back in the usa

My wireless card is almost worthless at home. I was kicked off the internet while composing my post. So I went to my school, unpacked and hooked up my computer. The school software blocks me from going to blogger..... Not be be defeated, I then took my laptop to my classroom. I am on the internet, using my wireless card here. Now we will see if I am kicked off before I have time to compose this blog.
I returned from Costa Rica Wednesday afternoon. I was there over a week all alone. My friend who has the house is Puntarenas is recovering in, yes, the mountains of Virginia. I had never traveled to another country all alone before. I was scared silly. But not as scared as I am of the research project....... Anyway, I enrolled in a language school for the week. we had 5 hours of Spanish classes everyday and 2 of dance. I loved it. On the weekend I went on tours of coffee plantation, went to volcano, hiked through rainforests to see waterfalls, and took a boat trip down a river to see the howler monkeys. And yes, I saw several.
The plane was late getting me out of cr and by the time i got to Charlotte, NC, I had missed my connection to Richmond, Va. I had to stay over in hotel. I finally got home Wed. I tried to get to Moodle and get started reading about research stuff, but school computer says cant go there. Will try again on laptop. Hope you all are having great last days before school starts. And if you are trying to start on research project, I hope you are having better luck hooking up. Please talk to me. I need all the encouragement I can get! :)

I think I did it. All by myself. I think I posted my silly little matsl song on the wiki. Check it out and let me know if you see it. I am having a great time practicing all of this new techno stuff I learned at Bennington!

After 12 lovely hours in Philly airport I finally headed back to Virginia. Lee met me at the airport and whisked be directly to the boat. We did run home Monday for laundry and a little food and then set sail. We have been on the eastern shore all week. Going home today, I think. Will be good to get home....house needs cleaning. Plants are thirsty. Eric is in and out but he does not concern himself with such things. I, who never sleep past 5 am, slept till 8 or 9 the first 3 days after my Bennington experience. I guess I was wiped out. But I really enjoyed every minute of it, especially meeting all my new friends.....Spanish, French, profs, even the cooking crew. What an incredible experience! I hope to continue to blog, when I have time and access. Please let me hear from you!

Almost to the finsih line.......

It is Friday afternoon. I am in our beloved Pod.......no other students...... I am listening to the sound of silence and remembering all the frustrated/miserable/delighed chatter that is still echoing in my mind after 3 weeks here. I came back to spend this afternoon trying to recall the new things I encountered in here and to see how many of them I can do. WOW! It was a ton for me! Thank you, Lisa, Eli, Merrie, Laura and to everyone else who helped me not drown here. I certainly put myself in over my head by coming here....in all areas. And I have loved every minute of it. I cannot imagine having gone through my whole life without meeting all of you. I certainly will not forget you. And I hope we all meet here again next summer to continue our adventures!

Well, we are ending week two. I cannot believe how much more comfortable I am with my computer now.When I came here I was using my husband's. It is mine now. He does not know yet that he is going to have to buy himself another one.....
I called my oldest son just now. Could not wait to tell him about getting on IM today in chat room. was a first for me! He asked me if i will still make him cupcakes when he comes home. I assured him I would never get that far into the 21th century!
About the on-line translalors...I usually give my students examples at the beginning of the school year to show them just how obvious it is when they use them. And I have had a few who do. all it takes is asking them what a word or verb means that i know I have not taught them.

Hitting the wall....

Lisa mentioned that sometime this week we would feel like we had hit wall. I feel like I r have been plastered to it for about a week and a half now...........
But I have taken what, for most of you all would be teeny tiny baby steps......learned to make a folder and save stuff to it. How to add accents and tildes all on computer....I have been using a sheet with "alt 162" since, according to Dr. Pitcher, the early 80's. That's right, since before some of you were born! Also finally got into this blog without asking for help. Now know how to access may g mail. Life is good. Now if I can just manage to keep my grip on this wall. Sometimes I feel myself slipping..........Yea! Dinner time! See there : ~)

TGIF!

I still have not learned to upload my pictures from my camara to my webpage. And so my webpage is still very boring, just one little picture of me. I have great pictures of the sunsetting over the water that I took from my boat. Stay tuned. Maybe by the time I leave here I will have it figured out.....please don't hold your breath. I would miss you around here!

Wed. July 11, 07

I am still trying to sort out how to link my various web pages to each other. Apparently web pages get lonely if they are not all linked together. And so I must help them find each other out there in the deep, dark expances of cycerspace.
And then there are the big, bad blogs. I was taught as a child to keep my mouth shut. Letting every thought that meanders though one's mind out in public was considered the height of poor manners. How times have changed. Now I go to graduate school and spend my life's savings to learn how to turn my innermost thoughts loose, again, out into cyberspace.
Out there where I will now go to seek the innermost thoughts of all my new found friends. I will try to find them at a place called "wiki", not to be confused with "wiggie" who is apparently the only entity around here who really understands understanding. I feel as if I have been beemed onto another planet. And we haven't even begun to discuss "La invencion de Morel"............I cannot remember when I have been so frustrated, so stimulated and so well fed. Worth every penny. See ya in cycerspace........

Ideas for using blogs, webpages and wiki with my students

I have to be careful what I ask my students to do on the internet. There has been so much negative publicity about my face and face book, etc. that my administration is paranoid. I think I could have them create a webpage with a personal profile, provided that the profile is ficticious. They could each choose to be a teenager from a Spanish speaking country. They could write about their town, city, school, hobbies, families, etc. They could pretend to be students of a virtual high school who are getting to know their virtual classmates through the use of their webpages and personal blogs. They could invite each other to come for a visit and could share with each other what exciting things they will do and learn when they meet face to face.

Internet Detective

I have never needed to cite research done on the internet. I had no idea how to do it. I did learn a lot doing the detective work. Well, I did not really "learn" how to do it. There was too much information to absorb so quickly. I saved the page about the Harvard vs Numeric methods as a favorite. I am sure I will use it lots as I begin to do actual research on the internet for my projects in this program. I really enjoyed the spoofs and parodies in the detective work. The incorporation of humor is always a great addition to our teaching methods.

Today is Tuesday. I have had a very good day today.

It is almost 11pm. I wanted to post a note before I forgot how to access my blog and post messages on it. I hope I still remember come morning!

http://panderso09.googlepages.com/home This is the link to my webpage. Please come and visit me there!

Today is our anniversary, number 29! When we married all those years ago, I sure never thought I would be in Vermont learning to post blogs on this anniversary.

I hope I can remember how to do this when I get home!

I have been reading about soldiers in Iraq who keep everyone updated on their experiences by posting blog entries. I hope they all survive and return home safely. I hope I survive, too. This is fun!