So...we're ready to go! The last few late nights really paid off. Our presentation is AWESOME, our podcast is hilarious and we are all working hard on our WebQuest...so things are moving along. I've got to start thinking about my instructional plan...hmmm...I'm going to be here for the weekend, so I think I'll get to it tomorrow evening.

I've really enjoyed working with Chris and Jamie. As I've said over and over, I was a little intimidated at first, but now I've gained some confidence as I've been able to help some of the people in the class!

I think my favorite day so far was learning about Second Life. That is unbelievable to me! I've been trying to think about ways to use it, but since I teach high school, I think I'd better stay out of there! Our discussion this morning was also quite interesting- I can see how Second Life would fill a void for some people who, for whatever reason, cannot function fully in the real world. The ministering idea is intriguing...I'd like to learn more about that!

The wedding planner is still blowing my mind...

I'm ready for the last day!

Whew! Up again late last night. I volunteered to doctor up the PowerPoint... but it was more work (of course) than I anticipated. I'm really proud of it though. And tonight, my group members have taken on other tasks so I can get to work on my Webquest.

I emailed my friend Chris for his Care and Stewardship of God's Creation project details. He and I have been working together interdisciplinarily over the last several years on this and he gave it up this year. As a teacher of English, I especially liked it because it was IMPOSSIBLE for the students to plagiarize the assignment. They HAD to do the work. I've already emailed him to see if he would like to collaborate in this way instead of in a paper format. We'll see what he says...

I felt a whole lot more comfy today in class. I could follow along and I could even help out here and there. I've learned a really important thing this week- I often sell myself short. I can do A LOT!

Day 2 was great- our group really bonded and we seem to be equally matched. All of us are working our butts off...although Jamie was able to go to a baseball game??? How did that happen? Oh yeah- he's the tech wiz! He was texting me from the game and trying to help me. How cool is that?

Yesterday was good for me in another way- I found out that I am not the slowest after all. I have had experiences that others have not. The way I've been feeling reminds me of how I felt about math class in high school- that I was dumb. Yesterday, I felt like I I could do this!

I learned how to put a movie into PowerPoint...all by myself. Well, with the help of YouTube, of course. YouTube has EVERYTHING!

Success feels good. Now I just need some sleep!

Well, at the morning break, I texted my mother and told her: "Wow. Not bad." But then EndNote entered my life. I can see how much EndNote can save time and I also see why Liberty recommends that we take 730 FIRST. I wish they had insisted... I've learned so much already...

EndNote did not want to reside on my computer. When I finally got it on there (thank you Dr. Dunn and Chris and Jamie...), I had missed my bus back to the hotel! I again texted my mom to tell her I was the last one left in class and that I had missed the bus...and she texted me back asking if my Dad needed to pick me up- just like old times... Keep in mind, they are in New York! We had a good laugh about that one.

Staying late in class was worth it, although I still didn't see the benefit until...oh...about 10pm! After meeting with my group, we decided we needed to do some more research. We also decided that we were going to put the documents we found useful onto Ednote Web in groups Chris created. Well, that's where the fun started! I could not figure out anything. I tried for over two hours but I could not use EndNote at all.

All I can say is...thank goodness for YouTube!!! I actually found a training video about EndNote called "EndNote in Seven Minutes." I was able to log onto EBSCO, find and save some articles (thanks for showing us this in class!) and then I was able to download them into my EndNoteWeb group. I felt so very successful and it made me want to learn more about EndNote! I believe we will be going over EndNote today.

I am old and tech does not come easily to me. If I were not a teacher, I think I would be completely technologically illiterate. I am so glad to continue to have opportunities to learn and to get better.

I can't wait to see what today brings!