DONE with My Final!

Words cannot express my relief at having this final behind me. Shades of the GRE... that clock ticking down in the corner of the screen, moments of panic as my mind goes completely blank. Somehow I pulled it off. I hope I did OK. I wore my Lucky shirt (thanks, Suzy). I get a whole month off now! Where's the party? Isn't that what you do when you finish your finals? I guess I could do an undie run down "K" street...

Web 2.0 in Case You Didn't Know

I found this interesting. So I'm sharing it with you.

Anjelah Johnson is in my Graduate Class!

Actually, this video, which I had seen before, is part of my practice final. The assignment is to improve customer service at King Burger through systematic instructional design. I don't know if there is really any hope for Bon Qui Qui.

My New Friend ADDIE

These are the key course objectives I am studying in preparation for my final exam which is this Tuesday:

1. define educational, instructional, and performance technology
2. describe the implications of cognitive and behavioral psychology, adult learning theory, systems, and communications technologies for education and training
3. describe a systematic approach to the design of instruction presented in the ADDIE model
4. state reasons for using a systematic approach to the design of instruction
5. describe how a systematic approach might change the way you provide instruction
6. describe analyses and ways of approaching given needs and challenges
7. use performance analysis and goal analysis to approach given needs and challenges
8. define differences between performance analysis, needs assessment, goal, task, audience and subject matter analysis and ways you might use them to launch projects
9. from given missions and challenges, conduct lean analysis and design stages of ISD
10. identify the characteristics of a "well-formed" instructional objective
11. rewrite objectives that are ill-formed
12. generate well-formed objectives from given goals
13. compare and contrast criterion-referenced and norm-referenced testing
14. determine whether a given test item matches a given instructional objective
15. describe Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction and their implications for design of instruction
16. differentiate between instruction and information (job aids)
17. describe conditions that make job aids an effective way to improve performance
18. comment on information and instructional combinations with potential for improving performance
19. design and develop a job aid that focuses on the needs of an audience
20. write a brief report detailing the audience, need, format, and rationale
21. describe, and differentiate between, the basic attributes of different learning theories and instructional design theories
22. list the features of the ARCS model of motivational design and describe how you would use this model to enhance strategy

I actually think I am starting to understand it...

One Down, One to Go

I have completed all my course work for EdTec 541, or Web Based Multimedia Development. Click here for my e-portfolio assignment page. I really enjoyed the course. Now I really need to get cracking on EdTec 540, or Introduction to Educational Technology. This one makes my head spin. Still have a job aid to create and a final exam to take next month. Gotta get through parent conferences first, though...

Me in 50 Years?

The University of Panera UPDATE

My district tech department (thanks, Paul) finally punched through the firewall so that I could access my graduate class live webcast. But I actually got hooked on taking my wireless laptop to Panera Bread cafe. I really don't want to spend two hours in my classroom after teaching all day, and so I am still enjoying classes at the University of Panera. They have great iced tea, soup, salad, and sandwiches. I sit down at 4:00 with my iced tea and a cup of soup. I plug in my laptop and my headphones. At 6:00, I get up, pack up my laptop, and order a salad or sandwich to take home. Not a bad way to go, really.

Inspiring Software

I'm using Inspiration to design my site map. It's a fun one to play with! Here's an example of a template. There is a 30-day free trial version you can download.

Performance Analysis in a Nutshell

This is what I am doing in my graduate class. At least I think it's what I'm doing...

The University of Panera

Since I can't connect to the live webcast for my two graduate classes from a computer on my school server, I have solved the problem by taking my wireless laptop to Panera Bread cafe. While my district's tech department attempts to figure out why I can't get on, I am actually enjoying classes at the University of Panera. They have great iced tea, soup, salad, and sandwiches. I sit down at 4:00 with my iced tea and a cup of soup. I plug in my laptop and my headphones. At 6:00, I get up, pack up my laptop, and order a salad or sandwich to take home. Not a bad way to go, really.

My (Our) New Toy - and you could win one!

Bought a FlipVideo at Costco today. Had to decide between white, black, orange and pink. Daughter #2 and I will be sharing this cool toy, I mean tool, as we are both in need of one for our graduate school assignments. Daughter #1 already has one for her vlog work, and you can enter her contest to win one if you want.

Yet Another Website I Made

This one to begin my Master's Program: Click here.

So far so good. I spent two hours "in class" today sitting at Panera in order to use their free wi-fi, since I can't get past my school district's firewall for the live webcast. Not bad, really. They have good iced tea...

A Very Interesting Video - Shift Happens

School Starts

School where I'm a teacher: The new classroom looks great, the new Science program looks awesome, and the new Gradebook program has been explained and demonstrated to the teachers. I'll meet the kids on Thursday.

School where I'm a student: It feels like my laptop is my classroom. My e-mail inbox is very busy, and I'll have to get comfortable with listservs and webcasts. Don't know if I'll ever meet these people in my class, but I'm sure glad I don't have to drive anywhere, find a parking place, etc.

Laughing at the Improv

Anjelah Johnson was hilarious! She did a benefit show at The Improv for the PTA at my school.

Registering for Classes

Wow. What a difference 30 years makes! I am registered for my classes and it took about one minute. How well I remember standing in lines holding punched data processing cards... No more standing "in line", I went "online" and took care of the whole thing from home. These are the classes I will be taking this semester:

Educational Technology: Rationale, foundations, theories, careers, trends, and issues in educational technology. Implications of educational technology for instruction and information in schools, government, and corporations.

Web Multimedia Development: Systems, aesthetic, and learning theories applied to design of web-based educational multimedia. Planning and prototyping digital media.

I'm In!

OK, I'm headed for grad school! I will be pursuing my Masters in Educational Technology at San Diego State University starting in August.

The new iPhone - I am SO getting one!

Twice as fast, half the price. Coming July 11. Count me in.

The GRE: I did it!

It's nice to know that some part of my brain is actually functioning better than when I was 16 years old. My GRE Verbal score yesterday was higher than my SAT Verbal score was 37 years ago! How do I know my score already? Because the computer told me! Right after I finished the test. Strange, I know. The whole experience was strange. And you may have noticed that I have not mentioned my math score. Oh well, it was passable. I still have to wait to get the writing score, but I am not worried. It was that math that was so tortuous.

I took the test in an office building located three blocks from where I teach. I arrived early, signed in, and then wrote out in long-hand a statement to the effect that I would not cheat or disclose anything on the test. I left all my personal belongings in a locker out in the waiting room. I was allowed to bring my glasses in to the testing room, but nothing else. I signed in and had my picture taken after showing my drivers license. I was handed pencils and scratch paper. Then I was ushered into a room which had cubicles with computers. Each cubicle was monitored by a camera connected to the sign-in station. Everyone sitting in there was half my age, but I tried to ignore them.

The GRE is a computer adapted test. The computer asks you a question. If you get it right, it asks you a harder question. If you get it wrong, it asks you an easier question. The harder the question, the more it is weighted into your score. It is timed, of course. Pacing yourself against the time ticking down in the corner of the screen is critical, and it makes it very nerve-wracking.

A thought occurred to me as I was taking the test that I was really glad not to be one of those 20-something stressed out people in there. They are probably thinking this is their LIFE, man! Grad school, or else what? There was a young woman in the bathroom before I started who had obviously had a meltdown and possibly been sick. She was patting wet paper towels on her face. Thanks to Suzanne's pep talk driving to the test, I had asked myself going in - if I did not do well on the test, then what's the worst that could happen? Maybe I don't get into the particular master's program I wanted, but I still get to go on doing what I have been doing, which I basically enjoy very much and get paid decently for doing. This silly test is not going to be life-changing for me, but maybe it is for some of these poor people! I am glad to be past that stage of life, let me tell you.

Back to the test, the writing section came first. Two analytical essays to write. The first one gave a choice of two prompts. Both of them have to do with the arts. OK, I'm good there. After writing maybe three paragraphs, I finally notice that there is no spell check on this computer! Duh, it's a test... Oh well, I did win the school spelling bee in the 7th grade. The second essay is the argument essay, where you analyze the reasoning in an argument. Now this one was weird. It had to do with men fainting at the dentist and targeting advertising to them. I hope I did not just violate that secrecy agreement I signed. Anyway, I finished each essay with less than a minute to spare.

Next came the quantitative analysis section. Not having taken an actual math class for oh, nearly four decades, this is the part where I seriously question why I am putting myself through this torture. The fact that I wound up getting the score I did amazes me. Maybe I got lucky on some of my guesses, thanks to the "Lucky" shirt I was wearing. On to the verbal reasoning: sentence completion, analogies, antonyms and reading comprehension. I know I'm doing well because I get a really hard passage to read about African-American imagist poets and jazz, and before I know it, it's over! Wrong, it's not over, it says "proceed to the next test." Oh yeah I forgot, one of the sections was experimental and wasn't scored. Which means I am doing some section all over again, with different questions of course. Sure enough, it's the damn math, but hey, I survived it once, I can do it again.

Seeing my scores at the end, I want to shout out and jump up and down, but there are other people still testing so I restrain myself. Finally walking out of there is a great feeling! Huge weight off shoulders and all. Never have to do that again. Thank you, Lord. Time to celebrate!

Duet Failed!

This is what I was up to tonight instead of studying for the GRE. My prep book said not to study the night before, so I didn't. I went to a party. This was a teacher party, and the music teacher was there, and he brought along a karaoke set-up. We spent much of the night making fools of ourselves. After you choose a song and sing it, you get a score, apparently based on how well you sang the notes on pitch at the right time. When you sing a duet, you each get a score.

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be! You have to really pay attention to the words running across the screen, coming in at the right time, and a little arrow tells you whether you are sharp or flat.

We were rolling on the floor after a particularly difficult performance of "Respect" by Aretha Franklin. There were two vocal lines, one the melody (Aretha) and the other, the back-up vocals (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me). The screen kept telling us we were not doing well. Suddenly the whole thing stopped and the screen flashed "Duet Failed," which sent everyone into howls of laughter.

Later in the evening I tried "Respect" one more time, and the system did not crash, so I guess I redeemed myself. It was all a great distraction from thinking about the GRE, which is, by the way, tomorrow.

Wish me luck. I will be glad to have it over with. If I don't do well, I guess I can start going to karaoke bars instead of graduate school.

I Love Google Earth!

Thanks to Google Earth, I can "fly" to where Daughter #1 lives:

and I can pretend to go there:


For a techie like me, it's kinda fun...

But actually going there would be way better!

If you don't have Google Earth, you should definitely download it, for FREE!

Random Numbers

1) The odds of David Cook winning American Idol: -170. The odds of David Archuleta winning: +130. I don't understand those numbers, but apparently it makes David Archuleta the underdog. Regardless, in my opinion, he's going to win! He was great!

2) It is bizarre to have the weather go from hot to cold. I never seem to be dressed properly for the day. In the span of four days the high temperature went from 62º to 91º and today it's back down to 70º.

3) Online tracking shows that my graduate departmental application was delivered at 2:43 a.m. Who is delivering mail at 2:43 a.m., and who is receiving mail at 2:43 a.m.?

4) 20 days of school remain. But who's counting?

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

All the transcripts have been received, my applications to both the University and the Department are in, and now I just await the GRE on June 7.

Schwarzenegger revised his budget and the legislature will squabble over it for months. Staffing for the next school year has yet to be set, as the school board hasn't decided officially about the budget cuts, but the final layoff notices went out. I may or may not be in the same grade, same classroom (I hope not) and most likely still will lose many of my friends and colleagues at school. California public education is going down the tubes, let me tell you...

On a happier note, I am going to Texas at the end of the week! I will be studying for the GRE on the airplane. Besides spending time with my granddaughters, daughter and son-in-law, I get to get my hair done, eat grits, and go to CVS.

Words I Should Know But I Don't

Do you know these words?

abase, arrogate, approbation, abjure, abstemious, accretion, augury

And that's only the A's... Now some of them fall in the category of "yeah I've heard that one before, but can't really tell you what it means" and others I had never heard of. How have I survived on this earth without needing to know these words? Taking a real risk here, putting it out there for all the world to see that I am a fraud, posing as an educator, deluded to think that I am worthy of an advanced degree.

Why, you ask, do I need to worry about this? I have this little (3" x 3" x 1") box which arrived in the mail from Amazon. Within it are 500 of the hardest GRE words on cards. Just based on the A's, I'm guessing I don't know about half of them. So for the next month or so, if you see me whipping some cards out of my purse (yes, Suzy, they do fit in my purse!), you'll know why.

But watch out, I might ask you what "calumny" means.