Concept Map Activity - Intro to Cooking 101 Class

On the second day of Cooking 101 class I would like to take my students to the computer lab and have them work in pairs to create a concept map surrounding the following question:  What is needed for Success in Cooking?  Through this activity, I am hoping to widen their perspective beyond just opening a package of frozen pizza rolls and popping them in the oven.  I have created an example of what they might come up with below.

I also found a very cool Nutrition Concept Map already made up to help students understand the difference between Nutrients and the Food Groups.

Google Maps & Grocery Shopping

I would like my Cooking 101 students to spend a day in the lab researching the cost of grocery shopping based on:  how far away the store is, the price of gas, and the sales available in that weeks ad.  Students could start by following the link below to the Google Map I have created and find the distance to any 4 main grocery stores that their family prefers to shop, possibly Family Fare, Meijer, Aldi and Target.  They they could find the distance from their house for each and find out what the current price of gas is.  They could ask their parent/guardian what the gas mileage is for the car that mostly drives to the store and figure the cost per trip for each store.  Then I would have them type out some discussion question such as:  Why would it be better to make a shopping list and buy groceries once a week compared to running out whenever you need something?  Why would it be good to look at all store ads before planning grocery shopping list?  Does you parent/guardian drive by these stores on the way to or from work?  How could this make a difference?  Does your family think shopping at Walmart, Costco or GFS is beneficial?  Why or why not?  The next day we would have a discussion concerning the information they gathered.


View Grocery Shops near Jenison

Everywhere I Go - My Delicous Bookmarks Will Follow

As the Delicious website reported, the Web is a big place full of new and interesting things to discover;  the problem is keeping track of what you have found.  Here is where I will be bookmarking my favorites. http://www.delicious.com/Mervenne .  I am experimenting with hooking up my Internet Explorer Favorites with Delicious.  Anyone tried this yet?

Great Podcast for Internet Safety Education

I found a great Education-focused Podcast from a site called Internet Safety Project to keep me up to date on Internet Safety issues.  http://www.internetsafetypodcast.com/   The Internet Safety Project is a non-profit venture at Brigham Young University dedicated to educating parents, teachers, and teens about the benefits and risks of technology. Their goal is to make solutions to technical issues accessible in an educational, entertaining, and useful way.

I lead a club at the junior high called the K.I.K. Club.  (Kids Impacting Kids)  It is very similar to a S.A.D.D. chapter.  The K.I.K. club memebers run a one week long Interenet Safety Campaign each year.  I'm sure I will be able to glean some good information from this Podcast subscription.   To understand the mission of this website check out their Home Page at:  http://www.internetsafetyproject.org/about.

Hotels Near Jenison Public Schools Aquatic Center/Natatorium

All 4 of my children were swimmers in high school.  My youngest son now swims for Olivet College.  We hold many big district finals at our fabulous swimming facilities at Jenison High School.  I included a map of hotels available in the area for those who will be staying for the 3 day event.  More inforation can also be found at:  http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Hotels+near+Jenison+Public+Schools,+Grandville,+MI&hl=en&sll=42.92479,-85.73282&sspn=0.113129,0.165482&z=13



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My Grandson's Favorite Veggie Tales Silly Song

I love to watch Jackson watch this movie short and giggle.  It is important that Grandma is ready to sing with him and do the pushing and pulling at the right time in the song.  Check it out  (especially if you have an SUV!)  and see if it makes you smile too ; )

VeggieTales - VeggieTales: The SUV Song
http://www.youtube.com/embed/lClV1k0ucKc

Favorite Koppenhofer Family Reunion Photo

This year the family reunion did not take place at Bay Point Inn as usual but instead in Saginaw Michigan as we celebrated  a "Life Well Lived" of our dearly missed Aunt Beverly who went to be with our Father God on July 7, 2011.  What a celebration it was!  We will miss her dearly!   

Photo Sharing Up and Running!

Had a new tech-adventure today setting up a Flickr Account and uploading some fun summer photos of the grandkids.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  You can see them at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mervennec/

URL - Individual Class Blogs

Thanks for everyone's help at getting this to work for me.

URL - Individual Class Blogs
http://edt5410summer22011.pbworks.com/w/page/41521153/FrontPage

My RSS Feed is up and running!

I'm working to get everything linked together on my blog.  I am thankful I have completed all of the tasks for week 2 except the responses that are due Sunday.  I'm not sure if my RSS Feed has a simple main page, it always comes up with all of the information for me to read.  It looks cluttered.

Some of my favorites are:  
Netsmartz/
Plugged In

Struggling with 2 gmail accounts

My dilemma today is trying to get all of my tools for this class under one gmail account.  As I fumbled through at the beginning I didn't realize my school gmail account was for my blog and my personal gmail account was for my RSS and Wiki.  I tried having two administrators but I am afraid to delete the one as they suggested I could.  I also tried signing up for being able to switch between the two with no apparant luck.  Any tips out there?

Wiki Site up and Running!

Wow!  That took me a while but I worked through it.  I think the videos are hilarious and exactly what I need to make the process understandable.  Here is the link to my wiki site: http://cmervenne.pbworks.com/w/page/42078183/Computer-Imagination

July 1, 2011 - What about Technology in the Classroom

Technology is here to stay in schools.  It seems it’s now a matter of how will we use it for the good to foster learning.  I teach at a junior high and without direction and supervision you can imagine where those kids try to go when they hurry through an assignment or have free time in the media center or computer lab.  Students report being more attentive when their teacher uses a clicker and a power point presentation to teach rather than the old lecture using the white board and overhead.  Students may be more engaged if the teacher uses video streaming rather than a DVD or VHS.  Students really seem like it when teachers create their own interactive exercises using game makers or content generators.  My daughters both use, interactive whiteboards to accomplish the early elementary goals.  I could see teachers using podcasts, blogs and wiki sites to engage their learners.  It is controversial to use social networks sites for learning but there are those that are more conducive to education and can be set up with a closed group.  The big step for our high school is how to build the bridge between learning and allowing students to use their own gadgets such as smart phones and IPods.

No doubt we are not going back words with technology.  People bring their lap tops to church to take notes and tweet question after the sermon.  Why shouldn’t students be bringing their lap tops to school to do the same?  If we don’t keep up with our average student technology users we are going to start losing some credibility and quality attentiveness.

  I believe districts need to help bring teachers on board gradually with their expectations for technology use.  Younger teachers and the technology savvy are all over this subject and glide easily into using it.  Veteran teachers often find it hard to forsake their old ways of teaching and might just resist and choose to coast out and do the bare minimum requires such as grades on Power School and checking their email.  I am a veteran teacher and feel behind.  I know there is more out there I could be using but it takes time and practice to make it natural.  I’m glad I have patient colleagues and classes to help me along.

As Postman mentioned in his article, "Of Ludities, Learning, and Life". we need to stay focused on growing the learner as a whole not just feeding them the information and hoping they catch it by comparing their test scores.  We need great classroom discussions and role modeling of how to behave in groups and to be a good citizen of your school, family and local community. 

I also agree with what Reigeluth concluded in his article, "Beyond Technplogy Integration:  The Case for Technology Transformaion.  He said it needs to be beyond just technology integration.  It must involve educators transforming their teaching and student learning with the creative use of technologies as part of their lessons and that technology should be used if it is really helping educators to accomplish their lesson objectives not just to be hip and fill time.