Never Too Old for Candy!

So last Thursday night I went back home to visit my parents and see some friends. I do not usually get to go home for Easter since it usually lands right around end of classes and finals! My family does not do anything special for Easter so I have not been home for it in a while, but I still had a great weekend! I got to visit with my parents and I got to ahnd out with some of my best girlfriends! One of my friends just recently purchased a house so it was awesome to see it finally!
But one the exciting things is that my mom still buys us kids candy for easter haha. She also had so much chocloate and junk food that I still feel bloated even two days later! I think I will be 30 yrs old and my mom will still buy chocolate and candy.
Going home was a nice break from school and job stress!

Poor Baby Toe

This morning as I was getting ready for school I accidently ran into my 10 pound weight on the floor. Yes I have a weight in my room, because sometimes I attempt to work on my tricepts to try get rid of the flabby skin that you see when people wave or shack their arms. Anyways, basically teh weight is just in the way. So of course I tripped on it and hit my baby toe. I have of course stubbed my toe before, but this time was awful.

Now my toe is swollen and red, but the good news is that I do not think it is broken because I can still move it. However, it is not comfortable to walk at all.

Even if my toe is broken there is nothing I can do for a broken baby toe. I am sure within people's lifetime they break their baby toe many times.

On a happier note, this weekend is easter! I am heading back home to see the family.

They're Back!!!!

So the other day as I was in my bathroom, I looked down and noticed something black and it began to move very quickly. Yes, it was a spider! I live in a basement suite so during the summer and especially the fall I find spiders all the time! I hate them! I honestly get panic attacks haha, and I even have nightmares about spiders jumping at me! I know its crazy, I should be old enough to be over my fear, about the spiders in my house are frickin huge! and fast. I blame my fear on the fact that when I was a small kid my parents let me watch arachniphobia. At least thats what I will keep blaming it on.
Either way, I am not impressed because i know that within a few weeks I will have to be careful everytime I go into my bathroom. The worst situation is going for a shower and seeing a spider! It gives me the creeps just thinking about it!
I definately need to move

The End of an Era :(

So last night my campus rec floor hockey team began playoffs. We were playing against a team that we had never played before because during playoffs all teams from all the nights during the week play off against each other. So my team usually played on Tuesday nights, but during playoffs you play on any night that they schedule you.

So the game started off great! The scoring went back and forth for each team; it was very intense! The problem with our team is that we do not have a regular goalie, so we always alternate, which means that none of us are experinced in net. But either way the game was soo close for both halves.

The game eventually had to go to overtime. I was very nervous! Unfortunately we lost in sudden death overtime.

The worst part is that this is my last year to play campus rec, so no more floor hockey again! It was great to play and I will miss the girls on my team! I am excited to be done school, but I will definately miss campus rec, especially floor hockey.

Fanastic Concert

So on Friday night I got to see Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, and Against me at CUC. It was great!! I have seen Bily Talent before, but it was really nice to see Against me! All the bands had sooo much energy and sounded awesome! It is really great when you see a band live and they sound just like they do on their CD. L absolutely love going to shows and supporting artists. I think that going to shows is one way to really support the bands are just trying to make it.

I saw a lot of weird and funny stuff at the concert, but there was one incident that was just too much for me. (Again I will probably sound like a prune haha) So i had ground floor standing tickets and everything was fine, until this girl who was annoying in front of me she starts dancing but taking up all the room she wants to. I have a feeling she had not been to a lot of concerts before, I wanted to tell her, sorry but screw off I am not moving just so you have bounce around some more. I want to see too! But anyways, then her boyfriend comes in behind her, and they start kissing in front of everyone, and then she continues to dance or bounce or whatever, and then the boyfriend starts to touch her inappropriately! Like what the??? And her friend was standing right there beside them! Like come on, you're at a rock concert! You should be rocking out not getting groped! It may be dark in there, but it aint that dark! Can you not wait till after the show, geez.....

But despite the gropping, the show was awesome!

I still must say that my favourite band to see live thus far has been Rise Against!!

Food Addict or Just Meant to be Obese?

So I was trying to decide what to write about on my blog and while I was thinking and randomly checking email and what not I had realized that I ate all my crackers! I had only bought the crackers yesturday and I have already finished them off. Now it may not seem too bad, except that I find I do this all the time! I can not buy any food that tastes even remotely good, because I will eat it within hours!

I do counter act it by going running and playing sports, but my goodness that can not be enough for all the calories I eat in a day. If only I did not indulged in such bad food the gym would actually do something for me! I sometimes have no idea how I am not 200 pounds. I have no self control. When it comes to snacks I always over eat! One time, I even ate two large blizzards....

Things are fine right now because I am active, but I have no idea what is going to happen once I have kids.....

Doesnt look good. haha, but I do love food!

My Guilty Pleasure

So lately I have been staying up late on Tuesday nights to watch a tv show I am not proud of... 16 and pregnant. I know I know that it is just another stupid MTV show that is there to get ratings and we probably do not see the whole story because they edit it to their liking, but I still watch it.
I actually find it sad to see the girls going through everything. Of course there have been a few girls on the show, who to be nice, are not the brightest crayon in the box, but overall the girls are your average teenage who just so happened to fall in love with some dumb guy who thinks he is god's gift to women. In 9/10 shows I have seen the guy stays with the girl during her pregnancy, the whole time treating her like crap and calling her names, putting her down, being unreliable, then once the baby is born he leaves! There has only been one guy who was decent and stayed! ONE! I get so mad when I watch the show I want to yell at the tv and tell the immature boys to grow up and take some responsibility! The girls on the other hand are forced to grow up and deal with the situation, and they become great moms, but the guys just don't understand that the baby is theirs too!
One thing I do hope for is that young girls watch the show and pick better boyfriends....

Less is not more...

So I routinely try to go to the PAC and attempt to live a somewhat healthy life. However, today was a little weird for me, I mean usually there are girls there who look more done up than I do when I go out on a Friday night, and of the lululemon overload and the girls who go and ride the bikes for 10 minutes, but today was different. I guess people on our society have just become very comfortable, but as I was on the stair climber, I had glanced over and I saw a girl on the treadmill grab her shirt and completely pull in up to wipe off her sweat. Hmm.... I dunno, if I were her I would be a little more shy of everyone seeing me in a sports bar. I realize that a sports bar is the same thing as a bathing suit at the beach, but we were not at the beach!
Maybe I am just getting old and am way too conservative, I dunno. I just think that sometimes showing some skin can be sexy, but some people do not understand the limits, showing off everything that you got is not always the best way to go. I am never having daughters....

Concept Map

Here is my concept map for my proposal of my webquest!

Webquest Proposal

So my plan is to make a webquest for a biology 20 class because I find this will be far more useful to me than making an e-portfolio.
I want to propose a problem based learning for my students. I am tentatively thinking of giving them a scenario in which they are a new doctor in a small community in SK. They notice a trend of many patients comming in with the same symptoms. The students will find out after completing tests that it is a certain virus causes these problems. I am thinking about focusing on H1N1 since it has been so current in our lives. From here the students will have to learn about propertoes of viruses from structure to lifecycles. After learning about the basic, they will need to decide if a virus is living or non living. In biology 20 there is general concept of life and its characteristics.
After this I will have the students learn about vaccines the facts and myths. Finally I wnat the students to argue if it should be mandatory to have everyone vaccinated, since having children unvaccinated poses a threat to the rest of the community.

I plan on using notes that I have made up, from texts books, using utube videos, as well as uploading videos that I have found from educational sites on virus lifecycles, world health organization website, and the public health agency of canada to help teach the students about viruses and the flu. I of course still need to do some more research into good websites to use, but I do know that there is lots of information on the flu pandemic of 1918, and obviously lots on H1N1. I also have a great clincial microbiology textbook, so if need be I can simplify information and make brief notes for them. But I definately have some great videos that will enhance this assignment.

I think it is important for students to learn about viruses since these little things have and do have such an impact on our lives. The more informed a person is, the more educated and prepared they will be to make decisions such as gettng a vaccine or not.

Here are some of the curriculum objectives that I will cover:
Exhibit a curiousity about life and the conditions which support it.
Recognize the relationship between what is studies in biology and daily life.
Describe viral structure and activity.
Identitfy some diseases causes by viruses in plants, animals and humans prevalent in SK.

some websites I will be using:http://http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/
http://http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/h1n1/faq_rg_h1n1-eng.php

http://http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.gotoWebCode&wcprefix=cbp&wcsuffix=6192

http://http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0078695104/student_view0/unit5/chapter18/concepts_in_motion.html

As for evaluation of the assignment, I have not done any rubrics or anything, but I plan on getting them to explain the lifecycle of a virus, to debate if viruses are living or not living (give reasons why or why not) and then finally to debate if vaccination should be mandatory. I will have them to use simple knowledge, such as understanding the virus life cycle, and then have them evaluate and synthesis for the two debate questions. I will have both higher level thinking and basic thinking skills.

I do not have all the details yet, plus I know that once I get started and actually make the scenario, the fine details will change. I hope that by doing this assignment it will work on the students' research skills (finding out the infection the patients have), and on their critical thinking skills. I wnat them to think of all the ethical issues involved and what it really means to be living or non-living.

I will also attach my concept map of the problem/assignment

Oh the Bachelor...

So last night I watched the finale of the bachelor, and yes I do occassionally watch bad tv like that hahah. Anyways, the guy was torn between two women and he could not decide. The pathetic thing is that it was the day before he had to choose one of them and he was suppose to decide on a ring for one of them, but he couldn't! If you are going to ask one girl to marry you, don't you think it is not a good start when you obviously have strong feelings for someone else!!
Finally he chooses one and lets the other one go home, but before he lets her leave he tells her that she is perfect and he will always remember her.....how can you say that and then 2 minutes later propose to someone else!! Oh but I forgot its real love....
Who are these people who think that because you dated someone on national tv for 4 weeks means that you should get married! These people are nuts! But I guess it makes people like me suckers for actually watching it....

No More Shock Value

So I got the opportunity to go see a speacker, Ray Hughes, at the SK safe schools conference for my Ed foundation class. He talked about the impact the media has on teens and children. The presentation was meant to inform people, mostly parents and teachers, of the negative images, videos, music lyrics, video games, and TV shows that bombard the youth today. He put up some stats and he warned us all of the shocking results. I found nothing shocking! I was the start of this generation that watches too much tv and listens to explict music lyrics and plays violent video games. This is nothing new! I am not saying that I think it ok to have music videos where women are complete sex objects and guns and violence is glorified, but this is not going away! If you were to go back in time and ask parents from 100 years ago I can guarntee that they would have been complaining because women were now showing off their ankles. Every generation is less respectful than the previous. and more violent and deviant..... well according to the older generation anways.
We live in a society were the mass media runs what we see everyday and we can not control that, but come on people stop being shocked and mortified and do something about it! I had very lenient rules growing up when it came to tv shows I watched and music I listened to, I never turned out to be some crack addict, or with 15 kids with 15 fathers, or stealing cars, only because my parents made it known what was fake on tv and what was not appropraite behaviour! They never sheltered me, they prepared me for the real world! Of course that being said, I dont think you should let a 2 year old watch the Sopranos, but they more you tell someone not to do something or that they cannot even see it, they will want to do the act. Prohibition has not worked in the past, and it still does not work!
Put limits on tv and internet for your kids, my gosh would it be so bad for them to actually, dare I say, spend a whole hour outside playing! instead of playing video games.
It is depressing though that we live in a society where there is no longer a shock value. We can watch the most violent horrible acts and not even blink an eye.Kids are going to see awful things from the media, eitehr from friends or from the internet, or some source. Educate your kids people! I realize that I am not an expert I have no kids yet, but from my childhood experience, you need to prepare kids and not shelter them, set boundaries and expectations. Parents and teachers need to inform themselves of what is out there. Dont be so naive. Pretending your kids are seing, or listening or watching the bad stuff out there, is not going to solve anything.

Research Paper

So I have been thinking of ideas I want to write about in my resaerch paper. I have been trying to look for articles and research paper for ideas. I think as of right now I want to try to find information on teachers who have a lack of technology training and also what are the limitations that cause technology to not be used, or to be used ineffectively. For many teachers they think that if they know how to use a computer that they are tech savy, when realistically they are doing nothing to support their students. Technology should make learning easier and benefit the students and the teacher, not make more work. So hopefully I can find some good information on this topic!

Wikipedia Changes/additions

I decided to add to the Dashboard confessional wikipedia site. Dashboard Confessional is an indie band from Florida. I added in the rating rolling Stone gave their latest album. I also added in a whole small paragraph about the lead singer, Chris Carrabba. I added in information about his early life and how he began a solo career after being a guidance counsellor. I got the information from another website that had a biography.
The links are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashboard_Confessional

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Carrabba

Harrassment in the Arts Tunnel

I think I am going to start avoiding the Arts tunnel. Everytime I pass through I get stop a dozen times by people asking me to take some survey or buy some item, or go on some pubcrawl, or give money, or whatever else they sell/advertize down there. I understand getting the word out for organizations and all, but if I am interested I will stop on my own! Usually I am already in a hurry, I do not want to be stop by some person just to be made to feel guilty over something that I should participate in or buy. People are turning into used car sales men. (or should I say used car sales people, that is more politically correct now.....)
Another beef I have is when poeple hand out flyer type things to you as you walk by. I completely understand their purpose, but do not force people to take them! You know they are just going to end up in the garbage 5 feet later!! Hand them out to the peopel who willingly take them!
However even after I complain over this, I know that I will still use the tunnels (even if it takes me longer to get to class) because it is sometimes way too cold out!!

Poor Forever?

So again the unfortunate events of my car breaking down again has occurred! As I was driving down central on Sunday, heading to watch the superbowl, my car starting puttering and so I pulled over to the side of the road and then the car just died. Thank goodness I have CAA. The tow truck came and he towed the car away to the mechanics. I began the walk back to my house, and it was the WORST walk I have ever experienced. Within about 2 seconds I could not feel my cheeks.
It turns out that It willl now cost me 500$ to fix. Since I am a university student who has no income, this expense just sets me back even further. When will I ever not be poor and in debt? I really need a job.....

Knowledge: List 3 ways in which blogs can be used in education- Blogs would be a useful to way to get students to perform journal activities in your class. Blogging would reduce the amount of paper assignments required for handing in as well as make it simple for students to complete the task online.- Blogs could be kept by the teacher related to what was done in class on each day. Students could then check the blog to find out what they had missed in class, making it less difficult for them to catch up with course material.- Finally, blogs could be a useful communication tool with parents. Keeping an up-to-date blog would provide transparency in your classroom and allow parents to find out what has been going on in the class so that they can stay in tuned with their childrens' education.Comprehension: List 3 reasons why teachers should integrate blogs into their classrooms1. Improving student familiarity with the ever increasing popularity of communication methods such as blogs. Improving student computer literacy.2. Using blogs as a venue for assignment delivery, reducing the amount of paper to be handed in and making it easier for teachers to check student work.3. Blogging is more fun than doing things the traditional way, and it may improve student engagement with the class.

3. Application: Describe three ways in which you can use blogs for your own teaching or
professional development/
- Blogs can be used to post information, photos, videos, links, etc. for students to
access. It is easy to update often to reproduce or expand on class material, create
assignments, communicate with students and parents, have students comment or
catch students up if they miss a class.
- Blogs can also enable great sharing and discussion with other teachers to enhance
your teaching and help others do the same.
- Blogs can help you to explore and spread knowledge about various subject matter as
well, allowing teachers to develop their knowledge and resources to apply to their
teaching.
4. Analysis: Is the use of blogs in education better than the use of static websites?
- Both blogs and websites have advantages. Blogs are better suited to constant
updating and are easier to tailor to specific situations and classes. Static websites tend
to be easier to organize, and work really well for resources that you want up in just one
form. You might want resources and activities that you think you would use repeatedly
or share with other teachers on a static webpage, but leave specific or frequently
updated info. on a blog.

Synthesis: How might blogging change your role as an educator?
Blogging would change you role as a teacher by having the students have more responsibility and choice is what they do in class. The students would be able to comment on each other’s blogs and offer advice or guidance. Blogs could be used for group projects or used as a way for students to present their work to their classmates instead of doing an oral presentation.
Blogging changes the teacher’s role from being in control all the time to being more of a facilitator.

Evaluation: List at least potential disadvantages of using blogs in education?
Some potential disadvantages of using blogs would be you cannot control the comments that students make in class. Some students may write/post inappropriate comments, or it could be used as a bullying device.
Another disadvantage is that students do not interact face to face anymore, they interact solely through blogging. Some people may argue that blogging will limit children’s social interactions, and lead to a lack of social skills.
A third disadvantage of using blogs in education is that you need to have access to computers on a regular basis. Many times in school you can only book computer rooms once a week and you need to book weeks in advance. You can tell the students to blog at home, but you still have to worry about the students who do not have internet access at home. Either way, you cannot expect students to blog on their own time, you need to give them some time in class once in awhile.

First Blog

Not sure what my blog will be focused on, but what is new this week??.... of course my sunday involved watching the Brian Burke press conference. One thing I learned from watching all the news casts of Dion, was that he was very excited to be a maple leaf and he is excited to be there. hmm.... pretty sure that is just what he publist told him to say. This is still not going to save the leafs though...
As for the weekend, Superbowl!