Thing #3

In my future classroom or teacher education program I might use a blog to reflect on my experiences as a teacher and described what worked and what did not work in the classroom. It would be a good place to share my experience with other inexperiences teachers, as well as experienced ones. I think it would also help me establish the way I want to run my classroom and how to handle different situations. I can use a blog to gain insight and advise from other teachers and as I gain my own share it with others. Also, a blog will allow me to communicate with parents and post imporant information about the class. There are more benifits to blogging than I realized before looking at EduBlog Insights on the web. I can see myself really getting into the world of blogging.

Thing #2

I had decided on my posting name and the name of my blog by trying to keep it simple. The project was called 23 things and I just thought that was the best way to go and include my last name. However, after looking at other blogs and seeing the names they came up with I felt compelled to rethink mine. I just changed it to The Wylie Things so it would still have my last name but be a bit more interesting. Also, I wanted to make it something I could remember easily. I found creating the blog fairly easy and fun, but creating the avatar was confusing. It took me longer to add the avatar than set-up the blog and write thing #1. I would not say my avatar reflects my personality because as the saying goes  "you cannot judge a book by its cover". I did try to make it look as close to my real self as I could. I guess that could be a refection on my personality because I have always been a fan of blending in rather than standing out.

Thing #1

It is easy to forget that we are all lifelong learners, especially for me. After reading through the pointers for lifelong learners and the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, I have discovered that the easiest habit for me is accepting responsibility for my own learning. I have always known that how much I learned in school and in life was a hundred percent within my control and every grade or outcome was a refelction of my efforts. No one else was responsible for my success but me. The hardest habit, on the other hand, is having confidence in my ability to be a competent and effective learner when I can see what knowledge I lack, how difficult retaining information can be, and the things I have forgotten overtime. I have been referred to as "the smart one" before, but often felt that it is was a rather inaccurate description of myself. I realize I need to start believing more in the "I will, I can, I do" attitude that is mentioned in the 7 1/2 Habits tutorial. Also, that I can look more clearly at how past experiences have taught me inportant lessons and skills like being responsible and that every once in a while it is okay to put myself first.