This week my studies took a back seat as illness and moving proved to be too powerful a force to contend with. I’ve been in my new place in Chicago for just over a week and I finally feel settled. And with that settling in feeling that settled in yesterday as the last box was kicked to the curb, so did a feeling of wellness that I hadn’t felt in over a week. So, I am moved in and healthy. And that means I can finally really give myself to one of my other priorities these days, the CTER program. You know what they say, you can’t have two gods, and lately I’ve been praying at the alter of unpacking and cough medicine.

So this next week I plan on making some discernable and qualitive progress regarding my final project. Looking at those examples, I was finally able to understand what this progress will appear like on paper. After reviewing the various assignments we have turned in over the course of the last two months that regard our hypothetical evaluationI feel like I have a good start, though I want to add more. The first example, for instance, really has some great documents regarding permission to conduct the analysis and the proposal in general. I feel like my introduction section could be sectioned off in to parts, like Example 1 showed. I would also like to spend this week conducting some hypothetical surveys at school regarding the use of wiki’s in the classroom. I’m excited to see, first hand, the kind of responses generated when AI is used.

I hope that I don’t get too overwhelmed with the final project and keeping my head on straight. This month is sure to get a little crazy, especially with Parent/Teacher Conferences, the quarter ending on Wednesday, and trying to keep up with my other CTER class, ESPY556. Speaking of 556, I am enjoying taking the two classes simultaneously, and I have been able to link the two classes I’m taking this semester together. For example, I had a project due on Saturday for 556 that asked my to create an Instructional Video so, using my interest in wiki sites generated from my evaluation in this class, I created a three minute iMovie on how to create a wiki for educational purposes in the classroom. But I bring that class up because I would like to add a component from that class to this class, 474. In 556, every Tuesday, we meet online, in Elluminate or Adobe Connect. I would really benefit, especially right now with the semester winding down and the project looming over me, from an online meeting like that in this class. Just a suggestion. Even with a small group, just to discuss the project and our ideas of how to use PowerPoint to accurately and effectively depict our evaluation.

I realize this blog was all over the place, but that’s how my life has felt this week. I was looking over my work from this summer and I am taken back by how focused my mind was, despite being in two classes. Teaching really does mess with your mind, and I see how much I dedicate myself to the job when I see how scrambled my efforts appear during these 9 months compared to those two in a half I have off over the summer. I say this in jest, but I can’t wait for the summer to get here. Maybe that is not said in jest.
Anyways, this next week promises some serious progress, some determined focus, and a whole lot of grading. It’s going to be huge!

Oh, and on Tuesday night look for me at Grant Park. I will be at the Obama Rally. I got my email confirmation today, so that coupled with a very tired Wednesday makes me feel like Monday and Thursday will be work nights for me and this class.

Take care!