Animation - The Itsy Bitsy Spider (sort of!)

This week's assignment was to create an animation using a free program.  I chose to use Stykz.  Drawing stick figures is about all the artistic ability I have unless you count my superior flower doodling skills.  Eddie Clarke sat behind me all through high school.  I seriously doubt there was an assignment of his I didn't draw a flower on :)

Since I spent a couple of days last week with my adorable nephew, the Itsy Bitsy Spider was stuck in my head.  I attempted to capture the "essence" of the popular children's song as the subject of my animation.  Let me know what you think.

Personal Logo and Self-Branding

Let me just start by saying - I did not like this week's assignment at first.  I hate having to think about words to describe me and who I am.  It reminds me of every dating site I have ever looked at :)  Since I just admitted to using dating sites, I was shocked last night when I was looking through my "matches" and one of the guys had posted the following quote.  Who knew that Maximus1808 would help me with my homework for the week?!?

Even as a finance professional, I realize it is all about marketing -- selling your brand to your target market to maximize sales and ensure customer loyalty. But, before you sell your brand, you have to know what you stand for -- it has to be more than just your product. What beliefs, convictions, or ideologies do you represent? What does your company stand for, and why does it resonate with your customers above all your competitors? This simple metaphor can also be applied on a personal level. I realize that before I can effectively describe what I am looking for in a match, it is incumbent for me to truly understand who I am and what I am looking for -and that includes the corollary, defining who I am not and am not looking for in a match.

I think he said it better than anyone else.  No - I am not interested in him, but I did message him to thank him for his insight and to let him know I would be sharing it with others :)

I am not going to go into my self discovery or rediscovery on here, but I will show you the logo I designed using www.pixlr.com.  I have always been petrified of Photoshop, and Pixlr is very similar, but I muddled through :)

Let me know what you think!

Web Conferences Reflection

During the school year, it was easy for me to attend web conferences.  I would stay at school and use the Internet connection there.  It never went out and I could always hear and see everything.  For this class, I had trouble with every conference I attempted to attend.  However, I would go back and watch the recordings and read the transcripts.  Our Facebook group for the class was also helpful.  Those who attended would post updates about the conference on the page.  This was usually to get quick help about an issue.  

 I was still in school for the first web conference for the class and unable to attend, so I watched the recording.  I must say watching the recording made me panic a little bit because I had questions I couldn’t ask, but they were answered because others had the same question.  Does that make sense?  I was on vacation during the conference on June 10 and tried to tune in, but was not successful.  I watch the recording for that web conference.  I had questions about creative commons and that was brought up.  Dr. Abernathy encouraged us to use tools like Google and You Tube to help us understand something if we did not.  In a way, she has helped me validate my own teaching methods in my technology class because I encourage my students to research and explore on their own.  Obviously, high school students need a little more direction, but I think the best learning takes place with hands-on experience.

 I attempted to attend the web conference on June 22, but my connection at home was giving me all sorts of trouble.  I would get on and then get kicked off.  Dr. Abernathy kept trying to let me back on, but it would immediately kick me back off.  I think the entire group on the conference was frustrated with me.  However, I did go back and watch most of the conference.  By this point our group was solid on our content and direction so we didn’t need any guidance there.  However, I think a lot of this conference had to do with whether or not there was a Week 4 Discussion Board and the ISTE conference (which had I not broken my leg, I would have attended!).

All in all, I appreciate the purpose of the web conference.  If I have learned one thing, it is that I must upgrade my Internet speed at home.  I also appreciate Dr. Abernathy taking the time to meet with us on conferences, but also her willingness to take phone calls and emails from us at practically any point in the day.

EDLD 5363 Wk 5

Reflection - Campus Based Intern Hours and Action Research Plan

Campus-Supervised Internship Activities – Reflection:

When I first started the program and saw how many hours we needed to complete for our internship, I thought it was going to be really difficult to accumulate 150 hours.  As I look back over the list of tasks I have completed or am in the process of completing, I have well over 75 hours.  My site supervisor is not my principal.  I am actually working with our district’s Special Programs Director.  She is the current CTE Director for our district as well, so most of my hours deal with assisting her or leading CTE monthly meetings.  Part of my assignment from her is to develop an online course catalog and course sequences for our district.  I am in the process of putting together an advisory board for our CTE department.  I am serving on the district’s technology committee.  We are developing a new Technology Use Policy for the district that will take into account the new iPads that teachers and students will have access to in the fall.  Other assignments have included coordinating and budgeting prom, attending a school board meeting, working a job fair at Sam Houston State University, observing and discussing observations with other teachers, and working with the technology and curriculum directors in developing classes for our July in-service meetings.  Working with these three directors helps me begin to create the path I want to take when finished with this program.

I have enjoyed doing school work that is not in the classroom specifically directed at students.  I look forward to more opportunities in the fall and spring of the upcoming school year.

Action Research Project Update and Reflection:

My action research project is off to a slow start.  I am also going to have to tweak some things due to CScope changes.  According to the timeline I set for myself, I should have started preliminary work at the end of April and beginning of May.  However, due to testing, UIL, Prom (which takes a lot more work than you would think), and breaking my leg, I got very little done.  I missed a week of school with the broken leg, and after that it was time for end of year procedures.  I am going to revamp my project and regroup with the intention of starting fresh in August.  One thing I have done on my project is look at state test scores for CTE students; however, I have not done the analysis I should have done.  I know that the action research project I have proposed could benefit the students at the high school so I will continue to work and research to make that happen.