Showing posts with label Walden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walden. Show all posts
Friday, August 8
My pursuit of a Master of Science in Education degree
Most of you may know that I have been taking online classes for my masters degree from Walden University. I started taking these classes in January of 2007, and I am approaching the finish line! My last class ends next week Friday, after which I will have 30 days to submit my portfolio: a CD compiled with 20 of my papers from this course that meet various national outcomes for a masters degree. The postmark due date for this is September 15, or 13 days after school starts. I have finished almost all of my course work and have turned my focus onto this portfolio. Since there are 20 papers and rationales to complete (rationales are additional papers I write about the outcome and how I met the outcome in my included paper), I decided that if I average one paper a day, I could finish before Spruce Hill's first day of in-service on August 25. Here's hoping!
Thursday, July 17
Fruity Portland
Sarah and I seem to have arrived in Portland just in time for the fruit season. The last two weekends have been filled with fruit picking: our first weekend here, we picked about nine pounds of strawberries. Last weekend, we picked about eight pounds of raspberries! Sarah made a delicious strawberry pie after the first batch, and we have enjoyed several bowls of ice cream with raspberries a la mode. I even put some raspberries on my Rice Krispies this morning! As a self-described fruit-nivor, I'm loving this! The Kornelis family's Vitamix provides excellent smoothies without any hesitation about putting too much in at once (Anna and Mike would be jealous!).
I'm working on my Walden mid-term reflection papers today. I also took a glance at my program portfolio, which is due September 15. My goal is to be done with the bulk of it before school starts the day after Labor Day. If not, the first few weeks of school shouldn't be too rough on the system (hopefully!).
I'm working on my Walden mid-term reflection papers today. I also took a glance at my program portfolio, which is due September 15. My goal is to be done with the bulk of it before school starts the day after Labor Day. If not, the first few weeks of school shouldn't be too rough on the system (hopefully!).
Monday, July 9
Weekend!
What a fun weekend! Tubing, 4.5 mile race, friends, food, and beautiful weather. Here's the details:
Sarah and I watched the movie Akeelah and the Bee on Thursday night. (which was great since she didn't have any studies to do!!! her rotations have been doing orientation for a few days; the real deal starts later this week...dum dum dum....). It was a neat movie on its own, but what made me enjoy it even more was that it directly related with the current coursework in my online grad school classes at Walden University! I had been struggling with being interested in the course this week since it seemed to all be about teaching kindergarteners to read without a whole lot of application for me. The movie, however, had elements of phonics, etymologies, spelling games, and other activities that I associated with my latest lectures and readings, and I even wrote a paper this week using one of the games in the movie! It was a well-needed shot in the arm to help me finish up the week's assignments.
Saturday morning was an early: 6:30AM in West Philly to meet the bus. My students and I ran in a 4.5 mile race sponsored by Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. This was the first race with me being the main leader, so I was a little nervous. Unfortunately, the bus was over an hour late, causing us to arrive JUST as the race started (thankfully for us, the church started the race 15 minutes late...gotta love the African American culture!). The kids had a good run despite the hilly course. Two of our runners were flat out lazy and finished BEHIND the ambulance. Finding intrinsic motivation on a warm day isn't always easy for everyone.
This week we start city-wide Students Run clinics. Our first one is in the graveyard behind our school! I'm interested in seeing how the students respond to having a bunch of kids from all over Philly come run in our backyard. They were pretty excited about it before, so let's hope it continues.
Sarah's new apartment is taking shape. It's been great fun for me to help her move in and figure out how she and her new roommate's place is going to look. (okay, so maybe I'm not too thrilled with all the designing part of it, but I can move beds and dressures and run wires through desks with the best of 'em!). It really is a beautiful place, and we've talked about its potential for hosting friends. She's lacking a TV, but what's more exciting...a TV or a roof deck?!? C'mon.
Yesterday about 25 of us went out tubing down the Brandywine River in Deleware after church. The 90+ degree heat made for a PERFECT day on the tubes. Traffic held our group up over an hour past our start time, and the tubing company wasn't too happy and dropped us farther down the river than expected. Still, we had a good hour in the water. Families were splashing in it all over the place.
After our ride, we went back to Libby's house for John's smoothies, pizza and fondu. John and Libby sure know how to host a party! What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday in the summer.
The latest forecast calls for temperatures to be over 100 today here. Yikes!
Sarah and I watched the movie Akeelah and the Bee on Thursday night. (which was great since she didn't have any studies to do!!! her rotations have been doing orientation for a few days; the real deal starts later this week...dum dum dum....). It was a neat movie on its own, but what made me enjoy it even more was that it directly related with the current coursework in my online grad school classes at Walden University! I had been struggling with being interested in the course this week since it seemed to all be about teaching kindergarteners to read without a whole lot of application for me. The movie, however, had elements of phonics, etymologies, spelling games, and other activities that I associated with my latest lectures and readings, and I even wrote a paper this week using one of the games in the movie! It was a well-needed shot in the arm to help me finish up the week's assignments.
Saturday morning was an early: 6:30AM in West Philly to meet the bus. My students and I ran in a 4.5 mile race sponsored by Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. This was the first race with me being the main leader, so I was a little nervous. Unfortunately, the bus was over an hour late, causing us to arrive JUST as the race started (thankfully for us, the church started the race 15 minutes late...gotta love the African American culture!). The kids had a good run despite the hilly course. Two of our runners were flat out lazy and finished BEHIND the ambulance. Finding intrinsic motivation on a warm day isn't always easy for everyone.
This week we start city-wide Students Run clinics. Our first one is in the graveyard behind our school! I'm interested in seeing how the students respond to having a bunch of kids from all over Philly come run in our backyard. They were pretty excited about it before, so let's hope it continues.
Sarah's new apartment is taking shape. It's been great fun for me to help her move in and figure out how she and her new roommate's place is going to look. (okay, so maybe I'm not too thrilled with all the designing part of it, but I can move beds and dressures and run wires through desks with the best of 'em!). It really is a beautiful place, and we've talked about its potential for hosting friends. She's lacking a TV, but what's more exciting...a TV or a roof deck?!? C'mon.
Yesterday about 25 of us went out tubing down the Brandywine River in Deleware after church. The 90+ degree heat made for a PERFECT day on the tubes. Traffic held our group up over an hour past our start time, and the tubing company wasn't too happy and dropped us farther down the river than expected. Still, we had a good hour in the water. Families were splashing in it all over the place.
After our ride, we went back to Libby's house for John's smoothies, pizza and fondu. John and Libby sure know how to host a party! What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday in the summer.
The latest forecast calls for temperatures to be over 100 today here. Yikes!
Monday, February 26
Snowcub
Last night Sarah and I built a snowcub--a snowman in the shape of a bear, or specifically, a Cub. I wrote a "GO CUBS" in the snow as well. We built it on a grassy knoll next to her apartment building in Center City. It was my first snow creation of the year! I didn't realize how much I missed it!
Today I woke up and immediately checked the web for school closing information. We had an inch of snow last night as well as a bunch of rain, and I was hoping that the rain would turn into ice and force kind-hearted superintendents to save students the danger of traveling to learn. Unfortunately, schools are in session.
I finished my first class of my Walden University Masters Program in Literacy yesterday! Class #2 starts today. Not too much of a break. But that's what you get when you want a masters degree in 20 months!
It's my sister Maria's 22nd birthday today! Woo hoo!!! She just got a job from Holland Public teaching Spanish a little over a week ago. She'll do great at it, and I'm very excited for her. =)
Today I woke up and immediately checked the web for school closing information. We had an inch of snow last night as well as a bunch of rain, and I was hoping that the rain would turn into ice and force kind-hearted superintendents to save students the danger of traveling to learn. Unfortunately, schools are in session.
I finished my first class of my Walden University Masters Program in Literacy yesterday! Class #2 starts today. Not too much of a break. But that's what you get when you want a masters degree in 20 months!
It's my sister Maria's 22nd birthday today! Woo hoo!!! She just got a job from Holland Public teaching Spanish a little over a week ago. She'll do great at it, and I'm very excited for her. =)
Wednesday, December 20
Becoming a Master
Today I applied to become a master. Of education, that is. I'm applying to the Walden University Masters Program of Education, specialization in Elementary Reading and Literacy. I chose this program because it's online (not land-locking me to Philly, Michigan, or anywhere else), offers a good program with interesting course descriptions, more affordable than most, and I will be able to complete the program in 20 months. Classes start January 2!
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