Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Unwanted One~Script
Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. ~George Eliot
Dear Teddy,
After reading an email from a friend explaining who you were and why you needed help, I immediately deleted.
To a 28 year old single woman you seemed to be an inconvenience, needing constant care, affection, and you possessed a great risk of dying-why would I want to put that in my life? But you were still in the back of my mind.
My friend somehow knew this and after much persistence and I caved. I offered to take you in. You were only five inches long, had a short stubby tail, and I told everyone you looked just like a rat. You did, and when they saw you they agreed. Your story was remarkable almost unbelievable-that you were pulled out of a tailpipe at a car dealership, alive, but with your eyes still closed.
Three weeks into taking you in you still had no name, and I was planning on giving you away after I weaned you from your tiny bottle. You were not part of my single lifestyle, always on the go, never at home, traveling across the country and taking road trips out of Dallas as much as possible. How would you fit in, how could I take care of you and ME?
Then you began to grow from a mousy fur ball to a striking kitten with a rich velvet coat of grey, I began to watch you grow and play. You were wild-not having a single brother or sister to play with. You earned the name Azul Diablo, the blue devil because of the bluish/grey fur and because of your spunkiness and the way you reacted when you didn’t get your way.
We were unsure of what you would end up looking like look like, how big you would get, what colors your eyes would eventually turn. You were handsome -Even the vet you had to go to in west textas called you a “fancy cat”. Mom and I laughed when he said that, never telling him your roots. I loved taking you to the pet store as a kitten and showing you off! Strangers often admired you and always asked what breed you were. I would proudly tell them I had no idea, and I would proceed to tell them your outlandish story.
Each day with you brings laughter and love that I had forgotten came with owning a pet. Laughter that I hadn’t had in long time, love I hadn’t felt for something of my own. You trusted me and depended on me and I did not fail. From the day I woke up from my nap and realized you were nestled inside my hoop earrings -to the crying and dramatic begging that would go on when you saw your bottle, your personality was coming out in full force- and you became mine. I named you Teddy.
Three years later you are still my baby, although you weigh over 15 pounds. People still admire your coat, but they are also impressed with your size, you are a big boy. Dear Teddy, thank you for showing me unconditional love,, changing my life, and and bringing me back to reality.
Dear Teddy,
After reading an email from a friend explaining who you were and why you needed help, I immediately deleted.
To a 28 year old single woman you seemed to be an inconvenience, needing constant care, affection, and you possessed a great risk of dying-why would I want to put that in my life? But you were still in the back of my mind.
My friend somehow knew this and after much persistence and I caved. I offered to take you in. You were only five inches long, had a short stubby tail, and I told everyone you looked just like a rat. You did, and when they saw you they agreed. Your story was remarkable almost unbelievable-that you were pulled out of a tailpipe at a car dealership, alive, but with your eyes still closed.
Three weeks into taking you in you still had no name, and I was planning on giving you away after I weaned you from your tiny bottle. You were not part of my single lifestyle, always on the go, never at home, traveling across the country and taking road trips out of Dallas as much as possible. How would you fit in, how could I take care of you and ME?
Then you began to grow from a mousy fur ball to a striking kitten with a rich velvet coat of grey, I began to watch you grow and play. You were wild-not having a single brother or sister to play with. You earned the name Azul Diablo, the blue devil because of the bluish/grey fur and because of your spunkiness and the way you reacted when you didn’t get your way.
We were unsure of what you would end up looking like look like, how big you would get, what colors your eyes would eventually turn. You were handsome -Even the vet you had to go to in west textas called you a “fancy cat”. Mom and I laughed when he said that, never telling him your roots. I loved taking you to the pet store as a kitten and showing you off! Strangers often admired you and always asked what breed you were. I would proudly tell them I had no idea, and I would proceed to tell them your outlandish story.
Each day with you brings laughter and love that I had forgotten came with owning a pet. Laughter that I hadn’t had in long time, love I hadn’t felt for something of my own. You trusted me and depended on me and I did not fail. From the day I woke up from my nap and realized you were nestled inside my hoop earrings -to the crying and dramatic begging that would go on when you saw your bottle, your personality was coming out in full force- and you became mine. I named you Teddy.
Three years later you are still my baby, although you weigh over 15 pounds. People still admire your coat, but they are also impressed with your size, you are a big boy. Dear Teddy, thank you for showing me unconditional love,, changing my life, and and bringing me back to reality.
Making the Video
The first thought I had when I read the assignment was that I had nothing to write about. I was panicking already! After reading the articles that were assigned this week, the one that I found the most beneficial was “Digital Storytelling Cookbook” by Joe Lambert. Then I decided to go to visit www.storycenter.org, and I then became panicked again. These videos were so professional, so profound, so deep. I thought back on my life, and could not think of anything that was as amazing as the videos that I had just watched. I am not married, have no kids, grew up in a small town in Texas, nothing that exciting has happened to me. But I continued to think about it, on Tuesday night I woke up several times thinking about my video-what was I going to do? I kept going back to a story about how I obtained my cat, and I decided that I would do a story about him and how he changed me. It wasn’t that exciting, and I was concerned people would think that I was strange creating a video over a cat! I started to write, and the words came out, I was surprised how much time I spend writing, editing, writing and editing. After receiving some comments over my piece, I edited some more! I had a problem with some pictures, there were some I would like to have used that were on my but my camera is broken, and being the first week of school, hadn’t had time to get it fixed. Luckily I have a few albums on Snapfish, and that is where I got many of my pictures. Overall, the experience has been beneficial-although as a teacher I assign my students projects such as this, I have never done one myself. I can see now the effect and usefulness this can have on students. Since I knew that I was having to share this with my classmates (and the world!) I spent more time on it and made sure it was up to my standards. I spent many more hours on the project than I expected! I can see how if you had your students do this in the classroom-they would want to be experts on the topic and would want to create a video that was up to their standards.
Web Conference Thursday August 26, 2010
Web Conference Thursday August 26, 2010
The conference had its positives and negatives, but overall, as always more of a positive experience. The negatives were that it took awhile to get any information, and that some people were discussing things that were not related to our class. While we are all in need for more time in the day, this use of the discussion board was not beneficial to anyone. There were lots of questions which made me feel better, because after all of the updates in the syllabus, I was glad that I was not the only one who was confused! The information that did come from Dr. Abernathy was extremely helpful and helped me as I finalized my assignment for Week 1. Another great thing that happened is that by being on, I chatted with some of my classmates and joined a group for the upcoming projects. That was a relief to get that settled. Although there were too many people that joined the webcast, I was one of the late ones that joined, so I am glad that I was accepted because it is important with the online classes to get as much direction and information as you can-however you can get it.
The conference had its positives and negatives, but overall, as always more of a positive experience. The negatives were that it took awhile to get any information, and that some people were discussing things that were not related to our class. While we are all in need for more time in the day, this use of the discussion board was not beneficial to anyone. There were lots of questions which made me feel better, because after all of the updates in the syllabus, I was glad that I was not the only one who was confused! The information that did come from Dr. Abernathy was extremely helpful and helped me as I finalized my assignment for Week 1. Another great thing that happened is that by being on, I chatted with some of my classmates and joined a group for the upcoming projects. That was a relief to get that settled. Although there were too many people that joined the webcast, I was one of the late ones that joined, so I am glad that I was accepted because it is important with the online classes to get as much direction and information as you can-however you can get it.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Closing Remarks from EDLD 5301
Whew! I cannot believe that we are in our last week of research, but wow, I feel like I have learned so much in these past five weeks. The most important thing I have learned throught these weeks is that no action research plan is perfect, and that there is constant room for improvement. Because I am still waiting to meet with my site mentor and my principal, this is a relief, because my action research plan may need to be revised.
To be an effective action researcher, it is important for one continue to reflect throughout the project, to share their work and findings with others, and to have the mindset that although we are educators, we are all learners and that we will always be learners.
To be an effective action researcher, it is important for one continue to reflect throughout the project, to share their work and findings with others, and to have the mindset that although we are educators, we are all learners and that we will always be learners.
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