The "M" Blog

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 There is just so much you do not need to know about me, so as the Teacher’s Challenge asks for 7, it is 7 that I shall give with a view to the comic and ridiculous.

1. Taking to the acting stage is something I sporadically feel compelled to try but I fear my initial typecasting has done me no favours. For in the Grade 2 end of year play,  dressed in brown synthetic slacks and a green skivvy I played a tree. No amount of artful swaying in the breeze could compensate for missing out on the lead role of the princess dressed in a pink tutu! Naturally, from that point on my acting suffered from a certain woodeness.
2.  In the World According to Jenni M travelling equates with scars. Check out the list below! 

• Front dentures acquired at age 21 thanks to a tangle with a paddle while trying to surf a small waterfall in a raft = Tully River, Queensland.
• Scar on my shin from falling in a ditch while carrying a pizza and trying to pay a taxi driver = Fiji
• Blue metal resides in my forehead courtesy of an ill-timed rugby tackle around a friend’s ankles on Christmas Eve  = England.
• Infected cat bite scar on wrist = Greece.
• Motorbike accident caused by another rider deciding I was a softer target than the car he’d just tried to overtake on a narrow road.  Resulting in a broken finger, stitched arm and mutilated foot that inspired the doctor who re-opened the wound once I was back in Australia, to state, “I’m surprised that customs let you back into Australian with all that Indonesian dirt and road still in your foot!” = Lombok, Indonesia.

    3. I am also the queen of ridiculous car accidents: 

• reversed into a telegraph pole
• hit 3 sheep that ran out in front of me
• drifted into another car in a car-park because I forgot to put the handbrake on. And actually thought someone had hit me  as my head was down searching in the back seat for my bag.
• And the piece de resistance – I put a car through a football oval fence and as I wasnt in it at the time I had to chase it before it went through the fence on the otherside.

4. I have serenaded an Indonesian police officer with my rendition of an Indo pop song to avoid paying a fine for forgetting my Australian license.

5. Jumped into a waterhole, and being conscious of my very loose dentures I put my hand over my mouth…but 5 minutes and a hearty laugh later and my teeth were sinking. I dove down, I saw my teeth, I grabbed at them…and missed. I rose to the surface, gulped and dove again….saw my teeth and ……saved them! Let me tell you I was mighty glad – I was in India at the time!

6. Once had a disagreement with my now deceased Dutch husband that went somewhat like so:

Jenni: Do you understand the word, hypothetical?

Husband: Of course.

Jenni: Hypothetically speaking I shared ………..

Husband: That’s a lie! etc etc etc

*** Yes, the husband’s definition of hypothetical was very pathetic!

7. And I shall finish with one of my goals for 2013- I want to compete in the Great Rickshaw Ride with my eldest son.

I also want to add this link that exemplifies a fantastic blog but as it is late, I’m tired and I need to be on the road early tomorrow and won’t be back for a few days, I shall discuss it later! But I will say, I love the blogging rubric.

Perhaps, you could take a look at it and see what you think yourselves and let me know your thoughts about why the linked blog appeals

Basics, but Barely Left Base Camp

Basics – tick, but anything more than that equals a BIG, FAT FAIL!

I’ve made a Voki in the early hours of the morning, and could barely contain my excitement and sense of achievement until breakfast time when I unveiled her, expecting my children to be suitably impressed?

“Uh” said the eldest.

“Is that all?” joked the youngest.

Enthusiasm not yet dampened I let my purple haired avatar speak. 

And their response??? 15 minutes of mirth, with boys laughingly talking in their stilted robotic impersonations of my Voki’s voice.

Although unappreciated by the majority of my household, I loved my Voki and was suitably trashed when, after adding a Shelfari bookshelf, she disappeared.

Success with a tinge of failure

My next adventure in Bloggerdom was inspired from reading Kim’s post, where I created and tried to embed (help, is this the right terminology????) a photoslide done in PictureTrail into my post.

Being a proud pet owner, the subject for my first attempt at a glitzy, glammed up, firecracker of a  photoslide was my pup, Jaspa! Now, the outcome of this particular activity was spectacular – envied even by the scoffing sons who requested it be uploaded to Facebook.

But, alas when added into the TEXT widget it was viewable (well a portion of it anyway but there was no way I could manage to embed it in my post.

Oh yes, and of course when I added it into the sidebar  – you guessed it! It deleted the aforementioned Bookshelf.

And don’t even ask me about Toon Doo, cos I couldn’t even work out how to make one, once I’d logged in! 

Reality check

Undeniably, this has been a steep learning curve for me, with many detours.

I begin on-track, perusing a blog and intending to write a comment but, before I know it I have clicked on a link, clicked on another link, gone in search of a widget, uploaded it, perused another blog, written down an idea for a classroom display or a lesson, until coffee beckons and I am completely unaware of where I began.  

Frustration is also guaranteed, as my desired outcomes are often beyond my technical knowledge – but I am learning a lot, and not just about Blogging and IT. 

I have learnt:

1. that I do not have to walk blindly, alone for there is a supportive community of bloggers willing to ease my journey with hints, help and encouraging words…..and more importantly I have learnt to ask, and not feel like a total fool!
2. And I am reminded again that as educators we all need to, regularly, step outside of our comfort zones in regards to learning. If we don’t it is easy to forget how difficult it is to ask for help, how emotionally draining it is to just not get it and how easy it could be to just give up!

So, thank you to all you bloggers out there who are inspiring me and aiding my blogging journey – without you, I may not have even begun this journey; a journey that provides me with a highly relevant tool of engagement and learning that also provides an authentic forum for sharing learning for students of the 21^st century.

The Teacher Challenge was a timely nudge for a Grade 2/3 teacher wanting to Blog with her class, but with a total absence of know-how…and now, given that the time is 4.07am and I just couldn’t stop until I had created my Voki, I could hazard a guess that a Blog addiction is nigh.

Actually, beyond thinking Blogging would be great for my students, I really had no idea what it involved, what you could do, achieve etc and after taking advice to peruse other people’s blogs – I am totally blown away by the opportunites to connect with others, give my students authentic audiences and learn about the world.

Furthermore, the sharing and support shown across blogs is inspirational, I am a happy woman now as I prepare to sleep, with ideas bubbling away in my brain…oh lordy, may need to have a warm milk and honey to help me sleep. No, frozen Brambleberrys…don’t think they will help me sleep but they are mighty delicious!

One thing though, when trying to load a blog avatar I only ended up with a black square. Any ideas??? This was my major frustration point.