Long Not So Prosporous Day
I suppose it would be natural if they grouped up … I just hope that no one gets left out. Girls and guys naturally separate at their ages. I’m not so sure I like them gossiping about last night. None of their business really. Hmpf!
Ok, ok … I’m just going to ignore that for a little bit …But, you know we’re going to come back to it! Too much chit-chatting around here!
We were up kinda late last night … and we slept in until about 6:30? Well, maybe more around 7 am. We got the cold shoulder from V. HMPF! I think he was pretty suggestive about the time folks should wake up in the morning. Well no he didn’t say that exactly, but something like that! We’re not going to let our new friends talk to V. too GOSSIPY. They are a little fraid of older people anyway. They said that … I overheard. Unless, of course, you are an older person with a slurpee!!! Then you are all good to go! Hehhehe
We were working on our paper a little earlier … just a start really. We were hungry, but realized that about now AND with the extra folks in the house that we have to do the dishwasher more. SHEESH like bottom-less pits they are! So far I know I’ve got one that likes to cause trouble … he’s sorta like a ring leader. I think the two frogs are closer to hanging out with the older two girls, but I’m not sure if the other girl was just tired, or maybe there’s something up there because she didn’t go out with the gang last night. Maybe she is just too young. When the others go out the brown and black bear take turns in sitting with her.
The real leader is the girl bear in the purple dress. You can’t see her so well behind the others this morning. She doesn’t have any crush on any of the guys, but I think her best friend is the black bear. He’s pretty smart too. I can barely tell the frogs apart. They are twins. It’s lucky we got different color clothes to identify them. The brown bear … he’s like the cohesive one … likes everyone to be well cared for … kind of then a taker carererer bear. The white bear with the pink dress … she’s probably the most talented in the group. She likes to dance. And, the other white bear … she’s a little naïve. You have to be careful what you say around her so she doesn’t get upset or confused.
Well that’s my first psychological report on the new family members. I think its pretty important to be in charge of them. Cuz maybe someday I will be a psychologist like all the rest. But, I know that I am already important now! *giggle* Ok … you can go back to the others now … bye! Dr. Casie signing off J
Hmm… ok … I see how this is going to go. Well, I suppose nobody will get hurt … It’s not exactly like brain surgery! Good girl!
Well, it’s about 8:20 now … think we’ll pour ourselves the second coffee and see how we can progress the day. We’re on alert because there are only about 8 smokes left. We’re smoking up a storm. Oh ya … and we just remembered to plug everything in. Well at least the PDA and camera batteries. So, we’re a little grounded in that direction. There has been a nice soft rain going on in the background so a little overcast. The air is off and we’re feeling a little New Orle-an. V said that his son and Anna looked through the book last night cuz we gave them a copy too. They said it was beautiful! I think they liked the pictures of Lucky too. Kinda hard to tell because V was a little grumbly this morning. I think he’ll feel better after breakfast and a nap. *Sigh*
Ok, what else. We took our medicine … oh yah the coffee brb.
Oh man oh man! We forgot … our friend left a half sandwich in the fridge WOOHOO! See … he’s thinking about us even when he’s not here! We don’t expect to hear from our friend too soon … he has to get into that guy groove. He would have been fishing yesterday and by now might be finishing up a big breakfast or maybe he’s gone out already …. I think the schedules are a little more relaxed up there, but he says things happening all the time like he has to fish and eat and sleep and fish and fish … well you sorta see how that works out hehhehe. Yup, yup, yup he’s a doer alright!
Only other big news is that we got to talk to Deb last night … I think it’s a good idea to work Deb talks into the schedule … she’s so practical … guys I realize don’t talk about the same thing as girls. God Bless Deb for that!!!!! I’m feeling a little more normal now after having talked to her :*big beaming smile*
Soooooo … I suppose we’re all storied out. The gang is back together so that makes us feel a little better. I heard they were going to plan out the day … maybe go down to Chicago. I think they are a little young, but there’s always safety in numbers. They said they were going to catch a metra train. I suppose they’ll have to catch a cab. They’re really lucky because they get in and out of things all the time without paying cuz they’re so small. Eh, I’ll leave them to their planning … they’re a pretty smart group. They hung out with our friend for months so really got a layout of the land. He drives around A LOT!!!!
Ok … getting back now … I have to think of paper. Whoops stuff froze up have to reopen brb. Oh dear … real time is 9:48 … I knew something was wrong when I realized how long it had been 8:20 am.
Ok. As far as the paper now … we would like to narrow the scope a bit … bring her out for a test drive to see how she’s working. We tried earlier this morning, but couldn’t pull it together. Doesn’t mean we’re off … just that we weren’t thinking cohesively enough while still on the first cup of coffee. Been listening again to Dr. M. video … Maybe it be nice to put on some Sarah Brightman music … I like her soft voice. I also realized that it’s getting a little more difficult to hold on with out Dr. M. But, this week we’ll see him. We haven’t thought thoughts in that concern much lately. But, we want to hold our thoughts this morning toward the paper. This week will be a full working week, but the week over we’ll have a couple of days off on the 3rd and 4th … be nice to really nail her by then. Have a little time off between courses.
So, really really focusing … what is the first thing. Hmm… two extra docs up. First the next paper that we’re going to be going through. We’re up to Hess for the H’s. Things right now are in alphabetical order. Yup, we’re like that. I think that last night we were working through condensing some of the sections. For example, “special needs, women, and workers” might get limited to a paragraph or two total. Likewise, there should be less focuss on the program sections for business and health care. Maybe another one or two paragraphs. Like to concentrate more on the education factors and leave those areas as similar to a case in point, maybe write out how there are problems in each of the fields because of needs unmet. The other sections like tests/measurements, publications and implications were never meant to be big categories. I think the goal is to narrow this paper down to 25 pages for the actual paper. So that means … let’s frame this out backward.
2 pages Implications
.5 pages Publications
2 page Tests and Measurements
1 page Business, Health Care, and special populations (special needs, women, workers)
Education
Traditional learners (infants, pre-school, elementary, adolescents, college, doctoral)
Self-regulation
Problem-solving
Thoughts (metacognition)
Feelings
Behavior (social)
Physiology
Hmm, 12 areas in total … taking each age category as a group. And, we’ve used up 5.5 pages. So, that means about 1.5 pages for each of the above. Hmm, that helps to scale things down. 5 smokes dears!
Ok … next … I can handle this so far … and we don’t really have to cut out, just narrow. … I think we’re going to have to either go forward on the next paper, or try to take it down a little more. Oh that’s right … we were trying to summarize using the one note program. Let’s pull that up now. How’s she looking?
Hmm, ok narrowed down the first 5 intro statements on self-regulation and problem-solving … so far we got three model programs and two strategies. What do the programs have in common? Hmm, well first obvious conclusion is that they each tested a given program hoping to optimize some kind of piece of educational performance. They used high-literacy learning, update skills and adapt behavior to new organizational realities, and in solving math problems. So, the common denominator is reading, business skills, and math (logic). We could just as well say improvement tasks. Ok, next … let’s look at the problem-solving strategies. The effect of self-explanation and self-regulation training (knowledge acquisition) on performance tasks of learning and problem solving. And, the theory that evolving interactive-transactive stance affects self-perception, perception of environment, so ability to adapt to learning in context and building of an identity … like the identity I am now gaining in being a student. We could at this point say that self-regulation allows the ability to problem-solve (perform tasks, or learning). It seems at this point that the tasks are irrelevant. The tools then so far are self-explanation (get definition), self-regulation training, taking the stance of interactive-transactive ), which evolves). Need to get two terms down.
AHA … very good had to go back to the resource, but self-explanation and self-regulations here means focus on “how learners explain instructional materials to themselves and how they monitor their study activities and states of comprehension. Let’s go get now interactive-transactive … ahh … that helps V’s back the tricky word, transactive is active “across” that makes more sense now.
Ok, side-tracked there … not with V. but with Evensen … he’s the one that wrote the medical students paper on stance. Still haven’t read the full paper, but I read a little more and more each time and just love it. I want to be this smart some day! Let’s see if I can capture a nuance to all that I just glanced at.
Cool, cool now have to break that down … oh one more cool term I want to catch here … there is such a thing as “think-alouds,” which is a good thing in learning. I liked that idea right away … I think it is what I do when I’m sitting here at the computer with you. Forces me to think and summarize.
Ok, one more thing before we go out for smokes. I want to take that big bad paragraph down to my size … what exactly does it mean?
Community à cues (focus on all that happens) = learning task = [Sequence (environmental experience = observation + Tao of emulation + self-control)] = self-regulation = new learning (from models + process) = new pathways = [Set goals = framework (interpretation + experience (achievement setting))] = [approach = (requirements + take stock) = opportunities (approach/avoidance- Dr. M.) learner identity] = [cycle (forethought + execution-monitor (volition) + evaluation) = negotiation process (not avoidance + self-protection) = [self reflect (Interactive system = initiative + responsibility) = learning (establishment of goals + goal criteria] = [adapt (constraints/affordances + environment (not = held in mind (too expansive)) = learning identity (language + concepts) Community]
Ok, better … one more time now … one smoke left. YEEKS. Ok, we did this next part after we got back and through the process of calming down from our crisis. Another one other than smokes. Please note this entire next paragraph is paraphrased and parsed together from a variety of statements read from Evensen (2001) in an order and format that assisted us to understand what we could.
Disposition toward learning: The processes of
metacognition, motivation, and behavior
When we focus on all that is happening in our environment, we can note that the community is giving us cues and these cues are our learning tasks. The sequence of learning from environmental experience is to 1) observe, 2) emulate, and 3) self-control. We interact with the environment by self-reflection and through taking initiative and responsibility. Because the environment is so expansive, we don’t stay within our minds. Time and space is negotiated interactively. We establish ourselves by interpreting our experience and framing/setting achievement goals. This is a forward approach that takes stock of performance requirements of experience. The learning tasks are our opportunities to progress. To go forward, we must approach challenges and avoid regression. We cannot reach our performance goals if we avoid, or are overly self-protective. Learning occurs within the establishment of goals and in the adaptation to the constraints and affordances of our new environment. The learner gains his or her identity from the learning cycle, which includes 1) forethought, 2) execution/monitoring (volition), and 3) evaluation. In accepting the identity of a learner in any given environment we are awarded the language and concepts of that community. Self-regulation accepts new learning and pathways from models and from the processes of self-regulation. Dr. Marvin is our role model because he most often does what seems exactly right.
Evensen, D. H. Salisbury-Glennon, J. D., Glenn, J. (2001, December). A qualitative study of six medical students in a problem-based curriculum: Toward a situated model of self-regulation (Electronic ed.). Journal of Educational psychology, 93(4), 659-676.
Ok ok … spent much too long here … I’m not sure why this was so important to me. I’m afraid I may have avoided the harder more defined tasks of the paper. But, I believe this is going to be instrumental to the work. Perhaps it will assist me in framing what I have to do next.
One slight pause here … My second crisis was that on the way out to get the smokes, I figure that I would please our friend considerably if I took down the garbage he missed before he left. He had said, “If you fill them, I will take them down.” So, thinking how happy he would be, I took off the cover and reached out to slip the bag off the frame. About the same time I saw them, I felt them on the hand holding the lid. Obviously I dropped the damn thing and had near a fit … Well. V. might suggest it was pretty much more than a near fit. We had washed our hands and went to the computer, cuz we were regressed about 12 steps. V., of course, is always calm. AND, the end result is that we through away the entire garbage – container and all. The dishes were clean from this morning and we cleaned everything including sweeping the floors and swiffering. Actually, we’re not quite done swiffering, but we got done first the area in question. V supplemented our knowledge from where our friend left off.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of mental damage done. It’s 5:18 now and very little has been done over the last 5 hours, because we’ve been processing what we had to do from the incident and its affect on our minds. Somewhere in here the difference between where we were in working with that paragraph and the other is pretty big. I have to figure out now where we’re going to go next, but it doesn’t seem too far off from where we were last. We’re more calmed down though and I have to admit though the floor is a huge challenge on our back … slowly, we’re doing it.
Well, it’s a bit later now … we finished the floor, did school stuff, ate, took a shower, and am now eating a slurpee (lemonade!) We talked to our Grandma for a little bit, but she had another long distant call, so I gave up the line. The rule is tonight when the slurpee is gone we have to go to bed. The animals got back late … they said they had already had Italian for dinner. They said they went down to the lakefront and even got a ferris wheel ride on Navy Pier. They seem kind of tuckered out. They have to make sure they don’t get trampled on. They’re just talking between themselves now.
PICTURE TIME!
Whoops, that’s an earlier picture. We thought it might excite our friend a little if he knew we really, really did dishes all by ourselves!
This is of course, the guys they are a little overexcited … the frog in the background is listening to black bear tell purple dress bear about how he was only too happy to treat her to cotton candy. Brown bear is telling the wild monkey that he wished he could have stayed longer to play some pick-up basketball or something, but I guess there wasn’t enough time. Little bib white bear is wondering why nobody has remembered it is here bed time. Off-white bear in pink dress is talking about one of those guys that sell newspapers for donations to bed street people. She might be a little confused in her facts. She seems to think they are sleeping in hotels. I guess our friend talked to them about hotels when we were gone. They didn’t understand what the “hold-up” was. ‘spose I should leave them to their own devises … wait, one more thing. I’m going to nudge brown bear and see if baby bib bear shouldn’t be put down. Ahh … that broke things up a bit … she’s down now J … all happy
I think they are going to read a while. Black bear is in the middle of a book. Didn’t catch the title, but he’s the best reader so he’s telling the story to the others. Cool, hmm?? Oh except white bear with the purple dress withdrew early she said she was going to take a shower before going to bed. That’s smart thinking cuz she avoid the crowd in the morning. Oh one more thing wild monkey said he was going to catch a soccer rerun. YEEKS! Another soccer fan? Think we’re going to turn the music over to Enya … need something soft and pretty. Relaxing….
I think we’re going to write an email to our friend. ‘Cept now Chief is starting to get a little bossy … wants me to move my slurpee so he can have his tummy scratch. But, sometimes, we’re not in the mood, do you know what I mean? He’s like it a lot and so has Missy since we put the towel up on the keyboard. It’s softer on them and softer on our elbows. Shoot … he always gets his way … but not so excited that he just took down Miss and is playing with the camera cord … Oh pictures, I forgot.
There is that delicious you know what. By now your probably thinking … Wow she’s got her own slupee glass. Well, we hate to brag, but it is true. It’s double insulated. It’s pretty old … goes back to the days we owned a house and the boys were living with us. That’s almost 10 years now … Not quite, but a long time ago.
Ok, let’s look into Sweetie Pie stuff. Oh Cool!! I caught Chief looking … look at this
Pretty cool! And, one last past agenda item … for the record this is the bottle of the really cool stuff.
Oh no … Chief thinks he might like a drink … shoot he’s being a real trouble maker … we just had a rousing game of pen. He’s laying down again … My kitties aren’t real players. They say a lot … isn’t that a little silly?
Awe … we gave him a nice long pet … then went to brush our hair out … Do you want to know what he thinks of brush game??
Ok, ok … that’s enough excitement for one night. Think we’re going to post and scoot off to bed. Didn’t get a chance to play with Sweetie though. Maybe we could stay up just a little bit? OKOK BUT just a LITTLE!
posted by Ann Marie @ 6/26/2006 05:06:00 AM
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