WhiteLily's comments

Craigs List: The Online Tag Sale

14 Jun 2009 11:31 PM

Mary Ann, thank you for your article abput Craig's List. I was reading about it and thinking how lovely it would be ot have a local one of these. Then I searched the site and was delighted to learn there are international sites available too, as I live in Australia! I'll be checking out the one nearest to my town!

Time Management and Studying

20 Apr 2006 01:11 PM

I like your comments about children needing to take study breaks, Lisa. I also think children need time for unstructured play as well, but that is another topic.

It is good to remember that adult studiers also need to take breaks. That is one message I try to make loudly and clearly when taking new adult students through an orientation process. It is good for adults to set up a weekly timetable, carving out blocks of time for all 'must do' committments, making time for study and scheduling in some time to just relax as well. Studying is quite a committment at any age, and it really is a help to plan when you will do that study and to let the whole family know when those times are to happen. Adults who do this often get a lot of extra help from their families and can therefore meet their study committments more easily. I think knowing about some basic time mangement skills has been a powerful tool for some people.

Collaborative Teaching Through the World Wide Web

20 Apr 2006 12:50 PM

Now if only someone would come up with a way to mark analytical work on the computer!! I am marking assignments tonight while taking mini breaks and reading comments on families.com. I am familiar with ways to mark mutiple choice and survey type answers online, but I guess it is beyond a computer to know how to grade an assignment that asks the student to display their understanding of a topic by writing an essay! Oh well. Guess we teachers are still good for some things :-)

And I agree with you that tech connections have made it possible for us to deliver quality education, no matter how remote or rural the area, as long as the student is rich enough to afford said technology. In Far North Queensland we also have a problem with getting broadband or ADSL out to everyone. Lots of people can only get dial-up, which is just not fast enough to bring them on board with some of the technical stuff we now use.

But what a change technology has made to us all, regardless of these issues. Nice to chat with you.

Moose, The Great Escape Mutt!

20 Apr 2006 12:42 PM

Your story really hit home with me! I have a Foxy-Chihuahua cross dog who is about 11 years old, but she is still full of beans. She is all devotion and love when her humans are home but as soon as we leave her to her own devices in a large, lovely back yard, she becomes a mad tunnel-er. One day after lots of rain she decided to tunnel out under the fence while I was still home. I didn't know she was occupied with thoughts of escape at the time. I confidently stepped out the back door, on my way to work, and caught a glimpse of two paws and a small nose looking at me through a hole tunneled under the fence. Of course it was Trixie! I called out to her but the nose and paws promptly disappeared. In my good shoes (see, I told you your story hit home with me!) I raced across the mud, kicking up spatters onto the backs of my legs, and climbed on top of an old tree stump to look over the fence. Trixie was no where in sight. I called her some more but really couldn't straddle the fence. I went out to the front yard and called some more. Trixie did not magically appear. By now I was just about late for work. I got in my car, started it up and slowly started to back out of the driveway, scanning for a little black and tan dog. Sure enough, I spotted her slinking home across the neighbour's front lawn! I got out of the car and she came to me, and got tied up for a couple of hours till my husband came home and fixed the new holes. I had to go back inside and wash my legs and shoes before I could go to work! The things we do for our little furry friends, eh?

The Enigmatic Purr: Whatever Does It Mean?

20 Apr 2006 12:29 PM

I read your article with great interest, Marjorie, and I am sure you will get many other comments :-) I have noticed that cats seem to purr for many reasons. I once had a lovely little Siamese cat who purred all the time. I loved her vocal greetings - they were a cross between a meow and a purr. Her loudest purrs happened in a tragic situation. She had stillbirthed three little kittens and had bled profusely while doing so, yet she purred the loudest she ever had purred all that day. She sought me out whenever I left her 'room' as well, insisting that I return with her to keep vigil over her empty nest. I was moved by her bravery and affection that day. The two tabbies I now have do have different habits of purring. One will purr when he speaks and loves to combine purring with painful kneading of the human who strokes him, but never purrs in submission. He is silent when scared or angry. Tthe other cat purrs almost as a submissive behaviour, as you mentioned some cats will do, even at the vet's. Yet they have had the same 'upbringing'!

Grouping Pictures

20 Apr 2006 12:00 PM

Thank you, Marilyn. I really like the idea of laying the pictures out on butcher's paper and marking where the nails should go. That's a great plan! I will remember that for when I get the wall ready to be my family gallery :-)

Collaborative Teaching Through the World Wide Web

17 Apr 2006 09:27 PM

Janet, it is great that you have posted up some American sites for teachers. To help you get an international flavour about this thread, I want to tell you about the Australian site I belong to called EdNa. It can be found at http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/page1.html I have a particular interest in blended learning strategies as I teach adults in isolated communities across a huge section of northern Australia, and I currently contribute to a few threads that discuss these matters. One thread is about networking and another is about digital storytelling, and there have been some fantastic ideas posted there lately for teaching technical stuff to grade school students. You can join the site by registering. Technology has really made it possible for us to share globally, hasn't it!

Do You Have Questions For Me?

08 Mar 2006 11:28 AM

This is great, Rachel. I agree that people with questions how they are interested in the job. I also like it when people show they know somethin about the company - that they have atken time to research and read something like the company's annual report. As a person who has sat on recruitment and selection panels a bit, these two things always make a person memorable for me. Thanks for putting it so well.

Taking Pictures: How To Hold Your Camera

01 Mar 2006 01:13 PM

Hey - great tip, Chuck! Thanks!

Getting Your Cat to the Vet

01 Mar 2006 01:04 PM

Hi Marjorie I relate to what you are saying! I have a ginger cat who sure is clever about 'sliding into walls' if he doesn't want to be found.

I try the 'small room' technique with my cats. It's all in the timing. I make an appointment with the Vet for close to the cat's mealtime. Then I get the cat carrier ready - I put a favourite towel on the floor of the carrier as that seems to be a comfort to them. Then I put the open carrier in a small room like the laundry, where I can shut all doors and windows. This is also where I usually feed my cats. They like coming in to the laundry. Then I call them in, enticing them with a favourite food. I give them the food, scoop them up and put them in the carrier, then shut the carrier door - voila! A caged cat with no hide and seek game! I hope this helps you too.