Turning to a New Chapter in the Journey

Going to Hawaii for Thanksgiving '09

Going to Hawaii by myself was not the best decision that I have made. What seemed like a great idea in April when I booked my trip, didn't seem like a great idea when it got closer to the date that I was suppose to leave. I can spend hours upon hours at the beach by myself with no problem. The hard part comes when your seeing beautiful things and you don't have someone special to share it with. Have you ever gone to a Luau by yourself? Trust me, it is not all that fun. All the married women and single women with boyfriends or significant others hold on tighter to their man especially when they find out there is a single woman in the bunch. I would probably end up being asked if I wanted to go a specific hospital if I started talking to myself about everything that I was seeing. Top it off, I think that I was bit by a spider on my stomach because I have this huge red knot that keeps getting bigger. I don't think that the spider bite was part of the travel package that I had booked.

The hotel as you might have guessed pictured to the right was beautiful and you really didn't even have to leave the hotel to find things to do. I would recommend staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village to anyone. This picture does not do it justice in anyway. The beach is awesome! That happened to be my favorite part of the trip except for the spider bite.

So, I am not sure what is in store for me right now. I have spent so many years taking care of other people and other things that I forgot abot myself along the way. I think that I was just kidding myself about saying it was ok to be single when it wasn't. So, as I follow the brick road in order to continue the "journey", I am not sure of where I am supposed to go. I just know that I have to be open to new possibilities and take risks.

Is it the End or only the Beginning???

Day 365 - End of Chapter
From Luc Pigeault


This picture says it all about this course! Even though I am glad to be wrapping this course up, there were many times that I thought about just saying "enough is enough" and ask myself "what was the reason why I took this course????" However, since I am writing the last or wait, it could be just an end to one chapter and the beginning of a new chapter on my journey. Because if I look at my title, this blog is not a destination. If I am totally honest with myself, even though I found many of these "Things" challenging and wasn't quite sure I would be able to get through them. Not to mention being able to keep my sanity. But I did! Even though I had to use my favorite "life-line", I am very proud that I hung in there and I have learned so many new things. After all, we are our own worst critic, and I am a teeny little bit of a perfectionist.

I really enjoyed looking at Flickr and choosing pictures. I totally agree that a picture is worth a thousand words and that sometimes you don't need words, just a picture. I literally spent hours upon hours checking out the pictures and uploading them to my computer. I feel that this course has been a great challenge for me as a life-long learner. It makes me realize that even though I have been an educator for thirty years, there are still a lot of things that I haven't even begun to touch the surface learning about.

I would definitely recommend this course to my fellow coworkers and other teachers in the district. I would however caution them to make sure that they complete all the "things" listed each week in order to stay on track. Because of all the responsibilities that I have at Poteet and the little things that came up in my daily "life", I did not follow the weekly assignments. However, I come up with some of my best creative ideas under pressure. I would also definitely take another discovery program like this one if it was offered.

All of the ideas that I proposed how I could use each thing as a teacher, I carefully thought about and would hopefully use. Students are changing and we can't teach the same way that we did even two years ago. We have to constantly find ways to meet the needs of our students and not think that the students need to learn based on how we feel we need to teach them. As life-long learners, it is critical that we stay ahead of the game and be proactive when it comes to educating our students.

Right now I plan to keep up with my journey and not make the end of this class a destination, but to begin a new chapter to the journey. My other favorite things that I enjoyed in addition to Flickr, was creating my avitar, creating a slideshow with animoto, getting information from my google reader, and several others. At the moment, I think I am on "Thing Overload" and don't know which "Thing" I should comment or not comment on. This has been an incredible journey that has had detours, rest stops, and full speed ahead access. I have signed up to be a member of so many new sites and have put in a password so many times, that I wished I would have had a little notebook to write down the sites as well as the passwords. I would like to thank Mary Woodard for having patience with all of my questions and for her encouraging comments. You Rock Mary!







Until I begin the next chapter to my journey:

Thing # 23: Beyond MySpace: and other Social Networks

Wow and OMG! I signed up to access the Classroom 2.0 and was totally overwhelmed at how busy the site was. There were so many replies to different discussions that I was getting dizzy trying to scroll down past them to look at the rest of the website. I did find the Visitor Map interesting of where everyone was from that had joined the site. Being educators, seems to make the world a little world a little smaller since we have so many things in common.

I did plan to make a mental note and check out the Public Broadcasting Service live Webinars: Sid the Science Kid on Germs, Viruses, and Vaccines http://www.pbs.org/teachers. With the growing concern of the H1N1 flu going around, this could possibly educate us a little more on the flu epidemic. I also found the links for various tools such as Google Earth http://classroom20.ning.com/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=gearth and Collaborative Idea Map http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=ideamaps and other links helpful. The site also had links by subject as well.
One of the coolest things that I saw which would really turn on teachers who are in different countries is the translation tool in order to translate this network in your native language. Just like Google Docs, this would be great to share information with non-English speaking teachers. There were also other links listed toward the bottom of the website that looked interesting for future investigation.

Checking out http://socialnetworksined.wikispaces.com/ part 2 of this assignment, I saw an intersting article on the educational networking site titled: Why Every Parent and Teacher Should Learn MySpace and Facebook and A 30-Day Guide To Losing Your Digital as a Second Language (DSL) . I found the article interesting but I am not really sure that every parent and teacher should learn about myspace and facebook. Just because both of these social networking sites boasts a lot of members, it doesn't mean that the entire world has to join these social networks. There is life outside of these networks. The author of the article did encourage parents and teachers to join a social network that they have interests in.

I did check out the Ning Network and copied the widget. But for some reason it would not load. I also tried to get the badge and for some reason that didn't work as well as getting a second widget. I have no idea of what I am doing wrong, but the deadline to getting everything turned in is fast approaching. At least I did attempt it even though it did not show up on my blog. This was very frustrating to me since I am so close to finishing up this class.

Thing # 22: Explore Social Networking

I said that I would never have a MySpace or Facebook account. I know that I will never have a MySpace account. A lot of the students that I know at school have them, and I know that I would rather keep what they have on their accounts a mystery, than look them up. Some things are just better left alone. It is kind of like the old saying "don't ask questions that you don't want answers too."

I also thought that I never would want a Facebook account, but I had too many of my friends send me invitations, that I finally caved in and signed myself up. I did create a profile, and invited several of my friends to be "my friend." I did not download a picture. I hate pictures, I have always hated having my picture taken. My mom would get so mad at me when I started teaching school because she knew that teachers took school pictures, but I never seemed to bring any of them home. The reason being that I would destroy them and just tell her that I never had them taken. I am sure that she knew that I was not being truthful, but I couldn't bear to tell her that I hated having my picture taken. However, I thought she would have gotten the hint a long time ago when I would also volunteer to take pictures of them so I wouldn't have to be in the picture.

Back to the story of my Facebook experience, after having my facebook account for a few months now, I have had students who have graduated from Poteet invite me to be their friends. I did draw the line when current students that I know at Poteet invite me to be their friends. If they are willing to wait until after they graduate, then that will be fine. I also draw the line and invitations from parents of students. I will also admit that I did have a former student invite me to be "their friend" and I declined the invitation more than once. I didn't know for sure if facebook would show the "invitee that I had declined their invitation or not. I don't want to hurt any one's feelings, but I wasn't totally confident that this person would not post messages that I would want everyone to see on my wall.

I would like to point out that some people on facebook need to learn some social networking etiquette. I mean really, do you think that any one really cares what you cooked for dinner, that you did laundry, and you laid on the couch all afternoon because you had a headache? I think not! If you post things like that, you need to GET A LIFE! But maybe you don't have a life because you're on facebook all the time. I find this simply annoying and don't even bother reading what they posted. I have enjoyed getting to hear what former Poteet students are doing and seeing pictures of their families. I always comment that even though I am not getting older that they sure are.

I will also admit that I did post a comment on my wall that I had spent Labor Day weekend in San Francisco and that I ate cheesecake on top of the Macy's building at the Cheesecake Factory. And I did brag that I had to wear long sleeves and a light jacket while everyone back in Dallas was feeling the heat of over a hundred degrees. One of my coworkers and friend commented that if I posted a comment that I was relaxing on the beach when I go to Hawaii over Thanksgiving, that she would personally knock the holy crap out of me when I get back. I told her that she needed to be happy for me and that she too could go to Hawaii if she made travel arrangements. Somehow that commented didn't seem to make her any happier about the situation.

I am also very surprised that facebook has not sent me a cancellation notice since I don't utilize the social network that much. I even hate to admit that I forget that I have a facebook account. Maybe I will have more things to post on my wall when I do come back from Hawaii. Right now, I am not too sure that people really want to read that I spent an afternoon with my dog Zack at the dog park. Yes, I do cook, clean, do laundry, and a whole variety of things. I even take a nap from time to time, but I really don't think that people want to read about it. I do try to have a life even though as a teacher, we do spend quite a bit of time at the school.

I tried really hard to see if I could use either one of the sights for educational purposes and decided that it wasn't going to happen. The only thing that I could tie facebook and myspace to was that students need to keep in mind that once something is posted on these sites, that they need to really think about what they are posting. We all know the story of the former University of Texas football player who was released from the team for posting an inappropriate comment. I also think that some people who use myspace or facebook think that the sites are the next big thing to the Jerry Springer show and choose to air their dirty laundry. So as a teacher, I wouldn't even want to risk using either one of these social networking sites to teach a student a lesson.

Thing #21: Google's not just for Searching Anymore

http://www.google.com/ or http://m.www.yahoo.com/; which one is the better search engine? If you asked your friends, not everyone would pick the same one. I use google and yahoo for different things. When I first started using the internet, I decided to open a yahoomail account. I use my yahoomail account for personal emails that are not school related. I also enjoy using yahoo.com to look at the top local and world news.

The google page which is comparable to the yahoo page I started using due to a lot of my students using google. My students ask me to look at http://images.google.com/ a lot to find different images for their reports and posters. I have to admit that I never look at images on yahoo. Why, I really don't know, I guess because my students never ask me to use yahoo to search for pictures.

Several years ago, I was sent the link for http://earth.google.com/. It also happens to be an application that I downloaded free for my iPhone. I think that it is the coolest thing to look at. I went to San Francisco over Labor Day weekend and I was able to pull up exactly where I was at Pier 39. It was really cool! I have also pulled up my house and Poteet. Even though it was perfectly legal, I thought I was doing something that I shouldn't have been able to do.

Finding this out by accident, I was able to pull up Picasa Web Albums and saw seven of my photos that I had downloaded or uploaded and din't even realize it. I don't know why I had two copies of some of my pictures and only one of five other pictures. Even though I have learned a lot, there are a lot of things that are a mystery to me. I am pretty sure that when I finish this class, I will go back and investigate this site more.

Thing #20: Google Docs

I attended a Google Docs workshop given by Shane Huff and Tonya Cox at Poteet last year, so I was at least excited about knowing what our assignment was all about. I have even shared some documents with my PIT Camp co-chair for our freshman orientation. I also want to point out that I forgot my password over the summer and couldn't get back into Google Docs until now. Completing this assignment has reminded me why I was excited about Google Docs in the first place.

I was even more excited about Google Docs when we can share documents and photos without having to kill a few trees. For a teacher, Google Docs is pure genius! If you are collaborating with all the 9th grade English teachers in the district or with other districts, each teacher would be able to upload their document and the other teachers could view the document and print it if they so desire. Of course, you could also attach a document to an email and send it that way. But to ensure that you don't leave someone off the email, it would be great to have one site that you all share and have access to. Because without fail, you will always have one teacher who did not get the email no matter how hard you try to make sure you don't leave anyone off.

When I was working on my principal certification, I had an instructor that emailed us all of the handouts for the next weeks class. It was our responsibility to print them out and bring to them class. I didn't know at the time that the instructors were responsible for bringing their own paper to copy handouts, tests, and etc. an instructor could upload everything needed for their class at one time and not have to worry about making sure everything was ready for the next week. It also puts responsibility on us as the student to check the site and come to class prepared. This would be a great idea for our students to use when they lose a handout or even miss a day or two of school. They would be able to go to the site, download the assignment, and not really have a reason to be late on the assignment or need a lot of extra time to complete it. This also allows the student to take some responsibility for their learning and keeping up with their assignments.

I think my favorite part of this assignment was having the opportunity to create my document and translate it into Spanish. Not knowing Spanish, I thought that this was so cool! This would be great for newsletters, letters, or even flyers that are inviting parents to attend a choir concert that do not speak any English. This would have been very handy to know when I had to write a letter to my neighbor who doesn't speak any English. I had to ask one of the assistant principals who does speak and write in Spanish to translate the letter for me. What was interesting is that there was an entire long list of different languages that were available for translation.

Thing #19: Voicethread

I remember the first time that I ever heard my voice. I was in the third grade and my dad was stationed in the Philippines and my mom had my brother and I make tapes to send to him. The tapes that we made were not cassette tapes and I really couldn't tell you what type of tapes they were, but getting back to the story. I think the day that my mom had us make a tape was when I was sick and it sounded like I had a "frog in my throat." I think I was about nine years old at the time and really couldn't understand what my mom meant when she said I had a "frog in my throat," all I knew was that I didn't like the sound of my voice that day.

Another time that I remember hearing the sound of my voice and was a little horrified, was when the answering machines first came out. I remember taping my outgoing message over and over until I had it just right. I still was never convinced even now that my voice really sounds like that. I always wished I had a voice that would sound good on the radio, television, over the announcements, and etc. However, I am stuck with this voice of mine and whomever has to listen to it is as well.

In fact, every year Poteet does some type of Christmas project. Well, for some reason, I am always in charge of the project (I am not sure how that happens but.) Since my name is Ms. Hokanson, when I started making annoucements, I would say "this is Ms. Ho Ho Hokanson and etc." The kids really loved it and would get a kick out of it. I only allowed them to call me Ms. Ho Ho Hokanson at Christmas time. I am sure that you get my meaning if I allowed them to call me that other times of the year. I also need to mention that I had a school board members son in my class and he use to call me "Miss. Ho", when he would talk to his mom and dad about my class or about me. We laugh about it now that it has been more than five years or so, but at the time I didn't really find it all that funny. I will also mention that this school board member happens to be one of my favorites.

If I was going to choose to listen to a voicethread, it would be someone who has a deep voice. For some reason I enjoy listening to men who have deep voices. I could listen to a man who had a deep voice all day. I will add that I have a friend of mine who is a woman who is always mistaken for a man because she has a deep voice. I wouldn't like that at all! Ok, I have to snap back to reality and close this blog about using voicethreads in the classroom. I really don't think that this is something that I would want to use this as a learning tool with my students. Like them, I would probably be bored out of my mind and start singing or humming to myself.