For the Love of Education

I apologize for the forthcoming rant:

To the people who; 1) refuse to vote for bond elections, 2) vote for health care and pocket books before education, 3) the people donating to politicians and not schools...

...Why? Seriously why?

Why are politics more important than education? Why should students suffer through poor facilities because it was good enough for you 20+ years? (Which by the way means they are worse now!) Why does it have to fall only on educators to do the educating? Do you realize I am using a print from when I was in high school in my classroom. (I hate to admit it but that means it is 20 years old people!)

Hey! I love, LOVE, my job! Even on the bad days, I love my job. What I don't love is what society is doing to my consumers, the students. No freshman should have to sit for a 5 hour test. Heck legally, everyone gets a 15 minute break per 4 hours of work, but not my students. "Oh, our kids don't compare academically to China." Duh! You are trying to compare them to private school students in a tracked education system with Tiger Moms. "Well, I can't afford more taxes!" Well then we can't afford to improve the future of our society, because we can sure raise the cost of everything under the sun, but not our budgets. While your education worked for you, my students are growing up in a global society and we can't afford global skills training. I'm not saying I should be able to take students to Africa for a Geography lesson, but we are struggling to have a school teaching students how to use technology because the technology is not readily available in our rooms. I know what you're thinking, "but Michelle, you have a computer lab. You're school has i-Pads." But my school does not have the capability to ubiquitously provide every student and teacher constant access. It is limited to specific teachers or rooms. We can't plug in that much without blowing a fuse. We don't have the bandwidth to put 1200 kids plus teachers on the internet, and it is not just a problem hear!

On the note of donations to politicians. When was the last time that money went to fix anything? NEVER! Hello people! Wake up. That is for campaigning. I am still trying to figure out which of the blessed politicians in office kept even a quarter of their campaign promises. Just to define campaigning; that is simple travel and speaking engagements to encourage votes. So your dollars to planes, hotels, food, signs, decorations, not improving or world. Instead, donate to classroom. Send it to your local school district, and designate it to something specific, your local debate team, buying new computers, fixing the plumbing, anything, but make your dollars count. They don't count in a campaign.

On a side note we might ought to just have our politicians rap some catchy campaign thing, play it on all the radio and TV stations and call it good. They would say the same thing and cost is all a lot less. Then maybe we can at least get a good laugh out of the politicians!

Random Thoughts...Focused Ideas: What is a Flipped Classroom?

Cool post from my friend Sharron!  Glad she found it and shared with us!

Random Thoughts...Focused Ideas: What is a Flipped Classroom?: Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Something New!

So spring is a time to try new things. So I just wanting to see what it was like to post on my blog of my own choice away from grad school, and well a few friends and I came up with a brilliant idea! I will share a recipe that we came up with for Drunken Fried Pickles.

Easter Saturday, we had our extended family gathering where we enjoyed a cookout, and while sauteing up vegetables for burgers, we decided that we would try to fry some pickles. A few things that we all agreed on we that we loved dill pickles, beer battered onion rings are the best and therefore beer battered pickles must be amazing.

Here is our test...ideas are welcome, but we enjoyed this trial.

Ingredients:
You favorite dill pickles (we tried home canned, sliced spears, and sliced concession pickles...more on that later)
1 package of bis-kits
1 can of your favorite beer (this was a challenge since I don't like or drink beer)
Step 1: Pick your pickles!!! (Say that 5 times fast!)
If you need to slice them go for it. Once you have sliced you will need to lay all your slices out on layers of newspaper and paper towels to dry a bit. We used the newspaper to help expedite the process! You can also make the drying process quicker if you will also cover the top of your slices with paper towels and gently press. (Sorry, no pic on this step...We decided to make this a blog post after we finished!) At this time also heat up your Fry Daddy or skillet with about 1/2 inch of oil. I am thinking a Fry Daddy is easier, but I used a skillet this time.

Step2: Mixin' beer for batter!!!
In a medium to large bowl, pour your packet of bis-kits and mix with 3/4-1 cup of beer. We used 1 cup, but the amount of beer used will be dependent on the thickness desired for your batter. Mix well.

Step 4: Better Batter!!!
Place a handful of dried pickle slices into the batter bowl. Use a strainer, tongs, or if you like your hands to pull the now battered pickles out of the bowl.

Step 5: Fry 'em Up!!!
Gently place the battered pickles into the oil. Careful as the oil will pop! If you are pan frying, allow a couple of minutes per side. Fry until a nice golden brown. We used tongs to keep the pickles from sticking to the pan and to remove the pickles.


Step 6: Drain 'em!!!
Less grease is good! Make sure you neatly lay out some more newspaper and paper towels because you'll be draining again! Lay your pickles out so they may drain completely. Careful, they're hot! Lightly salt if you like!

Step 7: Plate and Serve!!!
Now you can plate and serve a delicious snack or side for dinner. Yum stuff!!!

A note on the pickles used: We did not have any name or store brand hamburger slices to use. In this test, we used home canned spicy dills, which tasted great, and the batter seemed to stick nicely to them. We also sliced up some of those jumbo concession stand style dills. Flavor was fine, but the batter did not like sticking. Finally, the favorite of the test kitchen...was sliced dill spears, we used Kosher. The spears were thin sliced, so they did not take long to fry and the natural saltiness was by far the best. Vlasic is the fav in our home! I would like to try it next time with the hamburger dills though.

Hope you can enjoy this treat too!

The End?-Or maybe it is just the beginning!

Yesterday, I received--after a long day of teaching and meetings--my cap and gown. It was a moment of excitement and relief. My four year old thought it was so incredibly awesome and then said I could be a wizard for Halloween next year. While her moment of naive cuteness was almost too much to resist, I can't help but think how thankful I am to have completed this journey of graduate school.

I am worn out! Work, school, and family have challenged me during the past 18 months. I am in need of rest. But more than that, I am thankful that I have gained the relationships of some wonderful men and women, who have friended me in our graduate school experience whether due to group assignments or general common ground. My network of friends has grown significantly in a few short months. Whether we join in our nightly Skype meetings over the latest homework, or meet at lunch on the weekend for the fun of it, I value the moments of my degree program.

My course work has given me a new direction in my classroom, and my career goals. I feel lucky to act as a mentor to fellow teachers in the use of technology. I am excited to share research backed knowledge. I am thankful to understand the work of an administrator.

Does receiving my cap and gown signify the end. Maybe not. As I cross the stage in December with my friends and cohort members, I am finishing school, not my education. I am ready to continue learning in my career, and hope that I can be a facilitator that others look to, trust, and appreciate.

EDLD 5397-Week 4 Web Conference

I am excited and also saddened after attending the Saturday morning web conference from my iPhone. Adobe Connect has a free app to allow you to connect from your iPhone, iPod, or iPad. I was happy to find this app since I am gone on Saturdays often to places that do not have wifi--or at least not open access. This web conference was a bit of trial and error. While I was unable to see the chat log--I am still trying to diagnose that problem--I was able to add to it, and both my audio and video worked fine. I chose to forgo the use of video because I was moving around a lot and dealing with children, but having audio and the ability to speak when I needed was rather useful. I am excited to have an app that was both free and applicable to my needs.

Overall, I still feel a little lost in my reflections. I often feel that I am meeting the requirements of the reflections, but since I do not outright reference the guiding questions I think I am loosing points. I mentioned in my comp exam this week about my struggle with academic writing, but it is specifically an issue with reflective writing. I feel like I am repetitive and wordy writing the reflections. I also find it hard to re-reflect on courses from over a year ago...especially when some courses fell in emotionally stressful times due to the loss of two family members this year from cancer. I am happy to say though that Dr. Abernathy as well as the other professors in the program have all been very reassuring during the various struggles I have had during the course of graduate school.

EDLD 5370 Web Conference Week 3

I don't know if some of us are simply tired and ready to get through, or if there truly are no new questions to ask. However, tonight's web conference was short as there were only a couple of key concerns related to the course. The first concern was not about this week's assignment, but rather about our field-based hours. I asked if the monthly report was the only one required, but once again we are being asked to reflect on our reflections which has become redundant. I am finding it harder and harder to find something new to say. The second major question was concerning organization of our comprehensive exam paper. I am less worried about this as it seems to be more organic in style, where as the reflections were organic the first time.

At least I have some ideas of where to go while I am in Beaumont. I did appreciate knowing about the reception, and i am glad that Dr. Abernathy seriously answered my question about restaurants. Now if only I can get past the fact that there is too much on my plate right now.

Web Conference Week 2

After this evenings web conference, I am certain that I am not the only one struggling with the amount of work that has been left for this last course. I don't think any of us, at least in my Skype group, are intentionally being whiny. I think if you look at all of our groups lives you would see that we are all busy, all the time. I think you would also see that we up to this point have felt confident in our time management. If anything, there are courses that we felt left us wondering what next. Instead in this course it feels like there are some things, like the course-embedded assignments that could have been addressed with the expectation giving in this course at the beginning of the program. I would have felt better about the expected level of writing if had been throughout. I do admit that like I stated in the web conference, I would much rather give a speech than have to type the reflections. I have never been a journalistic type of person.

On a more assignment focused note, I am glad to know that the comprehensive exam may not flow the way I am used to writing flow. I keep looking at my comprehensive exam thinking that it is missing transitions. Unfortunately, how do you transition from leadership goals to the Horizon Report? I am glad that both Dawn and Dr. Abernathy mentioned that it may sound choppy now, but will come together by week five. I suppose that this is just the place that I am in as a speech teacher and writer. Sometimes the transition back and forth has been challenging, but I am excited by all that I have learned. The information from my graduate school courses has helped me to make an impact in my teacher organization, my classroom, and my school.