Spring Break

For once, I was not looking forward to Spring Break - my 84 year old mother was having total hip replacement on Tuesday.  I planned on staying the first night with her at the hospital in Huntington and then driving back and forth the rest of the week.  She did pretty well except that she has been sick to her stomach every day.  The Dr finally figured out that it was the pain medication that was making her sick - they tried different medicines but everything made her sick.  They finally figured out that she will just have to take Tylenol - that is a little medicine for a big operation....

It seems that it doesn't just rain, it pours....there are other things going on in my life that required that I drive back and forth to Beckley every day, too.  Sometimes there is just too much to take care of all at once :(

But, as always, I will make it through....

Nuclear fallout/disaster?

I asked my students to blog this week about the happenings in Japan.  When I asked if they were concerned about the nuclear ramifications, many said that the media was blowing it out of proportion.  When we came in today, some said that they may have changed their minds.  I told them to do some research and see what information they could come up with. 
Am I concerned?  Yes, I am.  The possible side-effects of what is happening in Japan just plain scares me.
                                                                 

Qualities of a best friend

I asked my students to Blog this week about what they feel are the qualities of a best friend.  I thought that I would Blog about this topic also.  As a high school student, I had a best friend.  As a college student, I did not really have a best friend, I was too busy.  If I wanted to go do something, it was always with my boyfriend.  As an adult, again, I do not really have a best friend.  I have friends, but not what I consider a "best friend" lke I had in high school.

Going to Columbus

Tomorrow Lillianna and I are going to Columbus, Ohio for Adoption Day.  Our plans: see at least 3 movies, spend the evening in the game room, and sleep in the next day.

Game Demo

The kids are ready for presenting their game demos.  We had planned on doing them this week, but I got an e-mail last night from Denise saying that they wanted to be present for them - I think I knew that but forgot :(  Not sure how we are going to do this since we are presenting over a period of 3 days since we have the unique A, B, C day schedules...

Adding Buttons

My kids have been working on adding buttons this week - well, some of them.  I have a couple of students that I just cannot get working.  They think that their partner is going to do all the work and then they will also get credit.  I have told them that it won't work this way.  It is starting to get hard and some just don't want to put forth the effort.  They want me to hold their hand and walk them through every step.....I told them at the beginning of this year that a lot of this class will be self-directed - I am no longer the "sage on the stage"....I am the "guide by the side".
                  

Finally

                       Finally - I think that soon I may feel like my head is above water.

Mind you, I'm not there yet.  I got myself so confused about what account I was logging on to.  My admin account was not correct (I was trying to update my 'Ms. Kail's Wiki' account), nor was my account from this summer.  Thank goodness for Bill.  He is so wonderful.  I e-mail his with the most dumbest question and within the hour he e-mails me back with the solution.  I have been updating my Learning Log under my account from this summer, not my Ms. Kail's Wiki account.  I think I am OK now - just have more work to do.  I am wondering how everyone else (the newbies) are feeling and how everyone is doing.
  Class-wise, it is going great.  The kids are really getting into it.  We are working on our paper prototypes this week and they are finally realizing that they need to have a "game plan".  The main issue this last week has been that the lab that I use for Globaloria is not mine and we walked into the classroom last week to find that ALL the keyboards had skins on them.  So my kids cannot see the keys to type - most are OK, some are floundering.  Am behind in my weekly progress report, but will include this as an issue.  I need my own lab.