Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Journal # 2


Hadley Ferguson. (2010). Join the flock.Learning and Leading with Technology,37(8), 13-17. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october-2011.aspx

Hadley Ferguson. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Learning and Leading with Technology37(8), 13-17. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october-2011.aspx

Hadley Ferguson delves into the arena of the social network called Twitter. Being in the professional realm of education and teaching, Ferguson highlights the most important aspects of Twitter and the fact that it does not have to be utilized primarily for fun and games. With the description of a PLN, also known as a community of individuals gathering together to share new information, it can be acknowledged that Twitter is more than just a social networking site. It is a place where professionals can join together and provide new insight and tools to utilize in their field of work. 
Ferguson thoroughly describes the ways in which to obtain a Twitter account and the tricks to getting started. The great thing about Twitter, she describes, is the fact that you can follow anyone without them even knowing it. It is nice to know that the level of participation is up to the individual themselves. Once one decides to start exposing themselves, it is time to being tweeting new information. Ferguson describes that using a hash-tag (#) is a great way to spread one's new information to the public sphere, while also allowing oneself to divulge into topic specific information from other people.

Question #1:

How can I incorporate this in my classroom?

These next generations of students are extremely more technologically savvy than older generations. With this onset of a more technical age, students have explored many areas of the internet and beyond. I believe that using instruments such as Twitter can allow my students to learn in different ways. It will open up their horizons of thought and use creative skills that they might not even know they have. One way I think this would be useful in a classroom would be if the students were to obtain a "student" Twitter account to help aid in classroom discussions or debates. Students would be able to continue the classroom conversation at home. It would also be beneficial to obtain new teaching strategies from other professionals in the field.

Question #2:

How much is too much?

First of all, the students that would be involved in Tweeting would have to be of mature age. I can not picture a classroom of 4th or 5th graders maturely utilizing Twitter for educational purposes. Also, the boundary lines between the relationship of teacher and student could be crossed very easily. Students may also utilized this system to bully and not take this opportunity seriously...

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Journal Entry #1...100 Things That Make Me Happy...

1. Family
2. Friends
3. My boyfriend (Solomon) :-)
4. My puppies, Mylo (white lab), Maggie (Cockerspaniel)
5. Camping
6. The beach
7. Sunsets
8. Sunrises
9. Elderly people (I work in a retirement home and all the residents are like my second grandparents...They make me smile everyday )
10. Reading
11. Traveling
12. Europe
13. Hawaii
14. Flowers
15. The ocean
16. Horses
17. Meeting new people
18. Ice Cold Beer
19. Eating
20. Exercising
21. Rain
22. Snowboarding
23. Playing in the snow
24. Campfires
25. Boogie Boarding
26. Playing Basketball
27. Watching Basketball
28. Watching Football
29. Picking a day to do absolutely nothing...being lazy :-)
30. Being Productive
31. Learning about new cultures
32. Immersing myself in new cultures
33. Dancing
34. Wine
35. Laughing
36. Going to the movie theatres
37. Swimming
38. Jacuzzis
39. Shopping
40. History
41. Having deep conversations
42. Children
43. Museums
44. the Internet
45. My cell phone (sometimes...)
46. Christmas time
47. The feeling of Fall
48. Decorating for Holidays
49. My Birthday
50. Road trips
51. Music
52. Blaring music in my car
53. Teaching
54. Education
55. Getting paid
56. Volunteering
57. Tutoring
58. Vacations
59. Making someone smile or laugh
60. Window shopping
61. Dressing up to go out
62. Surprises
63. Babysitting
64. Texting
65. Playing X-Box or Playstation (yes, I can be a nerd sometimes)
66. Going out to restaurants
67. Buying gifts for people
68. Being creative
69. Sleep!
70. Christmas morning
71. Drinking tea on a rainy day
72. Coffee in the mornings
73. Popcorn
74. Hiking
75. Biking
76. Fishing
77. Boating
78. White water rafting
79. Canoeing
80. Snorkeling
81. Jet skiing
82. Tubing
83. Horseback riding
84. Trying new things
85. Socializing
86. Cooking
87. Baking
88. Candles
89. The smell of rain
90. Rainbows
91. Puppies
92. Nature
93. Picnics
94. Ice Cream
95. The Oprah Winfrey Network
96. Watching TV
97. Funny videos on youtube...Tosh.O
98. Ice in drinks
99. Surfing
100.Flowers


The list gets kind of random! But that pretty much sums everything up :-)

Monday, September 5, 2011

A Little Bit About Me...

I am the first born out of 3 girls. I was born in Camden, New Jersey on May 14, 1988. I lived there for about a year of my life. My dad was in the Navy so we moved around a lot as a family. After I was born, we moved out to San Diego and lived there for a few years, only to find ourselves moving up North to Monterey soon after. After my two younger sisters were born, we moved  back down to San Diego for the remaining period of my life.
I went to an all girls Catholic high school called the Academy of Our Lady of Peace (OLP) in San Diego. These four years I spent at this school were the most academically challenging experience I had ever gone through... They were known for their academics... It was also the most amazing experience because I met the closest and best friends any girl could ask for. I graduated in 2006 and I am still extremely close to my high school friends today. High school was a challenging, yet memorable experience that I will never forget.

I recently graduated from Cal State San Marcos with my BA in History. Within those 5 years of working towards my bachelor's degree, I was able to find a semester to study abroad  in Sicily. This was an experience that I will NEVER forget... It was fun, yet extremely challenging...We lived in a tiny ancient village off the coast of Southern Sicily. The way of life was very old fashioned and it took a little while to get adjusted. It was nice to take myself out of the fast paced life in America and revert back to a simple way of living. While in Sicily I was able to volunteer at an elementary school and teach English lessons to a class of 8 year olds. This was when I officially decided that I wanted to teach. Even though these kids did not speak an ounce of English, I was able to relate and communicate with them in different ways. I fell in love with them!

I remember my family's first computer was an old Mac. We got it when I was about 10-12 years old.  I was was always playing different games such as Oregon Trail or Mavis Beacon teaches typing. In high school I remember that I always loved creating Power-points for classes. I loved being creative and thinking of new ways to awe my class. I feel that for the most part I am pretty technologically savvy. If something is wrong with my computer or cell phone, I can usually figure it out for the most part. I find it interesting how technology gets better and better over the years. With each piece of technology  that I have, such as my computer or cell phone, it gets old rather quickly because there is something bigger and better out there. I have an Android right now and I am already bored with it and ready for that Iphone 5 ... :-) I can not wait to see what the world of technology has to offer 15-20 years from now!

While the entire mission statement for the College of Education is important, I found that the line that spoke volumes to me was, "We are committed to diversity, educational equity, and social justice..." It is important to establish lines of trust and equality within classroom environments. This allows students to strive for their best and believe in themselves as individuals rather than parts of a whole.