Thing # 3

      I am currently a classroom teacher at West Creek High School.  I teach Health Science education.  I have not used a blog as a part of my classroom yet.  I always thought the concept seemed to foreign to me and would be difficult to implement.  I have found through this experience that creating a blog is much easier than I had anticipated and can now envision several uses for it in my classroom.
      For example, I could use a blog to give students the opportunity to respond to a reading assignment or to comment on an issue that we may have discussed in class.  This would give students a voice and allow me to read their comments on a topic to help me determine if they have grasped the concept or now.  Students that may not be quick to speak up in class may be more willing to express their views on a blog, since the blogging format is very familiar to their generation.  The blog would help me to hear some of those students that never speak up in class in a whole new way.    All I would have to do is post a quick writing prompt, and then read their responses as they are added.  This could be used for a homework or a classwork assignment, since I have laptop computers in my classroom for daily use.
     I could also use a blog as an informational bulletin board for my students and their parents.  I could post upcoming projects, test dates, assignment information, and general class announcements.  I could set it up so all students and their parents have access so that they could check the blog anytime day or night to know what is going on in my classroom.  This could be an excellent way to encourage parental involvement and give my students the information they need. 
     There are so many options for using a blog in the classroom that I have never considered before.  I think that students would enjoy this type of learning activity and that it would help to keep them actively engaged in my classroom.

Thing # 2

• How did you decide on your posting name and the name of your blog?
• I decided to name my blog with my name and 23 things to make it easy for the other students in the class and the instructor to identify my blog. 
• What was your experience in creating the blog? Was it hard for you or easy? Why?
• I found creating the blog relatively easy.  Blogging does not come naturally to me but the site chosen for this class is very user friendly.  I was surprised just how easy the process has been.  It helped that we set the blogs up together in class and had our instructor to help if I got lost!
• 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 doesn't look like me.  The choices were limited on the free site and I didn't really see a look that looked like me.  So instead I decided to choose colors I like and a hair style that I wish I could have.  My hair is naturally curly and straightening it is a pain, so I choose a cute straight hair style.  My favorite color is pink, so I coordinated her clothing to have a pink theme.

Thing # 1

The lifelong learning habit that is the easiest for me is "Accept responsibility for your own learning."  At 26 years old I decided to go back to college.  I had to balance life as a wife, mother, and college student.  Even though this was a daunting task, I was determined to further my education.  I realized that my education was my responsibility.  No one else was going to tell me to go back to college and to further my education.  I graduated in 2006 with my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN). 

A few years later in 2008 I decided that I wanted to further my education even more.  I decided once again to go back to college.  I enrolled in Austin Peay State University once more.  This time I decided to pursue my Master’s of Art in Teaching (MAT) degree.  I am now only 6 credit hours short of this degree.  I should be ready to graduate in May of 2012. 

Even though I will be graduating, I know my commitment to my lifelong learning will continue to drive me.  My learning is my responsibility.  I fully embrace this responsibility.   This is a characteristic that I want to pass on to my own children and to my students.

The lifelong learning habit that is the most difficult for me is “View problems as challenges.”  I often get frustrated when problems arise that stand in the way of what I am trying to accomplish.  Too often I allow these problems to bring me down and even take away from what I am trying to do.  I have to get better about changing my prospective and viewing these problems as challenges designed for me to evaluate and conquer. 

From the web 2.0 tools in this class I want to learn new skills, programs, and ideas that will make me more proficient in integrating technology into my classroom.  Students are so technology savvy today and I need to be able to keep up with them and teach them in the ways that they learn. 

I found the process of setting up this blog relatively easy.  Blogger is very user friendly and made the process seamless.   Blogging does not come naturally to me, but the program made me feel very competent in my ability to complete this assignment.