Thursday, June 19, 2008

Wonderful Wednesday

Today was as great as the other ones. We focused on operating our ipods to create podcasts. All the information was very helpful. We had more time to collaborate as a group working on our lesson plans and group presentation. During our collaboration, we discussed and made plans to introduce blogging and creating podcasts to our students. We will assist the students in creating and operating their own blog pages and podcasts. I strongly believe our students will adopt and appreciate this opportunity. The generation we are working with is very technology literate and is excited about it. Learning is fun to them when presented using technology. It will not surprise me that when I introduce these new ideas to them, they will school me on a couple of the ins and outs of blogging and podcasting. I can hardly wait to see their pages and hearing their podcasts. I'm extremely excited about transporting this information back to my students and other teachers throughout the district.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Terrific Tuesday

Today was even better than yesterday. We looked at poetry from various points of view. I really enjoyed the assignment we did as a class and in pairs. We were given a painting to observe and interpret. It was enlightening to hear all the different perspectives the group brought out about the same picture. Then we were given the instructions to individually choose a picture and perform the observation and interpretation on it. The observations and interpretations led to our poetry writing. The picture I chose was Sunlight and Shadow by Allan Rohan Crite. It was an awesome piece to me. The picture appeared to me as a family uniting in one member’s time of need. It also showed hope in spite of your sorrows. I chose to write two different poems expressing both angles.


HOPE
Through the sadness and sorrow
Family can help vision hope for tomorrow
Lift your chin up and let it all out
Family is right there for you without a doubt
So you got some bad news
No, it’s not the end
Look up and around you
Gather strength from God that is provided through your friend
Your day seems gloomy but the sun is shining through
Let go of the worry and allow it to revive you
There is HOPE.

NO MATTER WHAT
So you’re feeling down
and a bit distressed
Here is my shoulder,
lay your head down and rest
We see you’re hurt,
it almost brings tears
But you know we are here,
as we’ve been for years
No one may understand
what you are going through
Even if we’re clueless,
we are always here for you.
The children are wondering
what has went wrong
For they are accustomed
to the family staying strong
No matter what,
we won’t let you down
We will combine our strength
to lift you off the ground

I did not use big words so that every person reading this will be able to connect with and understand my poetry.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

New Experiences

My experience in Washington DC is awesome so far. On the first night, we went out and viewed various monuments. It was great. The best part of all is I rode the Metro! I am 29 years old and this was the very first time I had such an experience. It was amazing to me to see so many people back and forth and in and out. People were running trying not to miss their rides. I must admit, the subway looks nothing like I had imagined. It was fairly clean. On the first night, we went on a tour of the city. It is beautiful here. On the tour we got the opportunity to witness the president returning home. It was very exciting to me. I only wished to get off the bus more and spend more time looking at the monuments.

Day one at the museum was good; busy but good. We had the opportunity to view various pieces of great art work. It was amazing to see so much creativity of all sorts in one place. I only wished we had more time to spend looking at the art on our own. I know it will come tomorrow. We listened to several great presenters. Each of them had very informative information to share with us. I now have a clear using of primary and secondary sources. Brian did a good job showing us how to intergrate art into our lesson plans. I was able to brainstorm ideas as to how to present
art to my students in a fun and exciting way.