Funny little things...

So... I realize that some things just aren't the same in words as they are in visually
and some things aren't as good visually as they are in words (twilight?)

But I have to try and explain some thing that happened today
though they were probably better if you saw them

First, I went to Kohls
I swear everything in the store was 50% or more off!
Bad for me, good for the store... nuff said

I ran errands this afternoon which included driving my roommate to the airport
I'm sure anyone around was looking at the three of us quite curiously
as Caitlin, Cort and I embraced for a hug and jumped up and down
screaming "we'll miss you," "Keep me updated!" "I'll text you!" "Send me Pictures"
Oh, and there was something about ways to keep each other sane when our families are driving us crazy (though my family would never drive me crazy ;)
I'm sure we looked crazy
And to add to it we made sure this nice airport worker took a picture of us
Yay! I totally love those girls!!!

To add to the list of good today... or absolutely hilarious if you were there
My mom getting a massage (things our of her mouth usually are incomprehensible noises, groans and cries; or weird phrases she made up)
Seeing Cortney's "I can't believe that's what that means" face
Driving around with my best friend, singing out loud to random crazy songs that I don't know the lyrics to (only she gets the privilege of hearing me belt it out)
Doing the swiffer sweeper dance for Cortney and my Mom

And best of all... and I don't care if you think I'm a dork
Someone sent me roses!
I don't know if they realize it or not
but I'm a sucker for flowers
I've always said that any guy could win me over with flowers ;)

So the day was brilliant! I wish you could have shared it with us!
So much fun

I will say this...
I miss all my friends off in their random places
I am beyond happy that my little bundles called dogs are okay (they both almost died today from anaphylactic shock) :(

Otherwise...
I am focusing on the good in life and loving this Christmas break

True

If you don't know me very well I love the holidays!
There is just something about them that get me going inside.
I think maybe it's because they open the opportunity
(or maybe force some)
to think about others instead of themselves.

But Christmas is my favorite!
I've been so wrapped up in school the last few weeks
I haven't been able to stop and think about Christmas to much
But tonight a friend whisked me away on a break
They took me to the Riverwoods

Have you been there since it's been redone?
If not, you have to go!

The lights are wonderful. Not under or overdone
draped over you to add to the stars
and lining the trees along the pedestrian street
I especially like the ones that hang of the new event gazebo
It looks like iceicles melting

The firepits are invitingly warm on the cold winter nights
I saw little kids running up to them so they could look into the depths of the flame

They have a little Santa hut set up super cute
When was the last time you took your picture with Santa
I took one tonight

It was so much fun
The only thing...
I want to be done with finals now so I can move on and focus on Christmas

Focus on...
Making hot cocoa in the morning and sipping it while sitting in the best seat in the house (right next to the fire)
Frantic shopping to find the perfect gift for each person I care about
Baking dozens of different cunncoctions for our neighbors and loved ones to enjoy
Focusing on Christ
Spending hours watching hallmark Christmas specials with my mom
Doing all our family traditions on Christmas eve

and best of all...

Just spending time with the ones I love most :)
Working together for the better of each other

I love Christmas because its the true season of Love
I'm very excited :)

Merry Christmas Season!!!

To my precious audience of one... hey there ;)

I should be studying for finals but I decided to quickly write here.

I had the best discussion I have had in a while with my good friends Callie and Ben
(well... Jared was there for part of the beginning)
We talked about thing all over the place...

Dream Houses... including Jared's very specific design and Callie's emphasis on "nice" ;)
Dance
Christmas Traditions

Later in the day Callie, Ben and I talked on...
Trials
My divorce and the struggles and hidden blessings from it
Dating... of course
Friends
Family
True conversion to the Gospel
What makes us... us
Marriage and what makes it work
What makes us Happiest in Life
Along with a few other random things

I wish you all could talk with Ben and Callie.
They are an amazing couple
I guess I am just saying,
I appreciated our conversation
I feel every one needs a stimulating conversation sometimes
this one made me reflect and ponder a lot

I learned yet again from the old,
what I need to be on a continued search for

So please,
don't forget to stop and think
what can I learn from this
It may even be,
What have I forgotten I learned from this.

We go through trials to lean and become stronger in this life
So we may return unto Him
Don't forget to learn from trials and be grateful for them

I wish you the best on you finals :)

Elisha

Gratitude

This is the place for people to know about me :)
What's going on in my life
What makes me happy
A place for me to share things that have made me laugh
and made me cry

So what am I feeling today?
Gratitude

Kinda corny with thanksgiving around the corner
but the best time to think about it

I have been so blessed
I have a some of the best friends
One of which is my roommate and another my psuedo roomy ;)
I have wonderful people I can talk to when I am sad (Your the best, yes you)
I have an amazing family
My two pregnant sisters are adorable
I have the gospel in my life
I have the ability to forgive and be forgiven
I am able to live in a country that allows me to choose what I want to believe religiously
I live so close to church I can walk
I could attend the temple everyday if I had the time
I have a wonderful apartment
I'm on scholarship for doing something I love
I have a great dance partner who puts up with me when I repeatedly make mistakes
I have a coat to keep me warm, as well as gloves, socks and ear warmers
Hot Cocoa is one of the best things on Earth
I have these amazingly talented people around me all the time who share with me parts of who they are
I have awesome Home Teachers who seem to care about me rather than getting their numbers in
I have an adorable puppy whom I love
I have so much food in my fridge it often rots and I have to throw it away
I have a clean toilet and running water


I have so much to be greatful for,
both large and Small

But most of all...
I have a wonderful Savior who went through all the pain I have suffered and more
He bled for me from every pore
He endured more so I wouldn't have to
I am grateful for him
My Brother
My Savior
My Redeemer

I wouldn't be here without him
nor would you

Love you all
Know That I am grateful for you :)

A Step into the Past

Sunday, June 20th, was set to be a travel day. We loaded the car and got on the road. After the six glasses of apple juice I had for breakfast, it didn't take long to need a rest stop. We stopped in Flam, which we were in the day before. My mom took a pic with a troll to match mine from the day before.




We got back on the road and a little while later pulled to the side of the road. The view was breathtaking! So what did I do... More pictures!!! Here they are...
















We stopped in Al. This is the city where my great-great-grandmother grew up. One goal we had was ton come here and find the old church. We stopped and took pictures at this beautiful church and looked at the graves surrounding it. We couldn't find any graves older then 1909. After a phone call to wake up my aunt at three in the morning, we discovered we were at the wrong church.

Arriving at the correct chapel, we found the old church next to a brand new one. The old church was built in 1100. Crazy old! I was in aw to realize that if I stepped back in time my great-great grandmother would be arriving to attend Lutheran services in this very church. The worker lady there even let me take cool pictures of the keys to the chapel.












More to come...called Vigeland Park

- Me (Elisha)

Location:Al Norway

Fjords

We woke up way to early for me to recall the first hour of my morning. The only thing I knew... I didn't have to worry about prices today cuz our trip down the Fjord was pre-booked and paid for in advanced.

Late, as usual, we half jogged to the train station only to find it didn't leave till half hour past what we thought. We got great seats though, right next to the window. When the train pulled out of the city I knew today would be a much better day than yesterday. It was beautiful! But we could only see glimpses at a time. Like a teaser to a movie. Every time we caught a glimpse, a moment later the train would go through a loud, and dark, tunnel. I guess its a lot better to go through the mountain than up and over it :) So... I fell asleep.

I woke up as my dad told us to hurry onto the bus to get a good seat. I, being the good daughter I am, listened and followed instructions. I got a window seat and was happy to stare out the window for the next hour. We saw two rather large waterfalls as we went down some pretty scary switchbacks on a giant bus.










Next was the Boat!

I sat there thinking to myself, "Its at times like this I wish I were more poetic, so I could captivate even a small portion of the mesmerizing view with words." So here is the best I can do. The hills and mountains were a vivid shade of green. The mountains not overbearing but with definite presence. Waterfalls trickling out of hundreds of nooks and crannies in the sides. Some were smaller and looked like silk strings falling in between the trees. Others were larger and looked like someone blew up the side of the mountain and found they hit the water line. Others were so high up, the mountain so steep and the wind so strong that the waterfall looked like it never hit the ground and just got swept back into the air.











We sat in the back of the boat and watched the seagulls do their own version of surfing on our boats "air" wake. The scene trailing behind, a zig-zagged river that disappeared in between the two mountains.



















Up in the mountains there were these villages that made you wonder how they built a house that high. How they got supplies up there? My mom read a pamphlet that said they need to lower a ladder to let people up, when the tax man came to collect, they simply wouldn't lower the ladder :)



















We also observed how we try to find big flat areas of land to farm, and they were out farming on the side of the mountain. Lush green fields of farmed land. The side of the mountain was so steep, we were amazed their tractors didn't fall over.




















As you can see, it was beautiful! The last waterfall pictured had a Norwegian Dancer come out and do a little show next to the waterfall. They actually stop the old train so you can get out and take a picture with it. The day was great. The only downfall is that the trains aren't labeled super well, and after being kicked outsets four times, we tried to find the ones we were reserved for. Dad almost picked a fight with the lady sitting in our seats but we finally got sat and everything ended up okay.

The day, over all, made me appreciate my roots.










That's me with a troll and my "nisse" hat ;)

- Me (Elisha)

Location:Bergen, Flam, Myrdal Norway

From Bad to Good

We drove out the mouth of the ship along with a few hundred other cars, a handful of campers and some semi trucks. Amazing what they fit on one level of a ship!

I was excited to finally be in Norway! A piece of my past, my heritage. I grew up listening to stories about this country, cooking and eating recipes from here and doing traditions from here. And, we were starting the day with shopping!!! I quickly discovered that my heritage is expensive and freezing cold. Walking through the first few shops I quickly got discouraged. Even my mom got discouraged and walked out with nothing (highly abnormal, if you know my mother). The little trolls that I wanted were $50. A thin sweatshirt you can buy in America for twenty bucks, was $100! A nice sweater, that would actually keep me warm, was $600. I choked every time I looked at a price tag and did the math. The cheapest thing I saw all morning was 49 kroner, which is $10. Most things were in the hundreds of kroner.

We decided to give up and go eat lunch. Bad mistake! We showed up at good old McDonalds thinking about the normal prices. We were wrong. A cheeseburger meal was $17. Ouch! I lost my appetite real quick. we ended up at a pizza buffet. I won't tell you how much but the pizza was not even close to worth it. I miss Pizza Pie Cafe :(

We then added to our disappointment by finding out that it cost to much per person to take a tram up the mountain to see the view. Everything was discouraging! My mom wasn't feeling good, so we took her back and while she was asleep, the four others of us headed out of town to find better priced food at a grocery store.

Have you ever noticed how much you actually read the containers your food comes in. I never did until I was trying to decipher Norwegian on a box. Is this soft or hard butter? Skim or Whole Milk? Ham, Bologna, Sausage, Turkey? The best was trying to figure out which of the many different kinds of cheese was closest to cheddar. And imagine doing that all in another language when you cant taste any of it. Well... Success!!! We'll be eating sandwiches the rest of our journey, but at least we can afford to eat.

To make the day even better we found Krunsekake!!! For those of you who don't know what that is, its Norwegian Wedding cake. It was in the freezer section. I know its weird to have wedding cake when not at a wedding but I told my family it served multiple purposes. One, because I missed out tasting my Aunts awesome homemade version at my cousins wedding just a few weeks ago. Two, because we needed dessert after dinner. Three, because it would make me feel better about my life from this past year (my one year anniversary in particular). Four, because it would make my mom feel better. Also, it's just amazing to find it in a grocery store like that!




So we ended the night much better than the rest of the day. Playing Cards and eating Krunsekake :D Yum!

- Me (Elisha)

Location:Bergen, Norway

Beginnings to a Journey

I know I'm not the best writer, so you'll have to bear with me. This is really part journal and part for entertainment for those of you who know my family and I best.

My family picked me up from South Port, England on Wednesday. We took a plane to Copenhagen, Denmark. I was sad to leave the team but excited to see new parts of Europe. I ran into some team girls in the airport and they told me there was a huge problem with my bag that morning and the airport. I had asked about a month before we left if we could send our bag with our tour clothes home and the answer I thought I got was a yes. Apparently I was wrong. As I did not go to the airport with the team and I just sent my bag with them, I guess they had to separate my things into a bunch of different peoples a tuff so they could have an extra bag and weight. Bless my dear friend who kept track of it all. But those of you who know me should know that when I found out Lee was mad that it even happened in the first place, I freaked out the rest of the day. But I know what many of you would say, there was nothing I could do about it anymore. (I still sent him an apologetic text, And to all this who helped take care of my stuff... thanks!)




I got to see my families hotel in Liverpool and needless to say it was nice. They always stay in the nicest places without me. My first night with them I stay in an all white hotel that was a mix between an IKEA do it yourself kit and a cell with padded walls :) the bedding and towels had been vacuum packed and left there for me to make the bed myself. And it had bunk beds three tiers high! But it was an adventure that turned out well.


Thursday morning we loaded the car and pulled up to a ship. Well...we pulled into the mouth of a ship. The front had been lifted up and we drove onto it. It was like a one day, non all inclusive and not as nice cruise ship. The first thing we noticed was that we should have bought food to take on the ship as the cheapest meal cost $20. We wasted time playing good North American Family card games (Wyoming Rummy, Canadian Fruit Salad and Phase Ten). After declining an invite for drinks we went to bed on our fold down bunk beds. The difficulty there, five adults and four twin size beds. Yay!

I'll stop here and do a new post for Bergen :)


- Me (Elisha)

Location:England to Copenhagen

Discovery Park!

First, A message for Tye and Tara:



Today we took Tessa and Trevin to Discovery Park. It just so happens that my mom and I have never been there either, so it was an adventure for all who were involved. It was an amazing all wood park, and it was HUGE!

Tessa and Trevin loved it :)



Trevin found a door just his size, then he and Tessa became Astronauts and Worker Bees:





Good thing Trevin learned in sunbeams yesterday that worker bees were good guys that give us honey. After that, Trevin became King of the tires as G.G. gave him a challenge to stay on. Tessa found a big wooden dinosaur head.




We ended up our park excursions with this thing that spun real fast. Tessa only fell off of it once. But they loved it and then G.G. and the grandkids found a big Xylophone to play with.




What a fun day. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Reflections

At the beginning of this class I was scared. I have never claimed to be a technologically smart person and taking a technology class I thought i would fail.

Though I have not shown it, I can honestly say that this is the class I have recieved the most benefit from. As a current teacher at BYU I am already using technology that I have discovered through this class. I will admit that some I will use more than others. But all of it was good information.

I found the most benefit from the iMovie assignment to make my own video. I have always had students ask me to post movies for a review but I never had until now. It was more simple than i ever thought it would be. Then I used what I had learned to make a video for my company and we created a flash mob. We only met and practiced twice before the actual event, they had learned the whole thing from a video I made. I used multiple things we have learned in class. I created a movie with iMovie, created a blog for the ballroom dance team at BYU, I used Youtube to post the video on the internet, and I embeded it into the blog. All of these things I did not know how to do before this class and they all benefitted 170 peopl on the team. I can't explain the pride I felt having of completed such a task.

You can watch the instuctional video for the flashmob if you want below...



or the actual flashmob event...



I have been inspired from discussion in person with my fellow dance ed major peers who took this class. We had good discussions but its easy to see how I was inspired by them if you watch Kelli Thredgolds video she did for her project.

This class was a blessing to me and I hope to continue to learn about technology and spread my knowledge to my students.

WikiSpaces

I added my lesson plan about viddler on wikispaces here

I wish I could have added more to the blog part but out of the five google reader groups i joined earlier in the semester, none of them have been worthwhile. I love other future dance educators ideas and am planning on subscribing to ones they have found.

Sharing about Internet safety

I tried to share with my sister, just 4 years shy of my age, some of the things I have learned. It didn't go over as well as I would have thought but it presented some challenges I might face when I present Internet Safety to students.

- I presented how much her common used screenname says about her, some of which is not true. My sister has a similar name to beaver8787. The name beaver to some has a sexual meaning though the person may just actually love the animal. Then 8787 could be the birthday 8/7/1987. My sisters reaction was one of anger though. She said she is not going to just go and change all her e-mails and screennames because others are dumb. Something I had not thought of and have't decided how to combat that if I had a student bring that up. Hopefully they woudln't have that much to change.

- I presented the fact that she could limit her profiles more and she said that takes to much work. Work compared to safety is of the greatest value. She seemed in a hurry and already shutdown but I hope if I keep working with her we can become a safer Internet family.

Internet Safety

I watched Videos from ilearn.isafe.org and I read the article "Finding and Sharing the Gospel Online" in the Ensign, Oct. 2009

1. From the readings/videos- I never realized how much a person can narrow down your personal information from even just your screen name and I must admit I have been guilty of putting to much personal info in that as well as many of my friends. Some of the videos on here were not so great and others really helped me to see just how easy it is for a predator to pin down my exact location. One of the best things i learned is iruleit.net where you can make different versions for your profile and it protects your identity more. From the readings I learned that it is Internet communication is a great way to share the gospel but even in there it talked about being safe and meeting in groups with some people that you already know if others are not people you previously know. It is also important to constantly sound professional on the Internet, even if its a social networking site.

2. I definitely feel more prepared as a teacher and parent to teach and encourage Internet safety in numerous ways. I would encourage all my students to watch their profile information, including names, birth dates, location, etc. I know more of what to watch for and now am equipped with video and stories to back my precautions.

3. My family didn't even realize how much personal info they had just given away until I talked to them. They are now more aware of this and can present themselves better on the Internet while also protecting themselves more.

4. I was aware of the crime cyber bullying but I did not know that was the official name for it. Even TV shows have hit on the dangers of cyber bullying and how it can affect a students life. To prevent it as a teacher I could encourage only letting best friends and family have access to your full profile. People from class or others should only have very limited access to the profile. Also, teach of the dangers cyberbullying and how it can affect lives.

5. For teaching I really liked iLearn.Isafe.org It had several videos about different challenges we may face and some ways to avoid vulnerability on the Internet.

6. I feel as a teacher I will face after math of cyberbullying, hence why i want to teach about it.

7. I hope that I can establish a safe learning environment. I would like to have a day or two set aside where we go to a computer lab and set up their limited profiles on identity.net and then we can discuss what site should get which profile. Since I could possibly use some internet site that would require my students to set up profiles I would need to help encourage internet safety not just on social sites. As a dance teacher I could tell them how to set up a secondary e-mail that will forward to their other e-mail to hopefully avoid spaming.

Copyright Videos

The following video would be great to show my class to start a dance history section. It is entertaining and compelling. We could then discuss about copyright. This man only uses a slight portion of each song so it is within copyright laws for my classroom, but it does not give any credit or mention where each song is from.



This video is a good example of using educational technology in a classroom. The teacher made up her own words to what sounds like a generic rap tune off of garage band or something. What is hard is she didn't site her background music so you can not tell where its from. You will have to follow the link below to view the video. It would not embed.

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=157&title=Mrs__Burk_Perimeter_Rap

Video Project

Proposal

My idea for a video project is to create an instructional dance video for my students to learn from and then later perform. This could be interesting to see how well things turn out.

My gospel insight presentation

I created this for class, but i thought it was cute how they related internet safety to a Cafe. So it relates to menu's, food and other things you woulf find in a cafe.

Viddler

I created a lesson plan for encorporating viddler as feedback for my class. But after using the program, I feel it would be more work to have them do their feedback this way. I could see me using it as a teacher more than I can see students using it as an assignment. But I could give more persaonal feedback by being able to view a video multiple times and give comments while watching.

A sample of the video I embedded for practice is:

Copyright Multimedia

Look here soon for examples of good and bad use of copyright by other educators found on teacher tube.

Copyright

This week I watched videos about copyrights and learned a lot about "fair use." It seems to me there is a definate line in my major with copyright laws. Between using the media for educational purposes and using the media for enteretainment purposes. My major revolves around creating movement for entertainment value later on. So while in class I am allowed to have my students use music in its full content. But i have a question, If i wanted to have my students take what they have learned and do a concert, where is the lines in that? Say they used a popular song, they are demonstrating what they have learned in class, but then what? I am sure there parents come and record it. I have seen kids performances end up on youtube. It make me think more about teaching my students about correct Copyright.

New Ideas

So technology and I have never really gotten along. It seems when I go to use it it always breaks down on me. Or at least thats the case with BYU's Blackboard. In my technology class I have seen all the ways technology can be useful. It is exciting!

I now am looking on embarking to learning a new technology and finding out different ways it could be useful to me. I would really like to explore Viddler.

I can already imagine ways fo using it to help me in teaching. One way I could use it is when I do videos. I record my students and give them comments. Sometimes I can't talk fast enough and it would be good to go back and add more comments in later, which viddler allows.

As I was pondering a way my students could use viddler, I want to explore the possibility of them doing critiques on classmates videos. Also, I could have them turn in what they have so far and then I could leave commments on where they could improve more.

I forsee many possibilities and am excited to learn more.

My Class Website

So, i created a class website! You can check it out by following this link, LearnFromElisha

Google Reader

For my google reader sources, I found some helpful tools for future teaching and communication.

Future Releases from Human Kinetics- This is a source for finding books on general movement. It has books on wheelchair sports, water sports, dance, etc. This will be helpful to help me find future textbooks when dance ones show up. Also, it can be helpful for me to relate to students who do other things besides dance.

Research in Dance Education- Is a link to 82 articles about research done in Dance Education. It is abstracts from a book so it can give ideas for topics to teach in class.

UDEO- Is Utah Dance Education Organization. It is something I belong to as a teacher and by subscribing here, it is another link to their facebook which keeps me posted on upcoming events and worshops to continue my own education.

Dancing into the Future- My personal favorite site I found. It is a blog that posts current articles on many things dance educators talk about. It is a good source for current scholarly conversation. I could print off the articles and have my students read them.

Education Technology- A general subscription about teaching and technology to hopefully keep me current on technology trends that I can use in my teaching. With technology being such a huge part of students lives, it better for me to keep current then to loose touch with my students.

Calendar

All about ME! (Lyrics to personal rap)

I'm Elisha with an "E"

president of BDC

I like Latin a lot, but standards cool too

Standard pumps, Latin Sandals, these are my ballroom shoes

Ms Linda's my coach, and then theres Mr Lee,

He's says "don't Flub it up," to my whole team.

Dance is my excercise so I don't get fatty,

And then I have a pooch, that I call Adi

I like shoppin with my best friend, mom

Take us to Park city, we'll shop the day long

Lifes a little sweet with a tooth like mine

I like chocolate and candy, cuz sugar is fine

Once upon a time I worked at Disney

With my friends Chip n' Dale and the my Mickey

I'm friends with Gus Gus and Winnie the Pooh

In fact, Im friends with the whole Disney Crew

You can Call me a Disney Freak

but I think Tink is Sweet

I like the weather hot, leave cold out of the mix

And I love teaching kids, lots of new tricks

I got a little sister who drives me up the wall

but put us two together and we will have a ball

They say i've got no personal bubble,

and im always on the double