Blah, blah, blah, BLOG

Yes, once again, it took me awhile to figure out how to get to this spot.  Blah, blah, blah....but finally I am here.  I even created my own blog page prior to me figuring out how to post to this one.  I am slow and I like to make technology as difficult as possible.  (Not really but that is the way it seems to go for me.)

Blogs....well I am not quite sure how much I will be doing with a blog in my class.  My first thought is that it is one more thing for me to manage and do I really want that?  I will keep an open mind though and keep looking for ideas and benefits of having a blog at the 4th grade level.  The good news is that I know my kids in my class will love it.  They seem open to everything that I have thrown at them so far that is technology related.  I even gave them an assignment that involved looking up and defining the vocabulary words for the upcoming unit.  I gave them a choice of doing it on paper like in the past, or they could do it on Goggle Docs....17 out of 19 kids did it on the Chromebook.  I was very impressed.  Because they can't type too fast yet, the two kids that did it on paper were finished sooner but it didn't seem to bother the other kids.

A blog is yet another door that has never been opened by me before so here I go!  I am going in only because of my kids and trying to keep up with everything.  I don't want to be left behind and even more important than that, I don't want my kids to be left behind.  They need to be "up" with all the latest things.  Even if they come and go quickly.  At least they will not be afraid to try new things and will be prepared for all the new great things that are still to come.  (Unlike me that has trouble figuring everything out and wishes it would just all slow down.)

Blogs!  I read them...mostly when I go on Pinterest to find my latest DIY project.  I enjoy them but never felt that I needed to utilize them past that "informational" level.

Within the reading for this module, I liked both the idea of assigning a student to make a blog post to re-cap a class AND the idea of using it as a component of a resume.  I'm going to have my Chem II kids do the notes - but for your viewing pleasure upon my first post, I am going to run with the "things I've done" take on the blog.

My youngest child turned the big "1" on St. Patty's day - we had the big 1st birthday party over the weekend.  I am very frugal (read:  cheap) and refuse to pay for anything that I *might* be able to do myself.  Enter Pinterest.  My kids will always have a fun decorated cake/cupcakes for their birthdays.  Low-cost for me, but looks great to all the outsiders.  I can usually rope a friend or a sibling into helping me.  Usually these decorating escapades take WAY longer than they should, but in the end, because they are low-cost, it's worth it to me.

Enter Michael's birthday theme:  Jungle Animals.

My first attempt at using fondant.  Not the most tasty thing you've ever eaten (my homemade buttercream icing is WAY better) but it looks good.  And heck, when you're going for the "wow-factor" - isn't that what counts anyway?  (haha - my best friend made all the cake from scratch so don't worry, this actually tasted amazing).

Here's some documentation of my 1am night making cupcakes:

And the previous projects over the past few years.  I have a lot of kids, so that equates to a lot of cakes.  I also have a few friends whose kids get cakes too.  I'm way too busy to do this as a "side business" but I take pride in the fact that although my kids won't get a "made from scratch" cake, they will always have one that they think looks fun!

Questions, questions

So, my feelings about blogging have always been lukewarm- not sure exactly where it would fit in, not sure what benefits it would provide for my students, concerns about making sure that student written content is appropriate, how is a blog different from a document....

This week's reading have me rethinking blogging, especially Sandra Porter's students using blogs as a portfolio. This project really seems to have practical value for students. It is always a challenge to make sure that students connect the lab work that we do to the content and that this leads to better retention. This year, I have been trying to document lab activities with photos, both taken by me and by students. We've been sharing the photos through Instagram and recently through Google photos and I have started to require photos as part of lab reports. Wasn't sure at first how to share the photos, now thinking that a blog may be a possibility since it would add the writing piece and the ability to comment...still questioning if a blog is necessary or if the same thing could be done with a Google product that doesn't require another log in.

This may take awhile to get used to.
Honestly, I am very happy with the way my high school students can collaborate via the LMS we use with our school. I do not see myself additionally requesting that they begin a blog separate from or LMS. The LMS also allows me to very closely monitor their activity.
I do see the value of a blog for a student to keep record of his/her personal and academic experiences, especially college or graduate level. A personal blog also belongs to the author and can be shared at his/her discretion and never goes away. Discussions and activities through a LMS essentially belong to the school which provides the account and when the semester or school year is complete or the student graduates the activities may be deleted to save space.
I liked the suggestion by Sandra Porter in our Pre-Reading #3, that college and graduate students  keep a blog showing their lab, research, and internship experience in order to be able to share for job hunting reasons. Prospective employers can be very impressed with the organization of experiences.
Porter also suggests in "The Ten Commandments of Student Science Blogging" that what you write is what you know and have experienced personally. When asked about items you post, you had better be able to recollect and discuss in detail. Your blog can give prospective employers a platform to generate interview questions. You in response have the luxury of fielding questions which otherwise may never have arisen in your interview and possibly your skills overlooked.
I agree for older students, blogs may indeed have their place.
Candace

I have a google of googles.

Took me a while to figure out how to get in, then I realized my mistake, I was trying to log into this blog from the wrong account. Duh!  You would think that using 3 google accounts for years I would know better, but apparently not.  A couple of years ago google made it a little easier, but allowing you to switch user accounts from within Chrome without having to log out, or us multiple browsers.  With the number of people that have a work and personal account, you would think that they could make it even easier by linking them so if you tried logging in with the wrong account, Google would notice and alert you.

Google account
1 for school
1 for University of Phoenix, though they recently dropped it in favor of Office 365 and I quit working for them
1 personal google account. 
defunct accounts
1 UOP account that I created so I could migrate my material when they closed the google apps access, but you couldn't share across domains yet.
1 google account for my school email, before we became GAFE
Manage
my 3 daughter's accounts

Google should pay me, seriously.  and while I am ranting, why does one have to pay to become Google Certified?

Anyone one else juggling multiple google accounts?