It all started ... about two months ago. That is when I should have started storing up sleep. Kind of like before your second baby is born, you have already had one so you know you won't see much sleep in the near future.
By the end of July I realized my mistake to the point that I didn't feel bad for the guy I was working with, when I told him I had to quit in the middle of a job that has resulted in a lawsuit because he took too long.
Then there was Teachers Convention, a break from the reality of what was soon to follow. So tired I fell asleep in the breakout session that was to teach me how to use the internet for posting of classwork for my AE21 class.But I don't think I could have made it throught the start of school without that wonderful time of seeing former students who had become teachers, teachers I had gone to school with, and my daughtor, who has carried on the tradition.
Today I taught my first Internet class for Geometry. I had anticipated problems. There always are problems. Friday I knew I wouldn't be able to draw on the Elmo (kind of like an overhead projector) because it had been sent without the power cord. When class started, there were no students present. Very disconcerting when they are scattered in classrooms across the US and I still do not have an accurate registration count for the class. I had not practiced drawing on a piece of paper and holding it up to the camera so the students could see what I wanted to discribe. I should have - several students had no book or had purchased the wrong edition, so had nothing to look at as I talked. Ever try combing your hair while looking into a corner formed by two mirrors? It is the same when a camera is pointed at you and you are watching in the TV. It was almost impossible to point to the right spot on the drawings. I finally made it through the class. Here are some of our more creative AE21 students. (TCNN is Tri-city News Network) http://ae21.org/samplebroadcast.htm
Later, I helped the other teachers with their computer problems. After work I tried to upload the answers to the homework assignment. Why can't the publisher just put all the answers in the same place? Some are next to the problem, some are in the margin, others are in the back of the book. I hadn't noticed that the background color was different for different margins. I had to use my camera and photograph some of the sections, copy them to the computer, adjust contrast and size in Photoshop, then copy them into the appropriate part of a Word document along with other answers I had either hand written and photographed, or typed into the document.
I was almost finished with the answers to about 90 problems when the janitor, pulled the circuit breaker, instantly darkening my room and starting up an alarm on my ups. I reached up to save the file just as the screen became dark and the computer fan went silent. It had only taken about two hours to get the answer document to that point. I guess they had discovered the main power to the box had shorted against the metal cover. Later I was able to find and recover part of the file and finally got the answers uploaded to the internet at D2L (Desire to Learn).
So why am I blogging? I can't make anonymous posts to Carrie's blog because of some inconsiderate unknown person or persons. Like I need more technology or software to learn right now!
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