Name: MBE (jason)
After living in China for over 6 years, my life back stateside...
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(since 5.14.04)
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Yesterday was the first day of school & seeing that I did not write an entry yesterday proves how tired I was once I got home. Even after 8 hours of sleep/rest I feel like I have been run over by a bus! Anyway, the first day of classes was good and the students are good. Today I will start to measure the 'computer' ablility of my ESL students. I will then bring them up to where I think they should be in their skills and we will start the 'blogging experiment!'
Tomorrow is the first day of the 2004-2005 school year at my school. This will be the first time in 7 years of teaching that I will be teaching the same subject as the year before. I am really excited that my planning for the year will be easier because I have already taught it before.
I read an very interesting article today on the CNN;International Website. It was about a man in Canada that died two years ago, but because he was reclusive and paid all of his bill automatically no one knew he had died! His body was found preserved because of the way his apartment was so dry and clean. It is really worth a read.
Hero makes its presence known in the states! One of my favorite Chinese movies ever has made a big impact in the USA. It has even been given 5 stars in some reviews!
Welcome to all the new folks visiting this page for the first time. Most of you are going to be from my school, but if you are not, welcome to you as well!
It is really cool to see that since I started this blog in May of this year there have been over 10,500 page views! This is just a small example of what can be accomplished with blogging and what kind of influence they can have. There are countless applications for blogging in your classrooms. Here is part of my posting from June 10, 2004 when I shared blogs with some other teachers:
" At the top of the page, is a 'homemade' banner that I used Adobe Photoshop Elements to make. I just had to play around with it and this is my third or fourth attempt.
The 'body' of the blog is oganized by categories that are listed on the 'sidebar' (area to the right side of the page). Each entry is posted by date and time. It makes it easy to archive the entries. Every entry can be commented on by clicking on the 'comment' button at end of each entry. If another blogger (person writing a blog) wants to comment or even 'link' to my entry, they can do so.
Back to the top on the 'sidebar.' A visual 'page counter' that keeps a running total of how many people have visited my page. The 'button' button is to subscribe to my blog. You must be a member of www.motime.com (FREE) to subscribe, unless I invite you to be a member of the blog. Below that is 'my RSS feed' which I will go into detail about that at a later time, no today.
I now want to skip over the three buttons. I have added the 'word of the day' from Dictionary.com. Now let's move to the list of 'links.' These include blogs and websites. They are added in the 'control panel' section of the blog. (only after you log-in can you reach your control panel). After that is the 'archives' section which allows you to check the past entries by day and month.
'My categories' is also like the archives section, but it is organized by topic and date. Below that is my 'creative commons' license. You can click on the icon to see the terms. I also belong to several 'blog rings' which are groups of blogs like mine. Finally, there are several 'hot buttons' and I will let you read them and find out for yourself what they all do. 
I have noticed that my writing skills HAVE improved by using this blog. Imagine how it can help your students. We can use this media outlet for communication with parents, dialogue with students, e-portfolios for student work, etc, the list is endless for its uses. If you want more information, just ask me!"
Sometime during the course of Tuesday this blog passed 10,000 views! All I can say is thank you all for reading and visiting. This has been a great 'experiment' and I look forward to the future of this project!
Today was the offical first day back to work for the teachers that are not new to my school. It was really nice to see everyone and to hear about their trips this summer. There are almost 30 new staff members to get to know. And to think that only 6 or 7 people did not return to the teaching staff from last year, it is easy to see how much the school is growing. I conducted 8 ESL assessments for new students. Several of them will now be in my class this coming Monday (the first day of school). It was also a busy day with meetings and appointments. I am very excited about my new classroom and all the changes that come with a new school year. The IT technician told me that there are 240 PCs now in the school (not including the computer labs). There are only two full-time fellows that service and update these units. They do a fine job. I am really tired now so off to bed, but keep checking back for more info. I will begin writing about the blogs for my class soon.
I was checking up on the Olympics yesterday on the CNN homepage and found this "Olympians Largely Barred from Blogging." It shows me that blogs and blogging are starting to get noticed in much larger circles. Here is mainly what the IOC has to say:
The International Olympic Committee is barring competitors, as well as coaches, support personnel and other officials, from writing firsthand accounts for news and other Web sites. An exception is if an athlete has a personal Web site that they did not set up specifically for the Games. The IOC's rationale for the restrictions is that athletes and their coaches should not serve as journalists -- and that the interests of broadcast rightsholders and accredited media come first.
I guess this just makes more room for movie deals and book rights later!
I am not sure about this 'transport' theme that I am on, but today my wife and I want 'downtown' to tie up some loose ends before school starts next week. We took the bus there. It was like I had three eyes on my face or something with the way people stared at me. It was like they think that just because I am not Chinese looking that I would not lower myself to take the bus. Well, I have news for them, IT IS CHEAPER THAN A CAB!
It is always a treat because I will usually sit in Starbucks and drink and read and watch people, whilst my wife shops. (She likes this because I am a terrible shopper!
) Anyway, there is a magazine here in China called "City Weekend" and I have talked about it before. There was a really interesting article this week. It is about a couple of guys getting busted for selling DVD's on EBAY. It is worth a read.
This afternoon I went to school to get some work done (my new classroom is still being completed), but no one was at school. So I decided to ride my bike around a little while. You know, the bicycle is really a major force to be dealt with in China (as I am sure in many other places in the world). Anyone who has spent a lot of time in China will have used a bike at one time or another. There are a huge number of styles, colors, types, sizes, and brands of bikes. When I 'Googled' "Chinese Bicycles" I got this: Results 1 - 10 of about 252,000 for Chinese Bicycles. (0.30 seconds)
Needless to say, bikes are a mode of transport here that will probably always be. However, this exsistence is being threatened. CARS, CARS, CARS! In Beijing alone the number of private cars has exceeded 1,000,000! I cannot complain, I love my car (in America). I love being able to drive anywhere, anytime, and having a place to put my store-bought items. But of course there is the problem of pollution. The smog where I live has been increasing dramatically recently due to more cars and contruction, not to mention the FIREWORKS! In China people light fireworks for anything. Much like a sorority prints up a t-shirt for EVERYTHING! "Hey, the 'I-broke-my-nail' spring social t-shirts are here!" Anyway, there must be a solution. I am just watching to see what the Olympics in 2008 are going to do for the country. I love my bike here and I love my car in the states. What are they really but just tools to get from place to place. One gets you there quickly and one not only gets you there but helps your waistline. Happy transit!
After my blogging presentation last term (June 10th), one of the sectional heads at my school has asked me to re-present "How Do I Start My Own Blog?" to the new teachers at my school next week. I am looking forward to this and more opportunities to lead in various aspects in the academic realm. I have future goals of heading a school or something of that nature.
On a different note, I have only gotten one reply (thanks, Blinger) to my post about possible blogging applications for this school year. Any additional suggestions would be appreciated. I will keep you posted about how my classes are going.
I have been reading the BWG or Big White Guy blog for a number of months now. I feel that we share a lot of the same interest. Hey, even our Chinese wifes have the same English name! Tonight I read an entry from his blog and could not sleep without passing it along. This best part is this photo, but you need to read the entry first...
I have started to plan for this coming school year. I already know the basic structure for how I would like to introduce 'blogs' to my students in my ESL classes and in the ICT classes. The problem that I am having is finding the right format (software, server, service, etc) to use. My students range from 5th grade to 7th grade. Most of them do not have an e-mail account so that serves as a problem when it comes to making them 'members' of my blog or to sign them up for their own blog.
The criteria for the 'blogosphere' that I am looking for is (also, included in my recently published article):
- I am wanting something that the students can use as an electronic portfolio of their work. (this is part of the assessment process for the IBO curriculum)
- Easy to use; for example, easy to edit, post, delete, comment, etc.
- Easily customized for making personal 'feel',
- FREE* or Low Cost (I prefer free),
- Where administrator (teacher) can have exclusive rights to each and every area of the blog,
Do you have any suggestions? I want to put this out there for suggestions and comments. I have tested a few things, and for now I will probably stick with a 'mo`time' type format and just have the students as 'members' and leave comments, but I would really like for them to have their own 'space' for thoughts, reflections, ideas, feelings, etc. If you are using something or know of something better please let me know! At the moment, my school DOES NOT have any software that can be used for blogging.
I think that I will have to 'prove' to them the need for having space on the school server for this type of thing. LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS! Thx...
I broke down and watched Micheal Moore's latest movie, Fahrenheit 9/11 yesterday. I was really a fan of his until the 'Oscar' moment, when I was really disappointed in his tactfulness. However, I guess most people with voices to be heard are often misunderstood and tactless. Having that out of the way, the movie was FANTASTIC! By living in China, I actually get more of the facts than living in the states. When my wife and I were home we only heard about the war in Iraq one or two times, but in China, it is on the news EVERY-SINGLE-DAY. This movie really poses questions that needed to be asked. Adding to that, Michael's blog, it really makes me see even more the power of asking the right questions!
Today, my wife and I are just chillin' getting some work done and preparing for the new school year. I am starting to plan for my technology and my ESL classes. For the ESL classes it is really just a review of last year's lesson plans and then revise, but for the technology or ICT classes I will be starting fresh.
Yesterday, my wife and I went to Carrefore (french supermarket) with some of the new teachers. I was actually a bit disappointed with the selection. When I lived in Dalian and in Beijing the selection at Carrefore was always the best in town, but this one was not as impressive, or maybe I am just getting used to living in China and don't get too excited about imported goods anymore?!
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