Relaxing

Work and no play makes for a very dull girl. I love to travel but one of my favorite places to go is Camp Losh. It is a cabin on the Buckhannon River in Upshur County, West Virginia and is so relaxing. The cabin was built in the 70s by Roger's dad, family and friends. Last summer Roger and his dad built a bunk house. It is a place for all the kids to sleep and store all of their junk. Some visits to the camp include 4 people but other visits with kids and friends include 20+ people.




I tend to get up earlier then everyone else so I take a book and a cup of coffee to the swing on the porch that faces the river. While reading I get to hear all the morning sounds and see many of the wild animals that come to visit. While we are there we sometimes take walks down many of the dirt roads near the camp. Other activities include swimming, volleyball, soccer, boating, fishing, sitting around the camp fire, 4-wheel riding, setting off fireworks and a host of other things that come along.

In the fall the leaves are so pretty there but it also a somewhat sad time. In late October or early November they winterize the camp so after that no one stays until spring.



In this fast pace world it is still nice to go to a place and relax, enjoy nature, visit family, and think or not think. I hope I can go there soon.

June Academy

The June Academy was an extremely beneficial stressful three days that has me excited to start a new game design class. I just wanted to blog and hope that everyone there will see this blog. It is very motivating for me to be in a room with a group of West Virginia teachers who care and are willing to give up your summer time to take training that is so intense. You are willing to learn new curriculum and go out on a limb to offer a new class that you think will benefit your students.

It makes me proud to watch everyone work and learn. It inspires me to be a better teacher because I want to keep up with everyone else and what they are doing. In fact I wish my own children could of had all of you as teachers because they would have learned so much.

I guess in this confused, tired mind of mine, what I am trying to say is THANK YOU. Thank you for caring. Thank you for being great teachers. Thank you for improving the educational system in West Virginia. Thank you for being fun to work with. Thank you for encouraging and inspiring me. Thank you to the Globaloria team who works us so hard but teaches us so much.

This Fall I will be a better teacher because of my involvement with all of you!! Thank you.

My Ah Ha Moment of Learning

Today's video of John Seely Brown gave me the word I was looking for to understand my "ah ha" moment of learning. It was the day that I learned to "tinker" on the computer. I LOVE tinkering on the computer whether I am creating something in Photoshop or communicating with a friend. In fact that LOVE of tinkering on my own enabled me to learn computer skills to teach more advanced classes--even write the content standards and create new classes for the state.

An even greater LOVE is for me to give the power of tinkering to my students. There are many reasons for me to LOVE what I do but words cannot always express their accomplishments. So on this blog are photos and links to work that were created by my students. My LOVING to tinker has put me in a position to give students the opportunity to master 21st Century Learning Skills and have fun while they are doing it.

RTC Student Public Service Announcements
RTC/SRMS Flash Video
Digital Imaging Student's Flash

As my students catch a totally awesome photo, get coding to work in Flash or publish a book I get to live my "ah ha" moment again and again. Isn't tinkering wonderful!

For Jeremy

Jeremy this is definitely not my best work but the picture of you was of such poor quality this was the best I could do. I hope you enjoy.

My Two Blogs

The two blogs that I found to get me started Adobe Education Leaders and Clif's Notes on Education and Technology. I use most of the Adobe Suite of Projects in my classroom so I think it is important to follow what other teachers are doing with the products. The other blog is Clif's Notes and it discusses technology used in the classroom.

I want to keep up with what is being used in other places and well as push myself so that my students have the most advanced skills possible. I do not want to settle with "this is good enough." I think for too many years West Virginia has had this repetition of "dumb hillbillies." I want to help change that image.

Advice for New Teachers

We are in training for teaching game design through the program Globaloria. This program is important to my students and I would like to see more students involved in the program. Students are put in more "real life situations" then any other program I have been involved. Students have to work in groups, problem solve, do online learning, and much more.

My advice to new teachers to the program would be to take a deep breath and relax.You must let go and give the students control. Let the students teach and share and teach you. This is against everything we have ever been taught in education. The next thing I would encourage is to ASK! questions. There are so many help features to this program that will keep you from pulling your hair out. It is important to note--all of us-even those of us who have done the program. I know I will ask for help this year and this will be my third year. One way is to use the Help Desk

Getting Behind

I have been forgetting to blog--I check on other people's blogs but forget to do my own. I have two girls who are doing very well in game design this semester. They are working together and have made great progress. As we were talking they were in groups last semester that forced them to do most of the work and not as much got accomplished. This semester they worked together and have been able to get so much more done. I am trying to brainstorm ways to improve total group production. I know that was a factor in several groups. One way I know would be to have each student do a game but then they miss out on the teamwork. Another way was to have each student do a level and they were responsible for that level. Does anyone have additional suggestions?