Just Checking In

Okay, I was feeling all guilt-ridden for not having posted anything in a month until I saw that I was not alone. . .heh, heh. Actually I have been a little busy and a lot Internet disabled. I think I am finally calm enough not to use any really profane remarks to and about Earthlink's tech support, but I still intend to blister the virtual paper the email will be on with my comments. I was without my Internet connection for almost a week because Earthlink never passed on my new telephone contact numbers to Hughesnet, the satellite company. When I finally FORCED a supervisor to give me the Hughesnet numbers and contacted the local installers in Mussel Shoals, the very nice guy I talked to said they'd been using the old number all week trying to reach me; he then told me how to reset the internal surge protector on the modem and get back online. It took about five minutes. Needless to say, I was not a happy Earthlink customer!!!

I have been working on my AUP webliography this week; I am going to do library visits as well this coming week. In fact, I will be able to do the visit to my current school library on Friday, when my students are going to be using the library computers to type their papers. I'm also working on my practicum hours with Carolyn at the other High school after school; we started weeding her ancient fiction section last week; among other things. I found one book with a card in it that I signed when I was in high school, circa 1967. We figured that particular book was probably a good candidate to be pulled, since the last due date was sometime in the 1970's!

My students are beginning to get the idea that I really meant it when I told them they had to read for Honors English. They were not all that happy about having to read a book over the summer, and then the very day after the test on that book, I made them all check out a book from the library to read over the next two weeks! Honestly, I have a hard time relating to kids who don't like to read!

Information Overload

As you can see, Keira is ready for me to go back to school so she can have her computer chair back! She grudgingly lets me use it a few hours in the evening while she perches on the desk or the printer/scanner, and she has been most unhappy that I have spent so much time here over the summer!

Ah, well. On to more to-the-point discussion. Professor McGranahan asked that we each post once more to our blogs reflecting on our class experience. I find myself with plenty to say but must admit that finding the right words to express myself clearly on this topic is a bit of a challenge--and that is saying something, since I am a writer by preference and usually find writing both a pleasure and a relief. By far my favorite part of this course has been the blogging experience.

I know why I am at a loss for words; I am still feeling information overload from Information Technologies I. I really considered myself fairly savvy with technology before I started this class, and yet so many of the things we did were entirely new to me and frustratingly difficult. I am wondering if Technologies II is going to require as much time as Technologies I and dreading the outcome if it does. I am now back in school and cannot spend every waking minute on graduate work as I have done all summer. The prospect of trying to work and still spend the time needed on the MLIS program is daunting and worrisome.

Not nearly all of my thoughts about Information Technologies I are negative. What we learned was both pertinent and useful. Certainly being able to work with someone on the research project was a plus. Also, I have found that my classmates are for the most part both sympathetic and helpful in and out of class. I enjoy reading the blogs because they give us all a chance to become better acquainted and at the same time to share our frustrations and joys.

Overall, I would have to say that my second favorite parts of the class was the webliography assignment. I found the examination of websites useful in a very practical sense. I will not be a school librarian as I had hoped to be this year, but I can still use these websites to direct students to valuable sources of information. I would also like to see other people's lists, to find what they located that I did not. In the case of good websites, I do not think there can be too much information! Also, thanks to the assignment on spyware, viruses, etc., I have improved the security of my home computer by renewing my Norton Anti-Virus subscription and by scheduling my Spyware Doctor software to run more frequently.

So, on the whole, I feel that the class was both challenging and difficult at times but nonetheless worthwhile. I know that the rest of the program is probably going to be just as difficult, but I am hopeful that it is also going to be at least a bit less stressful.

New School Year, New School Building

Welcome to Room 274 of East Hickman High School! Actually, I have seince rearranged the chairs so the students can also see the white board in the back of the room and will be less likely to spend all their time staring out the window to see what's going on outside. The room is not so large as my old one, but it's adequate in size, though sadly lacking in bookshelves.

I have to relate the story on that. My friend and I moved our things from the old school last week; we took bookcases that we either bought or repaired and had them alll set up in the rooms. When the director of schools did a walk through before the dedication, he had a fit over the bookcases that did not match the furniture. They took the bookcases off to storage and crammed all my books into the built in cabinets and closed the doors.

They had not ordered any bookcases for the classrooms and seemed to find it odd that we would want any.

I have 20 dictionaries I didn't even move yet. The student desks do not have any book racks on them, and I have no bookcases. And I am supposed to be teaching English! Of course the director of schools IS the same person who once said in an evaluation of one of my college prep senior English classes that I had them doing an excessive amount of pencil-and-paper work.

Anyhow, we are supposed to get smartboard training next week. I hope that goes well.

Another Day at the Computer

As you can see, Keira has adapted to the rearrangement of the computer equipment. She can actually see better from this position than from atop the speaker behind the flat panel, so she is happy with the choice. She does tend to be startled when the system uint makes any noise other than the usual fan sounds, and she finds the cameral connection cord rather fascinating at times, but mostly she just snoozes.

I told my latest hardware adventure on the discussion board site for "Hardware Review," so I won't repeat it here; if you are interested, you can read it there. I have spent most of this day reading on Angel and proofing the final copies of the webliography and my third escan before sending them. I am off in a few minutes to read more about plagiarism, and I am REALLY hoping tomorrow's work will not be nearly as hard to get TO as the lecture on evaluating websites was!

Moving Day Moans

Don't get me wrong based on the title here; I am moaning because I am SORE. Luckily the principal was in the building and not only let me choose my own room (YAY!) but also gave me my schedule for the year. I am not thrilled with the two levels of English, but I know they are between a rock and a hard place; he's still got teachers to hire and we start in-service on August 1! I told him he needed clones!

I am going to launch into a rather scary little adventure in one of my classes, though; I am going to be the newspaper advisor, and I told the principal I want to make it a digital newspaper; we might print out a few copies just to show what we're doing, but this is a high tech school, and I think it's long past time to go to an online newsletter rather than an expensive printed version that costs far more to print than we can possibly make on sales. The principal is 100% in favor of putting it online, too, so that part of the battle is already won! (Professor McGranahan, I would like your advice on software; I really don't see the students doing all the html coding). I figure a good software package and a decent digital camera and we will be in business.

Moving things into the school was just half of the fun, though. I had taken my old CRT monitor to school when I got a new home computer in 2005, because the monitor at school was small. My Dell Triniton 21 inch flat screen is one honkin' big monitor, (as you can see!) heavy as lead, but I just love the size of it, so I brought it home and rearranged my whole computer set up after moving all those boxes and book cases into the new school. I had the system unit on the floor, which was not ideal, and the printer on the other side of the monitor/keyboard, but I think I am going to like this arrangement better. I still have to do some minor moving of the speakers, but as I rarely listen to music when I am working, they are okay for now.

Prof. McGranahan, you would be so proud of me on the hardware--it took a great deal longer to take it all apart than to reconnect it, and I could name all those cords I was hooking up! My cat will have to adapt to using the printer/scanner all the time if she wants to help me conpute now; she was getting a bit big for the big speaker anyhow. She would get up there and fall asleep and fall off now and again, and she always looked SO put out!

Hardware Review

Well, I do understand the need to know about hardware, but I think I would have preferred to do this section a bit at the time rather than all in one massive effort. It would have been more useful to me to examine the hardware itself for the pre- and post-tests, because, although a picture may be worth a thousand words, the pictures left something to be desired. One of my problems is that my vision problems interfere with some aspects of power point presentations, even when I am able to look at the slide on the professor's laptop. The smartboard is problematic because my eyes are light sensitive to a degree. The bright background just washes out the picture for me in some cases.

When it comes to hardware, there is so much to know that time to absorb the information would have helped me. By that I mean that we might have done a good overview in a previous class, had time to read the chapters and, if possible, go examine those hardware items we did not immediately recognize in more detail, either online or preferably in a computer store, then done the more detailed work of identifying the parts. When I have to do hands-on work for a grade, I like the chance to do hands-on study before evaluation time.

Reading Story

I wanted to put this in a separate post because it really does not involve information technology, but it's a wonderful and positive story about the power of reading.

My nephew teaches at a "wilderness" school for kids 11-17. Many have been sent to this school in North Carolina by the courts or by school recommendation because no other school program has worked for these kids. Most are on probation for one thing or another, almost all are in academic trouble. They are assigned to this school for a 10 month period; the goal is that they will advance one grade level in each of the core courses that they study. Basically, because of the diverse ability levels, the students work on individualized programs, but one of the curriculum requirements for English at all levels is that the student must read at least one book and write a book report.

Recently---within the past couple of months--my nephew Brandon told one of the boys in his group that he had to finish the book report assignment or he would not be able to "graduate" from the program. This boy has been through all kinds of school experiences--private schools, military schools, public schools--without marked success, despite what my nephew describes as "great" parents. The boy gave all the usual "I don't wanna, I ain't gonna" sorts of responses, but Brandon persevered. Eventually, he gave the boy the first Harry Potter book "just to try." Well, six Potter books later, the boy wanted "something else like that," so Brandon gave him The Hobbit. Two days later, the boy brought it back and asked if Brandon had the trilogy. . . which of course he did.

The kids are all out on vacation just now; the boy's parents had agreed to take him to a midnight bookstore Poter Party to get number 7 as soon as it came out.

The boy told Brandon at one point that he needed to read all these books while at the wilderness school because he probably wouldn't read once he left. My sister and I are both betting he's wrong. What do you think?