Passing of A Friend

Today, November 14, 2011 is truly a sad day. It is with a heavy and sad heart that I announce the passing of a true friend. A dog you say, no, not just a dog. Champagne Rose came into my life by being bought by my neighbor Stephanie, whom had never owned a pet before. One month after the purchase, Stephanie got a second job and told me she either had to sale C-Rose or could I walk her in the evenings. Stephanie had already become emotionally attached to C-Rose, so how could I say No. I walked C-Rose nearly every evening for the next seven years. Loved every minute of it, even the cold.
C-Rose's intelligence was apparent early on, she learned how to sit in just under two hours. I went and bought Stephanie a book on dog training. The next weekend Stephanie showed me three new tricks C-Rose had learned. I was impressed, so I started to just talk to the dog. She associated many words with whatever was wanted of her. Here are just a few examples: Inside, outside, front porch, the mailman, go for a ride, take a wizz,(Stephanie says 'Go potty'), she learned the difference between hot and cold water (she preferred cold). C-Rose just started running and jumping hurdles one day, hurdles about two feet high. No reason I guess except for the pure joy of being a young dog.
Walking her on a leash was my one of my favorites, early in training I started to teach her Left and Right. Next I used Stop and then got her to sit while stopping at a corner. I had a idea one day and tried it and it worked. After that, training to walk was a breeze. One day a man watched as we approached the store. He asked me how did I get her to go left and right like that. I replied that I trained her the same way you would a horse, Silent commands.
Now to my all time favorite, C-Rose's bark. As you may not know, a poodle's bark is very loud and deep pitched. This fact is because poodles where originally breed as hunting dogs. When I found out this fact the fun was on. I used C-Rose's natural instinct to train her to protect her house and owner. I had a blast, when I whispered 'Get'em' she would go nuts and I mean berserk. Sometimes Stephanie had a time getting her to calm down, but with me egging her on...
I know this has been long, but C-Rose was a special dog who enriched both Stephanie's and my life. Stephanie is a regal lady and C-Rose was a regal dog. She will be surely missed. Also, this is the first dog ever that I thought that I hope God can find a small spot in Heaven for her. I would like to see her again. Sad day, Later.

New Beginnings

Been a while since I said anything, just going thru the motions of school and life. I have been building new neurons in Dr. Juarez's class, Blooms Taxonomy and all combined with Prof. Baggett's art class. I have been pushed into the graduate level class of research and I have found that I enjoy the outcome of said push. On another note, I have watched the outcomes of some of the students of Doc Strange. It's a delight to see the generation way behind me in years deal with all the new technology and its uses. I certainly had a good time delving into the use of technology as a communications tool. But all of that aside, I have a new granddaughter, not my first grandbaby. I have a grandson whom is 4 and the new one is just two weeks old. Life goes on in its mysterious ways and I am a happy recipient of the ways of life. I wish all of you the best there is. Later.

Start Of A New Year

Well, the start of a new semester and a New Year is upon me. I have just this year to go and I'll be ready for teachers candidacy which I'm looking forward to. Just to let anyone know, I've actually made some money using my new found skills in Doc Strange's class.
In this semester I'm taking art for elementary children and I'll have the opportunity to learn how to use a Smart-Board. Things are looking well and I hope everyone had a great holiday time. To Doc Strange's class, it's not as hard as it seems. Till next time, Peace.

Farewell

To Dr. Strange, thank you for your patience and guidance, it has indeed been a pleasure. To my fellow classmates, I have enjoyed meeting all of you, listening to your presentations, laughing at your jokes, and seeing a part of your lives. Thank you for sharing. To the ladies on my side of the room, thank you for all of your help and it was a treat to meet all of you and to learn a little about you. To Cade and Ryan, it was great to work with you and to meet you and thank you for sharing your knowledge with the OG. I have made some new friends and gained some new perspectives on communication. This is the second class I've been in that had everyone so involved together, and it has been fun and informative. Everyone, may you live long and prosper. I won't say goodbye, but, till we meet again, Happy Trails. And to paraphrase a comment made to me by a fellow classmate: 'Now I know what's it like to be in a room full of a bunch of 20 year old know-it-alls. Ha!!

My Reflections of the Class

I have gained so much knowledge in such a short period of time and this knowledge base will be with me until. As I walked in the door for the first time, I pondered the thought of 'just what is this class about'? And we're off to a fast start, I'm hearing terms that are foreign to me. Terms such as Delicious, Firefox and others all thrown at the class, also terms such as blog, video casts, and technological illiteracy. At the mention of technological illiteracy I think this is me. But no more, my knowledge base of the means of communication has drastically changed. After being introduced to blogging I saw a whole new world, adults and children sharing thoughts and knowledge.
At the beginning I was taught many things about Google and the applications that are available, not just spreadsheets and forms, but iGoogle home page with its RSS feeds to any website, blog, ect. I need. There is also Google Reader, another convenient forum of all the blogs and news feeds that I follow. I had looked at Google Earth before we used it in class, but it is interesting to look at your own neighborhood from on high, and I left my personal tag on one of the surveyor satellites on the moon. If you're bored, can you find it?
After watching and commenting of quite a few podcasts, it was time for me to present one. With directions from Doc Strange, I presented my first podcast, and I was seeing a new avenue of communication, one where I could post a video on YouTube and leave it for the whole world to see. Two sites I was glad to see were ACCESS and the Alabama Learning Exchange , both sites are geared toward connecting classrooms and the indexing and sharing of educational material. If Alabama could connect all of its classrooms, we would see a great change in out state, and as a future educator, what better thing to work toward.
One of the items we discussed in class was Foliotek, and even though we as students will not see much of it, I took the time to see exactly what Foliotek is. It is a system that allows our educators and administrators to see us individually and collectively as students and this system allows them to make assessments about us and the school system.
Now, do I consider myself a professional, certainly I do. Every different field I've worked in, I've always tried to do my best, to learn as much as I could in the field and be on time. I am certain nothing will change in my endeavors to become a math teacher.
As to the future of our schools, with the help and input of the ACCESS and Alabama Learning Exchange I hope Alabamas school system has a very bright future. I know that rural areas tend to not get as much funding as bigger school systems, but with Skyping and blogging and the sharing of the learning experience, I hope that the mixing of two different cultures, well off and not so well off, can grow up together in a learning environment that is lacking in social order, but rich in intellectual harmony.
You know, after some reflection, I really don't know if there is anything else I would have wanted to learn in this class. There is so much at my disposal now so that I have many tools available to me to become familiar with in the future. Dr. Stranges class has been a constant stream on information of communication. Not just local, no, global communication that can be fast paced and fun, as well as being informative. I won't say I was 'intellectually challenged', but the class was intellectually stimulating the entire time. Every system and application was new to me and each required its own time to learn. I have spent hours on the keyboard learning new things, so, I can't say I was excited, but, it was all fun from the beginning. I really like my new knowledge base. As far as changing the course in some way, I really don't know, maybe spend no time on Twitter, or barely mention it, and spend more time on connecting with another class somewhere. I remember we as a class, had a hard time with the anonymous survey, so spend a little more time on the basics of Google forms and their uses, just a little more time to see if it's worth having your students be faster at using Google apps. Don't use class time on Google Earth, it's somewhat entertaining, but it's really only useful to see where your assigned blog class is located, not much more for your class.
The question is put to me, "Am I Technologically Literate at the moment?", and the answer is a resounding "YES I Am". There are many avenues available to me now, both as a student and as a future educator. I look forward to the months ahead at the College of Education, and to the future career of molding young minds. There has been so much to say about this class, but, it too, must end. Adieu.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Personal Learning Network

My PLN has been with me since I was in my early twenties, the Saraland Public Library and Public Broadcasting Stations. At the library I started reading Newsweek , Time Magazine , Psychology Today , and Soldier of Fortune Magazine when I could find it. SOF gives an in depth look at the men and women in our military and a behind the scenes look at what they do and the things they endure.
I have been watching PBS for a long time now, all the nature shows and shows of nature and how it impacts our planet. Independent Lens is a show I watch now and then and on their website you can read articles as diverse as Womens' Empowerment, to Sesame Street turns 40. POVis a show which POV stands for Point of View, a source for documentaries and independent films. If you make a documentary film, just submit it to POV and if they deem it worthy, they will present it on their show. News Hour with Jim Lehrer is another show I watch from time to time and they have a RSS feed for students which can be found here which I've added to my Google reader. Well, you add to that iTunes and At The Teachers Desk and that's about it for now. There are other blogs and websites with just a little difference on the title of 'At The Teachers Desk' and I read some of these to get a glimpse of what the near future holds for me as an educator. For now, I am going to watch, listen and learn from the professinals from around the world. That's the cool part, around the world! I am sure I will add to my PLN in the near future and learn much from it.