Thing # 3: Blog Registration & Future Usefulness in Classroom

Write about ways that you might use a blog in your teacher education program or your future classroom.
    I already have some ideas how I might incorporate a blogging to my future classroom.  I think creating an educator blog during my first year of teaching will put me in touch with other teachers for support and ideas. It will never hurt to get as much support as you can, especially in the first few years of teaching. I think having a blog set up for my classes will give them opportunity to discuss current issues facing other Spanish-speaking countries that we learned in class. Many times in Spanish language classes there is a lot of time placed upon learning the basics of Spanish-speaking countries like there geography, some customs, and a few important people. By learning about current issues facing Spanish-speaking countries, the students will gain a different perspective of these nations and be able to identify with them.    

Thing # 2: My Blog and Avatar are Born

Question 1: What previous experiences do you have with blogs, reading or writing?
     My previous experience with blogs is very minimal.  Every once in a while I would come across a blog on the internet when searching for something. I would read a few postings, but never felt compelled to post anything in return.

Question 2: How did you decide on your posting name and the name of your blog?
     I decided to use my actual name for my posting name with this blog because it will be easier for the professor to track my participation and give me credit for what I have completed.  If the professor is happy and has no problem tracking a student's progress, then the student will receive credit for completed work without a problem. Everyone is happy. 
    As for the name of my blog, I decided to make things simpler for everyone and drop my maiden name and the hyphen. Everyone knows me by that name anyways. It just makes things less complicated.   

Question 3: What was your experience in creating the blog? Was it hard for you or easy? Why?
     Creating this blog was hard for me.  In the instructions on how to create this blog using Google's tool Blogger, Dr. Wall stated that it would be "extremely easy to use."  Well, I must confess something about myself.  I am a complete klutz and nervous wreck when it comes to using new technology.  I tend to make every inconceivable simple mistake before finally getting it right.  For starters, I had trouble logging back into the new Goggle account I created for this project within minutes of opening it.  I tried about five times on my own before I asked for assistance from the professor.  It took her less than two minutes to figure it out. I was so embarrassed to discover that I misspelled my email address when I created it.  So, I had to close or delete that email account and recreate a new one I order for me to open this blogger.com site.  I also had trouble navigating the blogger.com site.  I kept getting frustrated because I kept forgetting where I had to go to create a post, preview it, and the like. Thankfully, I seem to have grasped how to function within the blogger site now. 
     Since the purpose of this project is to document our journey in Dr.  Sigears' and Dr. Wall's Blog Adventure, then I am going to be as forthcoming as possible about my struggles and successes.  I have waited so long to take graduate level classes that I am going to get my money's worth.  A major set back I had in creating this blog involved writing my posts.  I tried to sit at the computer and compose the my posts for Thing #1, but I had trouble in getting my thoughts together.  I kept getting frustrated because I could not stop revising what I just wrote and it did not flow as it should.  It was a mess.  The fourth habit of lifelong learning came back to haunt me, but I had a breakthrough.  It dawned on me to write as though I am journal writing. Blogging is just an electronic/ interactive form of journal writing.  I used to keep a journal many years ago and it was quite eye-opening how much I learned from it.

 
Question 4: How does your avatar reflect your personality? Did you create an avatar that looks like your real self or someone totally different? Why?
     My avatar was so fun to create.  I created it to make her look like me because I am just too literal that way. I am smiling because I am taking classes again.  I dressed my avatar in an outfit that I would wear to teach.  I like to mix a casual item like a jean jacket with a skirt and high heels to dress it up.  As a teacher, I could also dress it down with a pair of flats because there will be long days when earing high heels at school will not suffice. My avatar signifies my versatility and professional demeanor. You'll also notice a cat next to my avatar.  He represents our family pet, Darth Kitty, who we named in honor of our love for Star Wars.  Darth Kitty had to be included with my avatar because he has spent many hours next to me giving me moral support while I am typing away on the computer.         

Thing #1: Lifelong Learning

     The 7 1/2 Habits of Learning online tutorial we had to read for this assignment was very interesting and thought provoking. It was thought provoking because we had to choose which lifelong learning habit was the easiest and hardest for each of us. While the easiest lifelong learning habit was very evident for me, there were quite a few habits that have always been a challenge for me.

     The easiest lifelong learning habit for me is teaching and/ or mentoring others. I do not claim to be a walking encyclopedia. Nor was I the valedictorian in high school or in college, far from it. I have found that I have an innate nature to teach and mentor others. Looking back at my past work experiences, the positions I held always involved some level of teaching or mentoring others. I tend to gravitate to jobs or opportunities to teach someone whenever possible because it challenges me to present information in a different format so that it is relatable to whom I am speaking. Teaching or mentoring others is something that I love doing because I want to help others help themselves. To me, knowledge is more powerful when passed along for others to benefit as well.

    There are two lifelong learning habits that constantly test me. The first one is having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. I have struggled with this my entire life. Never mind that I was the first in my family to get a college education, I tend to overlook what I have accomplished and push myself to work harder. In working harder, I tend to not leave time for me to unwind or play. Taking time to play is the other lifelong learning habit that I do not make time to do. Yes, the easiest habit is the hardest one for me to adopt. I get caught up in doing the next errand, chore, etc. that the next thing I know the time for me to play is gone.

     By working with Web 2.0 tools, I want to be able to using these tools efficiently in order to teach 7th grade Spanish.  The actual setting up of this blog was not too hard. I just kept forgetting where to access my blog draft for editing. So far, I can see myself creating blogs for my future Spanish classes. It can be a way we can have a weekly class blog commentary on a particular topic.