VoiceThread Project

Another enlightening technological tool for educators...I never knew this was out there. VoiceThread can be used as an online discussion with students. One to four photos can be posted with discussion by the teacher and any assignment. When you create and upload the picture(s), the teacher can give general comments about what the pictures represent and what the students should gain from this. As I was watching and listening, my first thoughts were Bull Island before and after Hugo or Garden City before and after Hugo or Myrtle Beach before and after Hurricane Hazel, just to name a few. It can be used almost like a SmartBoard, it seems. There is a highlighter that the instructor can point out certain areas and highlight. Comments can be made either by audio recording, web cam, or keyboarding. Very cool.

What Am I? What Made Me?

Saturday mornings on my grandmother's porch with fried sweet potatoes for lunch;

The smell of tobacco curing during the summer;

My grandmother saying, "You don't have to go to sleep tonight. Just close your eyes and rest."

My grandfather building a fire at 6:30 every morning and drinking coffee;

My grandfather and I watching Gene Autry and Captain Kangaroo in the mornings;

Going to church every Sunday;

I was age 6 before I realized that "chester draws" was actually "chest of drawers" and "chillun" was "children;"

Then-

Helping care for my grandmother as she aged;

Spending weekends with her;

Visiting her every week in Rehab and a nursing home;

Visiting my Aunt Hazel, her sister, every week and sending her money each month;

Then-

Spending weeks in the hospital with my mom when she was ill;

I slept in the ICU waiting room and showered in the nearby empty rooms at 4:00 each morning. Three Christmases were spent in the hospital. I remember her staring through me saying, "I can't live with this pain. I can't live like this anymore." I asked her doctor if he could manage her pain. He said no. My dad kept telling me that we would get through this. Five months after my mother died, she came to me in a dream. She told me she did not want me to worry about her. She was in a much better place and she was out of pain.

Then-

Helping my husband take care of his mother and her two sisters;

They were all ill at the same time;

Nursing homes, hospitals, nursing homes, hospitals;

They were such elegant ladies when I first met them. They loved lively conversation and politics, and they loved to laugh. They loved family and friends.

Then-

The last aunt living with us for 5 years;

She was actually my favorite sister. There were five sisters in all---beautiful girls in their day. We loved to go out to dinner, and we loved our glass of wine and good conversation in the early evening. Her health gradually declined.

They are all gone now. I would give just about anything for one Sunday afternoon with all of these wonderful people who made me what I am.

It's All About Me

I knew the assignment: begin with a memoir; bring pictures; create a Digital Story. Sounds simple enough...I had my first few pictures scanned in as jpeg, saved on my jump drive. Somehow, I believed that I was beginning my digital story rough draft, to be completed after I had time to review, revise, and think. I had collected other photos that I wanted to include, and my dear husband scanned them in as a pdf file "because they would be clearer." BAM! 11:30 Saturday morning..."Good Luck!" OMG! I told myself to slow down and think. It seemed simple enough. I followed Photo Story 3. I went to pull my pictures and put them in order. The second set was not there! I knew I had seen them right before I came to class!
Plan B: Take the first set; go from there. Things went very smoothly. Since I was at my school, I left the lab to record in my classroom so that it would be quiet. After an hour in and out of my classroom, I found out that the computer did not recognize my mike. I was waisted by then. I came home to use my equipment at home. Except for a few gliches, things went well. I showed it to my Advisory class in the morning and they loved it! It was hokey, but fun. I am going to do this again.

Turn, Turn, Turn

From the Book of Ecclesiastes:

,,,For The Times, They Are A Changing...

Fortunately, I had a close relationship with my grandparents. I visited daily. I dearly loved Saturdays when I got my book and a big feather pillow and got in the big swing on the front porch and softly rocked and read. My grandmother would fry sweet potatoes for me for lunch. I loved it. My first remembrance of my grandparents was my grandmother, heavy set, long dress, beautiful white hair. My grandfather was very tall and slender. He smoked Camel cigarettes and drank coffee. Smoking unfiltered Camel cigarettes, I think I was in 7th grade when he died. We went to church every Sunday, even if we were sick. If we wiggled in church, there would be a sharp thump on my leg from my dad. Don't even think about being taken out of church during the sermon. I cherish all of those memories.

I look at my sister-in-law, who is a grandmother, and I look at the lives that she and her grand daughter lead. They are also very close...equally as close as I was to my grandparents. Yet the lives are so vastly different. My sister-in-law and her husband look like me. They don't look "old" in my mind's eye. They go to the wine country in California 2-3 times a year. They go to Las Vegas and Tahoe 2-3 times a year. When they are at home, Jennifer (we will call her), visits a few times a week. Jennifer's memories are going to be of going to Disney for every long weekend with her parents and grandparents. It is the princesses and dancing on stage with the Disney characters and the Magic Kingdom.

The times are definitely a-changing.