Life is a Flower

Wow. It's been a while since I've blogged. Life has been busy and there seems to be less time for me to sit down and put my thoughts on "paper."

Technology:Last week, I had the opportunity to go to an Apple conference called "21st Century Learning" with our superintendent and educators from our other campuses. There's no other word to describe it except a-m-a-z-i-n-g. What you probably remember of your school days has been transcended by one-t0-one learning. Every student (us) was issued a laptop. We proceeded to take them with us to each session we attended. Each session was a simulated classroom where we learned about things like channelization. We were assigned to collaborate with our groups and upload our "research" to our class wiki and then our blog. We then created a script and recorded it as a podcast which was then also uploaded to our wiki. The science session was quite interesting and included a project where we plugged in a "probe" that would then test each water samples we had and give us a reading on how much sodium was in the water. The last device we used was a microscope that hooked up to our laptops. We took extremely close-up pictures of different things from our simulated "river project" and uploaded all the pics and created an iPhoto book with all of our research from the day.

Our district has been researching the "one-to-one" initiative since August. When the new high school opens in August 2008, each computer lab will be filled with Apple instead of PC. Now that I've seen firsthand what this could do for teacher and students, I'm game. It allows our classrooms to be one click away from the rest of the world and allows every student to collaborate with not only their own peers, but students from other countries in other schools. Yes, it is possible to do this without Apple, but from my experience they are the only computer corporation that makes it EASY to access lesson plans, other educators, and a variety of easy-to-use tools for the purpose of teaching. I was so exhausted from a long day of learning that I was in bed by 8:30 that night. Learning is hard work!


Friends: My time with friends this last week has been so refreshing! Since I've lived here I haven't really ever found my niche with friends. Sure, I have friends that I work with; some really great, true, inspirational friends are those that I see each day at work. However, my thoughts have always been that having a few really good friends are much better than lots of acquaintances. Since Madison started kindergarten, she has been greatly blessed with a few really good friends. They enjoy each other's company, giggle at all the same inside jokes, and could spend hours together doing nothing. Through Madison's friends, I've found some really great ladies who have brought new life to my much lacking social life.

Kim - I cannot believe we've known each other for a year and a half. It seems that it should be much longer. She's a great cook, a creative mom, and the most fun person to just hang out with or spend late nights painting. And it's a rare thing, but our husbands get along as well as we do and as well as the kids and we're last minute people, which means we end up together usually at a moments notice. My favorite memory with her was this past Friday when I was privileged enough to spend Shabbat with them. It's fun to have someone to have "inside jokes" with: licking walls, spanking snails, and the ultimate "What was that noise? Oh! Someone hit me with the Wii remote?"

Jen- She inspires me. After many years in the corporate world, she's venturing off and going back to school. Her goal? To teach middle school math. Wow. First off, I'm not great at math. I can do it, but there are still some things I don't get and have accepted that I won't get. Second, I am certified to teach middle school, but notice - I don't. The only way I would agree to it is if they brought back Fear Factor and offered me a million dollars. :) Jen is always on top of it and isn't scared to take a leap of faith/friendship, either, and read books with me. Who else would agree to read The Grapes of Wrath with me without someone forcing them to?

Lisa - We hit it off right away. She is a mom of 3. My hero. :) She's also a great cook who's originally from Chicago. Her Italian family knows how to cook and so my hope is that she'll teach me a thing or two about great Italian dishes. We've only had a few meetings, but she knows just how to make us feel at home. She and the others know what I mean when I say "family drama" and she is familiar with Joel Osteen - which gives me someone to discuss my "iPod runs" with.

Family Dynamic: Who knew that a single dining room table would bring us all much closer together? Paul and I have not bought many pieces of furniture together since we've been married, simply because it was either a gift or a hand-me-down. So, this Saturday after months of saving, looking, and speculating we set out to purchase a new dining room table and chairs. After 3 hours, we were finally sitting down all together with plenty of room and enough room to seat 6 more. We've changed our eating habits from watching TV and eating to actually spending more time in the kitchen than ever. We work here, eat here, play games here, and discuss how life is like a flower here. Ha! Just kidding! Truthfully, though, had I known it would make THAT much of a difference, we'd bought one LONG ago. :)

Books: I'm multi-reading right now. Still working on Freedom Writers, The Grapes of Wrath, and have just began reading A New Earth, Oprah's new book club book. I'm wondering, though, if I should begin reading books on tape. Then, I'd have way more time to contemplate the whole life/flower concept. :)

Life is blooming all around us. Each day that passes we are blooming into the people that we were meant to be, learning who we are, and what we are capable of doing. We should seize each moment because life changes slowly and almost without notice.