Writtings from a younger self.

September 20th/2001
"So I came back from Dustins house 3 hours and 1/2 mins ago. It was so much fun! So Sarah comes over to my place with Dani and we sell 4 bars lol. Then we double on the bike but Dani has mine. So we arrived and Dusty and Gierger were there and we were gonna have a snowball fight!"
That's a short passage from my journal, unedited, from when I was a young girl. It's funny cause I remember that day as if it were yesterday. Lately I've been feeling incredibly nostalgic. Within the past year, I've made so many changes in my life, steps towards a future I yet to see. I'm already almost done my first year of University, and I've been doing so much better now, then I ever have in my years in school. I've always struggled, whether it be with grammar or math, but somehow I made it here, and somehow it seems easier. Less complicated. I am certainly not saying that it's been a breeze, I have worked hard, but I believe I've matured so much within the last year. I'm proud, I feel like a stand taller. But with every sense of accomplishment, comes some sort of downfall. My path is steering me into an unknown direction in which I feel a little torn. The people I once use to associate with on a daily basis have become monthly or sporadic moments. We have made different decisions, which have driven us in different directions, causing our once unbreakable friendship, into merely acquaintances that greet when passing by. We once knew each others deepest darkest secrets. We once spent endless hours talking about nothing and everything, and now these rituals have vanish like water that evaporates once boiled. And because of this, I reflect back on the other relationships that have gone stale, and question why? Is there a way I can stop this? Or should I just allow it to happen, and simply cherish those times we once had? But I don't want to. I want to gather all those memories, and continue creating new ones with those people I once knew. But our lives have moved forward, and now our gatherings become uncomfortable and incredibly awkward, and I hate that. Because of this, I feel forced to create new friendships, which now seems arduous. It is not as easy as it once were in elementary. As adults, it becomes much more complicated. We look for similar interests, and coordinate what time is best for whom for coffee. And because of this long and painful process, I much rather sit at home, and write something along these lines.
When I read those grade 5/6 students blogs, I read a little bit about myself. It's as if I am reading my own journal entries, with its big bubbled letters, and heart shaped dots over the j's and i's. You can sense the excitement in their writing when they talk about their sleepovers, or the school dance. With every sentence, they end with an exclamation mark, which is exactly what I once did. I smile, but my heart also becomes heavy. I feel incredibly old, even though I am merely turning 20 in 4 weeks, but when I read those journal entries, it reminds me of who I use to be, and how fast time has passed. I'm not saying that I would like to repair my past. I just wish someone warned me how fast your life goes by.


Photo found in flickr
By Aubrey Arenas

Oceans Away

With great relief, Seth Dickens was pleased by my video (and Amber's). He has already planned out a busy schedule for the both of us and his class until the end of March. In a recent e-mail we received, he wanted to know exactly the time gap we have between Italy and Saskatchewan. I checked online and they are 5 hours ahead of us. Curious to know when they hold this class (that we're mentoring), his response was 8:50am, making that 3-4am-ish here. Until this point, we were planning on having a skype conference, but due to this dilemma, the chances look grim. I'm willing to do it, despite it being at 3 am. I go to bed late, and as long as it's on a day that I don't have class at 9am, I'm willing to make this happen. (Also, as of late, I haven't been getting to bed until 3 am anyways.)
Anyways, we'll figure it out somehow, but I'll keep you guys updated whether we attempt it or not.

Hello Italy!

After being inspired by Amber's video, and receiving the question's that Seth Dickens class had prepared for us, I've created a video introducing myself, my hobbies, and my knowledge of Italy.
At first I was going to use my boyfriends mac, which is what I used to make my tech task#9 project with, but since he had to use it, I figured out how to make one using Windows movie maker. It was actually quite similar to the design and set up of the mac, so it didn't take long to understand where everything had to go.
Also in preparation of this video, I used flickr to provide beautiful visual imagery. I had fun making this, but I also felt a little silly for the purpose of recording myself in my room, but like I said in my video, and I'll say it here: "I'm excited to expand my horizons."
Let me know what you think.

Ps: I wasn't able to include music for background noise because it would push my audio clips to the end of the song. Does anyone know how to have both playing at once?

Priceless Moments

Here's my mastecard commercial ripoff. I used my boyfriends mac, which has a program called imovie. All you really need to do is drag and drop where you want things. It was easy to use, and I quite enjoyed making this as it allowed me to reflect on the good times I have at work. I love my job! (most of the time.)
All the photos are originals either by me, or the other girls at the shop (Dessart).
Music by The Ting Tings.

Sell Yourself

So for our tech task #10, we had to "sell ourselves" provided that we can only use 4 photos, and some text. I wasn't sure how I would do this, but thanks to Jaclyn who posted a blog on Glogger, I was able to make a quick and easy poster of myself for this assignment. I found it really hard to only pick 4 photos, but I decided to pick the 4 that would make most sense in describing me, and what made me who I am today. What's also great about Glogger, is you can also have animation, videos, or voice clips embedded into your poster too. It was really easy to use, and classroom friendly.
Thanks to Dean, I was able to edit my post, and fit my poster onto my blog for you all to see. Previous to this, I had troubles having the image fit on my screen, without it being cut off, but by tweaking the numbers that are all listed in the HTML, it allowed my to shrink it to an appropriate size.
Thanks again Jaclyn and Dean.

The loss of control

I can't describe the overwhelming feeling of information I have gained and appreciation from watching this video. This is the story of Ian Waterman, a man who at the age of 19 woke up unable to move. He had lost the nerves that controlled body movement, so an easy task as to put a fork of food into your mouth, became an impossible job. Ian still has his sense of pain and temperature, but lost the sense of touch. I have truly gained a sense of appreciation for my functioning body.
This video has two parts in it, and both are around 20 minutes long, but I highly recommend you take the time to watch this. It's miraculous how complex the human body is.

Watch The Man Who Lost His Body [Part 1] | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Mentoring Via Internet

I entered my Wednesday night class eager to find out who I will be mentoring for the next few weeks. Of course as a form of torture, Dean doesn't tell us until the end of class. After an anxious two hours, I heard my two teachers name called out: Stephanie Olson, and Seth Dickens. As I knew before hand, one is provincial and the other is international. What a great way to compare and contrast cultures and experiences I will have with them both. The moment I arrived home, I contacted my teachers, eager to begin. Seth Dickens is from Italy, so due to the time difference, we may be playing e-mail tag for a while before beginning. I heard from Stephanie Olson the next morning. She teaches a grade 5/6 split from Moose Jaw. All of Stephanie's students already have blogs set up on blogger, so I took a gander at all 26 students to become familiar with them. I probably had the biggest smile on my face as I did this. I proudly showed my students off to my family and, expressing my excitement.
Tonight, I created my first video blog, using my laptop web cam. This is just a small meet and greet for the Moose Jaw class.
This one goes out to you guys:




Changing Disabilities

For our tech task assignment #7, it was required we watch a video from the K12 Online Conference 2008. The video I chose was called "Changing Disabilities". They focus on the McGiver approach of changing disabilities into possibilites. (I thought this aspect of the presentation was the funniest!)
They mainly focused on a site called voice thread. It's kind of like elluminate. You can present things online and you can comment varying from typing it into the chat, recording it on a microphone or video, or telephoning.
These teachers presented it in their kindergarten class, and most specifically, children with disabilities. They talked about 3 students with different problems, and how the site had help them advance and improve in school. My favorite was about Lindsay. Lindsay was overly sensitive to loud noises, which made school pretty uncomfortable for her. When she attended school, she didn't talk (selective mutism). So when it came to knowing where Lindsay was in reading, her teachers didn't know because they have never heard her talk, let alone read. The solution? Her teacher scanned the pages of a book and uploaded them onto voice thread. She showed Lindsay how she could record herself, and left the room. A few minutes later, Lindsay presented her work and her teacher got to know that Lindsay could read, and she was a remarkable reader.
This is just one example of how voice thread could really help out, and the rest of the video is just as interesting. I never thought of the advantage technology could offer with people with disabilities. It's actually quite incredible! I really loved the idea of voice thread and almost find it easier, and more visually engaging, than elluminate (no offence Dean).
Anyways, if you're interested in more about voice thread, just click my hyper link and they have a audio/visual recording on what it is. It's great.

Overwhelmed

For the past week I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed. Already this semester had flown by, and I feel like I can barely keep up with everything. It certainly not as strenuous as the previous semester, but it's a lot more harder to stay self motivated (or at least for myself, it is).
I am very excited for this mentoring, but I'm also a little worried. I'm already trying to keep up with checking and reading all my classmates blogs, but to add 2 or 3 other classroom of students worries me. How does one keep up with all the new blogs? And how can we provide insightful comments without repeating oneself like a broken record. Maybe I'm just making a big deal out of nothing, but can someone re-assure me, or hold my hand?