37th Anniversary!

Do you know what today is??? It was my parents' 37th anniversary! I created an "at home" date night for them. I started by decorating the dining room with tealight candles all around the floor. Then decorated the table w/ a centerpiece, some heart shaped candles, a heart-shaped plant and balloons. Then I set the table for dinner. I cooked belgian waffles, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and cut some fresh fruit. Me and my younger sister acted as their servers starting them with cold glasses of orange juice then breakfast for dinner. When my mom walked in she was so shocked and excited. My dad had the hugest smile on his face as well. They both thoroughly enjoyed themselves, reminiscing and chatting while me and my sister served them. And who was playing in the background? None other than Luther Vandross, Earth Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder. With the ambiance set, and full bellies, we topped off the night with a mini cake atopped with candles that read "37". We cleaned up a bit and left the love birds to their date. What a dreamy night. My parent deserved it. Wonder what the recipe for a long lasting, committed relationship is...

In love with someone else

Tell me why this girl is wrecking it? Ok that's not what I'm writing about. Jazmine sings about being in love with another man. Her song is full of soul and emotion in the mood of an apology. Jazmine has realized that though the one man who loves her unconditionally and the way she NEEDS to be loved has showered her with the best and given her more than she could be thankful for, for some reason she is attracted to and "in love" with someone who: *treats her "so-so" *doesn't look that great *doesn't have the best occupation *she always fights with She even encourages him to find someone who can reciprocate what he gives and who he is. However, though she is apologetic, she is adamant about what (or who rather) she wants. She makes it clear that her "other man" is her CHOICE. As believers its easy to "be in love with someone else" other than the ONE who relentlessly loves and chases us. The ONE who demonstrated the greatest form of love (laying down His life). We are created with a desire to choose and given the will to do so. Ironically we ache for His love and are so unable to comprehend the brevity of its fulfillment that we chase after "other things" in vain. Our Lover will NOT accept our apologies, nor will He go looking for someone who is worthy of His love. He will, however pursue us and allow His Spirit to do the drawing. And as relentless as He can be...the choice will be OURS!

The Grass is...oops I mean the Snow is always Whiter...

Ever heard that phrase:

"The grass is always greener on the other side"

Well with our upcoming "frost", many (including myself) are anticipating some snow. What comes with snow in Houston?...ICE! Yes...I would even welcome the ice if it meant we could stay in bed and not have a work/school day. I mean "think about the kids" they shouldn't have to ride the bus on those icy streets...something could happen to them. Now we wouldn't want that would we? And lets say they get trapped at school and their parents come retrieve them. Which is why I suggest we just stay home! Hey it makes for a 3 day weekend (possibly 4) and much time to cuddle (although I only have my pillows to cuddle with).

But lets say we DO postpone (shutdown) school for 1-2 days. There's always that evil word no one likes to hear: "Inclement Weather Make-up Days" BOOOOOO!!! YUCK!! No one wants EXTRA days (that were supposed to be off-days) in school when the sun is out and all you can think about is "if it wasn't for those stupid snow/ice days we'd be sitting at home today with no kids".

So which side is greener...oops I mean "whiter"? Taking the days NOW or LATER? Hmmm...

One thing led to another

Ok so I'm particular about things being structured and organized and well thought out, right?

So last year I was like "I'm gonna help these missionaries & make sure they are prepared for their trip next year". And I'm not so sure I realized what I was getting myself into. I set out to design a curriculum for them to deliver when they traveled and ended up also planning a curriculum for training them. Then got muscled into facilitating the training.

Well I did my research on VBS curriculum and tried to use my teaching skills to take the "invented wheel" and tweek it for contextualized purposes and to say the least...THAT is a task in and of itself.

Well todayy was my first day executing the first of three trainings and well "I'm not one to toot my own fladooginhoogin" but it was quite fun and engaging if I do say so myself!

I had the trainees open up with a memory verse game, then followed that with a game called "Minefield" where they had to lead each other through a minefield while their partner wore a blindfold. That was hilarious. Our debriefing of that activity served its purpose to help them connect their actions with that of missions.

Next they did a bible search matching activity and unfolded God's heart for missions and finally we ended with a crafty session making Gospel bracelets. I must say, I can't wait to facilitate my 2nd session next month.

In the mean time, designing a VBS curriculum is a bit more tedious and I'm only 1/5 of the way done. But the thought of what's left to plan, keeps me excited & who knows...maybe my gifts and desires to be a teacher who teaches other teaches best practices is well on its way.

Analysis of 3 Video Editing Software

Considering the three video editing softwares: Adobe Premier Pro, Roxio Videowave Pro & WinDVD Creator. I identified, Adobe Premier seems to be an extremely productive and advanced program.. I have only had interaction with Roxio and WinDVD and therefore based upon my research, would like to witness how much more effective Adobe is. I’ve used WinDVD and Roxio for different personal projects such as creating personal still-picture videos compiled of personal pictures; creating stil-image videos for religious events as well as short video-clip videos; developing videos that advertise events and organizations using both still pictures and video clips. All of these projects were built using two of the three applications above. On both I was not really able to manipulate the color nor audio control much. The programs did offer the basic special effects, transitionally, and offer the possibility of exporting to a DVD or CD. Due to these basic editing abilities, I classified both of these editing programs as having great weaknesses. I’d like to explore Adobe as I seek to expose my students to the abilities to create digitial portfolios and storyboards to present their learnings and research. Having GT students gives me the ability to extend their products for formative assessments to digitial products.

Pages in a Book *Multimedia Digital Story*

Reflections on Action Research

Things I reflect on from this course are the reality of how timid people are with technology; the freedom in action research and how examining improvement can be done without losing what is already working. First, as I read blogs of my classmates, I realized that as inquisitive, passionate and excited as they are, there is a lot of timidity in their inquiry almost causing an underlying lack of confidence. I can’t empathize with these classmates of mine because I have a pretty positive mindset about technology. Personally, it has enhanced my own inquiries and academically, I’ve seen how the release of control benefits my students and moves me into more of a facilitator’s role. I am excited to see how my peer’s action plans will boost them and their campuses into a more technology savvy state of mind and free them to move with the educational current. I also witnessed some colleagues of mine express their doubt towards how “inappropriate” blogs and wikis were in an educational setting. This motivated me to begin my blogging early! As I ran into my colleagues at pre-school year professional developments, I added them to my blog and demonstrated how to get on and even posted interesting, educational blogs to get them thinking about the school year and had them add comments. Second, I used to think research was boring and mundane and absolutely hated the thought of having to conduct it. As I read about Action Research and its components (data collection, cyclic nature, action plans in place), my mind about research changed. I began to embrace the idea of composing a plan based upon my inquiries. I realized that research is actually freedom, not constraint. It’s a series of inquiries that lead to another set of inquiries, all tested in efforts to continue change. Finally, when I read in the Harris text about the C.A.R.E model, “Too often educators focus so exclusively on what needs to change that they lose perspective on what does not need to change in the process”, I found new ways to implement change on my own campus via my inquiry plan (p.97). I realized that affirmation could help maintain a healthy and strong community of colleagues and their work ethics while seeking to address the changing needs of our students to improve their achievement. Morale is what drives educators, alongside their passion. In addition, when they see data improvements, they buy into those methods upon which aided in the growth; not until they have played an active part in that growth does the improvement seem real. These reflections are all reasons upon which I found a cause to revise my Action Plan draft. A combination of my readings, blogs and discussion with both my peers and site supervisors/mentor all aided in these revisions and this reflection.