update info, and COOL TOOLS!!!!

To answer a few questions to my fellow listeners.....
Life is good out here. I moved and got a job in the Horizon SD - so I am officially out of the division - which makes me sad, yet excited. I am hoping to keep contact will all of you through my blog and email, so keep in touch all - keep up the comments! I am getting married in the fall and look forward to spending more time with my fiance until then.

Enough about that!

Again and again I am always drawn back to my bloglines account and find the Cool Tool blog really interesting because of their varied and extreme tools and information that they post about. As you may have noticed, I have enjoyed reading about cool new technologies that "help" make life easier. I have been away from my computer for a while - at least blogging, and I have just recently looked at it, only to find more Cool Tool items - a few I would like to share with you:

Cool Tool: GoBidet
-a remote control toilet washer - a high-powered spray attachment that an adjustable arm attachment for your toilet!!! Check it out!!

Cool Tool: Best Home Chemistry Lab Book
-a kid friendly book with tons of chemistry experiments. Enhance your children's learning at home by blowing things up!! haha! Just kidding! :-) Check it out!!

Cool Tool: Sleeptracker Pro
-a watch that you wear to help track and monitor your sleeping patterns - it can figure out when you are at your most rested, when you are starting to wake up, etc. Very neat for people who are frequent travellers - especially across time zones and have trouble adjusting. It is a watch, an alarm and a life saver - Check it out!!!

update and a neat article about the world's oldest blogger

I know it has been almost a month since my last blog post, and a lot has happened in that time to occupy me. I have moved to a new town and got a new job in a town just outside of here. As for my committee - I am going to remain faithful to trying to blog my experiences with technology and teaching as I am teaching a new computer course: Communication Production Technology 10 and 20. New subject for me but still having to do with media and technology so I am thinking I will have a lot to blog about!

Enough about me, on to the good stuff.

I was surfing the net and found this article about an Australian woman was was claimed to be the world's oldest blogger who has died. Olive Riley, a 108 year old woman had done about 74 blog posts and was . What a wonderful inspiration to those who are older and do not think that you can "teach an old dog new tricks"! She used it as a way to tell her life tale about living in the outback of Australia. Again, what an inspiration to us all.

Check out the article here

If Facebook was real life...

I came across this funny video about how if Facebook was real life, what it would be like. It is quite funny, and a bit disturbing at the same time. Check it out and tell me what you think!

http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2008/06/if-facebook-wer.html

If Facebook were real life I think most of us would be really annoyed with each other, and likely would stay indoors hiding from certain people like the guy in the video! haha!

Reflecting on the last school year

As the year winds down and I am crazy busy getting assignments in, marking, and getting ready for exams, I am torn with wanting this school year to just be over with to begin summer break, and not wanting to leave my job, but the one thing that stays constant is my love for technology and computers. As busy as I am lately, I still find time in my day to play around with my computer. I take my "me" time and put it towards checking out new things in technology. I think that if a person has a passion for learning and an interest in something (for me it is technology), that you find time/make time for keeping that present in your life.

I am new at teaching computers this year, and I have found my passion. I am a shop teacher (PAA) by trade but have begun teaching computers this year and was also the computer network administrator for the school. Of course I was apprehensive in the beginning, but I have found my new path. You know when you graduate from University with your B.Ed. and you feel as though you have all you need. I thought to myself that I would never want or need to go back to school. I had no intention of becoming an administrator, therefore I thought I would be a shop teacher for 30 years and retire and be merry. Plans have changed. My new-found love for technology has sparked my love of learning again! I have new passions that keep me interested, and make me want more. I have new plans of wanting to go back to University and pursue my Masters of Education in Educational Communications and Technology. I am very excited to have come across this area of teaching and happy that it has infected my life. My teaching has improved, my communication skills have improved, and I am generally a more well-connected person. My network has grown tremendously this year and I am grateful for the opportunities that I have received and experiences I have gained this year. Technology has improved my life and allowed me to find a path for my future which makes me happy. All in all, a pretty good year! :-)

funny parody of learning and teaching

I just remembered Pcone's feelings of 21st century learning, and was thinking of a way I could depict the sometimes frustrating, sometimes comical times we teachers have in a class when we are trying to teach some "seemingly" easy concepts to the kids. I remembered how Pcone used a Monty Python video, and I thought to myself - Can I find one? I believe I did find a quite funny parody of what life in a classroom when teaching can sometimes be like.....especially near the end....don't think too deeply on this one! :-)