Words Aren't Enough
Mrs. Lichtenberger
Mrs. Johnson
Mrs. Smyth
Mrs. Hilton
Mr. Hilton
Mrs. Thomas
Mr. Inwood
Mr. Wilson
Mr. Mason
Mrs. Giorgi
Mrs. Chichester
Mr. Yost
Dr. Carrie Rothstein-Fisch
Professor Michele Kilner
Dr. Vivian Kunimitsu
Dr. Melissa Groves
Dr. Sandra Twardosz
This Kid President is for you.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
100 Days Project -- Day 38
Bragging Point
Tomorrow is the last day of classes before finals start next week. Since I have Tuesday / Thursday classes, I met with my last class for the last time tonight. It was CFS 134: Multicultural Perspectives on Children and Families, a class where we focus on improving cultural competence. All of my students will work with children and families in some capacity, so it's important that they learn a lot about the diversity in the Valley. One of the things they do is read this book.
I don't lecture on the book. Instead, the students are assigned to "Book Club Groups," and periodically throughout the semester, they are given time in class to gather in their book clubs to discuss what they've read so far. Additionally, they plan and create a "Book Club Project," which they submitted tonight. They were given basic content guidelines that mainly involve their personal reactions to the book, and could create a YouTube video, a PowerPoint presentation, or a Prezi presentation. I began offering the option of doing a YouTube video about 2 years ago, and have never had more than one group in a class create one. Again this semester, there was one YouTube video. You can watch it here.
Funny. Clever. Insightful.
They got an A.
And I got to giggle while I was grading.
Can't beat that.
Tomorrow is the last day of classes before finals start next week. Since I have Tuesday / Thursday classes, I met with my last class for the last time tonight. It was CFS 134: Multicultural Perspectives on Children and Families, a class where we focus on improving cultural competence. All of my students will work with children and families in some capacity, so it's important that they learn a lot about the diversity in the Valley. One of the things they do is read this book.
I don't lecture on the book. Instead, the students are assigned to "Book Club Groups," and periodically throughout the semester, they are given time in class to gather in their book clubs to discuss what they've read so far. Additionally, they plan and create a "Book Club Project," which they submitted tonight. They were given basic content guidelines that mainly involve their personal reactions to the book, and could create a YouTube video, a PowerPoint presentation, or a Prezi presentation. I began offering the option of doing a YouTube video about 2 years ago, and have never had more than one group in a class create one. Again this semester, there was one YouTube video. You can watch it here.
Funny. Clever. Insightful.
They got an A.
And I got to giggle while I was grading.
Can't beat that.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
100 Days Project -- Day 36
October 11
Though we're not absolutely sure when the actual wedding will be,
we have set the date for the party that will follow.
And though we have a good idea where we want the wedding, that's not in stone yet, either,
but the location for the party is.
Bridgeport is a very special place to me, and to Bob...
It's where we met.
It's where I grew up.
It's where he has gone hunting, fishing, and camping
with family and friends since he was a small boy.
It's where Bob proposed to me.
And it's where we've already begun to make wonderful memories with our families.
It has always been in my heart.
And it's incredibly special to me that Bridgeport is in Bob's heart, too.
This is the view from where the party will be.
It's also the view from where we celebrated Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary.
And the view from where we celebrated Dad's life.
October 11
It'll be a good day.
Though we're not absolutely sure when the actual wedding will be,
we have set the date for the party that will follow.
And though we have a good idea where we want the wedding, that's not in stone yet, either,
but the location for the party is.
Bridgeport is a very special place to me, and to Bob...
It's where we met.
It's where I grew up.
It's where he has gone hunting, fishing, and camping
with family and friends since he was a small boy.
It's where Bob proposed to me.
And it's where we've already begun to make wonderful memories with our families.
It has always been in my heart.
And it's incredibly special to me that Bridgeport is in Bob's heart, too.
This is the view from where the party will be.
It's also the view from where we celebrated Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary.
And the view from where we celebrated Dad's life.
October 11
It'll be a good day.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
100 Days Project -- Day 35
Flashback
We went to our favorite sushi restaurant tonight.
We started with this.
And this.
A couple sitting next to us was having this, and when I asked which roll it was, they let us taste it...then we got our own. (It's a 9-1-1.)
And we ended with this. (A Rainbow roll.)
On our way into the restaurant, we saw a lot of these.
Prom. A limo for the entire night. Sushi before the prom.
Boy, have proms changed.
When I was in high school, we had dinner here.
Salad bars were actually new. Remember how "cool" they were back then?
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And then we went to the Lawlor Events Center on the UNR campus for this.
Because who wouldn't want to go to prom with these guys?
Prom certainly isn't like that anymore. But I would imagine our 1984 Coleville High School prom (really called the Junior Senior Banquet -- we didn't even have anything called a prom) wasn't typical, even of the mid-80's.
I think ours was better.
We went to our favorite sushi restaurant tonight.
We started with this.
And this.
A couple sitting next to us was having this, and when I asked which roll it was, they let us taste it...then we got our own. (It's a 9-1-1.)
And we ended with this. (A Rainbow roll.)
On our way into the restaurant, we saw a lot of these.
Prom. A limo for the entire night. Sushi before the prom.
Boy, have proms changed.
When I was in high school, we had dinner here.
Salad bars were actually new. Remember how "cool" they were back then?
.jpg)
And then we went to the Lawlor Events Center on the UNR campus for this.
Because who wouldn't want to go to prom with these guys?
Prom certainly isn't like that anymore. But I would imagine our 1984 Coleville High School prom (really called the Junior Senior Banquet -- we didn't even have anything called a prom) wasn't typical, even of the mid-80's.
I think ours was better.
100 Days Project -- Day 34
Living On
Bob and I weren't lucky enough to know Josh, but we are friends of his Aunt Stella and Uncle Brian. Tonight, they invited us to a dinner to benefit the Josh Hansen Foundation, begun by his family, to improve the lives of children in the Sierra Mountains.
The benefit was at the Clovis Castle, a pristine event venue in the foothills outside Fresno.
Beautiful setting. Achingly touching tribute to a 10-year-old boy who must have been incredibly special to inspire this kind of devotion from family and friends.
Bob and I weren't lucky enough to know Josh, but we are friends of his Aunt Stella and Uncle Brian. Tonight, they invited us to a dinner to benefit the Josh Hansen Foundation, begun by his family, to improve the lives of children in the Sierra Mountains.
The benefit was at the Clovis Castle, a pristine event venue in the foothills outside Fresno.
Beautiful setting. Achingly touching tribute to a 10-year-old boy who must have been incredibly special to inspire this kind of devotion from family and friends.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
100 Days Project -- Day 33
Got Math?
Every semester, I try to make improvements to each of my classes. Sometimes they're big and sometimes they're small. This helps keep the course fresh for me, and I think it's important that students see professors who love what they do. Doing new things in class helps me continue to love it.
One of the small improvements I made in my middle childhood course this semester was to include a brief YouTube clip at the beginning of every class. Of all the age spans covered in child development (infancy, toddlerhood, preschool, school-aged, and adolescence) middle childhood, or school-aged, has been studied the least. That means there are very few textbooks that focus on this period from 6 to 12 years, and there are also few educational videos focused specifically on this age. Seeing video of actual kids, though, is helpful, so my original intent was to start each class with a clip that included school-aged kids in it -- a fun reminder at the beginning of each class of just whom we are studying.
The scope of these clips expanded as the semester went on, though, and I also started finding things that would be good resources for my students, many who intend to be teachers. Over the last week, we've been talking about academic learning, and this has included a bit of information on the school-aged child's mathematical understanding.
Remember this show?
When I did a search on YouTube for math clips, I came across some great videos by Danica McKellar, aka Winnie. I remember reading a long time ago that grown-up-Winnie is a math whiz, and by golly, she seems to be. She's definitely all grown up, too.
She has even written some books about math.
Pretty good stuff. And if you're interested, this is the "Math Bites" clip that I showed in class.
A good improvement, I think.
Every semester, I try to make improvements to each of my classes. Sometimes they're big and sometimes they're small. This helps keep the course fresh for me, and I think it's important that students see professors who love what they do. Doing new things in class helps me continue to love it.
One of the small improvements I made in my middle childhood course this semester was to include a brief YouTube clip at the beginning of every class. Of all the age spans covered in child development (infancy, toddlerhood, preschool, school-aged, and adolescence) middle childhood, or school-aged, has been studied the least. That means there are very few textbooks that focus on this period from 6 to 12 years, and there are also few educational videos focused specifically on this age. Seeing video of actual kids, though, is helpful, so my original intent was to start each class with a clip that included school-aged kids in it -- a fun reminder at the beginning of each class of just whom we are studying.
The scope of these clips expanded as the semester went on, though, and I also started finding things that would be good resources for my students, many who intend to be teachers. Over the last week, we've been talking about academic learning, and this has included a bit of information on the school-aged child's mathematical understanding.
Remember this show?
When I did a search on YouTube for math clips, I came across some great videos by Danica McKellar, aka Winnie. I remember reading a long time ago that grown-up-Winnie is a math whiz, and by golly, she seems to be. She's definitely all grown up, too.
She has even written some books about math.
Pretty good stuff. And if you're interested, this is the "Math Bites" clip that I showed in class.
A good improvement, I think.
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