Analysis of a real-life bill

Today you were supposed to look at a bill currently in Congress and analyze it. The questions for analyzing are in the make up tray.

The bill we analyzed was H.R 7110 about economic stimulus and job creation. This is an appropriations bill and remember appropriations is a fancy word for government spending. Appropriations bills are the only kind of bill that must start in the house of representatives. Any other kind of bill can begin in either.

Here are some resources for researching the bill:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-660
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/98xx/doc9816/hr7110.pdf
http://www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/alerts/upload/house_stimulus092608.pdf
http://blog.ntu.org/main/post.php?post_id=3781

Monday 10/6: Mrs. Abshire is absent

I was sick:(

While I was gone the assignment was to complete the end of chapter questions for ch. 11.

Friday 10/3: Election Update and Committees

On Friday you got an election update about how the candidates for U.S. president felt about the war in Iraq. For later classes we found out in real time that the U.S. Congress and President Bush agreed to pass the $700 Billion bail out package for the economy.

Don't forget: watch any of the debates between presidential candidates and tell me what they said about the issues for extra credit. It will replace your lowest classwork grade!

When we got to work on Congress, we remembered from the days before that the most important step to a bill becoming a law is when the bill is in committee. A LOT is decided there.
We practiced assigning bill to committee. For example, a bill about government spending would go to the appropriations committeel; a bill about a treaty with another country would go to the foreign relations committee; a bill amending the No Child Left Behind Act would go to the committee on Education and Labor; a bill proposing a $700B bailout of the economy would go to the joint economic committee.

U.S. Congress Research Project

Today we began a research project that requires you to use reliable internet resources to research the background, voting record of certain members of Congress as well as the leadership structure of Congress. You will find the research questions and rubric about the project in the makeup work tray in the classroom.

The most common mistake made today that you need to avoid is that people were choosing to research a member of the Texas Congress rather than the United States Congress. Make sure your choices in research are about United States Congress at the federal level.

Some very helpful websites for completing this research project are:
http://www.texas.gov/
http://www.house.gov/
http://www.senate.gov/
http://www.votesmart.org/
http://www.opensecrets.org/

If you choose to use other websites that's fine but be careful. Some of the websites you find on the internet were written by random people and don't have any credibility, and sometimes it's hard to tell what these sites are. For example, wikipedia is a popular place to look up topics but it is not necessarily credible because anyone can go on the website and change things. Be careful when you're researching. Usually anything you find on the school district's library resources page will be good.

How a bill becomes a law

You're never too old for cartoons, especially educational ones. If you are not on an SBISD internet connection I suggest you go to youtube and look up the school house rock song, "I'm just a bill". (If you are on an SBISD computer, try teachertube) We watched "I'm just a bill" today to figure out the steps for how a bill becomes a law. If you were absent today, you need to go to the make up work tray and get the scrambled steps for how a bill becomes a law, cut them out and glue them to a piece of paper in the correct order.

Remember, the most important step in a bill becoming a law is when the bill is in committee. Go to http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/ to see the list of different committees and to see what they're up to.

New Unit: Congress

On Monday we began a new unit, and for the next few weeks we will be studying how the Legislative branch that we call Congress works. Your first assignment was to explore Article 1 of the U.S. Constitutions and answer questions about it. You will find the questions in the make-up work tray in the classroom. You should have also outlined Article 1 in your copy of the Constitution.

Here is some vocabulary that you should know:


•Expressed Powers- powers the Constitution specifically grants to the national government

•Implied powers- inferred from the express powers that allow Congress to carry out its functions.


For example the constitution specifically says that the Congress is allowed to coin money. But nowhere does it say they were allowed to charter a bank. But the power to coin money implies that you need a bank to put it in so the Congress used the Necessary and Proper Clause also known as the Elastic clause to say that they have to power to create a bank.

Another example is that the Constitution specifically grants the Congress the power to Declare War but no where does it say that it gives the government power to collect intelligence. But the power to declare war implies the need to fight war effectively so the government created the CIA.

Over time the Elastic clause has allowed the National government to expand its power.

Federalism

Thursday and Friday in class, we spent time going deeper into the concept of Federalism. Not just what it is but how it works. In previous classes, we learned that Federalism is one of the principles we believe in American government. The concept of Federalism is that some power belongs to the National government and some power belongs to state and local governments. Some powers they both share.

Hurricane Ike was an excellent example of Federalism in action.

We watched clips of President Bush speaking about what the federal government. He urged citizens effected by the hurricane to listen to their state and local authorities who made decisions for their safety. Notice he did not say he himself would be making these decisions. He also said that the federal government would be providing the money needed to recover from the disaster. This was the national response to the disaster.

The local response to hurricane Ike was much different. The city and county governments were responsible for things like issuing mandatory evacuations and city curfews. Local government will also be responsible for things like cleaning up debris and picking up trash from the storm. They will also have to fix stoplights and other public utitilities that were damaged.

Federalism doesn't just kick in when there is a disaster. There are differences in the responsibilities for government every day too.

Here is a chart that shows the different responsibilities of the national and local government on a day to day basis.

You will also need to know where there are examples of Federalism in the U.S. Constitution. If you look at Article 4 you will find three clauses that dictate how the states are to interact with each other:

Full Faith and Credit- each state must recognize the valididty of the laws, public records and court decisions of every other state

Priveleges and Immunities- states cannot discriminate against people from other states

Extradition- rules for how states must turn over their citizens to other states where that citizen has committed a crime

You should also know that when the U.S. Constitution was written, no one ever imagined the national government would have as much power as it does today. The power has been streched over time with the "Elastic Clause" also known as the "neccessary and proper clause" that says the Congress can make the laws that it needs to in order to do its job. The 10th amendment which says all powers not given to the national government are reserved for the state often gets lost in the shadows of the elastic clause.

Principles of American Government

The good news is your presentation for your projects is cancelled. The bad news is the presentation for your projects is cancelled. Some were excited and relieved. Some were disappointed because they had been so creative and wanted the chance to show their good work. In any case, I was very proud of the work that went into the preparation of these projects and they will still be graded accordingly.

BUT that leaves 20 more points in the project to make up so here is how to earn the last 20 points on your project: explain each principle of government in a way that shows me you understand it. You can do this on notebook paper or the sheets the others used in class. Here are notes on the principles which will also be available in the make up work file in the classroom:


Popular Sovereignty
Power of the government comes from the people not from itself. People rule the government and not the government rule the people.

Limited Government
The government has to follow its own rules. Government can’t just do whatever it wants or abuse its power

Separation of Power
To prevent the abuse of power, government is separated into three branches: Legislative, Executive and Judicial.

Checks and Balances
There is no point in separating power if one branch gets enough power to take over and control the others so each branch is given certain powers to check up on the others.

Judicial Review
The Supreme Court’s power to ultimately declare an act of congress or the president unconstitutional. Note it can’t exert this power whenever it wants only when the case is brought to them.

Federalism
Some powers only the national government has. Some powers only the 50 states individually have. Some powers they both can do.

Structure of the U.S. Constitution

Far too many people could not define what a constitution is on their exam. They were confusing it with the Declaration of Independence. We need to clear this up pronto:

The Declaration of Independence is a letter. It is not law. It does not say how to govern. It was written by Thomas Jefferson for the purpose of informing Great Britain that the United States of America was now its own sovereign nation-state and it included a list of grievances against them.

A constitution is a plan of government. Remember that one of the requirements for being a state is having a government. You don't know how your govenrment is supposed to run unless you write it down and that's where a constitution comes in. So while the Declaration of Independence is an important letter in history that Americans are very nostalgic about, the U.S. Constitution effects us every day because it is the way our government runs.

I can guarantee I will ask about this difference on your next exam.

Today I handed out a copy of the Constitution for you to keep. We began an outline of it so we can be familiar with the structure of the constitution. We will constantly refer to this U.S. Constitution every day so you need to bring it with you to class. From now on you may as well call it Constitution class rather than government class.

Exam Day

We took an exam today. If you were absent, you need to make an appointment to take a make-up.

Election stuff/Test on Monday!

Today we took some time out to talk about the Presidential Election. I am going to try my best to take some time out every Friday to talk about it. Before we started, I wanted to find out what everyone already knows and what they want to know about the election so that election discussion doesn't get boring. If you missed today's class you must turn in to me a KWL chart (what you already KNOW/what you WANT to know/what you've LEARNED) with the K and the W parts filled in. This was for a grade.


Also a very important note: Your first exam is Monday! At the end of class I released the essay questions, so you can come to class with your exam essay already prepared. I recommend that everyone do this so that they can put together a well-thought-out and organized answer using whatever resources necessary. If you come to the exam without a prepared answer you will not get to use external resources, only your brain. Here are the questions:

1. Compare two forms of government that are alike. How are they alike and how are they distinct?What makes these two forms different than other forms of government?

2. Explain how social contract theory was an important philosophy to the formation of American government.

Social Contract Theory, John Locke and the Declaration of Independence AND how we decided to write the U.S. Constitution

Social Contract Theory
To continue on with Tuesday's lesson on the Declaration of Independence, we took a look at John Locke's Second Treatises on Government and compared it to what Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration. We highlighted where Jefferson's and Locke's writing is similar. This was for a grade so if you missed it you need to find these papers in the make-up work tray in the back of the room.

Here are some things that are similar about what John Locke and Thomas Jefferson said about the social contract:
Governments get their power from the people. If the government no longer serves the people it can be overthrown.

This is why Jefferson uses Social Contract theory in the Declaration of Independence; it justifies throwing out England.

How the U.S. Constitution came about
After the United States threw England out, they were left with the task of creating their own government. They threw out the government of England because it was too strong and so powerful it abused the citizens' rights. So the Americans put together a government that couldn't abuse the citizens' rights. They made the Articles of Confederation. The problem was they made the government so weak it couldn't do much at all. After about 10 years it became clear that the Articles were failing so they decided to create a new constitution. They did so by creating the U.S. Constitution in Philidelphia in 1787.

There were problems creating this constitution too. For example: how do you fairly represent states in the legislature? Bigger states wanted more representation because they have more people leaving smaller states to be bullied all the time. Smaller states wanted each state to have an equal vote but the big states said each of our people get a smaller slice of the vote that way. They ended up with the Great Compromise which used both plans together: the number of representatives in the House would be determined by population; the number of senators in the Senate would be equal (2 per state); put them together and you've got a bicameral Congress.

The last problem was getting everyone to agree to the new Constitution. Some people said it was too strong we'd end up with another problem like England and our rights aren't written down anywhere to protect us from the government. These people were called the Anti-Federalists. The others said we have to replace the Articles because our government is too weak. They compromised by adding 10 amendments to the Constitution. These 10 amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.

Social Contract in the Declaration of Independence

Today a lot of class time went to talking to Ms. Newburn from the College Room. Please see her if you need any help with getting into college, financial aid or options for training if you don't want to go to college.

Otherwise we started analyzing the Declaration of Independence for places where it's based on Social Contract theory. If you are interested in Social Contract theory, click on the link. Tomorrow we will compare the writings of John Locke to what is in the Declaration of Independence.

Concepts of Democracy

If democracy is so great, why isn't it everywhere? Some places don't have the belief systems in place that allows democracy to flourish. Here are some examples of concepts in place that a democracy believes in:

Worth of the Individual
Everyone, no matter who they were born to or what characteristics they were born with, is important. They are a separate distinct being with worth and dignity.

Equality of all Persons
Even though we are not neccesarily born of the same intelligence or ability, regardless of the arbitrary characteristics of gender or race, we all have the same opportunity and equality in the eyes of the law.

Individual Freedom
We are not absolutely free because that would be anarchy. However we are free to act within the law. On the flip side, government cannot create law that encroaches on our inalienable rights.

Majority Rule, Minority Rights
In a democracy, the power is in the hands of everyone rather than just one or few. But not 100% of everyone is going to agree all the time. This means that the majority is going to rule. But, if the majority takes away the rights of the minority the democracy starts to destruct. For example, most of the United States does not agree with the KKK about their beliefs but we cannont take away their right to talk about them even if we hate what they say. In a democracy the rights of the minority are protected.

Necessity of Compromise
Again, with power in the hands of many instead of a few there are going to be disagreements. Compromise is where two sides of a disagreement find a way to come to an agreement even if it isn't what both sides originally argued for. If we do not agree to give up some of what we want to find an agreement we could regress into violence and the democracy collapses.

Free Enterprise
In a democracy, businesses are run by private people and not the government. It would be a paradox and improbable for people to be free within the law but business run by the state. The businesses are extended the freedoms that people have in a democracy.

Classic Forms of Government

Today we learned about he classic forms of government that are most commonly used by a state.


Feudalism-
The dominant political system in medieval Europe. Based on the rule of local lords bound to a king by ties of royalty. Peasants are ruled by the feudal lords, and lords are ruled and given title by the king.

Classical republic-
A representative democracy in which a small group of elected leaders represent the concerns of the electorate.

Absolute Monarchy-
A form of government in which a king or a queen hold total control of the military and the government.

Authoritarianism-
A form of government in which an individual or group has unlimited authority. No effective restraint on the power of government exists

Despotism-
Rule by a despot, a ruler with absolute power who uses his rule tyrannically.

Liberal Democracy-
Based on the protection of individual rights and freedoms and the consent of the governed. This form of government focuses on protecting individual rights from the tyranny of the majority.

Totalitarianism-
A type of government that attempts to control all facets of citizens’ lives.


Here are some things you should be thinking about when you study these. Who is ruling? and Who is getting ruled? What is the relationship: In a democracy or a republic general populations participate where in the other forms of government the rulers have unlimited power over the people.

the State

Have y'all ever seen Will Smith in the movie Enemy of the State? The state referred to in the title is the Political Science definition for the State. There are 4 requirements a place must meet before it can be considered a state:

It has to have definite borders.
It has to have a population
It has to have a government or in other words an institution that makes and enforces public policy.
It must be sovereign or in other words it rules and controls itself.

This is confusing because most of us already think of states as places like Texas, Florida, New York and California, but this is a different definition. By the definition of "state" that we learned today none of these places is a state because they're not sovereign; they are ultimately part of the United States. For our purposes, examples of a state include the United States, Mexico, Canada, England, France, etc...

There are several theories about how the state came to be.
Force theory says that someone used violence to create and control the first state.
Evolutionary theory says that being the head of a family evolved into a government and when tribes became stationary rather than nomadic, the state was born.
Divine Right theory says that God created the state and kings get their power from God to rule.
Social Contract theory says that men started in a anarchic state then used reasoning to decide to start a society. The state is accountable to the people. This is the most important theory for us because it is the foundation on which our democracy (and most democracies) is built. Philosophers like Hobbes, Rousseau and Locke are famous for writing about it.

Assignment #2 today was:
1. Pick the political theory you think is the most likely. Why is the one you chose the most likely? Are there any flaws in the other theories?
2. Define the state.

Government Class Expectations

Today we went over the class syllabus. All class expectations were exlplained. By tomorrow you should have a notebook so that you can keep all classwork in for notes to study from. Remember you'll need it because tests and projects are worth 50% of your grade. If you need a reminder of what the classroom rules are, here you go:




Assignment #1 today was:
1. Finish the sentence, "Government is..." Include your notion of government. It could be our government or government in general. What do you think government is for. Include all your thoughts.

First Day of School

It was so nice to meet everyone today. I am really glad I made the move to Northbrook. Don't forget to bring back all your papers signed by your parents to your first period teacher. Tomorrow we will be going over the class syllabus.

Thing #23: I've made it.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
My favorite exercise was the exercise on commenting on other blogs. Before that thing I wasn't really looking out for blogs to read or find applicable one for me. Now I'm looking for blogs and even subscribing to them through an RSS feeder.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has assisted me in my lifelong learning goals by giving me tools through which to learn.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was surprised that there was so much I didn't know about. I'm pretty technology savvy (or at least I thought I was) but this has opened up so much more.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Actually I thought it was an excellent concept. The format is fine too. Some times I'm kind of overwhelmed by the amount of links included in an explanation of a thing. Some seem repetitive. It looks a bit cluttered sometimes. Also, I'm surprised that there was nothing about Skype a tool with a lot of potential for the classroom.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Yes, most likely.

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
This is the program for any teacher who wants to effectively integrate technology into their classroom

Thing #22: Nings

I use both Facebook and MySpace pretty often, but I had never thought of putting together a website where professionals can communicate. I explored the teacher ning and I found a lot of blogs to subscribe to. (I have finally got on board with google reader). I know my school's librarian has created a ning for our school to so I could use it to communicate with students more.

Thing #21: Podcast

This took forever. But at least I think I'll get to use it again. Tell me what y'all think!

I've got the correct file extension and I think I've got it. So here it is...

Thing #20: YouTube, TeacherTube and zamzar

I searched "Government Education" YouTube to see if there were any interesting videos that I could use on my government class. Instead I found a lot of commentary about government role in education, but that turned out to be interesting too. Here is a cool one I found about what Scotland is trying to do in their schools. Even cooler, notice that the government's title for the position of the woman speaking is Cabinet Minister for Education & Lifelong Learning. How cool is that? In Scotland it isn't just education. It's education and lifelong learning. Sounds like Scotland is on the right track.



Also, just for fun: I'm a little freaked out that there is a video on YouTube that I can be seen in, but there it is. I am a member of the Houston Swing Dance Society and here is a video of some of us dancing. See if you can figure out which one I am.

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards

I took an in-depth look at Zillow, a real estate website. I looked at this one since it caught my interest because within the next year or so I am going to be a first-time home buyer. This website is a lot more interactive than har.com even after har.com's recent improvements. This website does a better job of allowing the user to compare homes. It shows different map views and shows a line graph history of the homes' values. It has a discussion board where users can find information and experiences of buying homes and even discussions about how to utilize the website. I think I'll start using this website.

As an economics teacher I can use this website in a unit about personal finance. Students can use interactive functions like mortgage calculators and see what it takes and see what it costs to own their own home.

Also a side note, I saw a website that I might not be interested in but one for my dad. My dad is by hobby a genealogist and one of the award winners was myheritage.com. He's going to check it out.

Thing #18: Online Productivity Tools

I looked at Google Docs and it seems like the only advantage of these kind of online tools is the ability to share the documents. Otherwise, it's just as easy to use the Microsoft Office that's already on the computer. It seems like if I wanted to share the documents, I'm guessing that other people might be like me in thinking that I would create the document with the office program that I'm already familiar and comfortable with and turn it into a google doc so I can share it. I probably only need the share feature if there are a lot of people that need to be shared with as well. I'm thinking I could just as easily email the regular document. Unless I want anyone with access to it to be able to change it too. In which case it seems like a wiki page would be in order. I think I would continue to use Office or Adobe programs.

Thing #17: Rollyo

This thing was tough for me because I was not sure what sort of search roll would be useful for me. I had a hard time thinking of which websites I would want to put in one or what kind of things I would want to search for. I'm satisfied just searching for whatever I need at the moment from a regular search engine. I can't think of anything I would regularly search for. In the end I just decided the best thing to do would be to think of this as a lesson plan because I do think this would be useful for limiting a student's search parameter like the video by Bruce Goodner said. I put a search roll together that puts the white house and house of representative websites together. I searched earmarks and found a page about earmark reform in the house of representatives. I think this could be a neat tool in the classroom but something I think I'd be unlikely to use personally.

Thing #16: Wiki Wiki

I posted in the sandbox my ideas for how wiki pages can be used in the classroom. Stuff about brainstorming and reviewing go to the sandbox to check it out. But I want to reiterate my idea about how staffs can use a wiki page for sign ups to events and potlucks and that sort of thing. If your school is anything like mine, throughout the year when it's someone's birthday or at TAKS time there is a sign up in the the teachers lounge or even worse over email. A wiki could make this process a lot easier.

Thing #15: the future of libraries

After reading the selections, the conclusion seems obvious to me... I'm no librarian but just like any other industry, libraries are going to have to keep up with technology. I don't know how to say it any other way; it's plain obvious.

One note though, I enjoyed the "Vision of Students Today" video from teacher tube. A lot of those things were true about me when I was a college student.

Thing #14: Technorati

Viewing the popular searches on technorati proves that I'm not interested in what everybody else is interested in. I did however learn that phweet was a new web application where you could use the phone with twitter friends and that some people who used to work for google are trying to start a new search engine of their own. It seems like the blogosphere consensus is that they released it before they were ready. I went and tried cuil myself and I admit I tried the same searches comparing it to google and I found google more relevant.

I digress though... I should be talking about tagging and technorati. I couldn't really compare the search of "school library learning 2.0" to searching the tags because there wasn't really a tag like that the closest one was web 2.0 and the results were totally different. So I guess you use the search tool when you're looking for something really specific. I would use the tags to browse more casually.

I think as far as tagging goes it was more useful in del.ic.ous because I could tailor the tags to what I want them for. In technorati the website seems to be there to show people what's popular in blogs so if I feel like looking for what's popular in the blogosphere I would check there.

Thing # 13: Social Tagging

Now that I'm going to be using and finding more websites, I'm going to have to remember where they all are. I think del.icio.us would be a good place to do it. The tags and everything make sense too. Bookmarks can become a long list of things you won't remember either. I think all in all social tagging is a great idea. The best part of this thing is the social aspect. When I checked other people's tags, I found websites that I never would have found before. I'm going to find it very useful.

Thing 12 revisited

So I went to post on some blogs that I searched about my personal interest and I was SO FRUSTRATED when I went to a blog by a young couple who enjoy Argentine Tango and blog about their dance experiences. When I searched lindy hop which is a dance that is one of my hobbies their blog came up because they blogged about their experience in a beginner lesson and how much they liked the style. I wanted to comment so that I could tell them about a national event in their area and to comment on something they said about a related dance style. All comments on the blog are off :( I am DYING to contact them but I couldn't find any way to get an email in a profile or anything. Their blog was on word press. Does anyone know how to find someone's information or is it just that they've made their contact information private?

Thing #12: Creating Community through Commenting

Thing #12 has shed a new light on blogging for me. Before this thing, I saw blogging as a means for dissseminating information. I now see that blogging is much more communicative than that. It is a two-way street and not one.

If I got anything out of the posts about commenting, it is post meaningful comments that add to the discussion and don't be rude!

Thing #11: Library Thing

Library thing seems great for librarians. I can see why a quarter of the site's members are librarians. At first I added some of just my favorite books: All the Harry Potters and some Jane Austen novels. When you add books you can see how many members also have the same books in their libraries as well. Then I added some lesser known books like some Texas History references and some comedy books. You can see how the list of people who share your interests grows smaller when I add less general books. I think this site could be useful to me in two ways, first in its suggestions based on what's in my library so I can find books I've never heard of but would be likely to enjoy and second, when I explored the groups there was a group for Social Studies teachers. I could join the group and read up on what's going on in my content area across the country. Feel free to comment on any more specific ideas on how this website could benefit me in the classroom. Neat website!

Thing #10: Online Image Generators

These are fun. This could be a memorable way to hook a student into something but you have to be careful because it's just fun to waste time on. This particular image came from the Comic Strip Generator. I played with some others that you upload a photo of yourself into but I have to spend some time looking for a photo that I want to put of myself on a magazine cover that announces me as teacher of the year. It's easy to upload the photos to these things but I just don't have any on this particular hard drive that I want to use.

Thing #9: Useful Library Related Blogs and News Feeds

I still don't find feeds useful to me personally which may lead to my unsuccessful feelings on this thing. I wasn't really sure what I was looking for in the first place. I'm not sure what blogs after regular reading will help me in the classroom. But here it goes... I found the Google Blog Search the easiest to use. This is perhaps because Google is already a search engine and I appreciated the organized manner in which my searches were presented. Maybe it doesn't count because it wasn't a search tool but browsing the Edublog award winners wasn't really helpful because everything seeemed too broad. I had been using the search term "social studies education" to search for blogs and maybe the issue is that Social Studies is behind Math, Language Arts and Science in all other aspects (i.e. spending, budgets, research literature...) and it including blogs. If I really want interesting things in my feed, it's easiest to just search from Google Reader itself.

Thing #8: RSS feeds

I'm not so sure about RSS feeds. I can see the argument that RSS feeds tend to save time. But honestly I think there is something to be said for atmosphere of visiting your favorite websites. When I signed up for the Google Reader I signed up for some of the packages they offer according to what my interests are. I signed up for three packages news, sports and celebrities. Once I signed up for those packages I had more than 15 feeds with more than 170 new stories. I guess I just need to get all these feeds under control because I do not imagine how having 170 new things to read instantly is going to save me time. I think the RSS feeds that are on you iGoogle or MyYahoo! are more useful and not so out of control. I also spent some time browsing websites looking for the little orange button to connect that website to my reader and I couldn't find it on any of the websites that I suspected might have it. I'm going to have to investigate further before I decide if the google reader is going to be useful to me. Like I said, I think there's soemthing about atmostphere that is lacking while using the feeder. The only redeeming factor is that the reader has a link to the actual website. I think I will always prefer getting my information from the actual website.

Thing #7: Google

Jeez, where would I be without google? I already have gmail and I've looked at a few other things they do, but now I've had time to just sit down and explore. It's amazing! I've created a public google calendar with the Spring Branch I.S.D. academic calendar if anyone is interested. I especially like how google will send me a text message to remind me about certain things.

iGoogle is also a good tool. I used to use a MyYahoo! page quite often and this is similar. I like being able to get the weather, traffic and news all in one place. It has funny things too like jokes, pictures and riddles.

Thing #6: Mashups and Third Party Sites

I love the mosaic maker. I know we're supposed to be keeping what we're doing in the classroom in mind, but I think I could use the mosaic maker to decorate my house. On a more professional note... I like the trading card maker because it's a creative way to make flashcards. I could definitely use that in the classroom. Look I made one myself.

Thing #5:

Flickr is neat. I already had an account because when Yahoo! gave up it's picture hosting they automatically moved everything over. I have never explored it like this though. I went to the commons and typed in "president" since I am in between being an American History teacher and an American Government teacher. I chose this image firstly because I was sure that it was in the public domain (it is from the National Archives by the way). I am still a little bit confused about which pictures are for fair use and which aren't. But mainly I chose this picture because it is a fascinating display of the personality of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Thing #4: Register Your Blog

My blog is officially registered and I am now a player. I was also pleasantly surprised this morning to find that someone has already commented on my blog! For an explanation on why there are penguins in my avatar, see comments in reference to thing #3.

Thing #3: Set up a blog... and make an avatar

That wasn't so hard. Then again... I've never been averse to technology. It helps that I already had an avatar created since I was already a Yahoo! member. I think that probably made it easy. I've seen other blogs. I like to see how other people are responding to this training. So far it's pretty fun. I just gotta do the rest before the deadline and not procrastinate.

Thing #2: Pointers for Lifelong Learners

The most difficult thing for me to do as a lifelong learner is to view problems as challenges. I don't view problems as challenges, I view them as annoying. Even if I do in the end learn something from an obstacle, I would just rather not have obstacles. I would still learn anyway. The easiest thing for me to do as a lifelong learner is play. I like playing to learn. I think it's the most fun and effective way. I think this is the case for lots of learners. If I can trick my students into thinking they're playing a game while I have them learn, I think they usually learn more of it and they learn it better.