Three days of One-to-One

Wednesday, August 8 marked our first day of school.  The first day of our first year as a one-to-one school.  All of our students have their own laptops; those who are buying or leasing from the school have Macbook Airs, while other students have chosen to purchase their own Mac laptop of whatever variety.  (Our school's tech policy is located here.  It's pretty long--40+pages)

So I was expecting glitches to happen.  They did.  During first period on Wednesday we were supposed to walk our students through signing up for our Moodle classrooms.  Moodle is a course management system.  It has tons of features.  We as teachers did some minor training on Moodle this spring and we are expected to use Moodle in some way for our classes.  Since I teach English, I plan to use this a lot.  There are so many features that, once I get used to them, will make my life easier, especially in the sense of being paperless.

But enough explanation of Moodle.  As I said, we had to walk our students through signing up for Moodle.  In my first hour class a couple of kids couldn't get in, so I sent them to our tech director ASAP, as he requested.  Before I go any further I shall state that I have four sections of a class called "Introduction to Composition and Literature", which consists of freshmen and sophomores.  Teaching freshmen is an especially challenging task.  One reason is that not only are you teaching the material, but you also have to train them how to be high school students.  They make mistakes and do goofy things mostly because they are just clueless about the high school environment.  So teaching freshmen takes a lot more energy than teaching the older high school students.  Needless to say, walking these kids through signing up for Moodle took a little longer than with older kids.

Throughout the rest of the day there were still 2-3 kids in each class who hadn't gotten set up in Moodle for a variety of reasons.  On Thursday and Friday there were still some students who weren't set up BUT I think everything is under control now.

Another glitch centered around the enrollment in the Moodle classes themselves.  I and my colleague are teaching these Intro to Comp classes.  Somehow I could only see the freshmen participants and he could only see the sophomore participants.  The problem has been solved...our tech guy started 2 new classes from scratch.  On Friday I walked students through a process of moving something from the original class to the new one.  I asked the students to let me know if they did not have the new link, so I could let the tech guy know...he thought he had everyone in the right place but thought there might be a mistake or two.  Fifteen minutes AFTER I asked this in one class, a student raised her hand and informed me that she didn't have the new link.  Arrrgh!

Another "funny" happened with my Expository Writing class, which consists of juniors and seniors.  I had given them an assignment in which they researched their names and wrote a short paragraph about the meaning of their names and how it fit their personality or not.  They were to submit this assignment in Moodle.  One of my students raised his hand and told me that after he clicked on the link to submit the assignment, the connection timed out, all his work was lost, and he didn't feel like redoing it.  My answer was simple but probably harsher than it could have been.  I told him that if he wanted credit he should redo it, and that the assignment was available until 4 pm.

Things actually have been smoother than I expected.  Our network seemed to be handling the extra traffic and the students have been doing well with navigating the Moodle environment.  Granted, it's just been 3 days in, but I'm really excited to see what we can accomplish with this new tool.

Complaints of Olympic Proportion

As I wrote previously, I love the Olympics.  My television has pretty much been on a channel with Olympics coverage if it's been turned on.  I've watched a couple of episodes of Jeopardy, but mostly I've had the Olympics on the telly.  I'm a little sad that school starts on Wednesday because I won't be able to stay up until midnight watching the coverage.

Yesterday, Oscar Pistorius of South Africa was the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics.  He competed in the Paralympics in Athens, but now he's in the spotlight in the London Olympics.  In the Equestrian event this morning, a 71 year-old competitor from Japan, Hiromi Hoketsu, is the oldest competitor in the Olympics.  If you watch anything related to the Olympics, you will see athletes proud to perform as representatives for their countries.

However, I'm a little distressed that in light of success, someone still seems to find something to criticize.  Gabby Douglas, who has 2 gold medals, has been criticized for her hair, and some feel uncomfortable with her statement of faith.  When she said, "And I give all the glory to God. It's kind of a win-win situation. The glory goes up to him and the blessings fall down on me," Christians admired her and non-Christians reviled her.  You can see her response to the hair controversy over on USA Today's Olympics page. (Image Source)

Additionally, on Fox News, the USA gymnastics team (and US fans) apparently aren't patriotic enough.  The hot pink and purple leotards worn by the USA women's team don't show enough USA spirit.  Not enough USA fans are chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A".

There will always be controversy surrounding the Olympics.  This Olympics isn't without it.  This year, 8 athletes were disqualified from the badminton competition because they deliberately threw matches in order to get an advantage in the next round.  Yet we're outraged that the US athletes aren't patriotic enough or that a young girl boldly states her faith.

I guess I'm enough of a Polyanna that I enjoy the Olympics for the competition and the overall pride in my country.  I'm amazed and inspired by the hard work and dedication it requires to become an Olympic-level athlete.  I said in another blog entry that I like being able to be see sports I've only heard of (this morning I watched some water polo).   I enjoy watching just to watch.  If the US wins, they win.  If they don't, they don't.  It disappoints me to watch our team lose, but I don't live or die by it.  If an athlete wants to express her gratitude to God, to her parents, or to her imaginary friend, let her do it.  If the uniforms aren't in-your-face patriotic, so what.  It doesn't change the fact that these athletes have worked hard to get to this level.  Have you worked as hard as they do to achieve what you've achieved?

Die Olympischen Spiele

I love the Olympics.  I just love them.

First of all, with today's technology, one can watch some sort of athletic competition all. the. time.  You pick what you want to watch, find it on the Internet, cable, or wherever, and watch world-class athletes putting out their best performances.  You can see how proud all of the athletes, coaches, and fans are.  You can appreciate the hours of practice and sacrifice that they have made to be a part of this great event.  As someone whose main participation in athletics is as a spectator, I admire the work and dedication it takes to be an elite athlete.  I personally don't think that, even if I had the skill, that I'd have the perservereance to be at that level.  Truly, I'm not sure I'd have that level of dedication to be elite in anything I have reasonable skill in.

Secondly, I just like the international nature of the Olympics.  In the US, if you are a sports fan, most of the competition you see is against other Americans.  I teach high school, and attend a lot of sporting events.  Rarely do our athletes compete against people from a different city, let alone a different state.  It's even my understanding that the Indiana High School Athletic Association has rules about how far a team can travel to compete.

The reason I like the international nature of the Olympics is that we get to see that for the most part, people are people and very little truly separates us.  I was watching the USA men's volleyball team compete against Germany today, live streamed on my iPad.  There was no commentary, just the game.  At time outs, the camera focused on both coaches.  At one point, the German coach told his team, "It's simple.  You just need to talk to each other!" (Well, he said it in German...)  I have been to my share of volleyball games, and I think that I have heard every single coach say that to his or her team at least once in a match.  It really made me chuckle.

I also especially enjoy being able to learn about sports that aren't in the mainstream.  While the marquee sports of the Summer Olympics are gymnastics, swimming, and track and field, I've had a chance to see some others that I might not even get a chance to see.  Sunday I watched a little bit of the USA Women's Field Hockey match.  It was really interesting.  Who knows, maybe some young athlete out there will be inspired to try some kind of competition they'd never heard of before.

On a slightly lighter note, I'm also generally intrigued buy the uniforms of all of the athletes.  Not only do I enjoy watching the competition, but I rate the attractiveness of the uniforms.  I guess I'm just a girl that way.

Finally, and it should be no surprise, I just love seeing the American patriotism that it brings about.  Especially in light of recent years when it seems like we are the Divided States of America rather than the United States of America.  No matter what your political or philosophical leanings are, I think most Americans would agree that they love to support our American athletes.  To hear the chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A" helps me to believe that there's hope for our nation.  Maybe.

Repurposing

I have been sucked into Pinterest this summer.  I've pinned recipes, craft ideas, health and beauty tips, and more.  One of the main kinds of pins I've enjoyed are the craft and DIY ideas that repurpose things.    It's inspired me to try to find some things to repurpose, and actually to repurpose something I've been meaning to do for a while.

I love Partylite candles.  A few years ago I bought a wall sconce for their Slim Hurricane jar candles.  I like jar candles because you can use them without special candle holders or you can put special decorations (shades, etc) on them.  This is what it looks like:

Anyway, I never considered that Partylite would discontinue the candle.  I knew they'd discontinue the sconce, because they do that kind of thing.  I was a Premier Designs jeweler for a while, and replacing things is just part of the business.  People want new things.

So last summer, I burned the last of my slim hurricane candles.  I don't burn candles a lot.  I think I had purchased a total of 2 of the candles.  I saved the glass jar because, well, it felt wasteful not to.  I was using the one as a coin jar.  But then I found out that my Partylite consultant used hers as drinking glasses, so when the 2nd burned away, I found a new coin receptacle and used the 2 slim hurricanes for  drinking glasses.  When I had my annual Partylite party, I thought I'd be able to order another slim hurricane, but NO!  I discovered they were discontinued.

I tried to fit a pillar candle in it, which it did, but I didn't like how it looked.  I didn't want to get rid of the sconce, so I sought the advice of my consultant.  She suggested that I could fill in the glass with something and then put a tea light or votive candle in it.

After pondering, I went to the dollar store.  Initially I thought I would use glass marbles or glass decorative pieces, but then I found some craft stones, river stones.  They were shades of brown, cream, and gray. The colors blended with what I have in my living room!  And they cost just $1.  I had a glass votive holder.  I filled the slim hurricane glass about halfway full with the stones, put in the votive holder, and then put stones around the votive holder.  Then I added the votive candle, and voila! My slim hurricane sconce is serviceable again!

Here's the final result!  I think it looks pretty attractive, and I was able to repurpose something economically!

Guilty Pleasures

Summertime has been, for me, a time that I indulge some of my guilty pleasures, and develop new ones.

My biggest guilty pleasure is sleeping.  I do my best to keep my wake-up time around 9:00 or 9:30 in the mornings during the summer.  Joining things like a Bible study that starts in the morning, going to water fitness class during the day helps.  But sometimes I just stay up late and sleep in late.  I've also tended to take naps in the afternoon.  If I've had a particularly energetic workout in water fitness, or if I've done some yard work, I'll take a nap in the afternoon.

My other indulgence is too much TV.  I take the chance to catch up on series I've missed, and also to experience new ones.  The latest guilty pleasure I've discovered is the new Dallas.  I remember the original Dallas--my parents watched it faithfully every week.  I was just as interested in "Who Shot JR?" as anyone.  I thought that Bobby Ewing's "death" being all a dream was just as ridiculous as everyone else did.

The latest incarnation of Dallas is just as good, or should I say bad, as the original.  It's campy, it's ludicrous, it's simply ridiculous!  Just like in the original series, everyone is going behind everyone else's back.  As a viewer, I am wondering why everyone trusts each other, or why they even have any kind of relationship at all.  Why any of these people interact with the outside world is beyond me.  Seriously...why would anyone really believe that JR Ewing is out to serve anyone but himself?  Yet for some reason, the very people he's screwed in the past give him chance after chance.  I suppose that's what makes for good TV.

I will keep my Wednesday nights open for Dallas.  This week, I forgot to catch the first showing of it at 9:00, so I had to wait until TNT replayed the episode at 11:00.  Which means I had to stay up later...and try not to sleep in too late!

Mmmmm...Pancakes!

Honestly I don't know what my food kick is lately.  I guess because during the summer I have a chance to think about what I cook more, and then I can actually cook more.

Summer mornings are my favorite.  I use the term "morning" loosely, because sometimes I wake up late.  But what I like about summer mornings is that there's not a deadline for leaving the house.  I can take my own time and go through my routine without worrying that I'm running late.

So often I make a fairly complicated breakfast.  On a normal school day, I will have cereal, oatmeal, a bagel, or a microwaveable breakfast sandwich.  Something that doesn't take a lot of time or thought.  However, I loooove pancakes.  Freshly made ones.  Frozen pancakes and waffles are OK, but they just aren't the same as those you make fresh.

So.  I was trolling through Pinterest and I found this recipe for fried apple pancake rings.  Now, I'm not one for complicated usually, so I read the recipe and decided to do it my own way.  I do that a lot.

The recipe calls for using regular pancake mix as the batter.  No biggie.  Whenever I make pancakes, I actually substitute some of the pancake mix with oatmeal.  The brand I use calls for 2 cups of the pancake mix, so I use 1 1/2 cups of the mix and 1/2 cup of oatmeal.  Oatmeal makes things healthier, right?  Oh, and the recipe calls for something like 1 tablespoon of white sugar, and I use brown sugar instead.

Since I just cook for myself, I used one apple for the batch I made today.  I decided just to make pancakes rather than the rings, so I simply sliced the apple.  Then I tossed it with a little cinnamon sugar and microwaved it for about 1 minute to get the cooking started.  Then, I made the pancakes: poured the batter in the pan, added some of the apple slices, and then cooked the cakes through, flipping when bubbles appear.   (I should also point out that I usually cook up about half the pancake mix one morning and then save the rest to cook on another day.  I'll add a small splash of milk to the leftover batter to loosen it up).   I get the "vanilla spice" or "cinnamon spice" pancake syrup variety from my local grocery store's brand.

Definitely a successful breakfast!  Frequently I will do a pancake breakfast on a Saturday morning and try to make leftover pancakes so I can eat them for breakfast later in the week.  I will certainly do the apple pancake recipe again!

Food Musings

When you're a frazzled teacher, sometimes the last thing you want to do after coming home from school is cook.  But eating at restaurants, fast food or otherwise is not only expensive but not that great for your diet.  I am trying my best to develop healthy eating habits and save money.  I also really like to cook, so it's also a nice stress reliever for me to cook.

I've found that I like to have a couple of "go-to" dishes to fix.  These are dishes that are not only tasty to me but also simple to make.  I try to keep the ingredients for these dishes on hand (I stock up when the grocery stores do their 10 for $10 sales) so that I don't have to stop by the store on the way home.

Here are the ingredients I always try to keep...

• Frozen vegetables, corn, green beans, broccoli, carrots, chopped onions.  You can add these to almost anything to not only up the nutrition but also it just adds more substance to the meal.  My local grocery stores generally do theirs on a 10 for $10 special at least once a month.
• Salsa.  You can add it to anything to add a serving of veggies.
• Chicken broth or bouillon cubes.  I prefer the broth but if I run out I use a bouillon cube.  Adds flavor to pasta if you cook the pasta with it.
• Flour tortillas 
• Tortilla chips
• Prepackaged pasta-and-sauce or rice-and-sauce.  You can add chicken and vegetables to them and have a fairly healthy meal.
• Frozen chicken breast tenderloins
• Canned chicken

So here are 2 of my favorite go-to dishes.  I'm not giving any measurements or amounts, just a general idea for cooking.

The first is a pasta dish.  I cook whatever pasta I have on hand with chicken broth.  I personally like the tri-colored rotini.  While the pasta is cooking, I sauté some mushrooms in olive oil or butter, cook up some frozen broccoli, and maybe some other vegetables.  Sometimes I will grill a couple of chicken tenderloins on my George Foreman grill.  Drain the pasta, add the vegetables and chicken.  Add parmesan cheese to taste and enjoy.

The second is an "all-purpose" nacho/taco/burrito/whatever filling.  I got the idea from this from a cooking show...the celebrity cook was making baked taquitos.  First, sauté some onions in oil with chili powder.  Add frozen corn after the onions start to get soft.  Then, add precooked chicken.  I have used leftover rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, canned chicken, and even pre-grilled some chicken tenderloins.  I honestly like using the canned chicken because it shreds up better, but you want to make sure you drain off the liquid if you use canned.  You want the chicken to have a shredded consistency.  Add salsa and cook until the liquid reduces.  I have also added rice to this.  Usually I either top it with shredded cheese and eat with tortilla chips or fill tortillas with it and cheese.  Add any other garnishes you like, sour cream, guacamole, fresh vegetables, etc.

I have become addicted to Pinterest and have seen a lot of great cooking ideas on there.  My "Foodliness" board is right here.