Wow! What a fast slow ride it has been! I can’t really beleive the end (or the begining ?) is here. It’s so much a metaphor that it reminds me of how I feel about this class. It has been really difficult much of the time, mostly completing projects at such a fast pace with very little expirence. It faintly reminded me of when I returned to college after 20 years and wasn’t very fluent with computers or processing programs. It was like tourture trying to figure the stuff out under a strict deadline and then getting caught up on little things or a button that I would hit inadvertantly! I wish someone told me there was a back button! I did get through it and I am better for it now! This class is alot of the same I think that everyrhing is important and I do not take anything for granted becasue I may need it for the future. On the other hand it is hard to justify all the hard work because of the different constraints that go along with this knowledge. Not being able to use, not having time to master the programs and not all of them being relevant to what I am trying to accomplish. But all in all I really did learn a lot of new things and I do hope to be able to put them to use in the future (if they don’t change on me!) And I do see myself as being a teacher who is a life learner and someone who likes to keep up with the times so I will try to use my new knowledge and pass it along to my students!

Wow! It is so close to the end of the semester and I am assessing the value of the things that we have learned about and should be using. I feel that all everything has been very interesting and could be useful if only the schools would take a chance with unblocking the resources. Personally i do feel they are valuable and having said that I go home many times and show my own children things that were tauhgt. Of course sometimes they are way ahead of me but others they are not. The only problem is that because most schools have these things blocked there is not a place for them to use them as constructive tools rather than only personal entertainment. This can be overcome by presuring by teachers, parents, students and especially bussinesses and community. Otherwise the great divide between students and teachers will become deeper.

Today my post will talk about my students who have basically shut down and are not completing much work. The spring fever bug has already caught on and they cannot focus and do thier best to finish the year off on a strong note. I guess this is pretty much normal and should be expected but none the less is still frustrating for teachers. I am hoping that the spring break will help refresh them and they will return with some much needed energy to get them through till graduation. In the meanwhile I will also get some much needed rest and recharge to keep me going!!

It feels like it has been forever since I last blogged. I guess it has been awhile since the last time was right after my paper was completed. Well we are talking about powerpoints and all of the pros and cons that go along with them. I do believe that even at a basic level they can give good learning opprotunities but have even thought about how brainless they can become once you know exactly what your doing. I realized this while my own son was making a PP a few years ago becasue he was blowing through the project so fast. Cut copy paste. Thats all you have to do? I would ask him. Well I feel that is all changing and students need to show some substance behind all the great pictures. I will be sure to add specific guidlines that can help curb this problem.