Friday, July 23, 2010

Pride... Prejudice... Invasion of the podcasters... and an anniversary of sorts...

Pride... and...  Prejudice... *sigh*
Last week a good friend and I were able to drive down together to Cedar City to attend the Rural Schools conference that is held every summer on the campus of SUU. We also had the opportunity to go to a play that was put on as part of the Shakespearean Festival that takes place at the same time as the conference. We saw "Pride and Prejudice." I've loved the story since I read the book in high school and love to see all the different renditions that are made. This play was a wonderful adaption of the story and did not disappoint. It was well-written and wonderfully cast. Elizabeth and Darcy were suitably prideful and prejudiced to begin with, and just as equally in love in the end.
All I can say is.... *sigh*... Mr. Darcy... *sigh*...  :-)
(You know the character of Mr. Darcy really was the first 'McDreamy'..lol)
Invasion of the podcasters...
Over the last year I have been able to be involved in a grant for teachers  to create educational podcasts for Math concepts related to the Utah CORE curriculum for 4th grade. As part of the grant participating teachers are required to create and complete a series of professional grade video podcasts over a period of two years. When finished, reviewed, revised, and approved these podcasts will be uploaded to iTunesU for use by all Utah 4th grade teachers, and basically anyone else who cares to watch them. 
We were each assigned to do a sort of "practice" podcast on math vocabulary to "get our feet wet" so to speak with all of the new technologies we would be using. Once we finished with that we were given our first of three "official" podcast assignments. I'm glad to say the podcast I submitted was approved for inclusion in the first round of uploads. Yea! I still have two more podcasts to create and submit before May of next year, but I've decided I'm giving myself a couple of days off after a summer full of master's classes, summer school, and teacher conferences. 

An anniversary of sorts...
Thirteen years ago today a couple of important things happened in my life. First, my lovely niece Lacey was born. Second, I interviewed for a teaching job in Green River.
I remember well many things about that day. Early in the morning we received a call from the hospital saying that my niece had been born. My dad - who had offered to ride over to Green River with me since he knew the area a little (having worked several years for the county in addition to teaching) - and I - stopped by the hospital on the way over to see the new family addition and then continued on to Green River for the interview. After the interview I had my first meal in town at the Chow Hound and then went for a drive and learned why Long Street got its name! I was able to visit with Iva, a former teacher of mine, that day as well. Who knew we'd end up teaching together?! My dad and I stopped at the hospital on the way back home then continued back to my parent's home in Huntington. When we got there, my mom told me that Mr. Rowley had called and requested I call him back as soon as possible, which I did - and was offered the job. I tell my niece she was my good luck charm. She just smiles whenever I say that. (I think she probably shakes her head to herself and thinks her poor old auntie is slightly loco... :-) )
(As a side note - 10 years ago today, my nephew Allen was born as well - so it's a day pretty full of memories... )

And so it goes...
Well.... I guess I have rambled enough for this post, my post overfloweth... lol .... my apologies to your poor eyes.... I'll give them a break.... for now.... 

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