Yesterday was fairly uneventful. Everyone sounded like they had a great holiday weekend, but I, for one, was ready to get back to work. So after updating my Google Map with the info for Thad McCotter, I embarked upon a new project. I was sorting through some of the C-SPAN history videos and getting a little frustrated. They are in no sort of order whatsoever, as far as I could tell. So, drumroll please....
I am working on compiling all history related C-SPAN videos into a time line with hyperlinks and descriptions. A couple of downfalls, and I am open to suggestions here - 1) it's kind of boring to look at, and 2) I don't think I can actually embed the clips. I was looking at using dipity.com instead, since you can embed videos, but they have to be YouTube videos, and not all of the videos I wanted to include were YouTube videos (although there are many available at www.youtube.com/cspan). There is an option to add photos, so I'm thinking of doing screen shots of each of the videos, but we'll see how much time I have. I can't believe that tomorrow is the halfway point of my trip! I've been gone for 2 weeks already!
Between sitting at a computer during the day and Kay's amazing cooking I have gained about 10lb since I've been gone. So yesterday Mary Sue and I decided to go for a walk over lunch. We went around the Capitol to start with:
and then on to the National Botanical Gardens. If you have never been here, I would say it is a must see. It was absolutely beautiful, and it was completely free. We did it in about 25 minutes over lunch. You could definitely spend longer, but I felt like we saw a lot of what they had to offer. There were a lot of great plants and flowers, but my favorites were by far the orchids (Dear husband: HINT!!)
So today we started off the morning early, meeting at 8:20 for an appointment at the Library of Congress. I had never been before and let me say, it was fantastic. It was much prettier than I thought it would be for some reason, even after watching a C-SPAN special.
We got to see the Bibles, the reading room, a room that people aren't allowed in with millions of dollars worth of musical instruments, etc. Then after the interns left the other fellows and I did a quick loop through the Bob Hope exhibit and the Civil War exhibit (history teachers, I know). I was kind of glad we stayed for those because it ended up pouring while we were in there and it would have been really sad to end up walking back in the rain.
When we returned to C-SPAN I kept working on my time line and then Mary Sue and I decided that today over lunch we would go to the Postal Museum. Now, it's run by the Smithsonian, so you have to give it some level of credit there, but I have to tell you, if she hadn't wanted to go there I never would have gone in a million years. A museum about the post office? Really? HOWEVER, once we got in it was really very neat. I enjoyed it and I am so glad that I didn't miss out on it. They had a really cool display set up about the history of the post office, pony express, crime via mail (think bombs and anthrax), etc. It was really interesting.
After our tour we went back to work for a meeting to take a look at the SmartBoard (which I have never used) and talk about our presentations for the educator conference next week. Mary Sue and I realized today that we really only have four good work days left before the conference and that made me a little nervous. I hope the people like what I've put together. I'm sharing my map project with webquest and also sharing the current events map that my kids did last winter for my application. I like it, but the whole thing has sort of become my baby, so I'm just going to cross my fingers.
The other two fellows, Dan and Mary Sue, have some great projects going on. Mary Sue is working with blogging and the C-SPAN video library, and Dan is working on creating a library of clips about significant Supreme Court cases. I'm really excited about both of their projects. I can't wait to use them in my classes at home.
After our meeting I stayed and met with Pam to brainstorm ideas for how she could use Poll Everywhere as an introduction to her presentation on Congressional Chronicle. I think we came up with a pretty good idea, so I'll be interested to see how that goes.
So now. The moment you've all been waiting for. My celebrity sighting. I am 85% sure that I sat behind Dale Talde (Top Chef) on the train today. Do NOT ask me why he was in DC when his restaurant is in New York, but I swear it looked JUST LIKE HIM. You need proof? Well that's okay, I did a little cell phone stalking. You be the judge:
Dale Talde:
Guy on the train:
Yes, I was that sure that it was him that I had to take a picture to compare. Now I know you can't really judge since it's a profile (I obviously couldn't take a picture with him looking right at me, so trust me on this one).
Okay, and finally:
I am still trying to come up with that one great project for this fellowship. Nothing is really jumping out at me as amazing work. What would you like to see as part of C-SPAN classroom? And if you haven't checked it out yet I will conveniently provide the link here: www.c-spanclassroom.org so you can look.
I'm starting to get pretty frustrated, usually my ideas just come to me, like a lightbulb, and it's not happening this time. Any input would be greatly appreciated (if you made it this far). :)
No comments:
Post a Comment