of distraction
* The sense of immature entitlement on the part of social media users
* Decrease in overall quality of work
* “Cyberbalkanization” or a growing comfort in the echo chamber
* Loss of serendipity
* Loss of an objective reality (i.e. the debate over climate change)
* The end of authorship
* Groupthink
* Etc.
Wow! This is very similar to a lot of the issues that I have been discussing with my classes (ECI 832 and 830). A lot of these points have been discussed through the chat room, forums and on the blogs. The comments that have been made, and there are only 5 so far, have been interesting as well. Some people blame our society, that we now all have forms of ADD and our attention spans (or lack of) have caused these problems. Some say that education is the key to solving these problems, which I think is a pretty broad answer and as we've been asking- How?? How can we solve these huge issues? Can we use these issues to our advantage? Does knowing what the issues are give us an edge to be able to reach learners in a more informed way?
My head actually begins to spin when I look at that list because I've really been intensively involved in looking at them for about three months now and it's all getting a bit blurry- I'm sure those of you who are also in the two classes or any other technology course are also getting a bit battle fatigued. This is what I will be thinking about for the next little while, but it is nice to actually have a nicely constructed list to work from.
Until next time...
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