Voki

Get a Voki now!



I am in a technology community of practice group at school. A large group of K-9 teachers are part of this same community. We meet a few times a year to see how we are implementing technology into the classroom and gathering information to share with other teachers.

Last Friday was our lass meeting. We had some time to play around and I played around with this Voki site. It is awesome! One of the 6th grade teachers used it for a sub one day. She sent the link to the sub via email and it played for the class. It was all in the teacher's voice and gave the breakdown of the lesson for the students. It was way cool!

So I thought I would give it a try. I am thinking of having the students use it as one of their book report options. Students will create themselves in the voki and record a book review for their recent novel. I think I may hook some students with this idea. I guess we will see.

Look for more Voki postings on the blog!

Help Wanted

If you have read Charlie's blog you already know that I got new glasses. Long story short, I am allergic to the proteins on my contacts. I have some sort of conjunctivitis on my eye lids. Reducing the amount of time I wear my contacts will slowly help relieve my allergy. With a need for a stronger lens prescription and an up-to-date style of frames, I purchased new glasses.

Here is where I need your help. I went for the "trendy" style (at least in my version of trendy) of glasses. Hopefully this "trendy" style stays for several years. Anyway, I am asking those that feel comfortable and know me best to rate my glasses. Are they keepers? Are they too dark? Are they too "trendy" for me? Don't worry I can take the comments. Here are some scary close-up pictures to help you. Note the change in hair styles - those are my three different looks
(that's all I got). This is what I do when I am home alone - take pictures of myself (so egocentric).

Cranberry Almond Chicken

Okay, I have been raving about my mom's dinner that she prepared for Charlie on his birthday. Due to all of my raving, people have asked for the recipe. Well, I have finally received a copy of it and am passing it on to any interested chefs. Enjoy!

Cranberry Almond Chicken

· 4 Chicken breasts

· Tbsp. olive oil

· ¼ cup slivered almonds

· ¼ cup whole berry cranberry sauce

· 1 16 oz. jar Alfredo sauce

· salt and pepper

Warm a wide sauté pan over high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the oil to the pan, swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat to medium. Add the chicken breasts and brown for 3-4 minutes, turn over and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes or until the chicken registers 170˚ on a thermometer. Remove the chicken to a clean plate. Add the almonds to the pan and toss for 1-2 minutes or until light brown. Add the cranberry sauce and the Alfredo sauce bring to a simmer, return the chicken to the pan and serve over rice.

CP's Birthday in N-Town

I apologize for the late blog posting but it is difficult to get over my naturally slow state of being.

On Monday, January 28, I met Charlie at my parents' house for a birthday dinner treat. Mom made this amazing chicken dish! It had cranberries, almonds, and this awesome Alfredo sauce. It was fabulous and I would love to try the chicken recipe sometime. It won't ever be as delicious as mom's but I would like to give it a whirl. To top it all off, mom made cheese cake for dessert. Oh so yummy!

After dinner Charlie got to open his birthday gifts. He was surprised to get a handful of books. He skillfully had marked a Barnes and Noble magazine my parents had over Christmas and "accidentally" left it at their house. My mom stumbled upon the marked-up pages and ordered Charlie's pre-selected novels. It was a fun surprise!

We were fortunate to enjoy the evening with Sausage (Josh), Brandon, Trisha, Hunter, and Maddison. Maddison has changed a bit and looks very healthy. She is a more chunky baby now. She enjoyed eyeing Charlie and figuring out what he was all about.

Thanks for the wonderful meal Mom and Dean!

Ebonomics - Masters Smasters

After a nice winter break from my master program classes, I am back at it again. My new class began on January 17. I am currently taking a special education class, Students with Linguistic Disabilities. For a masters program in differentiated instruction, I am learning more about special education rather than the entire spectrum of gifted and talented children and"regular" children. I thought the whole goal of differentiated instruction was to be able to teach all children of all levels. Not the case at CSP or I have been seriously misinformed! Apparently Carol Ann Tomlinson is wrong!

Back to my point, I am currently enrolled in a linguistic class. It is taught by an African American female professor. The students in my cohort are all white, suburban teachers. I am building background knowledge, for you, the reader. So our assignment last class was to read an article entitled, "Ebonics, a dialect of American English." Our professor quickly hands out the article at the end of class and asks us to read it and be prepared to discuss it.

Being the studious person I am, I read the article, and even highlighted and marked text. We get to class and begin discussing the article. My professor (let me remind you of the above background information), asks us what we think about the "Ebonomics" article. We were all dumbfounded. Perhaps she gave us the wrong article because we read about ebonics not ebonomics. It turns out, in a linguistic class taught by an African American professor, that ebonics is pronounced EBONOMICS! I used my decoding skills I learned in this class and I still can't figure out how you get ebonomics. It must be due to the fact that I am white and racists (thanks Carolyn O'Grady!).

Oh, I hope this masters degree proves that I learned something!