My Website

Here is my website for class.

www.lesley.edu/faculty/kmccoy/kansascity/km090105/index.html

I am so excited about learning these new things. It has been a long time between learning for fun and learning for class preparation. I am so glad that I started school. I have met some wonderful people and learned wonderful things.

I wish that I could devote my more time to class--I really enjoyed working on my website--I would like to know how to do it better. I think that I could have a lot of fun with it. The students at Vatterott really enjoy it when they are taking the class.

End of the phase

Today was the last day of the phase. It is good to see it over. It is also rather sad too. There were no more new starts. They are teaching program out--the new one is supposed to start in November.

This is going to be a long weekend. I have classes on Saturday and Sunday and I have a webinar to attend on Friday. I'm glad that I like school or I would really dread this weekend.

Long Day

Dad asked me to drive him to his doctor's appointment in Columbia. No biggie. However, the appointment was for 12--the doctor didn't arrive until 3:00--he was in surgery. I was amazed at the treatment we received. They were so nice. Today they had planned to have a birthday party for one of the nurses. So they included us. We were the only people there. They came into the waiting room with cake for us. We just sat there and they listened to Dad talk. One of the nurses was really interested in gardening. That happens to be Dad's favorite topic--it was great to watch the two of them. The only problem was that Daisy (Dad's dog) ate one of his hearing aids. He was constantly interrupting people because he didn't realize that they were talking.

James and I share a Costco card and our annual check came in. We have to spend it at Costco--now we have to decide what we want. He told me that he wanted a movie set and I could have the rest. Of course, they didn't have the movie set. Now we have to look for something else. Of well, it is hard to shop--ha, ha!

Doin' Great!

Had my semi-annual checkup with Dr. Jew today. She said that I am doing great. Just 9 months more and I will be "cured". I am so happy. It has been a long 5 years. I plan to get my hair cut on my anniversary and donate it to Locks of Love. I've been bald, I know what it feels like. As I tell my students, "been there, done that". My tri-annual oncologist visit was last Wednesday--he said everything was great. Of course, he had to add "If we could only get a little weight off you, you would feel so much better."

Georgia (dog) and Thomas (cat) are helping me write my blog. Thomas is sitting right next to the keyboard while Georgia is taking up most of my chair space. Pretty soon, I will be on the floor as she is snoring in the chair.

I hooked up my camera yesterday. I am all ready to "skype" now. I sent a video of Georgia and me to my family. It was a lot of fun. I was surprised to see that my Uncle David had a Skype account. I am thinking about getting a camera for Dad so that he can skype with his brother and granddaughters. It will be easier for him and more fun for all. They can do a video call. That will prevent him from playing cards while they are trying to talk to him.

I am going in to school early today and work on DreamWeaver. I have decided on a WebQuest topic. It feels so much better when I know what I am going to do.

Rainy Days and Mondays

You can tell it is a rainy Monday morning. My classroom was almost bare until about 10. I guess they are afraid that they will melt in the rain.

I am so excited. I got my podcast to embed on my work portal. Then I learned how to make it fit into the screen. I need to learn how to talk without breathing. You can really hear that. I guess that

Practicing Podcasts

I am so excited. I purchased a microphone today so that I could start doing podcasts. I have downloaded JingProject, so I was ready to start practicing. I think that this will be a fantastic tool to use with my students. Since I have been teaching Word, I used it to do a short demonstration of mail merge.

The podcasts are limited to 5 minutes since I have the free version, but that was great. After I found out how to get it to acknowledge my microphone, I was ready to made some "noise". I realize that I now that I will need a script before I start recording, but it was great to see what I can do with the software and the microphone.

One of the perks of going back to school has been that I have started looking for new things to do in class and new ways to present it. I have always made sure my students understood the topics that we were discussing, but I am afraid that I have fallen back on the "tried and true". One of my students told me that she like the fact that I was in school--I was coming up with fun things to do. I need to keep up the momentum and keep looking for new ways to present the information. It will certainly help that I have to prepare for new classes, but I will find new techniques and procedures to use.....

I think I've Got It

I finally figured out how to put a title onto my post. I can't believe how much work we sometimes have to put into simple situations. As I tell my students, since I found it myself, I will remember it a lot longer.