Reunions and such…

So this year marked that huge milestone for all young professionals.  It was my 10-year high school reunion.

In the weeks leading up to the reunion, I was extremely torn about the event.  A large part of me kept saying, “Wow, I’m not really old enough to have been out of HS for 10 years!”  But there was this other voice that would counter with, “There have been so many changes since HS, has it really only been 10 years?”

Now, if I really reflected on my time in high school (well, reflected honestly), I would have to say it was not my favorite period in my life.  Mine was a pretty typical school with the cliques and bonds that come with knowing the people you are in school with for your entire life.  Breaking into or out of those groups was difficult and often resulted in more headache (heartache?) than it was worth.  I was a bit of a nerd, coupled with a pretty stubborn streak of not doing something just because it was the thing to do.

So, in light of this honest reflection, I was pretty nervous to go back.  Did they still remember me as that awkward person I was then?  Have we all changed since the last time we were together?  Walking into the gathering, most of the memories of senior year rushed back to me.  The feelings, emotions, insecurities…all of these things suddenly transported me back to that nervous HS person.  We were all polite to each other with expressions of, “How are you doing?  What is new?”  It was pleasant enough, but after a while everyone settled back into the familiar groups from all those years ago.

On the way home, Stuart asked me if I had a good time.  I still can’t say with certainty one way or another.  It was nice to see everyone, but I am not wishing it had lasted longer.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to have another reunion of sorts.  One of my post-college friends got married to one of my college friends.  This created a unique set of circumstances where several of my friends from the last 10 years of my life gathered in one place to celebrate.

Not once did I worry about going to this reunion.  We laughed and talked and enjoyed each other’s company without any of those awkward silences that seem to accompany polite conversation.  We danced into the wee hours of the night, never thinking about how stupid we looked doing the Footloose dance or how many times we spun out of our partner’s hands during the two-step.

Of course, there was exclamations about how fast time goes, which of us were married, who had kids, but mostly we were still just the same people.  As was often said…older and wiser, but mostly older.

This weekend is Homecoming at Dickinson State.  This, of course, includes more reunion parties.  On Friday, we are helping to “host” the 2000’s reunion.  Then there is tailgating, the game, and the traditional trip to the Spur on Saturday.  Then, on Sunday, there is the new tradition of Perkins for breakfast before we all go off to our adult lives.  Again, there is no trepidation, just anticipation for a fun-filled weekend.

Amazing what 10 years will do, or not do, to your memories

How healthy is your information diet?

Like many educators I know, I have been researching how to use technology in the classroom in an effort to reach today’s digital student.  We are looking at tools like Google Docs, Twitter, cell phones, blogs, wikis, and other tools as possible ways to engage students.

In my research, I came across an article which detailed a study done by a 15-year-old student named Matthew Robson.  In it he concludes that students don’t have much use for technology unless is provides a tangible benefit at a very low (read: free) cost to the user.  This part of the article reaffirms my belief that we cannot add technology without substance.  Without a benefit, students will see through this as just another attempt by an out-of-touch teacher.

The part of the study that really interested me was the fact that students have streamlined their technology consumption.  Students are not interested in simply being connected.  They don’t use digital media to seek out as much information as they can when they can find a summary of the topic from a single source.  In addition, they are not watching TV passivelyor as a way spend down time.  They watch TV with a purpose, most often recording specific shows or viewing online, to enable skipping commercials or eliminating other unwanted interruptions.

This makes me believe that students have become better than adults at weeding out the unnecessary or irrelevant.  Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, has defined this as the Low-Information Diet.  The idea is that we can only use information when it is immediately necessary or relevant to the task at hand.

Let me bring this back around to my point.  Integrating tools or gadgets, just for the sake of technology, will not work to engage today’s student any more than worksheets and quizzes.  It must have a purpose.  It must be seamless.  It must relevant.

Please indulge my obsession over Twitter with another poll:

You are my hero today!

“Thank you so much!  You are my hero today!”

Have you ever heard yourself say these words?  Have you ever felt them, but didn’t express it to the person you felt it about?  Have you ever been told it, but scoffed at the idea?

For me, it is an expression I have used for a long time.  Whenever someone does something that makes my life easier, solves a problem I have been struggling with, or finds the answer to my question, I find these words to be my way of saying thank you.  Usually the person who helped laughs at me and says whatever they did was no problem.  What they don’t understand is that I really do feel like they are a hero in that moment or for that day.

I believe we have a skewed vision of what a hero really is.  We think of only the first definition of the word, “a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability,” rather than the second, “a person admired for his/her achievements and noble qualities.”  (For those of you avid “Heroes” fans, of course the word conjures a blond cheerleader and a man stops time by shaking his cheeks.)

Recently I have been hearing the phrase, “I wish I could do that, but I just don’t have time,” more often.  It usually pertains to professional development, but I digress.  The reality is that our lives are very busy and we have the majority of our minutes planned from the time our alarm clock goes off to the time we finally pull the covers up at night.  I believe that this rigid schedule makes those people who offer their time or services to help me out during their busy day even more noble and worthy of the title.  My purpose in telling these people that they are my hero is that I believe they have great ability, one which I do not possess at the moment, and that they did save me from whatever impending disaster was looming.

What is the point of this commentary?  I have people in my life that really do make a difference to me everyday and I hope that I recognize these people when they enter my life and thank them properly.  I also hope that by doing so, I can recognize exactly how much of an impact I can make on someone else’s day by stopping my busy schedule to help them out.

In the last seven days, I have had several heroes:  My Mom and Dad who help out with everything around the house and without whom our yard would be a giant mud pit right now;  The tech people at BPS who have helped me with issues ranging from a spell checking error (bad news for someone who constantly misspells simple words like available) to writing submission programs for my website; Stuart, who constantly reminds me I am capable of doing whatever I have decided to do even when I don’t believe it myself.  I hope I have expressed my gratitude to the current heroes and will continue to do so for my future heroes.

May Day

Happy May Day!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am saddened by the loss of tradition on May Day.  Do any of you remember putting together little baskets of candy, knocking on doors, and running like crazy so you didn’t get caught?  I have fond memories of this day, but I appear to be in the minority.

Here is what I found on Wikipedia regarding May Day in the United States:

May Day was also celebrated by some early European settlers of the American continent. In some parts of the United States, May Baskets are made. These baskets are small and usually filled with flowers or treats and left at someone’s doorstep. The basket giver would ring the bell and run away. The person receiving the basket would try to catch the fleeing giver. If they caught the person, a kiss was to be exchanged.

So my challenge to all of you is to come up with some way to celebrate this year’s May Day.  I have some links to websites with ideas for all age ranges:

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/mayholidays/l/blmaydcn.htm

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/mayholidays/l/blmaydpl.htm

http://www.alphamom.com/holiday/2009/04/may_day_basket_idea.php

http://marriage.about.com/od/maydaycelebration/a/mayday.htm

Also, I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my Uncle Dirk!  He’s a May Day Baby!

The Savelkoul Report

First, shame on me!  I just looked and it has been over a month since I wrote anything in this blog.  Believe me, I am sorry about this!

I thought I would do a quick recap of what we have been up to over the last month.  If you are interested, keep reading.  If you are not, or already know this stuff, I promise to have a more interesting post up soon.

The end of March brought some really crazy weather to North Dakota.  Bismarck experienced some flooding near the river and there were some houses that had nearly 6 feet of water in them.  Our new house was located in a voluntary evacuation area.  We spent some time moving things up to higher ground and had a police officer knock on our door to tell us we would need to leave if things started shifting for the worse.  I have to admit, that is a weird feeling.  We found out that the reverse 911 system doesn’t work for us since we do not have a land line.  I guess I finally discovered something to put in the pro column for land lines!  Thankfully we stayed dry and had no issues in the house.

The end of March/beginning of April marked the long awaited trip to England for Mom and Dad Fischer.  They finally got to go over and visit our friends in northern England and spent some time in London.  From all the pictures and stories they came back with, they must have had a good time!  While they were gone, we were dealing with Mother Nature’s idea of a funny joke.  On top of all the flooding, we received a blizzard that resulted in at least 1 snow day for Bismarck Public Schools.  This also caused our snow banks along the driveway to be taller than Stuart, so shoveling was an interesting process.

On Easter weekend, we added a new member to the Savelkoul side of the family.  Savannah and Chris welcomed Elliott Randall on April 10th.  Born about 3 weeks early and coming in at 6 lbs. and 6 oz., he was a big surprise to the new Mom and Dad.  Because he was born so early, he had to spend some time at the hospital, but he is home now and everyone is doing great.  We couldn’t be happier for Savannah and Chris!  Stuart was able to go down to Rapid City and be there when he was born.  It was great for him to be able to meet his newest nephew and spend some time with his family.

The last two weeks have been quite crazy for me at work.  The federal state-wide grant wrapped up the end of February and I was able to submit the final report the end of April.  It feels great to review the accomplishments for 5 years of work and to have the project completed.  The end of April also brought the conclusion of the state funded state-wide grant.  After hosting the spring workshop, I was rejuvenated with hopes of changes and technology integration in classrooms all over North Dakota.

Stuart has been busy since January with the legislative session.  There have been some weeks were our paths haven’t crossed until late at night.  There have been many people who question how he can enjoy such a job, but I can tell that he really does like what he is doing.  They are starting the last week of the session, so the flurry of activity at the capitol is increasing.  Please keep Stuart in your thoughts as they hammer out the last details of the bills.

Well, I think that’s a wrap…you are now quite caught up on the lives of the Savelkouls!

Six Word Story

I know that I already wrote about this in Facebook, so I am sorry if you are reading about it again.

Recently, I have become a Twitter junkie.  I follow everyone who remotely captures my interest.  This includes both the people I know and the people wish I knew.  Because of this, I started following John Mayer’s Twitter feed.  The guy is really funny and incredibly insightful.

Not too long ago Mr. Mayer posted something about the “Six Word Story.”  He said the idea was for people to write a story in six words, no more and no less.  I didn’t know much about this idea, so I went to trusty Google to check it out.  I found some fascinating stuff.

Essentially, the idea came from Ernest Hemingway.  In the 1920s, his colleagues bet him that he couldn’t write a complete story in just six words.  The result: “For sale: baby shoes, never used.”   They paid up.  Hemingway is said to have considered it his best work.

I also found a few websites devoted entirely to these Six Word Stories:

http://www.sixwordstories.net/

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html

This has really had me thinking over the last few days.  What would my Six Word Story be?  What would yours be?  How can I work this into a meaningful classroom project?

As always, please feel free to post in the comments!  I would love to hear some of your stories.

PS:  I am pretty sure this is my autobiographical Six Word Story:  Trying to learn more about everything.

Educating vs. Training

I have been throwing these two terms around in my head for quite a while:  Educating and Training.  I actually think that is why there hasn’t been a blog post in here in over a month.  I’ve been trying to figure out just what it is that I do every day and whether it is the right way to do it. 

The best description I have heard regarding the difference between these two terms came from Applied Engineering.  It went something like this, “In schools, would you rather have your kids be educated about safe sex or trained in safe sex.”

I work under the umbrella of Career and Technical Education.  I believe that we ride the line between training and educating every day.  Some argue that the purpose of CTE classes is to train individuals with life and/or career skills.  Some argue that we should be educating students and that training happens as a consequence of the education.  I find myself believing in the “educating” track more often these days.

Training students in Business Education would look something like this:  I would sit them in front of a computer and give them step-by-step instructions on how to manipulate documents in Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.  to prepare them for a standardized test.  I would provide them how-to and basic guidelines to writing business communications with a vague explanation regarding the why.  I would give them accounting rules, ledgers, and transactions in isolation with very little discussion about how those transactions affect the rest of the company.

Uh oh…this is what I do!  I guess while I wasn’t paying a lot of attention, I became the teacher I didn’t want to be.

I really want to get my curriculum back to educating students about business.  I want to teach things like management theory, business communications, financial analysis, and entrepreneurship.  In discussing these overarching business concepts, I can teach students how to utilize their keyboarding skills, produce documents in the appropriate software, and hone their communication skills.  I want to prepare students for a job in any business, for a 2-year degree in office administration, for a 4-year degree in business administration.

To do this, I need to make massive changes to the “way things have been done.”  I know as a first year teacher I often took the easy road because I didn’t have time to do it any other way.  However, that has to stop now.  We have a district-wide curriculum meeting later this month and I really want to come out of that meeting with all 8 of us on the same page about what we can do to educate students about business.

I want to leave the training up to the businesses who hire these well-educated students.

The “25 Things About Me” Post

I am going to post this in Facebook, so that I can do the “tagging” thing, and here in my blog.  I apologize for it ending up in Facebook twice.

1.  I’m a sucker for all “About Me” lists like this, hence this posting of my very own list.

2.  My favorite shopping experiences involves office supplies and/or office furniture.  Take me to Staples and I’ll be entertained for hours and come home with things I really don’t need but will look really cool sitting on my desk.

3.  I love to read and often have several books going at the same time.  Many people are confused by this, but I think it’s similar to watching a few different TV program.  When you pick up the book (tune in), you just jump in with the characters right where you left them last.

4.  I really have no desire to live anywhere outside North Dakota.  I talk a big game about moving overseas or some place warmer, but I don’t think I could do it for very long.

5.  Every time I have a bad experience, I think back to the cappuccino incident of 2000 and try to decide if it is worse.  If it is, I can officially dub it “The Worst Experience of my Life.”

6.  I will always be loyal to Dickinson State.  Even though many of my acquaintances feel the need to tell me what is wrong with DSU and I have since graduated from another institution, I will always feel proud to be a part of the Bluehawk family.

7.  I really want to go sky diving someday.  I think the rush would be incredible and I have never done anything that dangerous.

8.  I never want to go bungee jumping.  The sudden jerk back up would cause a violent reaction in my stomach that no one wants to see.

9.  I feel torn between my two interests.  I love education and want to learn everything I can about assessment and curriculum design.  I also find business strategy and case studies to be fascinating.  I wish there were a doctoral program that would allow me to combine these two and that there were a job that would let me do both.  I haven’t even seen a job that I could use as a model for getting my skills and experience in order.

10.  I had my first major crush on Neil Patrick Harris.  I have since watched a few episodes of Doogie Howser, M.D. and still kind of understand why.

11.  I have become more introverted as I have gotten older.  I am no longer the bright-eyed college student who could walk into a room and start chatting up people.  Because of this, Bismarck sometimes feels like a lonelier place than Dickinson ever did.

12.  I enjoy having a small group of very close friends rather than a large group of acquaintances.  I know that the people I talk to most often would do anything for me and that is an incredible comfort.

13.  I really enjoy being a student and want back to school.  If I could continue taking classes for the rest of my life, I would do it.  I am afraid of the debt that would accompany it, which is the major reason I haven’t just enrolled in a doctoral program.

14.  I enjoy teaching junior high and college students more than high school students.  I’m not exactly sure why this is, but it is becoming more evident.

15.  I worry that I have not adequately prepared for my retirement.  Even though I am not yet 30, I have a compulsive need to save.

16.  I have always wished I was more creative.  I have tried to explore that part of my brain (playing guitar, doodling, foreign languages, sketching, photography, creative writing, singing), but it never seems to hold my interest the way TV or reading does.

17.  When I was younger, I pretended to have “students” in my “classroom” and they always had the right answers.  I don’t ever remember saying to my imaginary students, “Well, let’s look at this in a different way.”

18.  I love, love, love the Pride & Prejudice story.  I have read the book 3 times and have seen both the 6-hour BBC miniseries and the new movie more times than I should.

19.  The feeling of seat warmers is one of my least favorite in the world.  After being cold (the only time you use the seat warmers) the heat feels like I wet my pants and that is not a pleasant feeling.

20.  I know that I have been very fortunate in my career and I am concerned that it will not always be like this.  Since my grant funding is coming to an end, I worry that I won’t find a job that is as fulfilling as this one has been.

21.  I get home-sick and have since I was a little kid.  I never liked the idea of staying more than one night away from the comfort of my own bed and my family.  I tolerate it better now in that I don’t call anyone crying to come and pick me up, but I still prefer to be at home.

22.  I think that everyone deserves the right to really celebrate his/her birthday.  Thanks to Mom and Dad for making our birthdays a big deal.  I truly believe that, if I ever manage my own business, I will give all of my employees their birthday as a floating holiday.

23.  I am excited to have kids and hope that I can be the kind of parent I want to be.  I am thankful that I have excellent role models for this.

24.  I really like jazz music, but can’t tell the difference between good jazz and bad jazz.  I just find the sound of the saxophone to be an incredibly soothing sound.

25.  I like all thinks pumpkin.  Whether it’s the smell or the flavor, I would like to have it around me all the time.

And we are in!

No pressure, no diamonds.  ~ Mary Case ~

I sure hope this is true because this journey toward home ownership has not been without its pressure and struggles.

We finally closed on the house on Tuesday afternoon.  After a storm of paperwork and signatures, we were handed the house keys.  We immediatly set out to spend as much money as we could in a single day.  We ordered the washer and dryer and all of the window coverings.  We found that spending money is really not so difficult!  It’s the waiting for delivery that tests just how much you want the things you are buying.

On Wednesday, I took my very first “personal” day from teaching and spent it getting all of our accounts in order and unpacking.  Wednesday afternoon, the movers came to take all of our furniture to the house.  I must admit that this was the one bright spot in the move.  They were very fast and got everything in one load.  In less than 2 hours, they had everything packed, unpacked, and placed where we wanted it in the house.

Then came the challenge of putting it all away.  This is an interesting phenomonon.  When we looked at the house, we were drawn to its space.  The living room was very spacious with its open floor plan and tall ceilings.  However, as we started adding furniture, the space seemed to get smaller and smaller.  Bottom line, if we want a dining room table, I do not get my roll top desk or ellipical machine.Next came the closets.  The master closet seemed HUGE, but in reality we don’t have much more room than we did before.  Silly me and all my shoes and sweaters.  I sure do take up a lot of room!  The spare room closets are also pretty small.  We will see what we can cram in there, but storage in the garage is going to be a must this spring.Of course, due to all the changes in the schedules, we had to scramble to get internet and TV installed today.  Internet proved to go pretty smoothly.  However, it doesn’t play nice with sattellite TV.  The guys are still here running cables and installing additional jacks.  Good times!

I have included a new gallery of photos below.  Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments.

Thank you flowers

Moving In

Moving In 2

Kitchen stack

Misc Boxes and Boxes and Boxes

How should the bed go?

Krissy and Mom putting away the kitchen

Living room

Living room

Man room…den…spare room…

Hanging out in the closet

Mom measuring for a rug

Home Buyer Blues

I was hoping to write a post this afternoon about the wonders of being home owners.  I had it all planned out…pictures of the closing, moving in, and first pizza party in the new place.  All of that came to a screeching halt yesterday afternoon.  Let me fill you in.

There had been some minor snags in the closing process, but we thought we had them all taken care of about a week ago.  Then the mysterious “underwriters” called on Wednesday at 4:00 PM to say that I needed to obtain some records from my bank regarding two deposits.  OK, I say.  I have always had pretty good luck with US Bank.  I called them, only to find out that anything done by ATM is not kept on file anywhere but the central ATM Processing Department.  They microfiche everything and hold it hostage for at least 24 hours before we can access the documentation.  I proceeded to call every branch and the Customer Service line repeatedly to try and find out how to put a rush order on my request.  Apparently there is no such thing.  We waited in agony for the documents to be faxed to us and they came in just under the wire yesterday afternoon.

I raced over, triumphant, with documentation in hand, only to find out that we had another problem.  The appraiser had made two errors on the appraisal report.  These were minor errors that did not affect the overall meaning of the appraisal.  However, he cannot be reached to make the corrections.  The appraiser is also a home builder and is currently in Las Vegas at the home builders convention.  Apparently cell phones, email, pagers, twitter, and all the other communications mediums do not actually work in Sin City.  If this report is not corrected this morning and sent to those crafty “underwriters,”  we cannot close on the loan.

I understand that the banking industry got into a lot of trouble recently and are now cracking down on people buying homes.  I just don’t think it should be happening to us.  Don’t they know that Stuart and I are good people and are worthy of this new home?  Don’t they know that we had plans to move over the weekend and this will throw a major wrench in everything I had so meticulously planned?  I don’t even know who “they” are, but I can tell you that I’m not happy with “them” at the moment.

I have to admit, I am not as angry with everyone as I may appear in this post.  I’m frustrated at the system and the fact that these things are out of my control.  I don’t like it when I have done everything that was asked of me and I still can’t get what I want.  That’s probably more of the problem than anything else.  Why can’t I just fix it?

Anyway, rant over.  I will keep everyone posted on the progress over the next couple of days.