C4T #4

C4T#9
My teacher that I was assigned to for C4T this week name is Jeff Delp, and his blog is titled Molehills out of mountains. Mr.Delps is a Junior High Principal by day, sports enthusiast, technology fanatic and a jedi in his own mind, striving to be a difference maker. His latest post was titled Productivity Tools for Educators. Mr.Delps feels as though he is constantly finding himself struggling to manage his responsibilities as well as his time. On top of managing his time, he also has to manage paper work and constantly re-arranging his schedule and tasks to be able to fit everything he needs to have done into one day. Mr. Delps have found some very useful tools to help him manage and organize his daily tasks while at the same time cutting back on the amount of paper he use and also printings/copies he would have to make. Mr.Delps feels as though not only is the use of paper often and unnecessary waste of resources, it can be a substantial financial drain on the school budget. So any tool that would help keep the budget or even save money would be very beneficial to both the teachers and the school as a whole. Mr.Delps uses Google Docs, Evernote, Dropbox, Wunderlist, Posterous, and Twitter to help him organize and manage his time more effectively. Google Docs makes it easy for teachers to share and organize documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and is universally accessible via any computer or mobile device. Evernote is a virtual filling cabinet, and is great for tagging and taking notes. Dropbox allows you to access to store and open important documents from any computer or mobile device no matter where you are. Wunderlist is an easy to use, accessible from virtually anywhere application that allows you to manage a multitude of tasks in an "inbox" and then organize the items and share them with whomever. Posterous is just a simple blogging platform, that allows users to easily share ideas and participate in conversations to enhance professional development. Twitter provides access to other teachers/educators to engage in conversations and outstanding resources. It is also used to develop connections with colleagues in different schools from around the world.

Out of all the tools that Mr.Delps use I see that he and I have made use out of Google Docs, Drop box, Evernote and Twitter. Once I become a teacher I think that I am going to have to add Posterous to my list of Apps both on my phone and on my Personal computer. The Comment that I left on his page was read as follows: "Mr.Delps, After reading this wonderfully written post, I must say that we are very much alike as far as time management goes. Out of all the tools you use to help better assist you in your daily life, I also use google docs, evernote, dropbox, and twitter. The only other one that I am interested in researching more about is Posterous. Thank You so much for sharing your thoughts with the world."

C4T#4
This is my last week in following Mr.Jeff Delps Blog Page called Molehills out of Mountains. Due to my teacher not having a more recent blog than the one I posted on two weeks ago,I then had to move down one blog post to a post titled My New Year's Resolution: Fail Frequently . In this blog post Mr.Delps talks about the ending of one year and beginning of the next. He describes how refreshing it is to start a new year with new resolutions, and goals, and just how good it feels to have a sense of starting fresh. Mr.Delps stated that "The beauty of New Year’s resolutions is the opportunity to hit the reset button on unsuccessful endeavors…a chance to refocus". Rather we have small simple goals such as losing weight or bigger long term goals such as starting a new career, starting the new year with resolutions is challenging. Resolutions are a challenge according to Mr.Delps because of one word "Change". It is hard to break old habits, and change what just comes natural for you. So rather it is losing weight or changing careers rather it is a big change or a small change, it is ultimately up to you as the person to commit to that change, and that is the challenging part.

Mr.Delps stated that, with resolutions either you stuck to them or you didn't. "Whether it was altering exercise habits or changing classroom instructional methods, making changes requires us to face a significant fear – the potential for failure." I am on the same page as Mr.Delps, making changes are scary. Mostly because more often then not, the outcome can only go one of two ways, good or bad, right or wrong. So for me I know change is scary because you really do not know the end result, so most people get comfortable in routine and stick to doing what they know works. At the end of the day Change requires that we take chances. If we make the assumption that the changes we undertake are purposeful and necessary, it is imperative that we accept failure as a natural – even necessary – part of the change process.In conclusion I must say I agree with Mr.Delps when he says "Instead of approaching resolutions, with an “all or none” attitude, give yourself a break and allow opportunities to make mistakes and benefit from the learning process that ensues.Failure does not have to be fatal…in fact, it can be a sign of thinking anew." and the comment that I left on his blog post was "Mr.Delps this was an excellent and Inspiring blog. I agreed with your statement that read "Instead of approaching resolutions, with an “all or none” attitude, give yourself a break and allow opportunities to make mistakes and benefit from the learning process that ensues. Failure does not have to be fatal…in fact, it can be a sign of thinking anew." Because so often we beat ourselves up over failing something that we set out to do, but in all actuality we grow from our mistakes and learn from them to improve who we are today, to become better for tomorrow. So I would just like to take the time to say Thank You!"