Technology

I can't imagine my life without technology. I remember the days when the internet was new and we learned to type on typewriters. It is amazing how much things have changed in such a short period of time. In my daily life what technology do I use.....well at home it would be the computer, internet, cable, tv, my alarm clock to wake me up in the morning, my cell phone (which I can't imagine not having around, even though I didn't have one just 15 years ago) and the microwave to heat things up. At school we use lots of technology from computers, projectors, the distance learning lab (which I absolutely love), internet, telephones, and who knows what else there is.

I think the biggest technology innvention of my time period would be the computer. I think that it has completely changed the way we live our life and has broadened our world. The days of relying on telephone calls and the postal service to get our point across is gone. Everything has some sort connection to a computer. I can't imagine life without it.

A reflection on my life.....
The last couple of weeks have been a bit busy. I will mention one historical thing that I think all of us probably watched together and that was the inauguration of President Obama. We used our class time to watch the proceedings and write letters to the new president expressing our concerns and desires. I was very impressed with the letters that my students wrote and how touching so many of them are. It is amazing the knowledge that students have today of world issues or even issues closer to home. It made me very proud.

New Year New Bloggers

The end of the semester was busy but the students did an excellent job on finals. I am really impressed by my students this year. They have made two movies in my class. The first was showing diversity in Austin and the second educated us on different Latin America music genres. The students went above what I thought they would do and I was blown away by the results. I think everyone learned a lot from the project. I am hoping to arrange a Cinco de Mayo celebration for the students with another teacher on campus. We have already gotten St.Edwards Ballet Folklorico to come and perform for us.

We are now starting to learn about Europe and the students are starting to settle back into a normal school day pattern again. I think we all needed a nice long winter break. I spent part of my winter break in Missouri with my family. When I left Texas is was in the upper 70s and very humid....when I arrived in Missouri it was 12. I had a very cold visit to Missouri with a couple of days when the temperature only reached 3 degrees. Its amazing how spoiled I have gotten since I have moved to Texas. I am happy that it did snow when I was back home so I got a white christmas. The rest of my break was spent in Texas. I got to go see my Missouri Tigers play in the Alamo Bowl and win the game in overtime. It was a lot of fun and I hope the Tigers do better next time. The rest of my break was spent relaxing with friends. I wish my break was longer but it was time to come back and start working again.

This semester I am hoping to bring even more students on board with our blogging project. It will be fun to have new people to talk and share with. Thats all for now I look forward to reading all the new posts.

1st Blog of the New School Year

Well it is that time again..... Summer flew by and now I am back at school ready for another year at Anderson High School. I have a great new group of freshmen students that are ready to start blogging and meeting new students from South Korea, Australia, and California. It has been a really long week so far. It is always hard to start back to school and adjust to getting up earlier and having to teach again. I think the students are feeling it too. Usually by 8th period they are very loud and talkative. This week by the time 7th period arrives the students and myself all look like we are ready for a nap.

I will start by telling a little bit about what I did over my summer vacation. I worked a lot during vacation but I did manage a few short trips to Jacksonville, Florida and back home to Missouri. A friend of mine from Missouri was moving to Jacksonville and wondered if I could drive his car down for him while he drove the moving truck. So my sister and I flew to St. Louis arriving after 11:00 pm because of flight delays. The next morning we were up and ready to go at 6:00 am and started out on our adventure. Thirty minutes later and in Illinois the car broke down and we spent the next 2 1/2 hours on the side of the highway waiting for a tow truck and highway patrol. But they finally arrived and after 4 hours we were finally on the road again. We decided that we would take our time and enjoy our trip since we had already had such bad luck. We noticed a sign for a huge Superman statue in Metropolis, IL where the original Superman series was filmed. Of course we had to stop and have our photo taken. The other photos that I have included are from my adventures in Florida and the road trip getting there. The following week I was back on the road again heading to Missouri to visit family. While I was back home the Missouri State Fair was going on so of course I had to go. I've also included pictures from my Missouri trip as well.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a great year in room 241 at Anderson High School.