Dead Post #3: Donating Blood

Every time I donate blood I feel like I need to go pee every 6 minutes.

Partly because I drink a lot of water.

Probably partly because the first time I donated, I passed out and peed my pants.

Yikes.

Dead Post #1: PB

This isn't interesting, maybe its quirky?

Every time I make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I have to spread peanut butter on the left slice. I cannot spread peanut butter on the right slice. CAN NOT.

Also,

PB for life.

Even if your pb throws this at you...

Dead Posts

I have at least 3 or 4 blog post ideas that have been sitting in the notes on my phone for who knows how long. They seemed like brilliant ideas at the time, but then I forgot about them and when I got back to them, I just wasn't as committed. 

Maybe I should post them any way. 

We shall see.

National Spaghetti Day

Did you know that National Spaghetti Day is an actual thing? 

Apparently it is. 

It was yesterday. 

I had seen something about it online the day before so I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. 

Even though Matthew does not like pasta. 

And, even though Lincoln only ate the green beans, I felt cool that I made spaghetti for dinner on National Spaghetti Day.

The end.

Mom Jeans

The other day I saw mom jeans that had no butt pockets. I don't understand how moms can get around without pockets. 

I don't.

That Kid

Sometimes I wonder how old my husband is.

Like when he leaves the fridge wide open.

Or when I find him watching Frozen- by himself.

Or when he pouts because the banana bread is too hot to eat because I just. pulled. it. out. of. the. oven. 2. seconds. ago.

No One Noticed

No one noticed that I hadn't bought Oreos in a long time. Like, so long of a time that I had forgotten when I bought them last. So I rewarded myself with a few... Packages. They were on sale, ok?! I even got some Halloween Oreos. Aka the best Oreos.

No one noticed that my garden is an utter failure this year. I'm pretty upset. My biggest pumpkin was about the size of a softball. Dangit. And someone freaking ate it!!

None of my bosses noticed that I almost QUADRUPLED my weekly sales last week. 

A 'Hey, good job!' would have been really nice today. 

I won't get one. At all.

Pretty Sure I'm Old

I just saw a commercial for a dishwasher. That looks like it SERIOUSLY cleans dishes. I found myself mesmerized by the tv. When I grow up, I want a dishwasher like that. 

I'm pretty sure that wanting a dishwasher makes me old.

The Day that Lincoln Came to Us: Liz’s Story

I finally wrote down my story of Lincoln's birth. Read at your own risk.

Early in the morning on 26 February 2014 (about 3 am) I was rolling out of bed to go to the bathroom when my water broke. That in itself was a weird experience. My eyes SHOT open and my brain started freaking out a little. I hurried to the bathroom and sat on the toilet for a while, even after I had finished going, there was liquid coming out for the next few minutes. I had to get up and wake Matt up so I grabbed a towel and woke him up.

I went in and shook his shoulder, said, ’Guess what, my water broke.’

‘WHAT?! Do we need to go to the hospital?!’

‘I don’t know. But I’m not having any contractions yet and I’m not in any pain yet. Let’s wait for a little bit.’ (for future reference, if your water breaks, you are supposed to GO TO THE HOSPITAL.)

We waited about half an hour. Matt took a shower, and made me a peanut butter sandwich. We got my stuff and headed out. By the time we got to the hospital, my contractions were about 2.5 minutes apart and I was in a lot of pain. I had to stop for a minute as I was walking into the hospital from the car because of a contraction. We checked in. I was asked all kinds of questions, most I had answered before. Was asked when I ate last; 3:30. ‘Really?’ YES. I knew I wouldn’t be eating for a long time as soon as I got here. 10 minutes from walking in the door to laying in a bed. Not too bad. About 4 am at this point. The nurse checked me, I was at a 4+.

By 5:15 am I was getting my epidural. The guy had me sit on the edge of the bed and lean forward. He put it in and I felt it go just to the right side- he had to readjust it to make sure it went to both sides. But. As soon as it started working, and after I had thrown up my peanut butter sandwich, I was able to relax. All pain went away and I only felt some pressure with the continuing contractions.

(I was cold and TIRED)

I was checked again and I was at a 5+. We were left to try to get some rest, we didn’t, and I was checked again in another hourish. The next time I was checked I was at a 9 and was told that in about an hour we would start pushing. My Doctor, Erica Smith, came in to check in and see how I was doing before I started pushing. (I had seen her the day before for an appointment. She had told me to come back soon so we could have a baby before she went out of town.) I told her, ‘I came back! Let’s have a baby!’

At 9 am, we started pushing. 2.5 hours later, and another throw up in there somewhere, still pushing. Matthew was a champ. Ice chips, water, kisses, hand holding, back rubbing, foot holding- best guy ever. The nurse asked me if I’d like her to talk to Dr. Smith about some help in getting him out. “YES please.’ Dr. Smith came up; I was given some options of help that could be given. ‘Last choice would be c-section.’ So we kept pushing for another half hour. And then Dr. Smith came up again and was ready for business. She put on a gown and a crazy plastic mask that covered her whole face and a little bit above to cover some hair. I’m pretty sure I thought it was overkill- until later. When she came back in a whole bunch more nurses came in too. Some NICU and some L&D. Dr. Smith told the NICU ladies that she thought the baby would be about 8 and a half. I heard this and asked, ‘POUNDS?! JERK!’ Not that I called Dr. Smith a jerk… Just yelled jerk in general. I guess Lincoln’s head was turned, he was looking sideways, she tried to turn his head and he turned it right back.

Dr. Smith pulled out the vacuum that she would use to assist in pulling out Lincoln as I was pushing. After a few minutes of using the vacuum, the suction broke and made the grossest ‘schluuuuupppppp’-ing sound and I felt a splatter of something on my leg and hand. I had my eyes closed- cause pushing is awful, and when I heard that gross noise I thought, ‘Did my baby’s head just pop off?!’ and decided to keep my eyes closed until he was actually out.

Another few minutes and some serious pushing later (all this while of pushing I just kept hearing [from the nurse, her assistant, Matthew, Dr. Smith, etc…] keep pushing!, push harder!, push one more time!, etc, etc….) I felt a weird sensation- his whole body MOVED DOWN! I felt his legs move across the inside of my belly. Baby boy was half way out!! One more push and there he was! They did a quick check on him-Matthew was in charge of taking a few pictures- and then they  put him in a blanket and put him on my belly.

I started crying. Because I was done. Because I was tired. Because he was finally in my arms. Because he was HUGE. Because I couldn’t believe that he had fit in my belly. Because he had a cone head. Because for a split second I thought I had ruined my baby and that he was ugly (that cone head did a real number on my mind). Because there was my Matthew and there was OUR LINCOLN!

I looked at Dr. Smith for a minute as she was stitching me up and what-not, and saw her mask- gross. There is a reason that she had that!

Lincoln and I had a little bit of time together while daddy Matthew went and told everyone that was waiting for us in the waiting room. And then they got to come meet sweet little Lincoln.

Hospital stay had ups and downs. Lincoln had too many heel pricks to check blood sugar and bilirubin levels. But then we finally got to go home. 

(Attractive...)

And our first night home was awful. Lincoln screamed almost the entire night. And Matthew was sick. The next couple weeks Lincoln and I slept in the family room. Me on the couch, him on his boppy pillow right in front of me. I had to make sure he ate at least every four hours because of the jaundice- so we also had a long couple of weeks. But as soon as we were done with the jaundice we were able to get into a routine and start actually getting sleep. And that is when I decided that I could start to enjoy being a mom. Now I know that I have the best baby ever.

SCED 4200: Blog Post 5

This post is a final synthesis of the course as a whole.  I am to tell you what I've learned and how I will incorporate it into my classroom. Ready for it? Good.

In this course I learned many different strategies to use to bring literacy into the classroom.  Some of my favorites have been with vocabulary instruction, BDA reading strategies, and the use of multiple types of text in classes.

Using critical literacy in Social Studies is gettin easier and easier.  With the inquiry method, students have to think for themselves.  They use documents provided to come up with a solution or their own answers to questions posed.  Students use their critical literacy to be their own historians.

Using BDA reading strategies with a text can insure that a student comprehends what is being read.  The Before reading could be some background instruction as a group, During could be a concept map filled out individually, and After activity could be a group discussion to find out what we have all learned.

Teaching Vocabulary in Social Studies can be easy.  It can be used as a BDA activity, vocabulary worksheets and word comparisons and all kinds of other things.

Overall I enjoyed this course. Amy was great and had examples for everything that were all helpful.

SCED 4200: Self-Selected Project

For my Self-Selected Project I chose to describe unit I created for my Curriculum and Assessment course.  This unit is for the Geography for Life course typically taught to 9th graders.  This unit is titled Interactions of Physical and Human Systems.  The lesson plans go as follows:  The Layers of the Earth and Plate Tectonics, Erosion, Natural Resources, Pollution, and Migration.

(A) The Essential Questions for the unit are:  What are the physical processes of the Earth that affect humans?  What impact do humans have on their environmental surroundings?  What impact do humans have on the Earth?  How do human activities harm the Earth?  What are some effects of migration on humans and the earth?

(B) The Texts that are used throughout the unit are:  A Glog that I created on Plate Tectonics (found HERE).  A Bill Nye Volcano video (found HERE) until 2:20 minutes in.  A Layers of the Earth and Plate Tectonics tutorial (found HERE) through the Yellowstone slide.  A song about Erosion (found HERE).  A Lego video about resources (found HERE).  Two 'We All Live Downstream' videos (found HERE and HERE).  A Deforestation and Pollution video (found HERE) from 0:56 to 4:06.  A selection from the Migration chapter of James M Rubenstein's The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography.

(C) Comprehension Instruction or Critical Literacy Instruction:  In the Migration lesson plan, the students are presented with a problematic situation in which they are to "Imagine that you are in charge of providing for and caring for your family.  The place that you live is changing and is no longer the best  place for you to continue to successfully provide for and care for your family.  What are you going to do in order for you to be able to continue to successfully provide for and care for your family?"  Students are prompted to work with their small groups to come up with some solutions to the situation and discuss the solutions as a glass.

(D) Vocabulary Instruction:  In the Erosion lesson plan, the class uses the Concept Definition map to create their own definitions of Erosion.

(E)  Writing Instruction:  In the Pollution lesson plan, there is an assignment for students to complete the Ecological Footprint quiz on-line.  After the students go through the quiz they are to write a 1 page reflection on their footprint and what they might be able to do to reduce their footprint.  The reflection is graded on a rubric that was created by the instructor.

(F)  Integrated Digital Technologies:  The Glog I created requires students to use the on-line digital resource to complete a quiz for the unit.  Other videos and on-line resources help the students to create connections between the lesson plan subjects.

SCED 4200: Blog Post 4

Digital Literacy

 

I didn't chart my digital technology usage over a week, I think if I did it would depress me. And make me feel lazy. And dependant on my computer. Like I already know I am. And my phone, and iPod, and tv.... You get the idea.

 

SO! My uses of technology:

 

1. My Phone: I use it to communicate with my husband, my family, my friends, my work, to take pictures, keep short notes for myself, and to try to keep my sanity while bored.

2. My IPod: is my baby. I cannot leave the house without it. I just have an iPod Classic so its not a terribly fancy thing, but I love it. I use it to listen to my music, watch some movies, and MOST DEF to keep my sanity.

3. My Computer: its my second laptop, my other one got really old, really fast. I use it to surf, write, keep tract of photos, communicate, the uze (usual).

 

Its pretty often that I have my eyes fixed on a screen, maybe multiple. At this second I am watching netflix on tv and writing my blog post, can you say multi-task? I like to read blogs, I'll read top stories on Yahoo! if they catch my interest, and I try to stay updated on the nonsensical things that happen on facebook and pinterest.... yeah.

 

I'm in a history course right now in which we have an online textbook. It offers chapters on different pages and you can access quizzes through different windows. Pretty legit.

 

With social studies in mind, I really enjoyed the Glogger that we were introduced to the other day. You can create online posters that can be interactive with videos, images, text, documents, links, etc. Also pretty cool. These glogs can be accessed by specific classes and used for outside media brought into class. Another great resource online are primary and secondary documents, you can find practically anything online.

 

When we started to use Glogger the other day, it was hard to get started cause we didn't know what to do or how to do it. Eventually we figured out what we needed and then it got fun. Giving students access to these texts and letting them create them is an awesome activity. Be sure to give instruction on how to use a specific site, and allow time for experiments and questions. Anything that the students come up with can be exciting.

 

Thoroughly enjoy technology. Awesome.

Sunday School Soapbox

Want to know something awful?

Matthew and I get to teach 12 year old Sunday School.

That's not the awful part. Just wait.

 

Imagine that you are me. A 23 year old girl. There are 5 12-13 year old boys in your class. And you have to teach them about chastity. 'What is chastity?' Good question young one. When I explain it to them- chastity is staying morally or sexually clean- half of them look up with a horrified expression and then look to the floor for the remainder of the lesson, one starts to giggle cause I just said sex, and the rest continue to sit in silence.

 

Joy. While this is a very important topic for these small people to learn, I wish that I didn't have to teach them about it. I made Matthew help with the strongest quotation, he thanked me for that later. And when we were finishing up we asked for questions, one of the boys said, 'If I have questions, I'll just ask my dad- not you.' That's fine. Please do talk to your dad about it.

 

Since the missionary age change happened, and the senior year of high school has turned into the freshman year of college, these kids need to know this stuff now. There is no time for them to learn by trial and error.

 

I'm no parent, this we know, but do you teach your kids about this stuff before they are 13? Or is that just too hopeful?

 

Don't know- don't judge.

SCED 4200: Blog Post 3

Connecting School and Home Experiences

 

I don't remember having 'prototypical' experiences with social studies.

Actually, now that I think about it, my parents took us to some historical monuments when we were little.

 

I remember going to Promontory Point when I was younger. We went to the railroad site, went into the visitor center, watched the show, it was a lot of fun for me as a kid.

 

That's the only one that I can think of off the top of my head right this minute.

 

SO. I can see some ways to draw students' background knowledge in the social studies curriculum.

In geography, we can call on any memories of places that students have lived or visited and note the differences.

In U.S. history, students can bring in what they know of their families lives and heritage while living in the United States.

 

Lots of past experiences can help students to draw ties from social studies to their own lives.