VoiceThread Project

I figured since this assignment included my voice that I would include actual pictures of me.  If there is anything I hate more than pictures of me it is the sound of my voice so...  I included the pictures from this trip because it is probably one of the most memorable trips that I have taken. We spend two weeks in Orlando with adjoining rooms (1 for the boys and 1 for my husband and I) in the actual Disney World Park so we got early entry everyday and a shuttle to any of the multiple parks there are.  Discovery Cove was rather new at the time and it is an exclusive park built by Sea World where you spend the entire day in the park swimming with manta rays, sharks, barracuda (sharks and barracuda behind a thick wall of glass for safety) and dolphins.  All of the equipment you need to snorkel the giant aquarium or float the rapids were part of the entry fee which also included a gourmet lunch, all beverages, wet suit, etc.  That day was so special because I had arranged with the park to have a surprise for my son's first "teenage" birthday and we had cake and ice cream after our lunch.  They even sang to him, 

Dolly too! Now it is four years later and it amazes me every time I look at him how much older he looks.  He looked young for even a thirteen year old but he didn't stay that way!  Once we returned from this trip both he and I started school, him in high school and me in college.  Now he jokes that we will go on Spring Break together.  I bless my lucky stars that my 17 year old would actually want to go on Spring Break with his old mom.

Sense of Place Poster Project

I really enjoyed putting together the sense of place poster.  Even though my "sense of place" was global.  (I really appreciate how flexible Skip is as a teacher.  It is a great example to me of how I should be in the classroom.) I didn't want to do the same old thing about me.  I'm boring!  And I haven't really any pictures of me that are current unless you count my drivers license.  (Which is actually a pretty good picture, go figure!) 

What I enjoyed the most was how well it turned out.  This would be great to use in the classroom as the product is perfect for the kids to show and to take home.  Honestly, the outcome was much better than the actual amount of work I feel it was.  It would be especially useful for students if they were doing Geography or Social Studies.  And I just thought about the lesson plan I am doing for a Weather unit, a poster of the different types of clouds would be easy to create to have as a reference in the classroom for the kids.  For the kids in my class now I could use the slide show I made of the visits their pen pal has made around the world into a poster they could hang in their classroom.  There are so many uses that I could just go on and on.  So I won't.   

panraven slide show

These are only some of the places that I would like to visit.  Given the choice, I would go EVERYWHERE!  So here goes....The only reason I can come up with for wanting to go to Istanbul is that it is a city so rich with history.  I like the name too.  I want to go to Greece because it is the birthplace of democracy and it is warm! (I miss that now that  it snowed a foot over night!  In April too.  So much for Global warming.) In a world where democracy is still such a hot topic, it is difficult to think that it actually started so very long ago.    Antarctica would just be too cool, literally!  The Galapagos would be fascinating because it is this small microcosm of a place that has it's very own species that can't be found anywhere else.  This is one of the things that I enjoyed about Hawaii.  It just solidifies the thought that life continues.  Life is a very powerful thing and will always find a way to continue.  Life is the ultimate example of the statement "Bloom where you're planted."  Micronesia.  I have wanted to go there for years.  It is supposed to have the best diving anywhere and I am an aficionado.  Of course, living in the interior of Alaska, I don't get to do that very often.  Egypt because of the history of the place.  The pyramids are thousands of years old.  When I compare that to things in the United States it just blows my mind.  We are proud of ourselves when we rehab a building that is a hundred years old!  The last place is Jerusalem.  I want to go to Jerusalem because it is the birthplace of the worlds three most prominent religions.  Islam, Judaism and Christianity all formed in this place.  Such hallowed ground for any believer and yet it has a history of immense conflict and constant bloodshed.  Will it ever be safe enough for me to visit?  So the most common reason I want to go somewhere is it's history.  Perhaps I should have been a history major.  If I could have any job I chose it would be world traveler.  But since Samantha Brown seems to have that one tied up for now I will simply share with my students the awesome world we live in and hopefully inspire them to become students of the world.

Me, Again?

I have decided that I must be anti-social at heart. I just don't understand the whole my space.com, friends.com, etc., etc. Why would anyone be interested in anything that I have to say? I lead a very normal life that is centered around my family and school. What's so interesting about that? I am probably anti-picture too. I see people with nothing but photos on their computers of friends and family. I don't have any pictures. I have never liked having my picture taken and I am always so busy doing whatever it is that I am doing that I never get around to actually taking any pictures. The most recent picture of me is almost always my drivers license photo! This time it is actually a pretty good one. Although I will share a secret, when I was 5 and growing up in Texas, I did the whole pageant thing and I actually almost always got Miss Photogenic! Go figure. That was just until I won Little Miss Copperas Cove, the big prize. I still remember the dress. It was a frothy pink, truly hideous creation. I looked like a walking cupcake. Maybe that's why I don't like having my picture taken.
Okay, my gripe for today is the punishments used in Secondary School. A student skips several classes so for punishment he has to spend the day in either ISS (In School Suspension) or OSS (Out of School Suspension). What is this consequence teaching them? ISS only allows them to fall further behind than they already are by missing even more class time and OSS is telling a kid that if he doesn't want to go to school the school is going to tell him that at least for one day he doesn't have to?!? So he can stay home, sleep in and play video games all day. What kind of a deterrent is that? I have come up with a plan. I say that whenever a kid skips a class he has to help the janitorial staff for however many days he was out. If he skipped only one class, too bad so sad, they still have to help for one day. This would serve as a real deterrent, hopefully help get rid of any misplaced sense of entitlement they may have, and it could help to defray the costs of upkeep by reducing the amount of janitorial staff that is needed. I can guarantee that the first time a kid has to clean up behind his peers and sees just how disgusting just the trash cans can be he will stay in class!

Mari's Maiden Movie

I bit off more than I can chew!  I was bored with the idea of making a movie with pictures of me, Who wants to see me!?!?  So I chose to do a video montage of the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel.  It wasn't until I was already half way through that I found another teacher had done the same thing for her high school history class.  She also did a web page with the lyrics of the song that can be double clicked to give an explanation of what they meant.  If any of you are interested, the site is here.

FlickrSlidr - Someday my Boat will come

I say "Someday my boat will come" because I don't need a prince, I need my own personal transportation to take me to all of these places I want to see in the world!  Well, I have been lucky enough to do quite a bit of traveling but not nearly enough.  For my first career I was an Air Traffic Controller and used the Air Force to get the training.  (Over 90% of all Air Traffic Controllers were in the Air Force so it seemed the way to go.) One of the things that I enjoyed about my stint in the military was the access to cheap travel.  I managed to get to Japan, Australia, Germany (I saw Pink Floyd at the Wall.  Yes, I said THE WALL.  Very Cool!) and several other places in and around Europe.  But there is a great big world out there that I haven't had the opportunity to see and want to before I die.  I think travel is the best education a person can get and don't understand people like Paris Hilton who have all the money in the world and only go to places like Paris, LA and New York.  There are Hilton hotels everywhere and even if there aren't you can afford a room!  For me I say, "Have passport, will travel!"  I am actually considering signing on as a Department of Defense teacher and being sent to teach on military installations around the world.  How cool would that be?

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I am a movie maker!

Who would have guessed that I would be making a movie.  I rarely use a camera much less a digital camera so the fact that I am making  a movie with imovie is certainly surprising.  I chose to make a movie with "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel.  Making a movie of myself would certainly bore y'all to sleep.  You see, I don't see the use of writing about me, I have already done all of it so retelling it proves to be dreadfully boring if only just to me.  So Billy Joel seemed a much more interesting prospect except that now I find myself somewhat depressed and a bit overwhelmed.  Thank goodness for Spring Break or I would never get it done.  

And just to give you an idea of how depressing seeing the pictures from our varied history, I almost used a picture of a Panda cub covering his eyes for China's under martial law.  The line is referring to Tienenmen Square but the photos recounting the very violent and turbulent times from approximately 55 to 85 are overwhelming!  I found myself needing what Shakespeare called "comic relief".  No kidding!  I eventually used the lone student standing in front of a line of tanks but I haven't deleted the picture of the panda cub yet.  It is my own personal comic relief.  And just in case you need a laugh I included him at the top!  (Honestly, I meant for it to be at the end but it didn't work out that way and I am too tired to try to fix it!)