Messenger Angels

Angels are visiting Cuidad Juarez, Mexico. At crime scenes and police stations they are appearing. Ten feel tall they stand. Some carry signs saying, “murderers repent.”
At a small evangelical church, teenage boys and girls are painting their faces and their hair with a silver-colored paint. They are writing on signs and building wings. As sirens in the background scream to the scene of yet another crime, these boys and girls get into a van and follow the police vehicles. Getting out of the van, they unfold chairs. Adjusting their long robes, they get on top of these chairs and let the robes fall to the floor. In an area that has been terrorized by crime, these young boys and girls look bravely ahead and boldly call sinners to repent. Their courage is commendable. The risk they take is great. But they do it because of a firm belief that something needs to be done in their city to stop the downward spiral.
I read an article about these “messenger angels” a couple of weeks ago in the New York Times and wanted to record how impressed I felt by what they are doing. Their efforts are inspirational given what Ciudad Juarez has been going through. I think that the bold steps they are taking are clear indications that people are still willing to take great risks in order to promote peace over violence. There are still good people who are working to better society. They have certainly inspired me to stand up for what is right in the face of fear.

Ants

Every day ants get out of their little ant beds, put on their antennas for the day, eat their ant cereal (which usually has depictions of the most popular ant athlete), and get ready for their little ant day. They walk outside to see all the other little ants already making their way to school or to work or wherever they are going.
The ants get into line with everyone else and walk in the same steps, go to the same places. They do this every day. Their little ant teachers give them little (sometimes big) ant assignments and the ants go the the library in a little ant line. They stay there until late and then take the same line back to their little ant homes.
After one little ant did this day after day, he wondered if there might be more to life than staying in the same line as all the other ants. Only, he was scared. He was scared that if he didn't do all the little ant things that he had been told he needed to do, he might not be happy. But all this little ant work wasn't easy and a lot of the time he felt pretty worn out with all the work load that was put on the little ant's back. One night while walking home from the little ant library,the little ant noticed that all of the leaves had fallen off of the tree. The little ant felt sad because he hadn't even seen the leaves fall because he was in the library or too distracted to notice. The little ant thought and couldn't remember the last time that he took five minutes to watch the leaves on the tree. He saw them on the ground and realized that he had hardly even seen them change color. And now they were already off of the tree.
The little ant looked up at the beautiful mountains with snow now lightly blanketing them and wondered at their greatness. The little ant had often wanted to go into the mountains and explore them but most of the time he was too busy and if he did have free time (which was quite rare), he just wanted to relax.
When the little ant got home, he was really tired. Before he went to bed though he looked out his little ant window and saw the sky beautifully lit up by the moon. The clouds looked like islands over a dark blue ocean. The light shined down on the little ant as he walked away from the window and snuggled up with his little ant blanket on his little ant couch (his roommate was snoring so the little ant had to sleep in the living room). The little ant dreamed of spending time reading the little ant books that he wanted to read and doing the little ant projects he thought were important. The next day the little ant got up, put on his little ant antennas, ate his little ant cereal (which usually had a depiction of a little ant athlete), and got back in line with the rest of the little ants to go back to wherever they were going.

Letters

About a month ago I was finishing up the audiobook version of David McCullough's John Adams. I was utterly amazed at the life that this man led, along with the deep love that he had for his wife. While listening to it, I realized that one of the reasons that we have so much information about the life of this man, along with the relationships that he held with friends and family members (aside from his journal), is because he wrote letters.
I remember thinking how I wanted to start sending letters around to people, friends, people I met while in El Salvador, family, etc. Doesn't the idea of it sound somewhat Romantic? Doesn't a letter, hand-written have more of an appeal than a typed up email?

I still like getting emails from people too though.

With technology making everything so easy (and instantaneous), there is this great opportunity to keep in contact with people like never before. I've got a roommate in Taiwan and we've been sending little things back and forth. It's been a blast and I've chuckled a time or two looking back on the way we express ourselves through writing.

I guess what I'm saying is, writing is about communication. It's also about creating a record. It's also pretty fun and provides a conduit that leads back to countless memories that would have been forgotten if you would have not recorded them in that letter or journal.

The Calm After The Storm

I was thinking about how peaceful I was feeling when the thought crossed my mind "This is like the calm after the storm." It took me a second to realize the mistake I had made in the well-known phrase "the calm before the storm." Isn't it true though, that there is a calm after every storm?

I think about the apostles of Jesus as they toiled across the Sea of Galilee (which is actually a lake I might add) against contrary winds. They awakened their Master and he calmed the storm. How symbolic of the storms that He calms in our own lives.

I feel like for the last few weeks I have been scrambling, always one project behind, one day behind, one minute behind. This weekend I finally felt the calm after the storm. No doubt this calm only precedes the next storm, but at least for a few days, hours, minutes, I have peace--and oh how thankful I am for it!

Finding Out What Matters Most

I appreciate the lessons learned and relearned throughout every day, week, month, semester, and year. I've always been the type of person (I think that most people are this way) that really loves the beginning of something new.
Take the beginning of a new semester for example. There is the onset of boredom that comes near the end of the summer when you have way too much time on your hands and you just can't wait to get back into the swing and busyness of things. Somewhere down that semester you wish that you had those long summer days back when you weren't committed to too many things for you to have enough time to complete.
I've hit that point I think.
But even as I write this, I've got a grin on my face. It's that grin that says "bring it on baby." As I mentioned earlier, lessons are learned time and time again. The stress and anxiety of having way too much to do for the little time that I've got pushed me to the point where I just had to sit down, prioritize what is really most important, work my tail off, and just let the rest of it go. Be gone baby!
It is refreshing from time to time to be pushed to that limit. To be pushed to the point where you're forced to take things back to the basics. A whole week of skipped classes so that I could participate in the final week of the New Testament Project that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is filming was well worth it, but came at the price of missing my classes. I just couldn't skip out on what I see as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Now it's taking work off on Monday and Wednesday mornings to catch up on schoolwork, campus food, quick workouts somewhere in the day to replenish some energy, and staying late in the library. I can do it--at least for a little while.
I am grateful though. For good teachers who help me get caught up again, strengthened focus, and a proper perspective that goes like this: God, family, health, and school/work.

My Day, My life: Monday

I wake up at 5:50 a.m. and try to crank out a workout before the day gets started. This helps me feel better, more awake, and is really the only time that I can exercise. Sometimes I do pushups, pullups, and situps. Basically anything that ends with "ups." Other days I go running or swim. When I get back my roommates and best friends are usually eating breakfast. We make fun of each other for a couple of minutes, giving each other a hard time about girls or how the other one is putting on weight. We laugh and probably wake up the two roommates still sleeping or the guys below us. From there I'm off to work with the campus electricians. Work there is interesting. I once turned in a time card that described my day as this: 1 hour safety meeting, 1 hour talking with Mr. R (my manager), 1 hour spinning in my chair, and 1 hour flirting with the secretary. Sometimes work is busy. Sometimes I follow the electricians around for four hours like their shadow.
I get off at noon and usually to to the Wilk where I try to get food that:
first- fills me up
second-is nutritious
Notice the order.
I'm not a big fan of being hungry.

Around one I'm hitting the books. I'll be in the library or the office of the professor I do research for. After cranking out the studies, or going to work for my professor (whichever is more pressing) I'll grab some grub at the Wilk again (around 5:00 p.m.). I don't like spending all my money on food but It is extremely difficult to find time enough to prepare lunch and dinner. In past semesters I resorted to not eating, but this semester I vowed that I would not starve.
Again, I return to the books. I'm an English guy so I've got a lot of reading. I could be here until eight or nine depending if I go home for FHE (if we're having it I will be there). I make it home between eight and nine to unwind with my friends for an hour or two. Ideally I would get to bed around ten or ten thirty. IT doesn't happen, but I've got the goal to get ready for bed at 10:00 p.m. Around then I prepare for bed, read the scriptures and then hit the sack to do it all over again.

Remember September 11th 2001

I was sleepy and had just gotten into the back seat of the car of the girls who I carpooled with. It seemed like any other day. I had gotten up early in the morning to attend seminary (an early gospel study class for youth of the LDS faith)and was about to make the 30 minute trip to school. We turned on the radio and the usual goofballs that control early morning talk radio were talking about something happening on the other side of the country. Looking back at the things they said, they jokes they made about what was happening, I wonder if they are ashamed of the way they handled that morning. I'm sure they had no idea about what was really unfolding. Neither did I. As usual I fell asleep on the way to school.
When I arrived at school, news was being shared in the corners of rooms. It was being tossed through the air. It was in our classroom and all around us. Remembering it now, I wish our teachers would have turned on the television and let us students see what was happening. Nothing we learned that day was remembered but we could have learned so much from the attack that was occurring on our country.
I remember nothing after that except brief pieces of news that I caught. Seeing a plane smouldering in a Pennsylvania field. Another smashed through the wall at the Pentagon. Two buildings that once reached to the sky--now mounds of debris. I remember seeing people falling through the air. Jumping from the towers. What did they think? How did they feel before they jumped?
The country was in absolute shock.
Ten years have now passed. Life, it seems, has gone on as normal. Do we remember as we should? Will we continue to remember? I hope that we do but I will not presume I can answer the questions I gave.

Oh Bearded One

It wasn't that long ago...I found out I was going to be an extra in a LDS church production. My heart filled with joy and I smiled inwardly. Yes! It was finally mine. Perhaps the most coveted pass at BYU. The "beard card!" Only a few months later would I realized the dreadful prospect of having a beard on a beardless campus. The eyes watch you as you cross Brigham Square. Brother Brigham's eyes gaze down from his statue, approvingly, for the man himself had a beard, but others seem in disbelief that someone would allow the natural man to remain so untamed. "So what's with the beard?" The most common question directed to me the past few months. I decided after a recent party I attended with friends from the Jerusalem Center that I might as well record myself repeating the same conversation over and over again. The secret is, however unlikely it may seem, there is more to me than this patch of hair spread across my face.

Now don't get me wrong, there re benefits. Like today, for example. Someone I didn't know passed me and said, "Cool beard man." I replied in the acceptable fashion "Thanks dude." My heart was touched. I also don't pass too many of my friends unknowingly anymore. Whereas before we might have missed each other while walking on campus, they now exclaim "Donny!" It's hard to miss the guy with the carpet on his face. Learning to eat, drink, really anything that involves the mouth, has been quite the experience. I think I use double the shampoo I used to.

When it all comes down to it though, it's been a fun experience. I'll still be excited to shave this bad boy off in order to avoid all that unwanted attention. "Does it get hot?" "No, not really" I reply. Still, I wish people knew that there is more to me than my beard.

Blog Post #6

this course overall was very helpful in getting me more comfortable with using technology. Besides my YouTube miniproject, I felt like it was reasonably easy to pick up the new skills. Probably the best thing that I learned was that you can become your own computer expert simply by doing Google searches for information. I think it would have been a little more helpful if we would have spent more time watching you show us how to do things while we worked on the same projects on our own computers. Though it is great to learn on your own, we may have been given too little guidance.

In the future I definitely plan on using the moviemaker (just because it's fun) Prezi Presentations, and blogger. I think that these are effective tools for a classroom and I plan on incorporating their use. I don't want to say what I won't use because there's always the possibility that I will pick up new technologies in the future.

Youtube video embed

As a disclaimer, I got it to work on PowerPoint, but it won't upload onto my blog...sorry.
I'm going to be honest when I say that this was the most frustrating project of the class. And it shouldn't even be a hard one! I've been working with powerpoint 2007. I finally got the video to work but then I had to upload it to a googlepresentation doc and now it will not work on my blog.

As far as copyright implications for this project, I felt crippled about what I could and couldn't use. I knew that I couldn't use things from sources that may have uploaded bootlegged or pirated content, but how in the world am I supposed to know if they pirated it or not? Is there something that clearly outlines what we can and cant use? I know that I can use a certain percentage for educational purposes and fair use, but even then I'm fearful of what that constitutes.

As far as potential problems, like with what happened with me, I finally figured out how to put the video onto powerpoint, but then I couldn't upload it to my blog. Another potential problem is that even though you embed the vid, sometimes it will not play for you. You have to check beforehand to make sure it works.

Here's my prezi mini project!

I learned that Prezi allows you to embed your presentations onto a blog! Didn't know that before. I also learned that it's relatively easy to create a Prezi in just a couple of minutes (not as time consuming as I thought).
Prezi would definitely be a good switch from the same old PowerPoint presentations that so many people use. It can help the student stay engaged. I could see potential problems if one were to do too much with the Prezi. It could distract from the lesson material.
I could use Prezi for:
1) General instruction such as historical context of the literature we are reading
2) Administration of quizzes or tests (could also use it for reviews)
3) I could assign students to prepare oral presentations using this device. To ensure that student's who don't have computers can still use the program, the assignment would be worked on at the school computer lab

Run, Dance, Clap Your Hands on Prezi

Blog Post #5-Movie Reflection

I learned a TON with this assignment. Because this was the first time that I've created a movie, I learned everything creation transitions between sequences to narration.
The easiest aspect of this assignment was (surprisingly) gathering footage. I already had a lot of footage from a recent trip abroad so this assignment allowed me an opportunity to bring it together.
The hardest part was adding music, narration, and making the film flow.
I think that videos can enhance learning because most students love watching films (I think if you create your own, they might be even more interested to view it). Effects and music also keep students attention well. Be careful not to over do it, however, because too much music or effects can be distracting.
I think I will make videos for my classes in the future. They are fun to make and switch things up from the norm.

Peace!

An Example of a Student Created Video

The assignment is as follows: Students will create a "moving biography" aka a documentary highlighting something about themselves. Students may be creative with this assignment and are encouraged to add music, effects, transitions, and narrations to make their moving biography interesting to the viewer. Begin by brainstorming what you want to say. Consider sharing your interests, hobbies, skills, and what makes you unique.
There is no wrong way to do this task. Your video should not be longer than 4 minutes. Go and have fun with this!

My Storyboard! Yeah!

Here is a picture of my storyboard!

Internet Safety

I found our internet safety lesson very valuable. Although not about internet safety, I found it very interesting that we were instructed not to put our parents as "mom" or "dad" in our cell phones. The reason being that if you lose your phone, whoever finds it could just send out a text asking your parents for your social security number or pin number. The same goes for email, facebook, etc. You can never be sure if the person contacting you hasn't stolen your friend's or family member's account and is impersonating them to extract important info from you. Just don't send important and confidential or personal info across the internet or through text messaging. I also like the Google Imager site that can set up your email so that robots cannot harvest your email address.

It is especially important to keep children safe when they are students in your classroom. Frankly, it is important that they are always safe on the internet no matter where they are. This can be accomplished by keeping students informed about internet safety procedures, the importance of not giving out personal information, not downloading from untrusted sites or email addresses. Students who are well informed about internet risks will make better decisions. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.

Website Creation Reflection

Alrighty! Looks like I'm gettin the hang of this website creation dealio. One of the most valuable things that I learned with this assignment is that yes, I can indeed create a website. Seriously though, sometimes the hardest part about doing somethings is just getting started on it. I learned that website creation is fun and relatively easy.

I had a valuable experience as I was constructing the website. When it came time to embed my Google Calendar I hit a "roadblock" as I realized I didn't really know how to do it. Instead of staring at the screen, I just "googled it" and found out how it was done. Easy as pie! I think that I will definitely use a website in my teaching. It simply makes everything more readily available for students to access.

This is me! And this is where I teach (not really)

Alrighty I'm back again!  This time I'd like to say a little about myself, what I like to do, etc. etc.

If you've been following, you already know that I'm from California.  It should be no surprise that I love warm weather!  Boating, outdoor activities, sports-I love them all!  I also love to eat.  I recently spent time traveling in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan for a study abroad-you'd have thought that I would come back with a load of souvenirs.  Nope!  I just ate my way through those countries, spending money on hardly anything but food.  I also love music!  Some of my favorite artists now are Iron and Wine and Band of Horses.  When I say they are my "favorite artists" I mean that I dig a couple of their songs.  It's hard for me to single out one music group and say that I love all of their music.

Because this is a practice blog, I'm going to say (falsely--but because I love the place) that I teach at the BYU Jerusalem Center.  The BYU Jerusalem Center offers students a unique and beautiful opportunity to study the Bible and the land on which it takes place first hand.  Students who attend a semester in Israel will come back with an increased appreciation and love for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They will walk where He walked and see some of the same structures and land features that He saw.  It is truly a remarkable experience!
This is where I teach:

 Here's a detailed map of where I teach:


View Larger Map


Here is the best way to contact me:
abcd@email.com

My First Post Ever!

Why hello there!  My name is Donovan Sanchez esquire.  Okay so maybe not esquire but it does sound pretty cool.  I'm from the beautiful state of California, in the city that's home to the Jelly Belly factory (you'll have to research that one).

I'm an English Teaching major at Brigham Young University.  Go cougars!  I bleed blue and white through and through!  I only request that you do not test that last statement.  Please no.

When I graduate from this lovely university I would like to go and change the world!  How will I do this?  Through education of course.  I hope that the courses I give will inspire youth to live up to their potential, become more than they ever thought they could be, and lead happy and healthy lives.  I don't want to be the AP English-Shakespearean-abstract poetry reading type of English teacher.  I want to relate to students!  I want them to relate to what they read.  When my students graduate from high school they will love reading and writing!

Why then have I created this blog?  Well it's for a class, actually.  I hope to learn how to appropriately utilize technology to make the learning process exciting for my students!  All Pow (that means I'm done)!