While casually searching on the Internet the other day, I was startled when suddenly my computer snapped off and I was left staring at a blank black screen. At that same moment, the TV and all of the lights in my apartment shut off and I quickly realized that I had become the victim of a power outage. Just to be sure, I ran to the nearest light switch and flicked it on and off repeatedly... no luck. Next, I checked the power box just incase I had actually blown a fuze, which would allow me to easily fix the problem with a flick of the switch... again... no luck. In that moment I was forced to recognize that I had definitely lost power and had no idea as to when it would be turned back on. I sat on my couch for a moment and realized that my apartment building was the quietest it had been in a long time. There were no faint voices of day time talk show hosts floating through my neighbor's walls and the usual loud music and bass vibrations that come through my living room floor were absent. This was a nice, but somewhat uncomfortable and lonely feeling. I suddenly became even more lonely when I realized that there was nothing to do... I couldn't surf the internet, watch TV, listen to music, or even cook my dinner!! I have heard the rumors about opening your fridge when the power goes out and I did not want all of my food to go bad! As it began to get increasingly darker outside and inside of my apartment, I began lighting candles reading my book in the dim candlelight. Slowly, I became adjusted to the lighting and actually found myself enjoying the peace and quiet, when suddenly the lights shot on as quickly as they had shut off, and I found myself slightly disappointed (but mostly relieved:)) This was a strange and somewhat enlightening experience because it made me think... What did people do before electricity ever existed? Technology is a beautiful thing, but it is also important to take time to appreciate the way people lived in the past. 

As part of a lesson that I am including in my unit for the capstone class, I created an instructional video to help students and their parents search for pictures to match a podcast activity that exists within the unit. The students would use this video at home to have their parents help them complete the homework assignment. Jingproject.com is a great website for teachers because it allows you to capture computer demonstrations that your students and parents can use at home.

This weeks podcast works as an activity that tests the students comprehension of the differences between the past an now, specifically, with schools. This activity can be done whole group or during centers, but must be monitored by a teacher or adult because there are points where the podcast needs to be paused to let the students work or think. 

Over the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of interviewing my grandparents for my podcast about the past. Although I have always been very close with them, I believe my recent experience has brought me even closer to my grandparents. Speaking with them helped me realize that they are a vast resource of knowledge and that there is so much that I can learn from their past experiences. Perhaps what was most exciting was to see how happy it made them to reminisce about their childhood. I now realize how important it is to sit down and take a moment to just listen. I also think that our grandparents knowledge can also be useful to students in our classrooms, which is what I am attempting to do with my podcast. Allowing students to listen to stories about the way everyday things were in the past can help them to compare their own lives and begin learning about why things change. 

During this podcast I chose to interview my Grandma about her experience in school when she was a little girl. It is meant to help students see that everyday things, such as school were different in the past, but that some things have stayed the same.

Just recently over the past few months I was introduced to the website, Flickr.com. Although there are many websites out there that offer space to store and share your personal photos, Flickr.com really takes this concept to another level in my opinion. This website makes it is so easy for me to upload and store my photos and it also provides me with a vast selection of interesting photos, which others have chosen to share. What is perhaps the most interesting about the photos I find on Flickr.com is that many of them are extremely high quality and exciting shots. When I began using this website for class projects, I quickly realized that I had found a very valuable tool, not just for my own personal use, but also for enhancing learning in the classroom. Teachers can utilize pictures from this website to create dynamic vocabulary lessons that provide students with a stronger understanding of their words. These pictures can also be used to inspire or motivate students during creative writing activities. Children really benefit when they are able to see vivid examples of the things they are learning about and it is so easy to quickly download photos to create beautiful lesson. The opportunities for using Flickr.com in the classroom are only limited to the imagination, which is why it has quickly become my new favorite website.