Finding Wonderland

"Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood; and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps, even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago; and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days." - Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

May all of us lead our students in to Wonderland so that they can create their own smoking caterpillars, grinning Cheshire cats, mad hatters, jabberwockys and all other things yet to be imagined.

This class has been a wonderful role-reversal and it has been a pleasure switching perspectives from teacher to student and student to teacher. We step in to our classrooms with a toolbox heavy with knowledge and skills. Thank you Dr. Rivera, fellow cohorts, and especially my own cohort III: Platypuses. We made it through the summer!

August 2 Update

I'm so relieved that our (Cohort 3) Interdisciplinary Unit is finally done! It took a lot of work to to put the multiple versions into one Power Point but we finally got it done.

The Professional Development assignment was a lot of fun. I read to pre-schoolers ages 2 1/2 to 5. I had to special order the book I wanted to read to them. It's called The Paper Bag Princess and the author is Robert Munsch. The book is saturated with references to gender equality (Munsch is a feminist) and I think it's an excellent book for kids and for teaching the concept of gender equality: princesses can save princes and yes, girls can do anything boys can do, sometimes even better. The kids really enjoyed the pictures in the book and were a captive audience. I could tell that they were happy to be read to. They also enjoyed the question and answer period after. I will definitely volunteer to read to them again.

July 30 Update

It's been a very busy assignment week. My cohort (3) has made a lot of progress with our Interdisciplinary Unit so I'm glad the draft is done. We just have to make the final changes to our slides before we submit the final version.
I actually got to feel some sunlight today. My husband and I went strolling around the island to enjoy the waves. It was nice to step away from the computer screen and be back in the world for a little while. I feel refreshed and ready to finish my assignments for this class and Dr. Sanchez's class.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Chin up because we are almost there!

July 26 Update

I started reading up on Rosenblatt's Transactional Theory and I thought it was really interesting. The Theory is similar to the stance I have on art (which includes literary art). I think that everyone can find their own meanings in what they read and what they see. The connection that is made is part of the learning process, actually it's the main part of it. Individuality in the classroom should be praised and guided so that students develop positive and productive methods to express their individuality.
We also had to say goodbye to all the characters in Under the Blood Red Sun today (as far as posting reflections about the book in Moodle). So far, everyone has expressed enjoyment in reading the book. I think that it was a very good book choice for our Multidisciplinary Unit assignment. There are so many aspects of the book that each content area should be able to create a lesson or activity with little difficulty.
Well I'm off to tackle my paper on Transactional Theory!

July 23 Update

So today I took my Praxis Content and PLT tests. They were so much fun! I couldn't believe how easy they were! NOT!!! I'm sure all of us who took Praxis tests this morning will be clanking glasses soon. Cheers! On another note, posting my character journal in Moodle was a welcome release of stress from the tests. It was also great exercise for my poor fingers that have been crinkled into monkey grips for the past four hours. My cohort is staying on task with the Multidisciplinary Unit project so that's alleviated some stress. Our wonderful classmate Robito is going to be secretary for the draft. Thanks Dr. Butch!

July 16th Update

Good Morning Everyone,
I think most of us are getting ready to attend the Praxis PLT prep at the Sheraton today. Today was a very busy week in our ED641 world. We had to turn in our literacy autobiography and our literature circle reflections (the deadline was extended for this). The literature circle reflection was a difficult task because we had to dissect how well we participated in the circles. I think that this was intended to really make us focus on how useful the literature circles can be as an activity for our own classrooms. For those of you that may be having difficulties understanding what we are required to do for this assignment, I always refer back to the syllabus. It contains the rubrics for each assignment. As far as the reader response activities, I liked the "Poem in Two Voices" and the "Character Journal" activities. Doing the activities myself provides insight on what my students will be experiencing. Some of my classmates and I got together to do the "Webbing" exercise.
On another note. It's a HUGE relief to know that we can use some of our MAT program assignments for our INTASC requirements in Livetext!

Calendar of Events

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about the Calendar of Events. If you are using it to keep track of assignments, please note that items have changed on the ED641: Moodle main page for Session B (not sure if it has changed for Session C). I created a new Calendar of Events by cutting and pasting the Moodle main page into a word document. I don't know how to attach documents to our posts. If anyone can give me instructions, I can upload it for you. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this because I didn't realize until this morning that there were changes.

July 12th Update

This has been a very busy week in our ED641 world. I finished the book Saturday and I'm content with the ending. I think a lot of people are used to their endings wrapped nicely in bright pink bows. I like to watch a lot of foreign movies and they hardly ever end that way. It other words, they are realistic. I'm glad that Salisbury ended with the disposition of "hoping for the best, but expecting the worst". The epilogue solidified the feelings of sadness and injustice that I felt for all of the main characters of the story. I don't want to say too much and spoil the ending for anyone.
Moving on! The more that my group discusses our Interdisciplinary Unit assignment, the more we all feel comfortable and confident with accomplishing the task. The Literacy Autobiography assignment was a nice stroll down memory lane. Sometimes it's hard to organize your memories because they flow in a holistic manner from mind, to fingers, to computer. I'm in the finalization processes of this assignment and will be turning it in shortly. I'm going to add the Reader Response Activities handout to my big bag of crazy. I think it's going to be very useful in the classroom. There are different learning styles and I think that the handout offers suggestions to that will enable each style to excel. I look forward to seeing all the graffiti boards.

Technological Merry-Go-Round

Since my life seems to be ruled by Murphy's Law, I was surprised that my first few experiences with blogging were somewhat smooth. The more I blogged and commented though, the more problems I started encountering. For example, this morning I commented on a post and I was redirected to re-sign into my account only three times. Then when I attempted to post my second comment, I was thrown into a techno-carousel of signing in, logging out, clearing cookies, signing in, logging out, closing browser, clearing browsing history and back to signing in again. Not one to give up, I did this for about thirty minutes. I think the sea monkeys in my computer got bored with me and finally let me really log in. You're really logged in when you see your email address on the top right corner of the site. Anyway, I just needed to vent and document that this really did happen to me this morning, as I wearily down the dregs of my tea.

July 9th Update

I reviewed the multidisciplinary unit PowerPoint as well as the other reference materials that were provide on Moodle. The PowerPoint was really detailed and I think the teachers did an excellent job weaving their content areas together. I also got some ideas about what activities and lesson I want to do for our assignment. Having all the reference materials is useful but it's a little bittersweet. Of course you don't want to do a repeat of any of the examples that were provided so you have to work a little harder to come up with new ideas.
My search for upcoming literacy and reading related events made me realize that we don't really have enough of these activities for the youth of the island. I think summer is an important time to keep kids interested in reading and to help them exercise their cognitive skills. They aren't going to be graded or judged so there is less pressure on them. The activities would mainly be about fun, not assessment.
I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of our book. I'm trying to avoid stumbling across any spoilers!

Under the Blood-Red Sun update

I just finished chapter 11 and the tension is really building. Billy and Tomi's relationship is really going to be put to the test. I know that the next chapters are going to be filled with emotional chaos. This point in the plot reminds me of my husband's take on movies. He likes to see the "half" of the movie (could be in the first half or the last half) when everything is going good. Gangstas are getting away with their hustle, couples are in romantic bliss, child is enjoying his journey through the wilderness, etc... He hates seeing the bad side of movies. Gangstas are getting killed and caught by the cops, couples are fighting and are at a breaking point in their relationship, boy encounters danger in his travels, etc... I think that chapter 12 of the book is the starting point of the "bad half" of the book. The main characters' will encounter crisis.
Another thing I find interesting is that I know Tomi is Japanese-American but for some reason I keep picturing his physical appearance to be Hawaiian. I have to keep reminding myself that his parents are both Japanese so he should look Japanese. Anyway, if you haven't started on the book, you should. It's a good read so far.

New month, new session

I just reviewed the syllabus, calendar of events, and other documents/links that are on the Moodle site. I've been avoiding technology for a while and it's about time I embrace it. Instead of hugging me back, technology gave me a good slap across the face. Let me explain, I already typed my blog, and then of course when I clicked for it to "post", nothing happened. So I thought I was clever by copying my entry before I posted (because this kind of thing always seems to happen to me...Murphy's Law) and when I went to create a new post and paste my entry, it was blank. Oy vey! So here I am, re-typing from memory, which shouldn't be too hard because this ordeal occurred only a few minutes. By the way, does anyone know how to access the time setting in our profile?

Okay, so back to technology. I haven't blogged before but I think it's a great way to make sure I'm on the same page (as far as course requirements) as my classmates. I also think that blogging can be quite personal because you are basically typing out your thoughts. Once you click on that orange tab labeled "publish post", your thoughts are out there. Well, in a perfect world you would only click once and not have to re-type your whole entry.
Anyway, I feel so overwhelmed and stressed out this summer because of the amount of work we have to do. I'm sure we all feel this way, and if you don't, please tell us your secret. The only way I stay sane is by seeing pass the short-term, and reminding myself by the end of this program we will be fully certified teachers, and a few steps away from a Masters degree. If they made it too easy for us, we wouldn't appreciate the blood, sweat, and tears we've poured into this program.
I really appreciate the camaraderie among the cohorts. We all want to see each other succeed. On that note, I don't really believe in luck so I'll sign off with a quote from the movie "Blow" which has origins in an old Irish blessing.
"May the wind always be on your back and the sun upon your face and may the winds of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars."

Welcome to our ED641 Class Blog!

Dear ED641 Students,

Hafa Adai and welcome to our class blog! My name is Dr. Matilda Naputi Rivera, and I’ll be your instructor for the summer session. I’ve been an adjunct professor for the School of Education for 9 years, and I’ve been teaching in the Guam Department of Education for 14 years. I currently serve as an ESL Teacher/Coordinator at LBJ Elementary School.

Starting July 5, 2011, you will be posting your overall reflections of our online sessions here. The Moodleroom has specific forums, however, the blog/learning log allows you to extend your literacy experience with overall transformative reflection regarding the class activities.

I'm glad to see that some of you have already made entries in our Moodleroom, and I look forward to seeing your blog entries as well. As I mentioned in a previous, message, this course will be delivered solely online via the UOG Moodle (http://campus.uogdistance.com/), class blog (http://www.blogger.com/; Class URL: http://ed641summer2011.blogspot.com/), e-mail, and other technology tools.

In our ED641 Moodleroom, you'll find our course syllabus, Calendar of Events, along with Moodle, blog & LiveText instructions, etc. These can also be found at the top of our class blog, in the event we have technical glitches with the server. Please note that you are expected to spend at least 4 hours a day on the course to truly maximize your online experience and complete all course requirements.

Additionally, you must post an entry in our ED641 class blog to reflect on our class topics, etc. as indicated in your Calendar of Events. In order to complete your blog/learning log requirements, you must accept my e-mail invitation with the subject stating you have been invited to contribute to mnrivera's blog. Thereafter, you will be able to make your required learning log requirements. Visit the following URL to view a snapshot of the ED641 blog from last summer: http://ed641summer2010.blogspot.com/

As part of your blogging, you must also post a comment relating to your fellow classmates' entries. I don't expect you to comment on everyone's post, however, you must comment on at least a couple of your classmates' entries. You can comment by simply clicking on the "comments" link and then publish your comment. Therefore, you are required to create "posts" and "comments." Due to copyright issues, don’t forget to also include the source of the images you upload. See the blog instructions for details.

Good luck, and I look forward to working closely with all of you online! Enjoy your 4th of July weekend!

Best regards,
Dr. Rivera