Thing 3

     Last semester, I had a group project to do. Given that we all lived far away from each other, one way we stayed in contact was through the use of our AP onestop discussion board which acts (in a way) as a small scale blog. There was never a time when we weren't all more than a few clicks and key strokes away from each other if there was ever a problem. Thanks to that, we were able to put together a fantastic final presentation. Somehow, I expect that I will have to use that feature in future group projects. 

     Likewise, I think that blogs would be very useful as an aide for high school students learning a foreign language. When I was in high school, one of the things I loved about my French class was that we hardly ever had homework. Looking back on that, I know now that she never gave us homework because she knew that most parents wouldn't be able to help with it even if they were willing to help to begin with. Through the use of blogs, I would be able to have an open dialogue with students that need help in a specific facet of French and give a little more work to those who might need a little extra challenge. I have heard from a lot of people (including teachers) that every student needs an IEP. Blogging, while not perfect, is a step in the right direction of allowing students to work at their own pace and be more involved in their own education. 

thing 2

    Before now, I had only had one prior experience in blogging. But, to be fair, it wasn't really a success. Back when it was still popular in America, I had a Myspace account. Mostly, I wrote about sports and cars. My first ever blog post was a rant about how ridiculous lowered trucks and jacked up cars are. Compared to this experience, setting up my Myspace was really easy. Writing blogs came quite naturally to me because I have a tendency to rant, and, blogging acted as an outlet for certain things that I like to rant about... like sports and cars. Later on, it became a way to stay in touch with my friends and family along with a kind of journal that I could always go to when I had something on my mind during troubled times.

      I think the difficulties I had in setting up this blog, though, stem, primarily from my frustration of having so many new accounts to keep up with that began last semester in 2100. By the end of this semester (right when I will no longer be required to keep some of these accounts active) I should be a lot less stressed about all of it. The main problem I have been having is with syncing all of my accounts together. For some reason, when I synced my Yahoo, Gmail, and Blogger accounts, my passwords all changed. But, that could very well have happened while I was in some sort of zombie like state of fatigue thanks to the stress that every new semester seems to always bring to me.

     I am very direct. What you see is what you get. So, it makes sense that my avatar and posting name should reflect that. My avatar is probably pretty bland compared to what I could have done and what others may have done. But, it's me, nothing more and nothing less. I am a fairly laid back kind of guy. To be otherwise isn't very conducive to learning or educating in my opinion. My avatar was created in as close to my own image as I could get. If there is one area of my personality that I might be called a stickler about it is probably self comfort. I know what it's like to not be comfortable in my own skin, and, I don't want to feel like that again. So, I do my best to be myself in all aspects of my life which includes the creation of an electronic version of myself. I have worked long and hard to be able to answer the question of who I want to be in one word: me. I see no reason to change that even if it is just an avatar on Blogger.
   

thing 1

     For the most part, I think lifelong learning will come naturally for me. A few years ago, I worked with a man that said when we stop learning we stop living. Before that moment, I thought  I wanted to teach, but, after he said that, I knew it was what I wanted to do.

     The habit that would come easiest to me would be seeing problems as challenges. I have never been the type to shy away from a challenge. In fact, that's how I got myself to quit smoking. When people look at things like problems, they seem insurmountable. But, when faced with a challenge, people take it as an attack and like to lash out and fight back. It's human nature. Much like Kennedy said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

     The hardest habit for me to pick up, I think, would be playing. When I was 18, I moved out on my own, and, my idea of play changed to something that many others don't typically enjoy. So, it's hard, sometimes, to fully enjoy myself when no one else is able or willing to do what anyone else thinks would be fun at the time. Also, my son wants to play sometimes, but, it's hard to find the time to play with him, or, I find myself bored with playing with toys, so, it often ends more abruptly than what it probably should. Perhaps looking at finding time to play as a challenge will help me. 

     In conclusion, I think that lifelong learning will come fairly easy to me as long as I keep an open mind about life in general and remember that just because something is new doesn't mean it's bad. Even if it seems scary at first, it's nothing more that a challenge to be overcome.