I recently attended a teaching conference in Niagara Falls and one of the keynote speakers talked about his use of technology to engage his college students...he certainly had my attention-he showed many clips that he regularly uses with his students...this one featuring Kevin Garnett was one I found amusing..."He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".

http://www.youtube.com

Kevin Garnett [He got the whole world in his hands]

A Picture Perfect Holiday

Pictures are truly worth a thousand words...when I look at this one it reminds me of what is most important to me, what makes me who I am, what gives my life purpose...my family! This is our annual Christmas vacation, a tradition we started 8 years ago because we all enjoy the warm weather and beaches and find winter a long season to get through. This year it was Coconut Bay, St. Lucia!
The picture I sent to you reminded me of my trip to Japan this summer when I toured the very walkway featured in the picture. It was one of the highlights of my 2 week vacation to walk through the hundreds of tori gates that were featured in the movie "Memories of a Geisha". I found the picture on Picasa, the first time I have visited the site. I looked at several other pictures of Japan and felt guilty that I had not taken the time (still) to organize my photos from my summer trip. It is a common problem...I enjoy taking the pictures but find in this digital world I am not motivated to organize, sort, select, print etc. my pictures after I take them. I am hoping my visit to Picasa will motivate me to do so, if not now perhaps in the summer. I'm not sure if I feel comfortable publicly sharing them on line so I will have to give that some thought. I think this is a site I could potentially use in the future when looking for visual images...now it's time to explore my fellow bloggers and see what pictures they came up with.

Hyper about Hyperlinks!

I love to read and sometimes find the idea of 'side stepping' to read a hyperlink complicates or maybe confuses the central idea of the text I am reading. Maybe my linear thinking needs to change to keep up with the times because I know my children have no trouble hopping from topic to topic...it sometimes frustrates me that they can't remain focused on one idea! If this is the case it tells me I have to rethink my approach to effective teaching since my intended audience of students appear to absorb information in an entirely different manner than would I. Having reviewed some of the blogs and hyperlinks I do see the value they serve...in some cases further clarification or simply added information. With the push for DI teaching techniques I can see the use for this type of format as it would increase the appeal to a larger variety of students which can often be a challenge.

This excursion has 'forced' me to travel into the land of blogs & hyperlinks...for the novice blogger like myself, hyperlinks are not as tricky as I first thought and have actually caused me to rethink my linear tendencies...maybe I need to take a page out of my children's book on blogs!

New Years Resolution that I never resolved..

Every year on January 1st I make a point of announcing my annual resolution- only to have it collapse a month later. This year, I promised myself that I would be healthy and promote a healthy lifestyle. When I heard about hot yoga- I knew it was for the birds but the avid bargain hunter in me was almost persuaded to the "dark side" when I heard about this promotion from Kula Yoga studio:

http://www.mykulaoakville.ca/new-to-yoga-.php

When I saw the promotion; $30 for one month of unlimited yoga I feel like I am one step closer to obtaining my ever elusive resolution- until that is, I remember that Hot Yoga requires me to be in a sweltering room for sixty minutes- no thanks!

St. Mark's Yoga Class here I come- and will stay (sweat free!)

My favourite trip was a 2 week tour to Italy called "Easy Pace Italy". We toured for 2 weeks by bus, stopping for 2-3 days at the following places: Milan, Lake Como area, Verona, Florence and Rome. Afterwards we rented a car driving from Rome to Dogliola, my dad's mountain-top town in Abruzzi and met up with cousins. It was always my hope to take my children to see the place where their grandfather was born and I was thrilled to be able to share this trip with both my children and husband.
I hope some day to go to Hawaii with my husband as we both love the warm weather and beaches.
I decided to take this course to expand my IT talents in areas I have never explored-this includes blogs!!