Thomas Edison is known as one of the greatest inventor’s of all time, holding 1,093 US Patents and many other patents in other countries. His inventions helped make lives easier, essentially he was an innovator. The definition of an innovation is “simply defined as a new idea, device or method.” Thomas Edison did just …

Our county fair is coming up, and a few of us teacher folk decided to add our own little spin on the county fair with a bale decorating contest. This doesn’t have much to do with my Independent Learning Project, although it is still tied to my job at the school. Working with kids, I’ve …

I was asked to record 5 different 15 minute tech using times throughout last week, and I was able to sit back and take note of what exactly I use my phone for most. Monday July 17- 15 minutes, checked Facebook and text messages. Sitting in my chair on my phone, while the kids watched …

So when I think of being mindful, it takes me to my religious beliefs. I was always told to be mindful of the relationship you have with God and pay attention to the things He is trying to tell you throughout your days. This for some reason comes to mind first because I have been …

After a bit of a hiatus from my library work due to the final cleanings of floors and reapplying wax to the halls and rooms of the school- I was able to get back in my library this last Thursday. I feel a little bit like I have been removed from my library learning, and …

Activists have been around forever, and ever- now it is so much easier to be a voice for cause because of the internet. Although this recent “digital activism” has caused some controversy, in my research I’ve found that the real activists that get out in the public don’t have a true appreciation for the “armchair activist”. The outdoor, …

Have you ever googled yourself? The information that google can find is no doubt just as amazing as a personal investigator at times. In my case, I didn’t find that much information. Just your typical everyday information, who my relatives are, my address, how old I am, and an old phone number. To begin with, …

In a song called “Grandpa’s Interview”, Neil Young sings: “Shows with love and affection, like mama used to say, a little Mayberry livin’, can go a long way.” Mayberry had only one streetlight, and very little crime for a town of a couple thousand. It may have been only a fictitious town in a sitcom called “The …

I remember being 11 years old, headed to Oklahoma with my Aunt Liz to see my cousin, Jess. We had a pretty long trek from Stratton, Colorado (my hometown) to a small town in the pandhandle of Oklahoma. To pass the time, my Aunt Liz would pack a couple of boxes of Hot Tamales to …

I’m not going to lie, as soon as I popped on to the ds106 website- I thought okay there is no way my brain is going to wrap around this. I actually put it off most of the week and decided I needed to be in the right mindset to tackle this so called ds106 daily …

Perseverance is the key, I believe in many aspects of life. If you just keep at it, you’ll reap rewards…eventually. “Eventually” has been the resounding word since I started working on the library revamp a couple weeks ago. “Eventually, there will be a reading area”, “Eventually, the reference book section will be on the north side of the …

Through social media you can have multiple “serendipitous encounters” a day, how you utilize these encounters is up to you. In reading “How to cultivate a PLN: Tips from Howard Rheingold” Chuck Frey gives  Howard Rheingold’s 8 handy tips to think about when trying to have the best people in your network and how to find them.  …

-This was the most recent work I did in the library, made a PreK-3rd grade collection wall. These shelves were used to hold markers and extra crayons, I thought they definitely needed books- its a library for Pete’s sake! I started my library journey last September, I am the para underneath our Head Librarian.  Starting out I …

This article helped me understand a PLN in a simple, and very logical way. Take a read to further your knowledge of a PLN: http://bit.ly/2tXlwZM These are my people, they have became my personal learning network- truly. I appreciate them everyday!   Personal Learning Network: “A Personal Learning Network is a way of describing the …

I believe questioning is one of the most amazing things our brains do. Questioning everything always, starts at a young age- believe me my children ask at least 200 questions a day. A couple of weeks ago, my son Quaid asked me about Indians and their connection to animals.  Yesterday in the car he relayed …

There has got to be a secret to happiness, and everyone is in search of the answer to the secret. So what’s the secret? Shawn Achor poses the question “We believe we have to work to be happy, is that backwards?”. Shawn’s question is, I believe, a logical question. We all think that we have to …

“When I grow up I want to be happy”, simply put and answered well by young LaPlante. He is an advocate for passion learning, and he calls is Hackschool. Until today, I had never heard of anything about “hacking” other than computer hackers that try to destroy programs and spill valuable information. I was truly …

Technology advances everyday, and the ability to communicate with thousands of people from the comfort of your home is now the norm. Digital literacy is a way of communicating virtually, creating and sharing through different types of media and technology. “Not chalk and talk anymore!” Before technology advanced to the point where almost everything is computerized …

I haven’t ever been what I would consider a great learner, I didn’t like sitting in class listening to information that I didn’t think was relevant (although now, sitting in those same classes with my students- said information has become very relevant, and I’m amazed at how much I do remember!). This being something that I …

This is the excerpt for your very first post.