San Onofre Bluffs 5K and 12K

On Saturday, January 7, 2017, Ted and I headed up to the San Onofre camp grounds to participate in the San Onofre Bluffs Trail Race. With all of the rain, the course had some re-routing, some mud, and lots of sand which I didn't care for. It was a fun day, but a tough race for me. I felt really good on the first half of the race and was able to keep up my pace, but during the second half I suffered from an upset stomach that resulted in a bathroom detour (hey, it happens to all runners). The sand didn't help my knee at all either. I ended up with a time of 1:31 and 9th out of 20 age group 50-59.

This was the first time I participated in races by RockIt Racing, a newer trail running company. I was really impressed by the organization of the race, and I would definitely participate in another race in their series.  Most of their races are held in Orange County. This race is the furthest south.

Winter Break Reading

Over the winter break, I was able to spend time doing one of the things I love...waking up super early, like four o'clock in the morning while everyone else is sleeping, getting a hot cup of coffee and reading in the peace and quiet. I read a variety of genres, and I enjoyed them all.

First, I caught up on the latest with Stephanie Plum in Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evonovich. The books in this series make you laugh out loud!  Even after reading 23 of them, I still can't wait until the next novel comes out. I love following the characters, especially Stephanie and Lula, who are very different from each other and are comical in their own ways.

Next I read the extremely sad and true story of Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with lung cancer. His writing is excellent, and he really was able to make me think about what is really important in life. I really appreciate books like this that make you stop and be happy with your life because it is so short and everything could change in one day.

Next up on the list is A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler, a book that was chosen by our book club. I enjoyed this book because it was about a normal everyday, dysfunctional family, a family that just about everyone could relate to. There is comedy and sadness in the Whitshank family.

Pumpkin Flowers is the extremely sad and true story of Israeli soldiers fighting in an unwinnable conflict. It made me so sad to read about these young men who gave their lives in a place that doesn't even exist any longer while ordinary people like us just go on about our daily lives without thinking twice about men and women fighting for freedom. Books like this make me think twice before complaining about insignificant things and make me thankful, even guilty, for what I have.

Next, I read two more books in the Maggie Hope series. No one would ever guess that Maggie Hope is a Top Secret Spy for Great Britain.  She has close ties to Winston Churchill.  This series is not only fun and easy to read, but also contains some historical fiction. There are six books so far in this new series.  I'm now waiting on the arrival of Book 6, The Queen's Accomplice.

Lastly, you can't go wrong with a John Grisham novel. I've read so many but still have many more to read. If you're looking for a book that has many twists and turns, this is a good one. I started reading this book with preconceived notions about what was going to happen, but it didn't turn out anything like it!

It always feels good to me to immerse myself in a novel and forget about the rest of the world for a while! I also enjoy reading some nonfiction to make me realize how good my life has been.

Loving Frank

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan is a historical fiction about the true love affair that Frank Lloyd Wright had with Mamah (pronounced May-Ma) Borthwich Cheney. The book started off very slow, and then it got very interesting to read. This is the first book that I ever read in which I despised the characters! Mamah and Frank seemed to me to be very selfish and spoiled. Mamah left her two children to have an affair with Frank who also practically abandoned his family as well. Mamah came to a tragic end when she was murdered by the gardener who then set the house on fire. Frank later went on to have another two or so marriages and is well know for his organic architecture while Mamah is long forgotten.

Hiking Together

I have created a hiking album for Ted and I that has all of the hikes we have done together, and I will continue to add to it after every hike we do. Here is the link to the album: HIKING TOGETHER.

Precious and Grace

I really enjoy the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. I was perusing books in the library one day and I came across this series. What sparked my attention was a photo of the author on the back of the book because he was wearing a kilt, so of course I had to give this series a try, and I loved it! 

The author of this series is from Scotland, but he had lived in Botswana in Africa as well, which is where this series takes place. Mma Ramotswe (Precious) runs a detective agency along with her assistant Grace Makutsi. The detective agency is located right next to Mma Ramotswe's husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's auto mechanic shop. Each novel has a mystery that is solved with the theme of doing right and good along with light comedy along the way.

Each book in this series is a short afternoon or two read that makes you smile. Precious and Grace is the latest installment in the series that just came out at the end of 2016. I recommend starting at the first book, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and reading them in order to learn more about the characters.

A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove was written by a Swedish author, Fredrik Backman. As I was watching the news the other night, I noticed that it was ranked as number 5 in the list of top books of 2016. I really enjoyed this book and I read it fairly quickly because it was hard to put down and it was comical. 

The main character, Ove, is a recent widower who is a cranky old man. All he wants to do is end his life to be with his wife Sonia, but he is unsuccessful. He ends up finding a new purpose for his life with others and shows that he is a genuine soft-hearted giver.

This book reminds me of the movie Grumpy Old Men. This book was made into a movie with Swedish sub-titles. It only played in a few select theaters, and I never got a chance to see it.

My Favorite Black & White Photos

Now that my Photography 100 class is over, I'd like to share some of my favorite photos I developed. I really really enjoyed this class, and I can't wait to take the next one through UCSD to enhance my skills and learn more.

This photo was part of my very first assignment of taking pictures of things near and dear. I used a different vantage point to photography my bike.

This photo was taken on the railroad tracks at the San Marcos Civic Center as part of a vantage point assignment.

This picture was also part of a vantage point assignment. Ted had this great idea of me standing on a ladder and taking his picture playing the bagpipes.

This photo was taken at the botanical gardens in Boise, Idaho, using a red filter. This was taken as part of my filter assignment.

Just took this photo for fun.  Getting ready to land in Las Vegas.

Tony warming up before a game.

The Oceanside Pier for a night photography assignment.

This was taken on the Palomar campus as part of night photography. A group of us practiced taking a long exposure of someone walking down the stairs.

I'll continue this post on another day and share more of my favorite black and white photos.

Del Dios Trail Half Marathon

On Sunday, December 11, I did my biggest race of 2016, the Del Dios Trail Half Marathon. After a great 10 mile race last month, I thought my fitness level was growing; however, I struggled through the training for this race and my endurance seemed to be at a low point. I couldn't keep a steady pace at all and I have no idea why, just one of those things I guess as I really stuck to my training plan.  I also wasn't totally focused on this race because at the same time, Tony was flying home from Boise, and I was really worried about him traveling through snow and ice and getting to the airport, getting on his flight, etc.  We had planned on surprising Ted by Tony coming home on Sunday instead of the following Tuesday. Tony and I were actually texting back and forth as I was doing this race!

The first half of the race went very well, but I really started to fade during the second half of the race, and I got tired enough that I tripped at mile 9 and had a nice slide out. My time was a slow 2:27, and 11:16 pace. Really liked this race and I might do it again!

Silver Strand 10 Miler

On November 13, I ran my furthest distance yet since my surgery - 10 miles! Also it was on the road, not on a trail. I was really impressed with my race since I have been struggling with my fitness level, and it has been very difficult to get it back!  Below is a screenshot of the stats for my race. I was able to hold a 9:16 pace for the duration of the ten miles.  I did have to stop halfway and use the bathroom, didn't think I could make it to the finish without stopping, so I did lose a minute or two of my time there. My "A" goal was to run the race in an hour and 30 minutes, but I ended up running the race two minutes slower.  I also came in third place, basically tying with the girl that came in second place.  After I used the restroom, I came upon the other girl, and we helped push each other off and on until the finish.

When I finished the race and saw the results, I was totally shocked to see that the lady in first had done the race in one hour and ten minutes. I thought for sure some lady had given her bib to some guy because it is really unbelievable that someone 55 or older could run the race that fast, s 7 minute pace! But there she is in the photo above,  really a freak of nature!  Then when they called the girl in second and then me, the two of us were laughing because we had run the second half of the race together!

All in all, it was one of my best comeback races! I would like to do this race again next year. I really like the 10 mile option. To run the half marathon, you run past the finish line and then come back, something not appealing to me at all!

Photographer Report Website

Photography 100 

Photographer Report Website

Black & White Photography, Light & Shadows

I am really enjoying the black & white film photography class I am taking this semester.  I have learned so much in only two months!  Developing film and making enlargements in the darkroom is a lot of work, but it is much more satisfying to see your hard work pay off when you see the final prints. In digital photography, you can see your photo immediately, but with film photography, you have no idea what the photo will look like until you make the final print. Film photography also allows you to be creative which is something that many of us need more of as it gives us a sense of accomplishment and just makes you feel so proud!

Our latest assignment involved taking photos with a focus on light and shadows. I never really thought about taking photos of shadows before, and when you really look at shadows, you will notice many awesome-looking designs. Here are my favorite prints from this assignment.

Google Forms - Quizzes

I have learned that there are so many ways that you can use Google Forms, so I am going to do a little series on Google Forms in the next few weeks.

First, did you know that Google Forms now has a quiz function? Previously you could use Google Forms as a quiz, but you had to use data validation or an extension to help you with grading. Now you can change your Google Form to a quiz that will provide students with immediate results by the click of a button. Create your Form quiz in the same way, but now add an answer key, and you have a quiz that will give students immediate results. You also have the option of adding feedback to your answer key and giving points to the questions in your quiz. 

(Also, as an aside, another new feature in Google Forms is the ability to use pictures as answer choices.)

After the students take the quiz, you can view the data immediately in different ways.  View the data of the entire class or each individual student.

During the past few weeks, I have been experimenting with Google Forms quizzes in the classes I have visited.  I have had the opportunity to use a Google Form Quiz in grades 2-5, but I'm confident that kindergarteners and first graders could successfully navigate a Google Form quiz as well, especially with the ability to add picture responses. 

Google Forms Quizzes are very easy to implement, and the students get really excited taking an online quiz that gives a score immediately.

To better explain how to change a Google Form into a quiz, I have created a screencast for you.

Mission Bay Triathlon

On Sunday I participated in the Mission Bay Triathlon. This triathlon has a lot of history in the sport of triathlon, and it also has a lot of personal history for me. The very first triathlon took place in Mission Bay at Fiesta Island on September 25, 1974, and consisted of a 6 mile run followed by a 5 mile bicycle ride, and then a 500 meter swim. The cost to enter that race was $1! Soon after that, the sport of triathlon took off, became very popular, and is still growing!

I participated in my very first triathlon on October 5, 2003, at Mission Bay. I have it written in my race book as the "Jamba Juice Triathlon." I didn't have a wetsuit for the race, so I borrowed one to use. As I was putting the wetsuit on near the start, the zipper broke! I had to run back to the transition area to drop off the wetsuit and run back to the start. I swam in the chilly water without a wetsuit, and I remember laughing about the broken wetsuit while I was swimming!

I've done that particular tri 8 times since then, and hopefully I can participate in 8 more! It's a popular race for beginners, and I heard that Sunday's race had about 400 more racers than last year.

My race went well. I felt like I had gained a little fitness since my last tri in the summer, but I am still far from what I was (or ever will be) since before I had my knee surgery.

Next race up is the Silver Strand 10-miler. The training will be a test to see how my knees hold up since this will be the furthest I have run since.

Google Apps Training Club Anyone?

On Saturday, I attended Edcamp San Diego. An Edcamp is not like a traditional ed tech conference.  The sessions are not preplanned, but are planned the morning of the conference. After you check in to this free event, you fill out a card with what you would like to learn.  Then all of the cards are organized and categorized and sessions are created.

So at Edcamp, I learned some cool add-ons for Google Docs, how to create your own master slide in Google Slides, and a few tools and strategies for implementing inquiry in the classroom. But what excited me the most is talking about Google Certifications. 

Did you know that you can become a Google Certified Educator? One of the educators in the session shared that she was going to start a club on the same lines as a book club only the club members would learn all the different Google Apps together, study the lessons in the Google Training Center, and ultimately take one of the leveled certification tests. This idea really got me excited, and I would really like to start a Google Apps training club only I would like to make it a little more fun. My idea is to have the meetings at one of the many microbreweries located on Hops Highway (78). Just think! We could hang out at a different place for each meeting, (say once a month), have a beer, and learn an app or study a lesson. We'd just have to make sure the place we choose has wifi.

I would seriously love to start a tech club, so if you are interested in this idea, please contact me and let me know! (Even if you don't live in my area, you could attend by a Google Hangout! Or you could start a club in your area!)

Adobe Spark

Over the summer, I took an online course from Adobe called Train the Trainer. In this course, I learned how to foster creativity in the classroom, while at the same time I was exposed to some of the many awesome tech tools that Adobe has. When I began taking photography classes, I was required to use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. These programs are not free, but I was able to get an educator's discount. The account I have now is called the Creative Cloud, and I pay a monthly fee to use almost all of Adobe's numerous products. Additionally, I have access to the Adobe Education Exchange, and I can take free Adobe online courses.

One tool that I want to share with you that is totally FREE is called Adobe Spark.  I am really excited about Adobe Spark because you can create some really nice-looking projects, and it is very easy to use.  You will have to create an Adobe account to use Adobe Spark, so students under the age of 13 will not be able to create accounts. Adobe Spark is recommended for students 12+. This USER GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS gives a good overview of what Adobe Spark is as well as suggested ideas for use in the classroom.

Adobe Spark can be used by teachers in many ways. You can create lessons, videos, and webpages very easily. Spark provides a large bank of free-to-use photos and icons that you can use, and you can also use your own as well.  Adobe Spark can be used across devices too.  You can access Adobe Spark on your computer, laptop, iPad, or any mobile device.  You can create three types of content in Spark, a PAGE, a VIDEO, and a POST.  I will provide you an example of each one.

First, here is an example of a Spark Page.  I created a lesson overview on how to write a personal narrative. All of the photos I used in the Page came from within the Page creation tool. In this lesson, I also added a screencast of my own personal narrative, and at the end of the lesson, I added a button for students to click to take them to a Google Doc to begin creating their own personal narrative. You have the ability to make your Spark Page interactive.




As you can see, Spark projects can be embedded into your blogs or webpages.  You can also share your Spark projects by a link or on social media.

The next example is a Spark Video. To create a video, you select your theme and music. Then you create your slides. To record, you simply press and hold down the microphone button and talk. It is that simple. It only took me about 15 minutes to create this video. Once again, in this video, all of the icons you see came straight from the Spark bank of icons.




The last example is a Spark Post. Posts are most likely going to be used to share on social media, but they can also be used to create posters. I made this post using the Spark app on my iPhone. I had someone take my photo in a museum, and I added the words to the photo and posted it on social media.  To use the Post here in this blog post, I downloaded it as a JPG and added it.

I highly recommend Adobe Spark! You can easily create professionally looking Pages and Videos with this FREE tool.

Word Sorts with Google Drawings

INTERACTIVE WORD SORT LINK

Word sorts are great hands-on activities for students to work with words. There are many ways you can use word sorts with your students. The most common way is shown in the example above. This is called a closed word sort where the student is provided with the categories (noun, verb) and the words are sorted accordingly. There are also open word sorts that are more analytic in nature where the student is only given words, and they have to use critical thinking to sort the words into their own categories.

I like doing word sorts in my classroom, but I don't like the preparation. First, I have to copy a class set of word sort sheets. Then I have to have them passed out to the class along with scissors.  Then it takes an inordinate amount of time for the students to cut out the words and clean up the scraps.  Then while interacting with the word sorts in class, ultimately a few students lose words on the floor or end up with two of the same words having accidentally mixed up their words with another student's words. Then after we are finished with the paper word sorts, they may be crushed in the back of a student's desk or put in a plastic sandwich bag and never used again.

Well, creating word sorts in a Google Drawing may be a better alternative for you.  A Google Drawing word sort still has all of the same learning benefits as paper word sorts only better.  Once created and shared with students, they are ready to go!  You won't lose the words and they can be used over and over again.

For a tutorial on how to create a word sort in a Google Drawing, I have created this tutorial for you.

Carmet Valley 15K

This is only the third year that Seasick Events has put on this Carmel Valley Trail race. You can participate in a 5K, 10K, or for the first time, the 15K. I believe they also had a kids 1 mile fun run, so this event has something for runners of all levels. Also the price is right for this race at only $50 to $60.

I love to run and/or hike trails, but I don't like going alone, so trail races give me the opportunity to be out there with a group. I never knew there was a trail behind Torrey Pines High School, so I really wanted to check it out.

Trail races are small events, because park permits usually only allow a certain number of people on the trails at a time.  So this event was small with only a little over 300 runners. I really enjoyed this race. It wasn't flat. (Rarely are trail races flat.)  The trail consisted of rolling hills with a BIG descent at the beginning to get you down into the valley where the trail was.  The trail was mostly single track rolling hills.  It was very peaceful out there and not very crowded, so you had a lot of quiet time and some alone time. Then, of course, to get out of the valley and back to the finish line you had a BIG climb at the end.

I had a pretty good race, better than my training has been going. Since I have lost most of my fitness, it has been a real struggle trying to get some of it back, and I run out of gas after about an hour. The big descent at the beginning and the single track trail actually worked to my advantage.  Instead of taking off too fast in the beginning of the race and then running out of gas, (usually how I operate) on this race, I had to walk down the big hill, and then I was stuck in a traffic jam of runners until it thinned out.  So I ended up building speed throughout the race, which is a good strategy to use.  At the end of the race, though, I was still exhausted, and walking up that big hill wasn't a lot of fun!

I ended up second in my age group, 50-59. (In trail races, the age groups go in 10 year increments.) There were only 6 women in my age group, and I was the oldest one!  I was actually the second oldest woman out there. There were only 66 runners who did the 15K, and I came in 36th overall.

Seasick events is a relatively new company. Their next race is at Lake Hodges in December.  They have a 10K and a Half Marathon. I'm planning on being out there for one of those!

Using Keywords to Search

 

The beginning of the school year is a great time to teach your students how to search for information on the Internet. A good starting place is teaching students how to use keywords to find pertinent information in a timely and efficient manner. 

Common Sense Media has good lessons on this topic.  The first lesson, Using Keywords, is geared toward K-2. In this lesson, students are given the scenario that they want to get a new pet, and in order for their parents to be more inclined to let them have a pet, they will do all the research on how to take care of a pet. 

In this lesson, students are guided to come up with research questions and decide what the keywords are in these questions. Then they are given a safe search engine, such as kidrex.org, and guided on how to search with the keywords and analyze the results. The students are also taught that one source of information is not sufficient, that information you find on the Internet is not always accurate, and they have to find at least two sources of information for their topic and cite the sources.

The other lesson, The Key to Keywords,  is geared towards students in grades 3-5. This higher-level lesson has students practice searching questions about dogs using keywords. Additionally, this lesson teaches students how to use quotation marks in searches to search for exact phrases.

There are quite a few good student-friendly search engines for students to use.  My favorite is kidrex.org.  Other student-friendly search engines are sweetsearch.com, kidsclick.org, infotopia.info, and safesearchkids.org.

It might be a good idea to give students daily or weekly search practice by providing a question or two where they have to choose keywords, search for answers, and cite the sources. For more information about teaching students search strategies, contact your Ed Tech Specialist.

Photograms

This semester I am taking a black-and-white film photography class, and I am really really enjoying it so far.  To learn how to use the darkroom, our teacher had us create photograms.  Photograms are pictures made without a camera.  Photograms date back to the beginnings of photography.  Some of the first pictures ever made were photograms.

To make our photograms, we brought in any items we thought would make a good picture. I did a little research on photograms and found many examples of cool-looking photograms. One of the examples gave me the idea to use light bulbs as shown in the top photogram. We basically placed whatever items we wanted on the photographic paper in the darkroom, set the lens to the appropriate F-stop, chose an exposure time, and then developed the picture.

At first, I just had the different light bulbs arranged on the paper, but after I made my first test print, I saw that I could arrange the lightbulbs to make it look like an insect flying, and my teacher gave me the idea to add broken glass surrounding the insect to make it look as though the insect may be glowing.  I think the end result is so cool looking!

The second photogram was made out of straws and different paperclips that I bought a long time ago at Staples, and the bottom photogram is a design made out of one of my favorite foods...pretzels!

I had a bag full of items that I wanted to use, but unfortunately we ran out of time. It was so much fun to create these photograms, and I am definitely going to create some more!

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Stairway to Heaven 15K

On Saturday, August 13th, I participated in the Stairway to Heaven 15K race put on by Dirt Devil Racing. It was quite the challenge as you can imagine from the photo. This is the second time I have done this race.  The first time I did this race was before I had my knee surgeries, and even though I thought it was very difficult, I think I had a pretty good time. This time, though, was extremely difficult since I have lost most of the fitness I once had. The extreme hills on this course also had me worried about the strain on my meniscus or lack thereof.

This race takes place at Mission Trails Regional Park located in Santee. There are two main climbs in this race, and the climb that names this race the Stairway to Heaven is Mt. Fortuna with steep stairs made of railroad ties and rocks. Another factor that always makes this race difficult is the August heat.  Overall, I think this race was a little too extreme for me after my knee surgeries, but I definitely think I could just take my time and hike these great trails.

Mission Trails Regional Park has many, many trails for every level of hiker and runner.  I recommend this park for a day outdoors. Here is the LINK for more information about this park.