tinamsteele.com

Some have it, some don’t! Wit.

Dictionary.com defines “Wit” as ” the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure.”

It is so fun to be around people who are witty. They seem to have these clever responses that pop into their head that naturally make people laugh and put people at ease. I believe it is a sign of brilliance, intelligence, and a gift from God!

Laughter is so good for the soul. When I have students in my class who are witty, it can be both good and bad, depending on how they’ve learned to manage it. I always try to recognize it, and then help them know when it is appropriate to use it.

This morning on plurk, someone shared a new blog that brought a smile to my face. It was funny, witty, and gave me my daily dose of humor to lift my spirits!

I just had to share it with others…The Web-Betty blog. Her post today is called “The Cat Diary.”  It had me ROFLOL… Check it out and get your daily dose of fun!

Technorati Tags: mstina tinamsteele Tina M. Steele Tina M. Steele Tina Steele humor laughter funny laugh spirits betty-blog cats kittens

It’s time to Celebrate!  Christian PF is celebrating their 2nd year of blogging! And, to top it off, they are giving away a Nintedo Wii and iPod Nano 8GB!

Their site has lots of valuable information to help your personal finances, from getting out of debt to budgeting to saving your money.

You can also follow them on Twitter  at ChristianPF

Congratulations Christian PF!  May God continue to richly bless you!

Wow! I can’t believe we only have one week left of school. I have had the time of my life going back into the classroom after 8 years. Friday night was graduation. I think we had about 40 students in our graduating class. It brought tears to my eyes. Although I had a lot of freshmen this year, I did manage to have about 10 seniors.

After the ceremony they all ran up to the front of the gym and did a giant cheer, and starting hugging one another.  Then, teachers and friends starting going in and hugging them. It was great. Boys were crying as hard as the girls.

I went up and bear hugged one of my big tall cowboys that I had in class and he was just balling. He was trying to wear his sunglasses so no one would see. He had particularly touched me this year. Right before Thanksgiving he’d asked to talk to me out in the hall and told me his mom had left his dad after 17 years. It had broken my heart. He’d walked around like a little lost kid for about a month. I felt so sorry for him.

One of my other students who was co-validictorian won a $4000 scholarship. I felt like a proud mama. She works so hard and so deserves it. She wants life to be so perfect and she puts so much pressure on herself. She was emancipated this year and is living with her boyfriend’s family.

Ahh, the struggle of growing up. Watching the ninth graders mature from the beginning of the year to the end. Some have matured, and other….well, still have a ways to go!

All year long I have had a folder on the desktop of my computer entitled “Marijana.” It has driven the kids crazy. I have been downloading information in it, and videos. So many of them are users and believe in legallizing it. I decided this last week of school we will devote to discussing it.  There will be all kinds of angles we can discuss in World History, Psychology and Government classes on the use of Marijuana.

Since this has been a temporary job, I don’t know yet if I have a job at this school next year. I truly hope so. I believe I have contributed to many of these student’s lives. If not, I hope that God will put me in a position where I am supposed to be. I am totally trusting in Him. He’s never done me wrong…

I love animal stories. It always amazes me how if you treat animals with kindness, they will be loyal to you.

Everyone is talking about it…the 365 day challenge. No, it’s not to lose weight. It’s one of those fun things to do. It challenges the creative mind!

I heard about it on Twitter, I think.  It seem seems several of my network friends have joined the challenge too. I have joined the Flickr: 365 Day group. The rule is that you must take a photo of yourself and post it for 365 days. The photo has to be taken of yourself, by yourself. There are more rules and helpful tips.

Here I am on Day 1, feeling a little under the weather.

My photo stream link is here. I hope I can keep up with the challenge! They have fun games and mini-challenges as well.

Technorati Tags: 365days flickr mstina

Here I am, back in the saddle, so to speak. It’s great. I am home with my husband for Christmas break, until school starts again on January 5th.

No longer serving as a Technology Director at my old school, I am teaching at my husband’s school in northeast rural Oklahoma, almost to the Kansas border. It’s great to be back in the classroom (and back in the saddle)!

These kids are kids who either work on a farm or work on a ranch. They almost all have a slew of animals that they tend to - from chickens, to goats, to cattle, to horses, to pigs, or rabbits. Some of them show their animals and some participate in the rodeos.

A lot of them own trucks, tractors, trailors and other farm equipment that I couldn’t even name. Many of them enjoy sports - baseball, basketball, softball and of course, football - girls and boys alike.

They aren’t immune, however, to family issues, poverty, drugs, and alcohol. They still need role models. They still need someone to challenge their minds and thinking. They still need to know that someone cares about them whatever they wear, however long or short their hair is, or whether they can read “good” or not…

Yes, I am having a great time, being back in the classroom. I am not sure I ever want to go back into the world of administration - the world of politics, personal agendas, power, and the likes. For now, I am quite content to be where I know I can possibly make a difference - even if it is in one child’s life!

Technorati Tags: classroom school rural Oklahoma mstina OKUnion tinasteele saddle

We are have been studying Senses and Perspective in my H.S. Psychology Class. Now we are starting to study “behavior.” I thought it would be interesting to do a poll about each classes’ perspective on how the classes behaved while I had a sub. So I created a poll for each hour on PollDaddy.com.

I asked the following question: In your perspective, how did the ____ hour behave toward the sub? Using a score of 1 to 5, with 1 being the best behavior and 5 being the worst behavior.

My 4th hour class is a challenge class, but it is also my largest. From the scores they gave me, it was evident that they truly behaved well with the sub. 7th hour had the worst scores. They were also fairly honest. It is the worst time of the day and they usually do not want to do their work.  I found this self-evaluation of their behavior a reflection and the students also liked it too - especially when comparing the scores between classes!

I started a new job where I am teaching Government, Oklahoma History, and Psychology. Next semester I will be teaching Democracy. How cool is that? We are currently holding a mock election at our school. Students had to register to vote and on Monday, Nov. 3, 2008, we are holding our election.

In talking to a lot of the students, they are really not sure about the issues. My husband teaches art and he has been working with the students making posters discussing the issues. My students made campaign posters. We found that other students started tearing down the posters. (The same type of behavior was going on in our town with people stealing each other’s campaign signs).

Either way, I hope our students in our school have become more informed. I was on Plurk tonight and found an “election ‘08″ page and read that someone is not going to vote, but they are supporting Obama. I promptly replied that not voting was the same as voting for McCain. I believe I am telling them the truth.

I know that I am getting tired of this whole campaign, but this is our chance to have our voice be heard. I believe that you don’t have a right to complain about the government if you don’t vote.

I am not Catholic, but a friend sent me this video that I believe is something we should all consider if you are a Christian. If you do not agree with it, that is okay with me. That is what I like about this country. I absolutely love that it that you can freely speak your opinion. I have lived in Tripoli, Libya, and was evacuated during the Six-Day War.  I have experienced living in a country that harbors terrorists. (See bombing of Tripoli.) The second video expresses my opinion about how to vote.  I do not care if you agree with me or not, but please DO VOTE!

WOW!  Here I am working on my online planner and getting ready for NECC 2008. I am really excited about this year. The reason why is because the last two conferences I was blown away by all that I learned, but last year, I took away so much more. I took away tools that helped me network all year long!

I learned how to blog, and I have been using twitter and Second Life to meet a whole new network of educators and friends. I am excited because this NECC, I will be meeting some of these educators F2F! I have already met Wes Fryer in person, and a few other people, but this is the big granddaddy!

This will be my first time to visit the Blogger’s Cafe. Last year I was too intimidated to even step foot inside! This will be my first time to participate in the EdubloggerCon! (I wondered what everyone was talking about last year!)

Last year I was lucky enough to sit in a Advanced Blogging workshop by David Warlick and Chris Lehmann and it was truly awesome! These two men inspired me to become a part of the network and I have been excited about it ever since.

I have started my own ning (Career Tech 2.0), created wikis, and held workshops with teachers to share everything I learned since I came back. This year I want to learn how to use Moodle, and many, many more things that I can come back and share with everyone here at my school.

NECC here I come!  WooHoo! I am doing the Happy Dance!

Technorati Tags: necc08,mstina,wesfryer,davidwarlick,chrislehmann,blogging,twitter,moodle,