Since Laurie would never post anything like this about herself on her blog as she is too humble, I thought I would take a moment to applaud her in the efforts that she has undertaken to go back to school. I guess you can call this my first official blog high jack. While her schooling has been somewhat stressful on our family, she has done remarkably well. She consistently turns in her assignments that put her at the top of her class. I thought I would share some of the comments that her instructor's have posted on the community chat boards for you to enjoy.
Tue, Sep 30, 2008 -- Essay 2 In-Text Citation
Hello Folks--I've just read your Discussion Board postings for Essay 2, Tasks 1 and 2. I appreciate the depth of thought that people are exploring in identifying and discussing the complex elements of place. This reflective thinking will help you as you write Essay 2. As part of Task 2, I asked you to read about MLA style in-text citation in Penguin, then try to correctly integrate a quotation from Sanders's essay. Of course, everyone gets full points for trying! Now that you've wrestled with figuring this out, please carefully read the mini-lesson on in-text citation that I have just added into the Essay 2 folder. Many of you came quite close to correctly framing, citing, and integrating your quotations. Please see Laurie Mencl's posting for a correct example. Notice how she has framed the quotation with a lead-in (author's name and attributive verb), put the quoted words inside quotation marks, provided the page number in parenthesis (only the page number because the author's name is already in the lead-in) and has moved the period to follow the last parenthesis.
Fri, Sep 19, 2008 -- Professor's Response to Writing Workshop Essay 1 First Drafts
After reading everyone’s First Draft of Essay 1, I would like to reinforce several points. This would be a good time to re-read the Essay 1 assignment and mini-lectures to make sure that you are fulfilling the assignment.
Thesis Statement: Some people’s essays are missing a thesis statement. For this assignment your thesis statement must identify the tradition or ritual that is your topic and make a claim of significance. I require that your thesis statement appear in the traditional location as the last sentence in your first paragraph. For a good example of a thesis statement see Laurie Mencl’s essay.
Finally, in a conversation with her professor, this is what the professor told Laurie about some of the work she has been turning in. "You know what I love most about your postings is the honesty. I never feel that you are trying to impress me but instead that you are truly examining the issues we are dealing with in our readings and discussions. Wonderful!!!"
If she keeps this up, I'll be the one staying at home taking care of the house and the children, while she is out in the workplace!
Sorry Laurie, but dad2my6kids thought this would be a great idea to share! Love ya!
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Daddy Daughter Date Night
On September 19th, Shaelynne and Ken went out on their first Activity Days Daddy Daughter Date. Since I am one of the leaders, I got to tag along also and take lots of pictures.... :)
They decorated picture frames together.
Then they helped each other get ready for the night. Shaelynne shaved her Dad...
And then Ken fixed her hair. Afterwards, they posed for a picture which they will put in their frames but I don't have that picture.
Finally, they had a cake decorating contest. They brought their cakes baked and ready to be decorated. Ken and Shaelynne decided to make a purse cake. They made two round cakes and then stood them up together. Ken cut a little too much off of one side so just as they finished, the one side fell over. I love this look on Shaelynne's face. She is such a perfectionist so this was a very stressful moment for her. She quickly thought it through and suggested it just be an open purse. They filled it with M&M's and called it a success!
Ken had a good time teasing Shaelynne. She just enjoyed being with her dad!
It was a fun night and since it was also my birthday, Shaelynne brought her cake home instead of eating it at the activity and we all got to eat purple purse cake. YUM!
They decorated picture frames together.
Then they helped each other get ready for the night. Shaelynne shaved her Dad...
And then Ken fixed her hair. Afterwards, they posed for a picture which they will put in their frames but I don't have that picture.
Finally, they had a cake decorating contest. They brought their cakes baked and ready to be decorated. Ken and Shaelynne decided to make a purse cake. They made two round cakes and then stood them up together. Ken cut a little too much off of one side so just as they finished, the one side fell over. I love this look on Shaelynne's face. She is such a perfectionist so this was a very stressful moment for her. She quickly thought it through and suggested it just be an open purse. They filled it with M&M's and called it a success!
Ken had a good time teasing Shaelynne. She just enjoyed being with her dad!
It was a fun night and since it was also my birthday, Shaelynne brought her cake home instead of eating it at the activity and we all got to eat purple purse cake. YUM!
Cross Country 2008
Zach is running cross country this fall. Since his charter school does not offer sports, he is running with Robert Stuart Jr. High. He is having a good time and has made a lot of new friends.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Assignment of the Week
In honor of the many papers I am seem to find myself writing, each week I'm going to post a personal favorite (and also got a good grade on)
This one is from my education class:
To continue to discern between schooling and education, please answer the following question. What do you think has been the most important thing you learned in school, and what has been the most important thing you have learned outside of school?
Upon graduating from high school, I did not have not much self esteem left. I had gone to school each day to learn intellectual subjects and walked away with an education in my social status among my peers. Looking back, that was my entire education. While I know I was taught other things, I did not learn them. I do not place blame on anyone but myself, but in talking to many other former classmates, many of them also have the same feelings towards those years. They were hard years and we were hard on each other! I have often thought that I spent the first half of my life in school learning how to be an adult and a contributing member of society and the second half of my life out of school trying to undo all that I learned, heal my inner child, and ironically, still have no idea what my role in society is. What I have learned outside of school is that my entire life is a learning process and that sometimes the things I learn can’t be graded or passed off. It’s a process where I am trying to become the best person I can be while learning to understand the world around me.
This one is from my education class:
To continue to discern between schooling and education, please answer the following question. What do you think has been the most important thing you learned in school, and what has been the most important thing you have learned outside of school?
Upon graduating from high school, I did not have not much self esteem left. I had gone to school each day to learn intellectual subjects and walked away with an education in my social status among my peers. Looking back, that was my entire education. While I know I was taught other things, I did not learn them. I do not place blame on anyone but myself, but in talking to many other former classmates, many of them also have the same feelings towards those years. They were hard years and we were hard on each other! I have often thought that I spent the first half of my life in school learning how to be an adult and a contributing member of society and the second half of my life out of school trying to undo all that I learned, heal my inner child, and ironically, still have no idea what my role in society is. What I have learned outside of school is that my entire life is a learning process and that sometimes the things I learn can’t be graded or passed off. It’s a process where I am trying to become the best person I can be while learning to understand the world around me.
Creative Art?
Zach was given an assignment by his art teacher "to prove that he had all the required supplies at home that are listed on the class supply list." Zach asked if they could just bring the supplies in and show them to the teacher. The teacher told him that this was a creative art class and he wanted to see what project each student could come up with to prove to him that the supplies were indeed purchased and at home ready to be used. Zach expressed his frustration at this assignment to me. I suggested that we have some fun with it since that is what the teacher intended, I am sure. Here is Zach's finished project. He printed this off and turned it into his teacher. The teacher laughed and laughed and told him that was exactly what he was expecting; something creative, totally unique and very fun! (This teacher always has his hair in a pony tail with a pencil in it so that is what the pencil is doing.)
I asked Zach how he felt about the assignment after he handed it in. His comment was, "Make a silly assignment, get a silly answer."
I asked Zach how he felt about the assignment after he handed it in. His comment was, "Make a silly assignment, get a silly answer."
To: YOU!
Since all my limited amount of creativity goes into writing paper after paper after paper lately, I don't have much brain left to post here. I'm realizing that I miss writing down the exciting(?) events of my crazy life though, so I've got to at least journal some things. This is where it's all at so I'm going to keep writing here.
Warning: The creativity level of this blog is going to go way down. Sorry.
And my commenting on your blogs has all but disappeared. I'm still here, just not as much.
We can still be weekend and holiday break friends though.....:)!
Warning: The creativity level of this blog is going to go way down. Sorry.
And my commenting on your blogs has all but disappeared. I'm still here, just not as much.
We can still be weekend and holiday break friends though.....:)!