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One Voice United Rally on June 8

Posted on May 23, 2013 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I am a teacher. That is what I tell people when they ask me what I do. While I may not be in a classroom at this moment, the educator in me is constantly working. Lesson plan ideas, classroom management concepts, and fun facts are always running through my mind.

The reality is I miss many items outside of my own classroom. I miss…

being in a classroom and watching children learn
seeing the smiles on a child’s face when he/she learns a new concept and they are so proud
creating inventive ways to help different children to reach their academic potentials
being part of an educational community as a teacher
working side by side with other amazing educational professionals

Unfortunately, the world of education has changed a lot over the last 5-10 years. The Race to the Top funding and the push for Common Core Curriculum has caused a dramatic shift in what classroom time looks like. Children in New York State and around the country are constantly getting ready for one test or another, taking one of what seems like a million tests, or being stressed about what their test results may mean for their schools/teachers. The reality is that your children and mine are paying the price. Creative and authentic learning environments are a thing of the past. We are teaching to the tests. Kids are becoming little robots that are taught how to highlight key phrases, pull apart a topic, and answer questions that may not even have a correct choice.

I have a lot more to say on this topic, but right now I am biting my tongue a bit. Rather than rant and rave here, I am working with parents and teachers to get the word out. I want our voices to be heard. Thanks to this, my family will be joining others on June 8 at the Empire State Plaza for the One Voice United Rally Together. Why rally? Here is a video from Peter DeWitt on the NYSUT website that answers the question.

As an educator, tax payer, and most importantly a parent I will be there with my entire family showing my boys that I will fight for their right to the education that they deserve. My children are more than a number. My 4th grader should not lose eight days to the ELA, Math, and Science tests, plus other hours for benchmark exams, and countless days spent preparing for these high stakes test. I should not have to hear my KINDERGARTENER come home worried about a test that he took on a computer. He should not fear tests and have to worry about this as he starts out his academic journey. His focus should be on reading, writing, learning math concepts, making friends, and enjoying school. Sad to say, his teachers are not to blame.

New York State needs to wake up, see what they are doing to our children and stop the insanity. For more information about the rally on June 8, please head to the information page from NYSUT. I will leave you with this PDF from NYSUT about the rally that you can download and share with others here.

I urge more people from throughout New York to make a trip to Albany in a little over two weeks to teach your children a valuable lesson.

Categories:
Educational local event PSA

Character Movie Stars at Walt Disney World

Posted on May 22, 2013 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Bumping into movie stars happens every day when you visit Walt Disney World. I mean it. You can literally see stars from Disney movies around every corner of all four parks. Over the years, the boys have met countless famous faces while visiting Orlando. Check out how they have grown up and learned to love their Disney friends.

Be sure to stop by Focused on the Magic by clicking on the button above to join in the Disney magic this week.

Categories:
Disney travel vacation

Tuesday Tales – Reading with OverDrive Media App

Posted on May 21, 2013 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

While I love to read paper books and eBooks, there are times when I really enjoy listening to a book. Audio books have come a long way. Where you used to have to listen to books on multiple CDs, you can now get MP3 and other formats to purchase or borrow from libraries. As I have written before, check and see if your local library has a digital lending area. The Upper Hudson Library System does, as well as the New York Public Library. I often browse both collections for new reads on the go.

Over the weekend, when my son was sick, I wanted to listen to a book while he watched a movie. This allowed me to crochet and hear something. The first thing I did was to reinstall the OverDrive Media Console for Android onto my new phone.

Once I had the app, I knew that I wanted to add a book. I clicked on the “Get Books” icon at the top right and proceeded to add in my accounts with the two library systems. Now, when I am on the go, I can use my 4G LTE connection or Wi-fi to download new books on my account.

From here, your experience will be slightly different depending on the library that you are visiting. On the NY Public Library landing page you can select the type of book that you would like to search. I typically do an advanced search. Here I can select MP3 audiobooks that are available to download now. I can also specify publishers, genre, and more. As you can see, simply looking for MP3 audiobooks that were available now gave me a large number of options that was a bit overwhelming.

Thanks to my GoodReads list, I saw a book title that looked familiar. Sure enough they had Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster. I selected the title, checked it out, and within seconds it was downloading to my phone. Once you select your book to listen to, you can see the player and navigation pages below.

When you need to stop, you simply pause and close the app. The next time you begin and press the play button it will begin right where you left off.

Have you ever used the OverDrive Media App? I would love to know if you have any audiobook suggestions. As always, Tuesday Tales is about spreading love for books. Please share what you have read recently. Be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else.

Disclosure: I used the Lucid 2 by LG phone that I received as a member of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers to assist me with this post. All pictures were taken via the QuickMemo™ on the phone. As a member of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers, I share ways that I use my cell phone to make life easier. There is no other compensation. I am a long time Verizon customer, and all opinions are my own.

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Categories:
books Phone Apps Technology Tuesday Tales

Transporting Never Land Pirates Cupcakes

Posted on May 20, 2013 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Making cupcakes is easy to do and I adore decorating them. My problem over the years has always been in doing all of the preparations at home and then transporting the finished cupcakes in one piece to the destination of choice. In the past, I would I often bake the cupcakes at home and then take them to finish off the frosting and such in the location they were going to be displayed in.

This all ended last year when I finally took the advice of a friend and bought a cupcake courier that would transport 36 fully decorated sweet treats on the go. The first time I used it was to transport my son’s Kermit the Frog cupcakes to his family birthday party at the lake.

JSL’s birthday was last week and he wanted me to make pirate cupcakes to bring to his kindergarten classmates. We picked out some Jake and the Never Land Pirate rings to put on top for each of the kids. To make sure I had enough for all of the children, teachers, and other staff members that we may see, 36 would need to make the trek to school. I made the cupcakes the day before and allowed them to cool. I stored them right in the cupcake courier and moved the trays around as I was ready to decorate each dozen. It made for an easy system where I could pipe frosting, add sprinkles, and place a Jake and the Never Land Pirates ring on top.

A short time later, I was able to grab the entire container and place them into the car. I made it to school with minimal cupcake damage (some frosting that was piped slid off a few). The best part was seeing JSL’s face and watching him gobble up the treat with his friends.

I now know that the courier purchase last year was one of the best investments ever. I do not have to worry about making cupcakes and taking them places. I can bake, make them, and go.

Categories:
baking birthday food glorious food

Using the WordPress App to Blog on the Go

Posted on May 17, 2013 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Disclosure: As a member of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers, I recently received a Lucid 2 by LG to try and share ways that I use my cell phone to make life easier. This blog post utilizes the Lucid 2’s QuickMemo™ to share images of apps. There was no other compensation. I am a long time Verizon customer, and all opinions are my own.

When I travel, I typically have posts written and scheduled ahead of time. Sometimes, I write them and have also had some amazing guest writers over the years. Still, I have found myself at Walt Disney World or other locations with something that I want to blog at that moment. In the past, I was limited to using my laptop if I brought it with me. While I prefer to blog with Windows Live Writer, I am flexible when I need to be. Thanks to my smartphones, I am able to use the WordPress app for Android and I can publish at any time with my 4G LTE connection via Verizon Wireless.

The fist time I used this app was when we were at the Disney Social Media Moms celebration last April. I wanted to share some of the magical memories that we were having. Since I did not bring my Laptop (TechyDad had his), I used my phone. My post, Moving to Disney World, proved to me that mobile blogging is a possibility when I need it. When you look at that post, you can not really tell that it was done on the fly unless you notice the different watermarking and way that the photos are set up. Another example is Fantastic Memories from the same trip.

If you have never used the WordPress App it is really easy to install. Once you have it on your phone, you simply select if you have a WordPress.com blog, want a new blog, or use a self hosted WordPress blog like mine. Once you log in, you will have a dashboard of current published posts on the screen.

When you want to write a post, you simply press the “+” that you see in the screen shot above in the upper right corner. A blank post post will appear and it really does look like a smaller and more simple version of the WordPress publishing page. It took me a little while to remember how to use it since I use Live Writer to write, edit, and schedule my posts.

You simply go section by section through the screen. Give the post a title, then compose everything and add media from your phone, type in tags, and set other options the way you want them established.

Of course, the WordPress app also allows you to work with other items on your blog while out and about. From the main screen, you can open a menu by sliding your finger to the right to open up additional features. An item that TechyDad and I have had to use in the past is the comment area. If we get an e-mail about a comment and it is clearly spam, we can use this app to go in, mark it as spam and move on. Before we had smartphones, those comments would have to stay on our blogs unless we had computer access.

There is a lot more that you can do with the WordPress app, but these are some of the highlights. I know that I hope to use this app a lot more this summer while exploring new and fun locations with my family. Have you ever blogged on the go using the WordPress app? I would love to hear your experience.