What are you thinking?

Close your eyes and write about what immediately pops into your head. Hmmm...that's a difficult thing to write about when there are a thousand things swimming through your head. I guess the first thing that pops into my head is Christmas and getting everything done before Saturday rolls around. I still need to buy Emily's bunk beds, buy presents for my mom, dad and brother, and wrap them all! Meanwhile, we have school until Thursday, which is seemingly really late for us to be going to school :(

I also didn't get my check from Globaloria. I am supposed to get a stipend every quarter and the one for the second quarter won't come until after the first of the year. I was hoping to get it before Christmas because that was the general consensus, but it is not going to happen. I am praying it isn't like the quarter one checks and take six weeks for us to get them.

I guess those are the biggest things on my mind right now. Although, I can't forget grading papers, finishing lesson plans, updating Edline, talking to parents and the other general treachery duties we do daily. This really is the busiest time of the year!

So...your assignment is to blog about the first thing that pops into your head! Make sure it is school appropriate and add text, photos and links! Your response must be at least three paragraphs. (5 sentences each paragraph) Your post must make sense. It must be coherent. Do not post about Ms. Jones. DO NOT COPY AND PASTE YOUR TEXT FROM ANOTHER WEBSITE!

Goals...

It is always important for people to set goals. Without goals, we are just trudging forward without knowing where we are going. In our class it has been difficult to set goals because we haven't been sure what is working and what isn't and where we want to go. However, today is a new day! We have our Flash issues resolved and it should be smooth sailing from here. To go along with the new Flash installation it is important for us to have new attitudes and to set some goals.

While I have personal goals for this class like to be more organized and try to keep one step ahead of problems, I think it is important to have class goals as well. I have come up with a list of goals we should start working on. These goals include:

• Updating our learning logs-people can't tell how hard you have been working if you don't flaunt it :)
  
• Blogging-everyone needs to blog twice a week. One post needs to be about what you are working on in Globaloria. The other post can be any topic that is somewhat school related or related to your progress in this class.
• Mini game project-starting today we are going to go through the minigame project as a class. Please make sure you are keeping up with the programming.
• Staying on appropriate websites-people can see everything you do. You do not want to lose computer privileges because you can't stay on task.
• By Christmas break we want to have the mini game project completed and posted to your wiki pages.
  

• Have fun! This class is a lot of work, however, it is supposed to be fun!

I know it seems like I am asking a lot from you, but we really need to buckle down and get things done. If you have any questions, let me know.

Your blogging assignment for this week is to respond to this post. You must tell me at least four personal goals you have and two or three bad habits you want to break when it comes to Globaloria. You may also include any ideas you have to help the class become successful. Keep in mind, you should not discuss any particular student, just the class in general. Thanks!

Snow Days...

This is the first day we have had school this week because of the snow. I hope we have many more snow days to follow, although it throws off our Globaloria progress. The weather channel is predicting we will get more snow next week.

Things to do this week...

So, with Thanksgiving fast approaching, we are going to try to wrap some things up this week. Some of the things we need to finish are the mini game project, paper prototyping and posting the results on the wiki. We also need to make sure we are blogging two times a week and updating your learning log. After Thanksgiving, we are going to move on to actually making our games in Flash.

Video Blogging

To video blog or not to video blog...that is the question?

I think we will try video blogging in my Globaloria classes. My kids are very adept at using technology and many have posted on video blogging sites such as YouTube before. My main problem is they are forgetting to write on their blogs at least twice a week. It seems like I have to remind them to blog daily, and by the end of the week some of them haven't blogged at all. I wonder if they will be more diligent bloggers if video blogging is an option.
I don't blame them, really. Sometimes it is difficult to find something to blog about, or sometimes the assignments take longer to complete than one week, so they don't get to the blogging assignment until two or three days into that section of the course schedule. However, it is something we need to work on; getting two blog posts per week, every week.
I think I might try to find them something to blog about other than the assignments listed on the course schedule. If anyone has any ideas for blogging topics, let me know.

Ayiti...the addiction.

So...my kids are addicted to the Ayiti game on the playing to learn section of the course schedule. The game is very basic, but for some reason, that's all they want to play. The basic premise of the game is to have your family of Haitians live for four years while meeting their basic needs. They have to have to have jobs or go to school, and their efforts to prosper are constantly thwarted by natural disasters, robbers and disease.
So far, I have only won the game twice. The first time, my family almost didn't make it. I had one person left and he had a miserable life. The second time I won, I was able to have the whole family live, but they had an "okay" life. However, many of my students have been able to have all of their Haitians live and have good lives.
I guess until we get our flash installed (seemingly never) then we will continue to work on choosing a game topic, researching and playing "playing to learn" games.

Internet safety is important not only for students, but for adults as well. Often, people forget the internet is public information, and everyone in the world can see what they post. If you put your phone number or name online, people have access to you and possibly your personal information. You should never put your name, phone number, address or email address on your wiki or blog. You also should not post your physical description.

Other bloggers...

Hey...I wanted you guys to take a look at some blogs other students in Globaloria are doing...Keep in mind, they have been working the same amount of time as we have. If you want to follow their blogs you can. In fact, they would be good references to help you out when you can't figure something out. Here are the links:
Martreea
Duane
Tim
Amanda
Valerie
Sumisu

You can comment on their blogs and follow their posts. Make sure you are setting your blog settings according to the questions on the course guide. Have a great day!

This is how you blog!

Now we are sitting in Globaloria and learning how to blog. I love blogging! It is fantastic! I would blog all day every day if I could! There are some really good blog writers in this class. However, some people do not look at the course schedule, so they have no idea how to blog. This tutorial is for them.

Blogging 101

This is how you blog...

I love to write blog posts because it helps me to express my feelings. Blogging is an outlet for me to give you guys information and get comments back. If you have questions about blogging, please see the course schedule.

Live to blog another day...

So..is blogging everything you thought it would be? Hopefully, by now, most of you have made a blog, and have linked it to your profile on the wiki. If you have, I tried to leave you a personal comment in the comments section. Make sure you are reading the comments people leave you. Also, you can reply to any comment someone leaves. Part of your grade for blogging is to comment on other people's blogs. Remember, while it is important to be nice, it is also important for you to leave constructive comments that will help people better their game design, blog posts or wiki pages. It is okay to be funny, but make sure you leave constructive feedback for people. If you have questions about posting to the blog let me know. Also, make sure you are following my blog, and that I am following yours. When you write your blog post, make sure it is a rich post. This means you should add video, images and/or hyperlinks to the blog post. Make it interesting! I am impressed with most of your work so far. Make sure you check your grammar, or have someone else do it, and make sure your blog posts are at least five or six sentences at a minimum. You can check out Kayla Dilley's blog or Katelynne Cogar's blog for some good examples of blogging. Hope you are not too frustrated! Keep up the good work!

Confusion...Frustration...Success...all of you have experienced these feelings-at least the last few weeks in this class! I want to take a minute to tell you what a great job you are doing so far. I know it is difficult to understand the coding or brackets or how to upload images, but you guys are getting it! Looking at your personal pages, I am really impressed with how easily you have adapted to unfamiliar territory. I know there are some of you who are still struggling, and if this is you, find a classmate to help you or ask me.
Above all else-CHECK THE COURSE SCHEDULE! It has everything you need to be successful. You just have to READ! I can't wait to read your blog posts. Make them interesting and make them reflect you, your personality and your opinions. Also, don't forget to write in your learning logs everyday. I know with only 45 minutes it is a difficult task, but if you get in the habit now, you'll automatically update it daily. I hope as time goes on you are all less frustrated and confused and that you all experience success in this class! If you have any questions, please let me know!

Welcome Back!

Hey guys! Let me be the fifteenth person to welcome you back to school this year! I hope you had a good summer vacation. I don't know people are always like, "WELCOME BACK", when we all know you would rather be sitting at home, sleeping until noon, and playing video games. Well, as much as you dread the start of the school year, it's upon us and we're going to make the best of it. If fact, not only are we going to make the best of it, we are going to have an awesome time this year! You are part of something spectacular, a class like no other, a class where you, the student, can be your own boss. This Globaloria class will allow you to participate in your own learning, becoming your own tour guide in the classroom, to produce projects you would never have imagined. I can't wait to work with all of you in this exciting endeavor. I'm going to learn along with you, and I'm hoping you guys can teach me some things along the way. Remember, you are an active voice in this classroom, if you have questions or comments, let me know. I hope you all had a great summer and are ready to work hard this year!