The day began with nice weather once again.  As soon as we got into the room we began to work.  Rosa gave a reflection and her ethnography report which made us look within ourselves.  Then the presentations began.  Liza’s presentation was followed by Sandra’s, and then Mirian and I joined them to present the module we had prepared as a group.  The teacher was very pleased and we were very proud.  Irene presented next.  As always, the presentations were extremely varied, entertaining and interesting.    Lunch came along, and Rafaela brought us pizza, very good indeed.  In the afternoon it was Manuel’s and Ruth’s turn to present.  then, Luis asked us to switch our computers off, and everyone went into anxiety shock, for all were polishing the portfolios.  But it was only for a short while; what we thought was going to be a pop quiz turned out to be an evaluation sheet, so the pause was brief.  The day passed quickly, as it always does when the class is exciting.  I left with Marialina who offered me a ride home.

The day began nicely, pleasant weather, and everyone was rested.  I began to edit Mirian’s work, and then went on to my writing prompt and other endeavors.  Luis presented a beautiful, motivating relection, and Ruth presented another inspirational one.  They were both beautiful, and the comment made by Mirian afterwards made me choke up a little.  At 10, Carmen began her e-folio presentation.  She was very nervous, but did excellent.  Kudos to her for being in the front line.  After Maribel’s presentation we continued to work on our projects.  Lunch was 30 min, early because Luis forgot about Marialina’s presentation.  After her it was my turn, and the last one for the day to present was Rafaela.  The presentations were very varied, interesting and creative.  It is incredible the variety that was presented.  It makes me forsee the classroom in all of its splendor, when my students are finally able to put all these techniques into good use.  Wonderful!  The afternoon was spent polishing our projects, and soon enough we were writing our exit slips and leaving after a pleasant, relaxing and joyful class.

The day began nicely, although a little warm.  We began with a wonderful reflection offered by Luis.  It was very inspiring.  Everyone brought goods for our pre-San Juan night lunch.  The first item attacked was my deviled eggs.  Everyone liked them, it made me proud.  I hope they feel the same after digestion, hee hee.  We took the morning to finish our work, I took the time to revise and edit mine.  There was a slight setback with my group and the module, but no worries.  Lunch arrived and we ate merrily, there was  a lot of food, and tiny cups.  During the afternoon we were given the Visual Basic workshop, which I think is something neat to add to the module.  Thje afternoon went by quickly, and soon enough we were writing our exit prompts and leaving, after picking up the party leftovers, of course.

The day began a little heavy, but Manuel began with a beautiful and at the same time funny reflection.  He is a sweet, wonderful man.  Carmen read a reflection as well and brought us some Oreo cookies.  Afterwards we completed our writing prompt, which was an open subject. Then Luis gave the Wiki presentation, and we quickly went to work on our collaborative page.  Lunch was 30 min early because everyone was hungry, and after lunch we had to suspend the Wiki work because we were not following instructions.  He got a little annoyed, and all the students got embarrassed.  I thought it was funny because all of a sudden there was dead silence.  Elizabeth assigned homework to us, and we quickly began to conspire against her.  We forgave her, because afterwards she showed us why the homework was assigned.  She is going to teach us how to use Visual Basics, which is neat.  The rest of the day was spent organizing the portfolio and ensuring everything was uploaded correctly.  I was glad for the first time because the day was done, and I was very tired.

I began the morning full of pep; that’s what happens when I exercise.  The morning began with a cute reflection by Sandra, which motivated us.  Then we began our writing prompt.  I am sorry to say that the music made me drowsy all of a sudden.  I prefer heavy metal or something similar in the morning.  The music that was playing I listen to at night.  But my colleagues are well prepared, and Carmen brought a Beatles CD.  What a treat!  I am relatively up to date with my work, so I was able to assist my dear friends.  This had me concerned because I knew they needed my assistance and I was unable to offer them much help yesterday, because I had to catch up on my own work.  It made me feel good to be of use to them.   Lunch quickly came along, and some of us received a private concert from diva opera singer Marialina.  Afterwards, we continued working on our projects.  There was a little frustration among the students.  The Movie Maker Project is incredibly wonderful, but very time consuming, so this must be kept in mind when creating work projects.  The day went by very quickly, so soon we were writing our exit prompts and leaving.

Today did not begin so well for me.  I was all night and all morning working on 3 different computers, none compatible with the other, so by the time I arrived to school, disaster struck when the computer did not recognize my work.  But as always, our digital superhero Luis fidgeted until he solved the situation.  I’m going to have to work in a school close by to bother him when I suffer a digital freakout.  As the situation was being solved, I uploaded my homework and wrote the promtps and exit slips that were due.  I was finally able to upload the Movie Maker flick into my portfolio during lunch, which I decided to sit out because I was a little behind.  I took advantage of this time to begin my newsletter.  I was able to finish it with the assistance of the web and the lessons given in this class.  It was finally time to leave.  It was a heavy day for us, I noticed because of all the grunting and groaning, due to digital frustration.  Now we have a new outlet to argue with, the computer, and believe me, it DOES “talk back”!

I was unable to attend school today because I was at an intrview from 8-11:30, and by the time I got out I felt extremely fatigued and with a headache.  I nevertheless went to Luis to excuse myself.  Ruth was kind enough to give me a copy of the pictures we took, and that was really thoughtful.  I am now Mirian’s official editor.  I’m glad becuse I love her very much.  She is always nice and caring with me.  Well, I got home, and now am proceeding to catch up on what was given in class.

I arrived to the BWP just soon enough to grab some coffee and we were soon on our way.  We took the train at the Sacred Heart station after a nice and hearty walk, and very shortly arrived to the UPR.  Many had taken the train for the first time.  It was pleasant to see their faces light up in approval.  We had a great time inside the train, laughing and taking pictures.  When  we arrived to the museum, we were a little disappointed because the rooms were being remodeled, so there were only two exhibitions.  But great group as we are, we quickly made the most of it.  Afterwards, we went to the tower, where Ruth and I had escaped to earlier.  Mirian thought we had been kidnapped.  Ruth and I had a lot of fun reminicing and taking pictures.  The group ended at the theater, where we took more pictures and relaxed for awhile.  Soon it was time to lunch, but I had to leave to get my check.  I was tired, but the trip was well worth it.  I was going to meet the group at the UPR since I live near the campus, but I knew I would miss out on the fun.  I’m glad I didn’t.

My day began early.  I exercised, cooked, and washed my bike, all during the morning.  It was quickly time to go to class.  I realized that I could not bring my water and food on my bike, and I had no time for breakfast, so I became anxious.  To my luck, our friends brought fruit salad (delicious) and mallorcas so needless to say, I proceeded to literally pig out.  It was my turn to read the reflection and the previous day’s ethnography report.  Our writing prompt was of a free topic, and that was cool and relaxing.  Unfortunately, the administration had us log out from the internet to work on the university network, I assume, but we wasted no time and began the Movie Maker presentation.  It was quite complex, although not difficult to follow.  I wanted to put it into practice, but was unable since there was no internet.  I went out to lunch with my classmates, and after this we quickly went to work on our Movie Maker flick.  The only pictures I had were from aol, so they came out blurry and I was very disappointed.  There must be a way to decompress the pictures from the net, but I guess that’s another course altogether.  I saved my new project under “My blur of Pictures”and went sadly on my way after writing the exit slip (boo hoo; I desperately need a camera.).

Not much to do with education (I was practicing), but it has to do with news! (smile).  Check it out.  Father’s day Biker Newsletter

The morning began with another sad but nice reflection.  Some tension was dicipated among some of our friends, which actually turned for the best, because airing out differences of opinion makes us all stronger and more assertive people.  It did feel kinda awkward (I’m not too touchy-feely), but good, nevertheless.  The air seemed to thin out, and all of a sudden we felt enthused to begin the day.  We began our writing prompts, as people read on with puzzled faces due to the techno jargon Luis employed in the prompt.  Afterwards, we had to fill out some kind of info for our parking stickers, but had to wait because we had incomplete information.  We therfore advanced to the Newsletter presentation, which was exciting for me, because there is no newsletter in my school.  It was really exciting to begin to practice with this.  I had actually been planning to include a newsletter in my school next year, but didn’t know where to begin.  I never knew it would be so easy (after we got the hang of it!).  Lunch came, and after that we began to create our Newsletter.  Time, as always, went by quickly, but I received a treat, Liza played some hip hop and Maribel played Amy Wineheart for me!  I love working with “obnoxious” music!  As we were writing our exit slips, I had to leave 30 min. early to pick my laptop up… I am very much looking forward to distributing my first news letter (but I really need to download new pictures, the same one’s getting old , ja ja). 

The morning began with our writing prompts.  It seems there is a problem with the general access to my blog.  It began with a reflection read by Irene, beautiful but a little too sad, and since I am an extremely sentimental person, I had to literally choke back tears… too early in the mornming for that, but a wonderful message, nevertheless.  We immediately began working on our instructional modules.  I am happy to say that my group has chemistry, we coordinated everything smoothly and with joy.  The morning, as well as lunch (voluntarily), was spent on this endeavor.  After lunch, we continued working, very concentrated and entertained.  Time flied by…Luis made us close for the day to write the ethnography report and exit slip… gee are my eyes tired!       

I had a marvelous weekend, and although it is Monday, I was very much looking forward to coming to class to see what was in store for us today.  We immediately began working on a writing prompt (an “indirect” mini-quiz), and went through the week’s agenda, as well as went over the instructions of our homework for next week.  afterwards, we learned how to do a power point narration.  It was funny how many were reluctant to go on their lunch break and continued working on their projects.  During lunch I tried to upload my story to the e-folio, but had no such luck….I was very sad.   After lunch, we continued polishing and uploading the stories, but I was still not able to do mine.  I’ll try it at home.  The afternoon session went too quickly because we shared our stories.  They were incredibly creative and original.  It was fun and learning all together, and I was finally able to load the file, after erasing an apostrophe from the title.  After the presentations we spoke about tomorrow’s class and the tasks we would undertake.  We then wrote the exit prompts and left after another busy and day of hard work.

The morning began a little heavy and slow, but Luis quickly sparked us up.  We began with a reflection of a Celia Cruz song, and went on to write our prompts.  Afterwards,  the instructional module design presentation was continued and finished.  The only drawback to this presentation is that sometimes expensive software is needed to really create an interesting and inviting module.  But at least we got a start through power point.  Refelecting on the week transcurred, we really learned a lot in such little time, so much so that the time seemed not to be enough. We took a break around 11 am and continued working on our power point modules.  It was great!  At noon we lunched in, and decided to cut the lunch hour 30 min short, from next week on.  Luis began whistling (he thinks he’s a bird).  It was fun to work with Power Point, but it was soon time to close it up and write our exit slips.  Luis asked us to erase our “practice” module….yeah right. Happy to be here but looking forward to the weekend.

I woke up early, didn’t excercise, to be able to do my homework.  Once I finished, I showered and went to Sagrado.  Good vibrations, I’m always excited to go to class.  When I tried to upload my homework, surprise!  I had worked on it on Word 2007, so I could not upload.  I’ll do it tonight.  Luis came to my rescue, as usual (THANX .  We began our writing prompt for the day, and I quickly updated the rest of my work.  Miriam read the ethnography report, after a presentation was given by Luis.  The presentation made me sentimental due to what happened in my life yesterday.  After writing, we reviewed blog details, very necessary to keep us refreshed and in practice.  The professor finally realized that there were Title 1 and Special Ed. students when he began explaining the sidebar widgets, and we proudly classified ourselves in the different categories.  The afternoon was spent by attending the instructional design presentation, and reacting on our understanding of the same, but the presentation was not finished to be able to complete our exit prompt, in addition to an interesting debate that arose regarding the effectiveness of this technique.  The class ended nicely, and with A/C!

I was unable to do anything for the BWP, because I was in the funeral of 2 of my beloved neighbors, a guy my age and a 15 yr old child, run over by a drunk driver.  It hurts, because they were good people.  I got dressed in my biker splendor (Thank God there was no class!) and at noon went to attend the sermon, then escort my friends, along with more than 60 bikes, to their final resting place.  The rest of the day was spent with family, neighbors and friends.  My new interest called me at night from the States, on his first day there…good signal.  I went to sleep at 11pm.

     It is just too hot!  The morning began….everyone was late except for Gloria and myself.  As we scolded and made fun of our professor, we realized that the A/C in the classroom was broken down.  The news said it would be steaming hot, and we quickly began to feel it around 10 am.  The class was restless….I felt sick to my stomach…..added to that was the fact that various students and the professor stayed lunchless because the bread finished and the soda exploded… fact that did not add to my health… to top it off a student began to smoke in front of the classroom; I quickly put on my police attitude and politely asked him to respect the law, after Ruth sicked me to him (LOL).  Nevertheless, the morning transcurred with a busy teacher and students.  Prof. Luis was all over the place, helping us out.  The motivation was definetely shown today! We continued working despite the heat (tomorrow I’ll bring my towel and bikini top).  I learned to transfer pictures from my internet provider to the blog….and refined and refreshed what Luis taught me (practice makes perfect!).  At 1 pm, and excited Luis said that the BWP PCs were available, and offered to take the usual “pleasant” stroll there.  We were very naughty and responded with “ho-hum” faces (reminded me of my students).  Needless to say we remained in the classroom, for we were as internally imploded as the soda had been exploded.  We completed our exit prompt, and left, gladly (because of the con-OSHA environment, of course), although I left a little earlier due to a slight femenine emergency.

Today was a wonderful and exciting day. Old friends met after one full year, and new friends introduced themselves. It is always wonderful to meet new people. As we were settling in the classroom, Irene and Rose strolled in, panting due to the stairs. We learned about the courses we were about to take, and the environment was one of happiness and excitement. We discussed the course agenda, and immediately began tinkering with the computers. We learned how to use a microsoft word tool that had perhaps existed when word was invented, and which many of us did not know about. Now we can create digitalized tests! Lunch came, and it was funny to see the tired faces of “barrigita llena, corazón contento”, but the enthusiasm nevertheless continued, and we began to work on our tests. The day passed too quickly, and soon class was over. We made plans for a pot luck lunch, and we were on our way….