Thing #1 - 25 June 2008

7 1/2 Habits

I think the easiest of these would be #4, confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. I should be a career student! I love to learn. The confidence somes from years of being self-taught in a variety of areas - cooking, sewing, crafts, genealogical research, various computer programs for publishing and photo enhancing, word processing programs and other areas of technology and electronics. I know I can learn just about anything I set my mind to learn.

Probably the hardest was #3, viewing problems as challenges. I guess it depends on the problem and the time it surfaces. Some are just too overwhelming. I enjoy problem-solving as a rule; but when the problem is something out of my control or anyone else's control - that's not challenging. The hardest thing I've ever had to face was losing my son to cancer. No matter how I looked at it, I could not turn that problem into a challenge unless you consider the challenge of how to survive the grief.

Habit #7 is a rule I live by in the classroom. I've always believed that teaching is the best way to learn; therefore I often pair my students so that one can "teach" the other to reinforce the one as he/she teaches the other.

I spend a lot of time on my computer at home doing research, digital scrapbooking, genealogy and corresponding with family and friends. I hope to gain new skills with Web 2.0 tools to enhance my experience in these areas. I am creating a family history using the genealogical research combined with the scrapping so I can provide my sisters and our children with a pictorial and printed history of our family.

I also want to create a place where I can communicate with my students and their families. I hope to publish news and information about what our class is doing for the parents and give my students a safe place to communicate with me.

I discovered that setting up a blog was extremely easy! I had been wanting to do a blog for my scrapbooking but was afraid to try because I had no idea where to start. This course forced me to do just that and now I feel silly about fearing the whole thing!