Ending the Session...

It's weird to think that we've finished our first Cadre Session. Congrats CADRE! We've come so far together and it's only been a short 4 weeks. I want you to truly know that I'm looking forward to the upcoming year with you all. I know friendships have begun to form and I'm so excited to strengthen the bond between us. I'm the lone student from UNK, a small town girl, and it's been a struggle to adjust to Omaha, being in the same town as my fiance, and working through the Cadre Program. I appreciate all of the support (and sympathy) you've given me and I've been attempting to adapt. I know this group will become my biggest support system. I can't wait for the challenge up ahead.

I'm hoping that this year stays as fun as it has been this session. I love how fun each class has been. We're never bored. We're challenged and our instructors have bent over backwards meeting the needs of their students. How lucky are we? We have such great role models as teachers, how could we possibly fail? I love that...I love knowing that my instructions know me as a person and truly want to see me not only succeed...but to truly EXCEL and reach beyond anything we thought imaginable. I hope I can create this type of atmosphere for my students. It will take a lot of hard work and motivation, but with my 6th grade students...is anything ever work?

Tuesday

Well, my morning definitely didn't get off to the best start. Brad is going to pick me up from class today so we can have a picnic and go see Bodies Omaha. We've both been looking forward to using our new picnic basket and finally seeing Bodies. So, Brad offered to wake up early and drive me to class so that we don't have 2 cars downtown. Well something funky was happening on Dodge Street. We got stuck at the light on 78th street for 8 light changes. I'm wish I was exaggerating, but my poor nerves and anxiety started counting. When we finally reached the street Brad turned off and headed to school on Pacific. It was a lot better....but poor Brad. It's not 7:15 and he still has to drive back to Russell Middle School to teach summer class, which starts at 7:45. He tolerated my anxiousness and upset voice beautifully. I think he deserves a medal or something! I knew the day was only going to get better when I was handed my research paper...and I passed! I worked really hard on that paper and I was so nervous about writing my first research paper. I'm definitely leaving this class with a lot more confidence about my research.

Speaking of research...How about that class last night? It definitely makes for a long day...and I ate lunch in my car. Maybe tomorrow I'll go get food instead, although I'm not sure I can afford doing that all summer.

I'm worried about our Proposition for tomorrow. We've had it planned out since last week, but now after participating in 6 different presentations, I feel like ours need vamped up. :o( I still love our idea, but I'd love to incorporate more fun transitions and activities. THat's one of the worst parts about going last...the bar has already been set SO HIGH! I just don't have any new ideas to bring to the table. I'll have to think about it and maybe vamp up my own section of the presentation

First Day...Again

Wow, look at the schedule, I literally have NO BREAK between my Cadre summer classes and the first day of school. In fact, they are overlapping. Man...I hope I can still hit the ground running. I'm pretty sure my "school" running legs will be exhausted by then. I found out who my Cadre associate is and I'm so excited to spend my school year with her. I know this sounds silly, but I'm so thankful that my associate and all of you don't "know" my fiance. He's a wonderful guy, but I want to be know as Julia, not Brad's fiancee. So this is exciting and I've been having a wonderful experience so far as Julia Lyons. It's weird...I'll only be Julia Lyons for 12 more days. Yeah...it's a little freaking to think about.

I have 90% of my tech projects done. Yay. I just need to finish my Mobi and I can email it. YAY.

My instructional strategies are another topic. I only have 1 complete (well...minus my explanation which will probably take the longest to complete.) Although I must admit that I do have them all planned out...so it's a matter of motivating myself to follow through and complete what I can. I also need to work ahead slightly so that I don't have any work due the Monday after my wedding. Fingers crossed I can get it done in time. How awful to spend the first day of married life glue to my computer and textbooks.

Luckily I'm marrying the most amazing man! Ok. Back to class. Hopefully I can keep my eyes open...my body is just exhausted from this weird schedule. I need a brain break! :o)

Calm after the storm

How gorgeous was the weather tonight? Wow. It was so cool outside this evening that my fiance and I enjoyed spending time outside watching Sobe play around the yard. It was nice to have a "relaxing" moment with my fiance since every minute seems to be crammed full of stress and homework. This evening was full of Lit Review finalizing, cooking (ha...I'm praying that it turns out okay for breakfast tomorrow), mobi, and I did manage to squeeze in some exercise as I cleaned the kitchen. I'm thankful that my paper is done and t . hat I have a "handle" on my technology, but I'm a little anxious about the framework. I hope I do a good job on them, but I'm not very comfortable with "short" lesson plans. It will definitely stretch my learning!

Well. I'm going to finish reading my book for my lit circle and then head to bed. Margaritas tomorrow are definitely a must! :o)

Article Three

Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/?scp=2&sq=Education&st=Search

Online education has definitely made great gains throughout the last couple of years. Online education used to be based on electronic correspondence, basically just handing in the assignments. Now with web cameras, videos, and embedding online education is changing the way colleges work. Online education allows students to "tailor" education to fit their needs. Also online educations allows students to actually "learn by doing" rather than by watching the teacher, which as we've learned is very beneficial and helpful to the learning process. College campuses will begin to look a lot different as well as college classes. Classes my assume that the learner already know the subject (due to the internet) and will mostly focus on how to apply it in the real world. Wow. What a change of pace.

Skimming through this article at first glance, I was appalled at the title. Further reading revealed that the article is focused on college adults who wanted to further their education. In that instance, I can see how online classes are more effective, mostly because of their "convenience." Adults furthering their education are usually strapped financially, so they have a job. Having a job and possibly a family definitely "get in the way" of the typical classroom learning. Online classes allow the students to work at their own pace and truly be in control of how they learn. I can see how it beats out the typical classroom.

It's great that they can focus the education to real-world problems, but how do they actually learn the information? Social networking? How accurate is that? I believe that online education will definitely change and shape college campuses in the future, but I don't think it's applicable or "beats out" the typical classroom. Teachers help inspire students, encourage teamwork and community, as well as facilitate instruction. Teachers are a great "tool" for students' learning, guiding to answer questions, and overall in helpful for the students. It's weird to ponder if I'll have a job in 10 years, or if teaching will be obsolete itself.

Article Two

http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction

This article is about integrating technology into instruction. To do this, the article states there are four major components of learning that the technology must reach. The first is active engagement. Student must be in engaged with the technology, really capturing their attention. Technology needs to have participation in groups with lots of interaction and peer/teacher feedback. As always, it needs to connect to real-world issues that affect our students. Through technology integration student can practice problem solving skills and real world applications to the "modern" office.

Integrating technology is definitely vital for educators and students, as long as technology is "routine and transparent." I agree that students should be exposed to technology in the classroom. This article did a great job of explaining why/how students work in tandem with technology to improve their education. Technology allows students to grasp understanding not only through text, but also images, videos, and sounds

Reflecting on this article and video embedded within, I love seeing news ways to bring in technology. I often limit myself to what technology I am familiar with and always comes to mind. This article and video reminded me that there is SO MUCH technology "out there" and that I am limiting myself and harming the learning of my students. Who would have thought that bring simple technology, such as a heart rate monitor, could be so beneficial in the classroom--yet I overlooked it because I didn't see it as new and useful technology. I need to give myself more credit for the technology that I DO know, and constantly check blogs, sites, and ask other teachers for new technology. This will constantly stretch my learning and keep my students engaged.

Tuesdays are way worse than Mondays! It was excruciating to wake up at 5:15 this morning. To top it off, I started off this morning with lots of tears. I tried to take a new way to class that would supposedly be "faster" this morning. Needless to say, I got lost, anxious and called my fiance very upset. The poor guy woke up and answered the phone at 6:30 in the morning and attempted to guide me in the right direction. Did I mention how much I hate driving in Omaha! He wonderful guidance led me to a dead end tollbooth. With tears streaming down my face, I informed the attendant that I'm from out of town and lost. Luckily she had me reverse (thank you to the car behind me!) and turn around. So, it's been a terrible-no-good-very-bad-day! But it can only get better right?---By the way...I am NEVER changing my "out of town" plates. Nobody blames the poor country girl from getting lost but everyone will start honking and flipping me off if I have Omaha plates!

Well I have one choice project pretty much complete. I still need to type up a summary of the "Me Glog" or "Me Bag" but all of the hard work is done. Ugh...l need to do my Prezi...AHhh! I'm not Prezi-Savvy and I'm avoiding it at all costs! Thankfully Ross and Skip have put in some "work time" for tomorrow. That's probably what I'll be working on, that way they are available to help me with snafus and my frustration. Ha. Any recommendations on what my Prezi should be about?

To make this no-good-very-bad-day even worse I fell down the muddy hill after class today. Yep, true story. I had my pink backpack, book tote, and a plate full of leftover sandwiches. I'm carefully eyeing my way down the steep hill across the street from Kayser Hall. It's muddy from the mid morning rain. Thinking that I'm indestructible, I start stepping down the slick hill. One hop and a couple trips later I wind up on my butt with sandwiches scattered around me. Awesome. The worst part was that I was meeting my future sister-in-law at the mall right after class. Showing up to anthropologie with a soggy, muddy butt, mud splatters up my leg, and a foot drenched in (now dry) mud will hinder your service. I got plenty of stares...it definitely was the cherry on top of my day. BUT....ending on a positive note, I found a fantastic skirt for the first day of school! :o) I don't care what you say... shopping cures every bad day! Who doesn't love the feeling of a new fabulous outfit? (well... my wallet didn't love it, but I'll be rolling in the dough soon...right?)

Ok, off to change my pants and finish my Glog! (That sound wrong, but whatever)

Article One

http://www.mff.org/edtech/article.taf?_function=detail&Content_uid1=109

The Net Generation and the School.

This article is about the "Net Generation." The Net Generation has been born and raised off of technology, so much in fact that testing new technologies and gadgets is something as normal and easy for them as running the toaster. TV is boring and mudane to this generation because they can't control the TV station like they do the net. The internet is car and they are the driving, steering around to wherever they please. They control what they want to search, if they want to chat, watch video clips, play games, etc... not the TV stations. The Net Generations loves to challenge new idea. Opinions and debates are frequently generated/viewed everyday.

The article also spoke about how this new generations learns. Obviously with the vast amount of technology present and at their fingertips, this generation learns differently that generations before them. Teacher should act as resources for this generation. New media and technology available to this generation enhancing their learning ability because they are interactive and connected to other learners

This article really speaks about who different this generation is from prior generations. The video generation is over, short and sweet. Technology and new media have quickly outgrown and replaced TV education, like Sesame Street. The Net Generation embraces all of the technology at their fingertips and literally moves throughout the web to different parts of the world and cyber world. They are so comfortable with the technology that they are quickly outgrowing the methods of their educators

As an educator I found this article very accurate. My students know way more than I do about technology and are far more comfortable using it than I am! I remember my mom talking about how "revolutionary" Sesame Street was for my generation. Kids learning from TV was a ridiculous idea. Yet it worked. Sesame Street is still on TV today and it truly is an educational device. The only problem is that now, generations have "outgrown" the television. The Net generation is truly in charge of their own learning. They navigate web pages with ease, blogs are second nature, and they can figure out any new tech toy. Teachers need to constantly challenge themselves to "speak the language" of the net generation. Allow them the responsibility to navigate their learning while teachers facilitate and act as an instructional tool. The world is changing, teachers much do what they can to adapt and help reach the needs of the net generation.

Brain....Fried

My. Brain. Is. Fried.

This weekend was spent inside working on my research paper. I kept researching, writing, reorganizing, writing, writing, rewriting, and righting some more. Luckily I completed my entire paper. No, it's not perfect (far from it in fact) but it's written in it's entirety. I'm ready to start revising and editing. Correction: I'm not "ready" but I'll be glad when this paper is out of my mind. I'm so thankful Dr. Young is having an "APA group." I desperately need the help and advice. I'm not sure my paper is flowing in the right direction or if it's too "fluffy." I'll beg my fiancee to read it tonight and bring it up in the meeting tomorrow. I sure hope I wrote the paper correctly. My fear is that it's going to get torn down, ripped up, and knocked out leaving me with basically an entire paper to write, again!

I probably should have worked on my Instructional Frameworks this weekend as well, but my brain was Done.Done.Done. Ugh! Has anyone worked on that yet? I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm sure it'll get done (correctly) at some point in time. What's left to do? Framework, finish my lit review, 3 research articles, prezi, voicethread, mobi, glogster, and one more choice project, PLUS a presentation. Wow...I should probably quit blogging and get my little fanny in gear...after I walk Sobe!

Meet Me in the Middle

The title of this post has significant meaning. The first meaning is that we've officially hit the halfway point of our first session of Cadre. Wow! That's hard to believe...but very exciting. Meet Me in the Middle is also a book by Rick Wormeli. It's a book specifically geared towards middle school teachers. It's a great book to learn about my middle school students and fantastic strategies to reach out and make my instruction engaging, effective, and meaningful. I strongly recommend this book to any middle school teacher. I've read it twice and I still found new "aha" information! I love this book and I'm a huge fan of Rick Wormeli.

My research topic is about "Brain Breaks." Brain breaks are small breaks in instruction to reenergize the students and help get their bodies a break and more focused. I'm focusing on using exercises during this brain break to refocus and reenergize my students. I had been working on my research for about 2 hours straight when I realized that I needed to take my own advice. So I quit my research so that I could work out for 40 minutes. Since then I've been taking a break from my work about ever 15 to 20 minutes to stretch and get my blood pumping. Try it! I've been able to focus more intently for those 15 minutes. I love my research!

Now It's Getting to the Nitty Gritty

Wow. I think it finally "hit" me how soon all of our projects are due! Our research paper is due in 1 week, we have 3 choice projects, Prezi (which WILL be the end of me), Voicethread, Instructional Frameworks...did I miss something? I hope not because my "plate" is a heaping mess right now! I've been doing research all afternoon, and I've fallen in love with Rick Wormeli again. I just want to High Five him~ and then go hang out with my middle schoolers. He really just ignites my passion for Middle School. So that was a nice aspect to my research. It definitely helped me stay focused long enough to read through a few more articles.

Wish I could blog more, but duty calls. I need to get some Tech Stuff done!

Survived The Food Coma!

Alright, I've been working with Prezi on and off all afternoon. I started with a simple Prezi layout and that really seemed to help. I had an idea of what I wanted where and it literally was so much easier. I think I was trying to do too advanced "moves" without the basic knowledge. I'm hoping this will knowledge will help future Prezi's not seem as daunting.

I want to take a minute to talk about research...WOW! I think it really "hit" me today how serious and intense this research is. I downloaded the Refworks on my computers and attempted to add more research. I think right now I should order/gather all of the research, but it's been hard to find my specific topic. The topic I'm searching is about physical movement in the classroom and how it helps the brain learn. Brain gym or Brain bootcamp are sort of my starting point. I'm feeling a little weird about the research...I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing, but I guess I'll fake until I make it...right? :o) Good Luck with your research!

Prezi = Stress Food Coma

Well, Prezi was/is difficult for me to manage today. For some reason I couldn't click on words to maneuver them and my "toolbar" disappeared and wouldn't reappear with the spacebar click....which was NOT a fun experience. Who is addicted to Prezi?!? :o) I know I just need to play around more with my Prezi, but today I can safely say it has added enough stress in my life to make me crave all sorts of fast food! Oh Prezi...

I'll be asking for Prezi help!

Manic Monday

I love our three day weekends, but I definitely feel that Monday came too soon. Last night my fiancee and I went for a bike ride and then did "Turbo Jams" weight lifting. I'm trying to keep in shape for my wedding, but it's not worth the late nights! It was so tough waking up at 5 this morning. I was tired and sore from the workout (Which is lame because I do TJ too often for it to make me sore!). I think I may start waking up at 4:30 to work out in the morning. That will hopefully wake me up for class!

I spent some time on Thursday and Friday working on one of my choice projects. My Glogster is in the works...YAY! I've been referring back to Harry Wong's "First Days of School and Beyond" to help me set up some expectations and what I need to do to set up my classroom. I'm still slightly worried about how to bring in an instructional strategy for the Glogster. But, I'm sure I can figure out a way to include it. Here's a very rough draft of what I have. This link will take you to my main page, but I have other Glogs and Animotos I'll be linking to the site.

http://mrskrebs.edu.glogster.com/mrs-krebs-classroom/

Well, I better start creating my "Me Bag." Have a wonderful day! I'm very excited to work on Prezi Tomorrow. Powerpoint on Steroids is about right Casey!

Wrapping Up the First Week

I survived! WooHoo. This week hasn't been as crazy as I thought it would be, but I can definitely tell that it's going to get a lot more stressful. Balancing research, writing papers, and experimenting with new technology will be a challenge.

I'm curious about our "choice projects" for the technology class. I know I'll get a better understanding of it as the class continues, but I'm nervous some of my ideas won't qualify. I really want to create a Glog for the first day of school. I want it to introduce my team, myself, my expectations, FAQ's, and other information that my 6th graders' and their parents would want to know. But I am a little worried that I can't implement it into an instructional plan. Either way, I think it's important to get a Glog going.

Another project I want to work on is my classroom website. My school district has it's own link for each classroom. My goal is to create a functional class website that is simple enough so I can it update daily, easy to navigate for students and parents, yet is very savvy and fun. This will definitely be useful for not only my first year of teaching, but throughout my teaching career. Hopefully I can work with some people who are familiar with the Millard website and ability to create a classroom web page.

Oh and on a side note. I really want a digital pen. It sounds so silly, but I LOVE writing down thoughts and ideas on paper...but I never refer back to my notebooks (I usually just throw them away when I'm through with them.) So if I had a pen that took all of my notes and converted in into editable text...that would be SWEET! I wonder if I could put that on my wedding registry? LOL

It's been so exciting to be exposed to all of these wonderful pieces of technology. I love that everyone in my class has additional information to add or other helpful sites to help adapt each project/technology so it fits in our own classroom. I hope I can "master" all of the technology we've been introduced to. Yet I have a feeling I won't be proficient in everything, but I think that's ok. As long as I know the basics, I believe the rest of it will come with time playing around with the technology. Although, I really think my Bitstrips character looks ridiculous: No site can perfect my butt chin :o)

Technology Thoughts

I was prompted to read an article titled "Survey reveals gaps in school technology perceptions."

I truly believe we are teaching the "screen generation." This generation has been exposed to so many technology screens: TV's, Computers, Ipod, Nitendo, etc. The way this generation learns and views materials and resources are completely different from all other generations. They live and breathe with the screen.

As an educator, it is our job to speak their language. We much reach our students by the means of which they communicate. We can't rely on old school practices anymore. We need to immerse ourselves into technology and constantly challenge ourselves to keep up with the ever changing technology.

My fear as a classroom teacher relates to the article's "Fear Factor." I'm scared of liability issues and keeping the technology safe for my students and our classroom. I don't want to lose my job or reputation because of a technology blopper. I also fear that as much as districts stress technology use, we are unable to keep up with the funds. There aren't enough computers for every student... Unless our students have their own individual laptop and constant access to the internet, are we being fair to all students?

Working Through Day 2

I felt like I spent all day yesterday either on the computer trying to set up different tech accounts or trying to read my Lit Book and prepare for the first lesson on Thursday. I wasn't done with my homework until after 8pm (Mostly due to facebook breaks and finding cute new blog backgrounds.) But I got to a finishing point and I'm ready to take on day two.

I'm really excited for technology in my classroom, although I fear I'll never have the computers for my class when I need them. I know my students love working on the computers and that they can complete amazing tech assignments, but I fear that they'll never have the opportunity due to lake of computers. My school does a fantastic job letting teacher "book" the computer rooms and "check out" the rolling labs, but there still isn't enough to go around. I'm hoping I can borrow the mobi's and clickers frequently. Luckily for me they won't be in use for my science classes thanks to 7th grade Plan Time! =) We'll see how it goes. They only thing I can do is to plan in advance and be willing to try and "roll with the punches."

I am most excited for creating a glogster. While I've worked with them before...I'm eager to set up a glog for the first day of school. How fun! To have a Welcoming Glog and different links to help calm the anxiety of my 6th graders! I can't wait to dedicate more time to that and actually get this Glog created!

First Blog

My first day of CADRE was today...and it's all a blur.

After my student teaching experience you'd think my body would be more familiar with 5 o'clock in the morning. Yet when my alarm went off this morning, my body failed to move. Good thing my brain was on "overload" with all of my anxieties and "to do" list. My brain forced my body out of bed, forced my body to fix breakfast (cereal of course! One of my favorites!), and forced my body to shower and get ready for the day. While my body was doing all of the work, my brain kept racing with thoughts, questions, and "to do's!" As 6:30 approached, I grabbed my book bag, stuffed in my computer, grabbed water and snack and headed out the door.

I'm still trying to get familiar with Omaha...so I was very fearful of the traffic on Dodge street. I got stuck on Dodge once during rush hour and it literally was one of the most frustrating things I've ever experienced! Obviously I didn't want a repeat! Plus, I'm so unfamiliar with the "Omaha travel time." In McCook, it took 5 minutes to get anywhere so I was always on time. I feel like it takes me FOREVER to get anywhere in Omaha! I didn't want to start my CADRE experience off on the wrong foot, so leaving at 6:30 was the only option. I arrived 30 minutes early for class....

...and I cannot recall anything from class. It all seems a blur. I know I have homework, I know I met a lot of nice people, and I know I enjoyed it...but I cannot remember an specifics!

So here I am, starting my blog on all of my new experiences: Adapting to a new city, making new friends, surviving CADRE along with my first year of teaching, and adapting to married life.

I'm definitely overwhelmed, but I feel truly blessed and I'm excited to start sharing my journey with you!