Check out my slideshow!

I attached a slideshow I created on slide.com to my blog... it was really fun and simple... My niece is so stinkin' adorable!!! Check it out below!

SHE's HERE!!!!

Well she finally arrived! My sister went into labor 39 minutes into Friday the 13th, of June!!!Just like everyone said! My sister seriously made labor look like a piece of cake after she got the epidural. She only had to push for 30 minutes, which her husband and I helped coach her through, and then little Lila Kate was here! He and I both cried when we finally saw her, her mother of course was totally calm until they placed her in her arms! It was the most amazing experience of my life to be able to witness the birth of my little niece! My sister means so much to me and this little girl is totally going to be my favorite and get spoiled!!! Both mom and baby are completely healthy and happy. They will finally make the journey home tomorrow morning! I am soooooooooo happy I made it up here in time to help my sister through the delivery! I'll never forget this experience!!!! She owes me though, I was an awesome coach if I might say so myself!!! Take a look at the Pictures!!!

Ok Nevermind...

I may not know exactly how to post an audio file to my blog... anyone up for giving me advice???

The Adventures of Podcasting

I had the opportunity this week to record an intro to myself using the audio editing tool, Audacity. The whole process of downloading the program and setting it up was relatively simple, and then recordng my voice was even easier than that! I had to do a few run thru's to make sure I didn't sound too stupid... I never like hearing my own voice, I think I sound like I am 12! So my finished product is linked below. I hope it ends up working! Please sit back, relax, and get to know me as I explore the adventures of podcasting, well... actually, I merely recorded my voice, podcasting is a completely different story!

Wanna know what I'm reading?

Here is my library that I have created so far. I have to remember back a ways to what books I've read and also try to think what I have sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me to read, then my library will grow! But this is what I've found so far! If you want to know anything about these books, let me know!

Fun with captions

This is a test post, unless it works of course! Here's the photo I played with on bighugelabs.com It allowed me to put captions on my photos! Then if I wanted to buy the print with the captions on it, I could! Here I go...

The amazing wonderful world of podcasts....

This assignment kinda depressed me. I made a very tragic and devastating discovery while I was folding my laundry last week and this assignment only perpetuates the pain... I ACCIDENTALLY sent my pink iPod shuffle through the washer and dryer in the pocket of my sweatshirt!!!! And now that i've spent time discovering all the cool podcasts and even subscribing to some, I can't even download them to anything beyond my computer! (Good thing my anniversary is coming up.. I think I've dropped enough hints) So aside from having to be reminded that I am now subject to listening to only my very loud breathing when I run, I enjoyed this assignment because I discovered what I've been missing out on. My husband just recently discovered the wonderous world of podcasts and now downloads an ESPN podcast to listen to while he does yard work or walks the dog. I thought he was kinda nerdy for doing this, because I only thought music was what an iPod was used for, but apparently I was wrong. I typed in "Physical Education" into the search engine for podcasts and that didn't yield very many hits. So then I tried "Fitness" and whola! There were so many to choose from. I looked into quite a few and eventually added 3 of them to my bloglines account so I can be updated when new ones are downloadable. I have only been able to listen to the demos that they provide on bloglines because I am staying at my in-laws place while they are on vacation (they have AC and a pool.. we don't have either) and they do not like to download ANYTHING to their computer. So I must wait until I go back to my place to actually explore the podcasts in full detail. Though I must say, I am already seeing the potential for using podcasts in my classroom. I think I could easily create a weekly or maybe monthly assignment out of these. Something like having my students listen to a podcast and then summarize it and try to describe how they would apply what they learned to their fitness plans... or something like that... I think not only would I love it, I think the kids would really like it because it's something on their level. Technology like this being integrated into the classroom is something unheard of and I think that would provide buy-in! I'm getting chills thinking about how this would work!!....

Oops I didn't follow directions!

Here is the actual video, not just the link!!

Hilarious YouTube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koJLusDwl5E

This "Fitness Made Difficult" video made me laugh so hard! The concept is kind of cruel, but the video itself is really funny. I found this video by typing in "Fitness" in the search box and it was about the 2nd one I chose to look at. I like the YouTube site because you have so many videos available to you. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot of filtering that goes on and you can end up with a video you didn't want to see even when you type in the most innocent of words! One of the things I found myself doing when I was searching for videos was hopping from the video I originally clicked on, to one that was "related" and was suggested once my video was over. I guess you can say I was cloud jumping in the land of YouTube. It took me a while to find a video related to Physical Education that was fun to watch and wasn't so clinical. This one definitely hit the spot. Enjoy! If there was a competition... I might win!

yu.m.my..... I mean del.ici.ous!

The del.icio.us.com site we explored this week was very useful. I started out by watching my favorite common craft video production about del.icio.us.com, I set out to discover all that this social bookmarking site had to offer. I was able to search popular websites via tags that I was interested in, or by typing in keywords that I though might yield the sites I wanted to find. After finding these sites I was able to post them to my del.icio.us account which very neatly organized them in a variety of ways. I think this type of organizational tool will be very helpful for research purposes in the future because you can network with other professionals and share search results with each other. It will help facilitate collaboration on research projects and provide a quick and efficient way of locating information on a specific topic. It almost feels like the bloglines site we've explored previously but somehow it is different. With so much information available to us, it is definitely nice to have an organized way of tracking everything. If you are going to search for my del.icio.us list you can search for bad4 that is my username. Have fun...

Technorati Site

After search for "kinesiology" through a variety of different ways, I realized, although they did produce different results, none of the results seemed to satisfy my idea of the types of blogs I though would show up. Many of the blogs or posts that were suggested had to do with chiropractic work or applied kinesiology which have nothing to do with what I am interested. There were a few hit and miss sites about exercise and the health benefits, however I don't think this way of searching was as effective as I had hoped it would be. I thought I would find my classmates blogs, since many of us have titled our posts as "Kinesiology 710" or something to the like. Just like with any search engine, there were also smut blogs that were suggested which just annoyed me even further. Why would anyone tag a blog that has to do with naked girls "kinesiology." Just annoying....

Web 2.0 Discovery!!!

Very cool list, by the way! I explored the "Events" category, although I kinda made it to the site that got first place! upcoming.yahoo.com was pretty neat! I was able to type in any city and state and the genre of event I was looking for, and then it would list, in chronological order all the events in that area and surrounding areas. It sadly reminded me that I would be missing the Carrie Underwood concert happening in Fresno this Wednesday..... so sad! I would LOVE to see her in concert! I also used this site to help me find some things happening in Idaho where I will be spending quite a bit of time this summer. Unfortunately there aren't any good concerts in the CDA or Spokane area this summer.

Eeny Meeny Miny MOE!!!!

Oh my gosh... or shall I say OMG!!! (which I do sarcastically of course... that "saying" drives me bookers!) I don't know where to start.... What technology explored so far could be incorporated into my career? Well I got some pretty cool news last week!! I am going to be teaching the Junior/Senior AVID (advancement via individual determination) class for 1 period next year. Which basically means I get to teach these kids how to be successful and prepare for college.. all the while I am still going to school too! I think I am definitely going to incorporate into my curriculum a blog assignment for these kids to vent, discuss, explore, share, and discover all the little things about college they are looking forward too to are scared about. I think this will be a great trial run for how I might begin to incorporate blogs and other cool technologies into my Physical Education curriculum too! Twitter originally seemed annoying to me, but it is actually kind of fun to just "update" people, whether or not they care to know exactly what I am doing when I feel like posting on twitter! It's fun to see what other people are doing or are excited about. I think personally I will continue to use twitter, but I for sure see a few problems will allowing my high schoolers to keep me that up to date about there lives!!! Yea technology!!!

Online Productivity Tools

Not really a big fan of the online productivity tools. I looked into Google Docs. I think the concept behind them is pretty cool because I don't know how many times i've tried to open documents from someone or something and I didn't have the source they created it in. It was really annoying, but then I discovered... or shall I saw was introduced to a thing called adobe. So for the most part I don't have difficulties anymore. I tried creating a spreadsheet the way I do in excel and some of the shortcuts I use are not there or are not the same on Google Docs. It got pretty frustrating, which is why I chose not to publish it to my blog.... oh well... one dud tool among all these really cool ones isn't so bad.... see ya!

RSS Feeds

I think I have fallen in love with the Common Craft videos that are being posted to walk us through setting up all these different accounts. They are so simple to follow and even though I felt dumb for needing some of the sites "dumbed down" for me... I am ultimately thankful because I always learn something new! This weeks youTube common craft video made learning how to subscribe to the different blogs so simple! It didn't take me long at all to learn how to set them up, view them, and edit and arrange them. Unfortunately though, as I was searching for blogs to add to my feed, I started to recognize how "primitive" my blog was. By primitive, I mean boring!!! I have nothing besides the meat and potatoes of typical blog. I want the five course meal!!! I read on someones blog about the site yourminis.com I visited it and waalaa... I added the little mini weather thingy! I even changed the color of background! Yea Me!!! But I suppose I should return to the topic at hand... the RSS feeds.
I really think the creation of the RSS feed was the end result Scott was hoping we'd find and ENJOY! I was really getting bogged doown with ALL the different site I felt like I had to check every single day to stay on top of my assignments and follow my classmates. I think this bloglines thing is really going to help streamline this task for me and even allow me to regularly access other sites I might have normally neglected! So THANK YOU SCOTT!

Emerging Technologies and Web, Library, & Teen Services 2.0

"This shift will result in taking the traditional library of sterile spaces, static collections, and vanilla catalogs to the next level in a variety of ways (Young Adult Library Services, Winter 2007)." I think the concept of creating library spaces that are catered to today's generation of teens and young adults is definitely intriguing. I know from my experience, I would be more inclined to spend more time in an environment that I found comfortable and inviting. School libraries are definitely sterile feeling. The old concept of "shhhh.... not talking in the library" is nearly dead and gone. Today's teens have no problem listening to music, talking on the phone and carrying on 3 different conversations online with friends. I still to this day cannot read without falling asleep unless I have music playing. After working in the high school system for two years, I have this image of the next generations babies being born with ipod headphones already coming out of their ears! (creepy I know!) And you can't tell me it isn't slightly odd to see a 50-60 year old man walking around the grocery store with an ipod in his ears! Something about today's youth pulls off the look better! Most students complete their homework at home in their bedrooms, where they are surrounded by their own style of decor and music. Grasping onto and taking our schools libraries to the "next level" by incorporating different interior design as well as allowing students access to a variety of different technological tools should only prove to be conducive to their motivation for completing their assignments. I am not implying that libraries need to blast the lasted Indy-rock music loud enough for the next town to hear, but allowing the students to feel welcomed in all the different shapes and sizes they come in these days might very well work!

I felt the article "Emerging Technologies Changing Public Library Service Delivery Models" was the most complete and thorough peice in regards to describing and informing the user of all the different types of technologies that are available today. Most of the information was simple to understand and helpful by suggesting ways of using each peice of technology. Although most of the examples were geared to the library's use of technology I could easily adapt most suggestions to fit the classroom environment. For example, I could use podcasts in the classroom in the same manner a librarian could by providing short, informational episodes about one issues combining voiceover by a host and interviews with clients (guest speakers, persons of interest, etc.) Students might find listening to an interview is more interesting that reading about one on a worksheet. Or, I could give weekly updates about what is going on in your library (or classroom) for students who are absent or wanted a reminder. The best example I thought of for using a podcast was to provide professional development for staff. My collegues and I always ponder why during in-service meetings we are never asked to present the lastest data or information in our subject area. I think teaching an in-service on creating and using podcasts in the Physical Education classroom would be interesting and also serve to teach other subjects who they could integrate podcasts into their subject areas.

The Age of Technology

Ok, so I may have jumped the gun on this assignment by reading the posts of my classmates, but I didn't get to far on that. I was perplexed about Bryan's post because I was sitting here having read all the resources that were provided, had been brainstorming that I was going to write about the different types of websites that I think are most conducive to an actual learning environment, and I was completely blindsided. I was originally gung-hoe about all this techno-gadgety stuff for the classroom, but I think Bryan has a point. The puzzle pieces fit together. The generation that has or is growing up with all this new techy stuff is going to be significantly behind socially than those previous generations. Sure blogs, chat rooms, and text messaging are efficient ways of communicating with a larger audience, but it has trained our students to be withdrawn in person and unable to appropriately communicate on the fly. They are only improving their communication skills via technology and not actually developing any personable social skills. The editorial literature by Ferdig stated "...when students were not in a pedagogical environment that supported interaction, students tended towards 'off-task' and yet social behavior such as instant messaging." Within the text it almost felt as if Ferdig was condoning this kind of "off-task" behavior on the basis that the lesson wasn't stimulating enough. I am by no means saying this is unorthodox, because I do feel as teachers we hold a responsibility to create and impletent interesting and interactive lessons, but in reality it is obsurd to me that some will enable students to participate in off-task behavior simply on this basis. My question is, how do we direct our students to a more appropriate type of socializing when in the academic setting. For example, say you catch a student text-messaging in class, should we excuse this defiant behavior and blame ourselves for not being interesting enough to sustain the interest of this particular student? I know there must be a happy-medium to this new age of technology, however, the battles that will lead us there are long and arduous.

My New Camera

My Camera, originally uploaded by devitt_b.

Below is the link to the Circuit City website page that describes the features on my new camera! I just went out and purchased this camera today! I had to buy a new camera for a number of reasons. One being that I am going to be traveling quite a bit this summer and spending a month in Idaho when my sister has her baby and I want a great camera to capture all the cuteness! Also, my club volleyball team will be going to the Reno Festival and I wanted to be able to take a bunch of pictures of all the fun we are going to have. There are many reasons why I decided to spend this much on a new camera!
One of the main reasons I needed a new camera is because my husband had purchased one for my birthday this last August. Unfortunately, over thanksgiving break, it was dropped while at Disneyland and ceased to operate. After finding out it would cost the same amount to repair the old camera, I decided it would be easier to simply buy a new one. I was leary about buying another "slim" camera, as they are all you can seem to find/afford these days, because of the chincy bodies. The last thing I needed to do was lose another $300!! So when I saw that this particular camera was "SHOCK-Proof" as well as "water-proof" I had to investigate! I pondered the validity of this "shock-proof" camera so I went to the store and played around with one. Turns out it really is shock proof from 5ft. and water proof down to 10ft. I don't think I'll ever test out the water proof side of it, but I was definately pleased with the shock proof ability, as I am particularly clumsy. I went out on a limb and bought it! Come to find out, it has the COOLEST feature available on it! In Camera Panorama!
As soon as I can upload a good example of what this camera is capable of I will. I will be getting lots of test shots this weekend! Meanwhile... check out the other features this camera boasts. If you are in the market for a new camera, I would totally recommend this one. Especially if you are clumsy! Take Care!
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Olympus-Stylus-850-SW-8-Megapixel-Digital-Camera-Blue-STYLUS850SWBL/sem/rpsm/oid/204930/catOid/-16941/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I won the Best Wife in the World award last year. I allowed my husband to make a spur of the moment, very expensive impulse purchase for a, and I qoute..."Chance of a lifetime" to go to the World Series in Colorado. He went... and froze his booty off, but had a great time. He was able to get some pretty cool photos that we've had enlarged and framed for our office. This one particularly stood out... Something about the American past-time of Baseball and the American Flag... pretty gorgeous! Enjoy!!!

My first Blog- what a journey

This is my very first blog- ever! The literature that I have previously read about blogging made reference to the anxiety that may accompany your first blog; what should I blog about? What topics will people want to read about? Who is going to read my blog? How long should each blog be? I suppose the answer to these questions comes from reading other people's blogs, however I am also a first timer at that too!
Today I am officially in the 2nd day of my Master's program for Kinesiology and I have started my usual obsessive compulsive organizational phase. I have recognized this pattern after many years of education and subsequently credit my collegiate academic success on this funny habit. I start off every semester/quarter/session being meticulous about organization; buying brand new binders with dividers, downloading AND printing everything for each class (syllabus, assignments, schedule, resources, etc.). I am usually very anxious about getting started on the assignments in my classes, in part due to my fear of falling behind the rest of the class and to the fear of being lost in the subject! I've recognized in past compulsions that I am able to carry on in this manner for several weeks before falling into other less noble habits: procrastination to name just one!
In my high school days I was rather an expert at procrastination. Of course back then I could easily distract myself by "IM-ing" with friends online, all the while making my dad think I was busy at work on a paper or something. Naturally of course, this dirty little habit took it's toll on my studies and of course my GPA. I casually passed my barely average grades on being "not as smart as my sister," which only lasted until I started studying a topic I really enjoyed once I got to college. That topic of course was/is Physical Education.
I was probably what you would call an average athlete in high school, although I've always felt that my passion for volleyball obviously out-weighed those of my teammates who were "staying in shape 'til basketball season." I was able to excel in my sport mainly due to my height (6'0) and with the help of my role model, my older sister. Even though I was never the "star" of the team, athletics and volleyball were always what I did better than academics. When it finally came time to declare a major course of study for college, I made the decision to study physical education. My first course was a prerequisite, Human Anantomy, it didn't take long before I was hooked. The human body and the way it functioned was actually fascinating to me. All in the course of a semester I was transformed into a studying, test aceing, book worm student, who was no longer taking courses just to satisfy requirements. I was learning something everyday and succeeding in academics for the first time! (Who's the smart sister now!?!?!) Which led me to my degree in physical education and now i'm back in high school, teaching the stuff that I thought was "really cool" to kids who have no idea why I love what I do! Who woulda thunk it?