This is us and this is what I think!

Fall 09

2009-09-28T11:00:00.001-07:00

Well Trevor loves school and is learning a lot of new songs.

Aiden has a few teeth with one popping in that keeps him and myself up all night.

Grandma is coming to visit soon and Becky and Trevor will be going to Chi-Town to visit the Dobb family.

Start of a New School Year

2009-08-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

A lot has gone on this summer. Although we have been good about updating the pictures, this blog has been lagging. The summer was filled with activities and long days. The first weekend in June I had a youth retreat, the 2nd week, Ryan came to visit, the third week, Katie, Mike, and Adam (plus the baby in the tummy) came to visit. The last week of June I found my self in a very hot St. Louis for my SLED program. Becky was promoted, which means more hours and a change in our schedule. Becky is the primary x-ray tech for an outpatient surgery center that is connected to the hospital. July blew by and it was already time to start school.

Trevor is in PreSchool 4 now, although it is a small class (2 students, hey his class doubled from last year) he has fun and continues to amaze us with how smart he is.

Aiden is a big boy now, he is just itching to walk, he forgets he doesn't have the balance. He has mastered the crawl and is fast at it. He also has 2 teeth now. The only issue we have with him is he likes to stay up still or I should say wake up as soon as Becky and I are just finally sitting down or falling asleep.

My Graduate classes continue, Just started a new class, if all goes as plans, I will be done by May 2010.

If you didn't check out the main webpage for us, http://www.coachburk.com/family check it out. Been working on it and redoing it. I also created a twitter account for our family. I hope Becky will use it also.

Keep looking for new pictures and blog posts, which our webpage will or should now state when we do have new stuff up.

May God bless you all.

Family Visit Video

2009-02-26T13:59:00.000-08:00

Whats going on.

2009-02-24T12:58:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had Grandma K, Aunt Nancy, and Missy visiting. It was a great time, although short. We went to Hollywood, got to see all the preparations for the OSCARS. I also been nominated for the SLED program through LC-MS Synod. I also had my first somewhat publication see http://burktech.blogspot.com/2009/02/first-for-me.html. I am in my last week of my current class. I have 2 weeks left before our spring break. Becky will be going back to work in a few weeks also. Aiden and Trevor are also so cute. Check out pictures.

Our Old Church Finally Moves their house.

2009-02-22T17:46:00.000-08:00

2 years later. I was there when we talked about moving this house. I helped advertise the sell of this house. Finally it has moved.

Fast Weekend

2009-02-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

What a fast weekend, but it was nice. We love having Great Grandma and Grandpa over. Too bad it went by way too fast. Not even sure where the weekend went to. Next Visitors are coming the end of the Month. Becky's Grandma, Aunt, and Cousin are visiting. It will be good to see more family. Especially since we don't get to travel much.

New Blog

2009-01-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

I know I have been missing from posting whats up with us. It has been a very busy time. Jan 11th My parents and Tommy left to go back to Arizona, which made Trevor sad. But, Great Grandma and Grandpa Burk are coming to visit tomorrow. Trevor can't wait. We have been just watching Aiden grow. It is amazing how big he is already and how time flies so fast. I have been busy with School, being a teacher and a student. I have a lot on my to do list. Becky will go back to work in March. Trevor is learning so much at school. Back to the point of the Title, New Blog... I have decided to keep this more of family posts and maybe a few of my thought writings. I have created a New Blog to concentrate directly on somewhat professional writings. It is called Burk Tech. It is Thoughts on Education and Technology (related to Education). I wanted a place when I have people who follow me on Twitter to be able to read my posts without mixing family into it. They don't really need to know that Aiden rolled over, whenever he does. Or that Aiden loves smiling now and smiles all the time, not just when its gas. If you want to take a look go ahead, You can also subscribe to Burk Tech on Itunes which is a computer voice reading my blog to you. Will try to keep this more up to date also. New pics will be coming next week.

Time to Change is Now!

2009-01-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

Cell-Phones-in-Education

2009-01-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/07/16cellphone.h28.html

New educational uses of cellphones are challenging the "turned off and out of sight" rules that many districts have adopted for student cellphones on campus.

I remember when I was in grade school, no one had cell phones. Ok that was in the 80's and early 90's. Even when I was in high school (class of 97) no one had cell phones, some had pagers. I can remember my aunt had a car phone. It didn't work unless plugged into the cigarette outlet. When going to college, I started seeing more and more cell phones. I didn't get my first cell phone until 2002. Most of the schools claimed that cell phones are a distraction and help students cheat and do drugs. Students can cheat many different ways. One way is using a graphing calculator. I digressed.

A growing number of teachers, carefully navigating district policies and addressing their own concerns, are having students use their personal cellphones to make podcasts, take field notes, and organize their schedules and homework.

And some recent, positive examples of how the phones are being used for academic learning may eventually lead to more nuanced policies. Indeed, more educators are concluding that cellphones may be the only realistic way their schools can offer the 1-to-1 computing experiences that better-funded schools provide with laptops.

"In our district, especially at high school, students have a cellphone on them at all times, just like a pencil—it's an underused tool," said Rosemary Miller, the technology-integration specialist for secondary schools in the Buhler, Kan., public schools. "We don't have a computer for every kid, as some school districts do."

Good for those teachers. They are not afraid of what will happen if they try something new and rewarding to the students. Recently the 7th grade teacher and I redid our 6-8th grade computer curriculum including everyday application of technology. The students love it and are learning a lot more than step by step instructions.

Podcasting and classroom-response systems are among the more than 100 uses of cellphones that educator Liz Kolb has collected, and in some cases invented, for her book Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education, published in October.

Bloom's New Taxonomy has creation as the top level of intellectual behavior. Having students create Podcasts is a great way to evaluate the students on any topic you are covering. A quote from an unknown individual once said, "the one who is doing the talking is doing the learning." Student response systems can be very expensive. If every student already has a cell phone, using free websites to create polls is a cheap alternative. Liz Kolb has taken her book and went to the web in her own blog: http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/, where Liz continues to find new ways to use cell phones in the classroom.

Cellphones with cameras also have great potential for simple data collection. They can enrich fieldwork or field trips by allowing students to snap images of, say, leaves, for later identification. Students also can snap pictures of museum exhibits and placards to fuel classroom discussions.

"Mobile citizen journalism" is another popular trend that schools can harness, Ms. Kolb said, though she did not know of any school newspapers doing it extensively yet. "Schools can definitely set up their own mobile journalism text-messaging numbers," so students who are traveling can phone in reports and images, especially if they find themselves in the midst of breaking news.

The possibilities are endless. http://www.animoto.com has developed an application for I-Phone and I-Pod where you can create short video clips on the go. California Local PBS station is even having a contest http://www.koce.org/filmonthefly/ where your mobile phone will receive a text message with the secret story prompt, along with the "tag" you'll use to identify your video as part of our contest on YouTube. You will only have 20 hours to enter your finish product.

In conclusion, we must use what tools we have. Give a person a pencil and it can become a weapon, but do we ban pencils? How many time you have cut your finger on a piece of paper, but do we ban paper? Why don't we use the tools we have to keep students engaged? No matter what you are using find a way to make it educational and its ok to use with me.

The Fischbowl: I Just Want to Say One Word to You: Collaboration.

2009-01-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

So, if you’re an administrator, what are you doing to foster collaboration among your staff, and especially your teachers? And I’m talking more than just PLC’s, although that’s not a bad start. What are you really doing to fundamentally change the structure of your school(s) from one of isolation (close the door and teach), to one of sharing and collaboration (knock down the walls)? Is it unacceptable to share in your institution?If you’re a teacher, what are you doing to foster collaboration among your students? And I’m talking more than putting them into groups of four and having the students create a PowerPoint presentation together. What are you really doing to fundamentally change the structure of your classroom from one of isolation (do your own work), to one of collaboration (work with others)? What are you doing to build their skills to succeed in a corporate environment that requires them to collaborate on a global scale?If you're a student, what are you doing to improve your own collaboration skills - and those of your peers? What are you demanding of your schools, your teachers, your administrators to help prepare you for the collaborative marketplace that is your future?

The Fischbowl: I Just Want to Say One Word to You: Collaboration.

As a Teacher, I feel very isolated, I am not allowed to go to the bathroom or check my mailbox without a parent getting upset. I get 3 and 1/2 hours of free time a week, if I am lucky. Does that mean I can collaborate with other teachers at that time? NO. I am usually emailing a parent back who asked a few hundred questions, I am fixing another teacher's computer, or I am inputting grades into the grade book. I guess part of my isolation is that I am on a path of change. I see the faults in my school and in my own teaching and I am trying to change them. I am in pursuit of a Master's Degree, I have changed from being a teacher to an educator.

Although just having students in group to work on a PPT presentation may not be where we want to be, but that is a lot better than where we are. Change is slow and hard and no one likes it. Maybe ADD students have it right, they need change constantly to keep them engaged.

I just wanted to share a few thoughts, but also the quote from the Fischbowl, if you are an educator, check out this blog!

Learning Is Messy - Blog » Blog Archive » Exercise Improves Kids’ Academics

2009-01-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

Exercise Improves Kids’ Academics From the “I Told You So Department” comes this article and studies:Exercise Improves Kids’ Academics, by Dan Peterson, Live Science’s Sports Columnist I’ll let the article mostly speak for itself but will post this one telling quote:“Ironically, one of the solutions proposed for raising test scores, the federal No Child Left Behind program, encourages schools to focus more of the school day on the core academic subjects while reducing class time in peripheral subjects, like art, music, and physical education. In fact, only 6 percent of American high schools offer a daily gym class. Yet a 2002 Virginia Tech study showed no relationship between reduced class time in those subjects and higher overall standardized tests.”Learning is messy!

Learning Is Messy - Blog » Blog Archive » Exercise Improves Kids’ Academics

Just wanted to add this for others to see.

2008-12-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

What a hectic week and half.

2008-12-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

This last week has been crazy. On Thursday December 11th at 5:45pm Aiden Thomas was born. He was originally 19inches, then 21, and finally 20. He weighed 7lbs and 4ounces. Aiden was almost the same size as Trevor, just a little smaller. Aiden was also two weeks early, which is good overall. My parents and Tommy drove through the night wednesday night to be here in time. So, I took Thursday and Friday off of school. We have been working on our Christmas play for the following Wednesday. On Wednesday it started to SNOW! I was amazed. So we left school after a few hours and had to call off Thursday and Friday. Now we are on break. Lucklily on Tuesday we were able to go to Trevor's Christmas performance. He did great, check out the video. So Tomorrow Aiden has doctors visit, actually he has three this next five days, plus we have Christmas. I am busy with my Master classes, although I get a little break right now. I am also working on a few different projects. Becky is enjoying her time with Aiden and loves being home. She might not want to go back to work. Check out the pictures section, I added a lot of new pictures. Working on some videos.

Trevor's first school performance

2008-12-18T16:58:00.000-08:00

Aiden Thomas

2008-12-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY!

Thank You LEC Worship Committee

2008-11-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

Last year I posted a blog about how I have not been met in the worship services at the LEC (Lutheran Educator Confernece). This year was different. This year was Traditional Service and it was good. I didn't see anyone complaining about it being traditional or boring. The Sermon was excellent. The preacher gave the same sermon to our Church in celebration for our 50 years of Education. Thank you LEC and PSW District.

Past few weeks

2008-11-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

A lot has been going on this past few weeks. Great Grandma and Grandpa Burk came to visit, Halloween, and getting a new place. We are finishing up our move this weekend. As you can see in the picture, Trevor was spiderman for halloween. We went to Grace again for Trunk or Treat. We stayed a little longer this year, last year we didn't even make it to the treating part. We have pictures on our picture part of the website, take a look. Pictures of our new place and with GGM/GGP Burk are also up. I will take new pictures of the place once we get evertying moved in. This past weekend I took over pretty much everything in our old garage and a few extra boxes. We ahave a lot of work to do to reorganize and be ready for moving on Saturday.

We are moving

2008-10-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

If you have not heard yet, we are moving, not far, just down the street. We will let everyone know more when we actually move. We are going to be renting a house, 3 bedrooms 2 baths, plus a bonus room, open kitchen with island. It has a fireplace and a covered patio with lights. 2 car garage and 1,900 square feet. It is the type of house we would want to buy. We would love to have anyone over now, we will have room. I will also be able to use my charcoal grill again, with my gas grill we will be able to have nice bbq's. Stay tune for pictures and news.

The Next President is....

2008-10-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

My Little American!

2008-10-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

Across the Nation Years later, still not the same..

2008-10-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

As a child I remember going to the apple orchard every year, and even more than once a year a few years. I remember walking through the rows of trees, picking apples. I remember coming back to the main place and stand in line for some good donuts and apple cider. I remember the bees and how I hated that part. I also remember the place we would go to would have some animals and also can't forget the hayride. That was Michigan! 2,000 miles away in California this past weekend we took Trevor to pick some apples. The first place we went to we weren't allowed to pick, but we did buy some cider, but it wasn't made there, it was shipped in frozen. No donuts plus it was expensive, 15 dollars for a half bag of apples. So we went to a different place. We can pick our own there, and it was cheap, 75cents a pound. So we took five minutes and we had 11 pounds of apples. It was windy and chilly. No hayrides, no cider at this place, no donuts and no hayrides. The good thing, no bees. So it wasn't the same as I remember. How things change overtime and how things are as good as you remember when you were a child. The most important thing though was Trevor had fun.

Primatech Paper Company relation to Education

2008-09-23T17:27:00.001-07:00

Primatech Paper Company

What is the big deal about a paper company? Bigger question what does a paper company have to do with education? As most of you know I am working on my master for educational administration. While going through my first few classes I have found a new philosophy on education. Education is on the wrong path and has been for a long time. We are doing harm to our children, my education has let me down. We have known about the major different learning styles for a long time, being Cognitive or Psychomotor, or the newer differentiated learning. But, is that enough? NO! There are many more talented writers and bloggers out there that can talk about how we are training our children for jobs not even created and what is the newest technique for implementing the latest internet tool. I read over 30 blogs a day with great information and encourage you to find some good Blogs on topics you enjoy to learn. I sit in webinars and listen to educational presentations in real world and Virtual (Second Life). As this Post evolves, I will be changing it. I just wanted to get a solid foundation down while 1. I had time 2. I didn't forget it. and 3. I haven't seen this thought yet anywhere besides my own thoughts on twitter.

SO WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT? WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH PAPER COMPANY?

If you go on the primatech website and you click on about us and then you click on the logo in the upper left hand corner you get a secret website. Now they don't try to hide the secret website but the possibilities are there for education. So how does this relate still? Are you still confused? How is Education suppose to change to have hidden websites?

Well, Primatech isn't a real company, it is a company on the show Heroes, and this is how it fits into education. Heroes has taken an all in your face attitude to promote its show. You have the show on tv, you have the normal show website (plus fan website), you have interaction by creating your own Hero for their graphic novels on line, and now you have a website based on their company that is a front for their secret job. This is what we need to do in education, we need to be using everything and anything to educate our children. How will you educate your child?

Again this is a rough start for something I want to take time to work on and write about.. .comments will be beneficial!

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Happy Birthday Trevor

2008-09-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

Birthday pictures are up, some pictures of Becky are in her up, and more Trevor being Trevor pictures. We had a great birthday!

2008-08-29T22:11:00.001-07:00

Trying out Ping.FM

Just something fun.

2008-08-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

Click here for full screen version