Graduation Address - LIFE

Well, yesterday's graduation ceremony was a great joy.  There are 11 more people ready to take on the world.  I was honored to get the chance to speak to them.  The following is the speech I gave - of course there was some ad libbing, but this is most of it.

                                                                     LIFE

As you may or may not know, I teach first grade.  I invite you to think back to when you were in 1^st grade.  The excitement of going to school, the joy of having recess every day, the fun of coloring, cutting, and gluing.  Can you see it?

You learn many things in first grade.  You learn how to stand in a single file line.  It’s harder than it looks.  You learn how to make it through the school day without a nap.  Sometimes this skill needs to be relearned in high school.  You learn that eating glue is not a good choice.  And you learn some ways to be a good friend.

You also learn “school stuff” – reading, writing, math, science.  At the beginning of the year, I ask my students to tell me what they want to learn in first grade.  Many of their answers include, “I want to learn how to read.”  In first grade, you do learn how to read more words – bigger words – and how to spell those big words.  Today I have a big word for you – LIFE. Four letter L-I-F-E.  It doesn’t seem so big, until you start to spell it.  The letters take on their own meanings.  I’m going to share with you what each letter means to me.

First letter L – Live your life to the fullest.  I’m sure you’ve heard this quote before.  But I’ve learned that the meaning changes when you emphasize different words in the phrase.  For example, LIVE your life to the fullest.  You need to live your life – experience it.  Don’t lay around waiting for life to come to you – you need to go out and live.  Now if you said Live your life to the FULLEST – then you live with no regrets.  Don’t let fear take over your life.  You take opportunities when they are offered to you.  But if you said Live YOUR LIFE to the fullest then the meaning changes once again.  It’s YOUR LIFE – that means you can’t compare it to someone else’s life.  Your life is unique to you.  What is right for someone else is not necessarily right for you.  So don’t try to live someone else’s life – Live YOUR life to the fullest.

The next letter in LIFE is I – To me, I stands for integrity.  That is doing what you say you are going to do.  Keeping your promises.  So it is important that you don’t give promises too easily.  A synonym for integrity is honesty.  Now it is just good practice to be honest with people.  But often overlooked is the fact that you need to be honest with yourself.  Give yourself the respect you deserve – don’t try to fool you.  Live with integrity.

We have an L, we have an I.  Next comes F – To me, F is faith.  You need to have faith in your skills and abilities – No one can take those away from you.  You have so many skills – some you’ve learned at school, some at home, and some from friends.  Just because you aren’t in high school any more doesn’t mean that those skills and abilities suddenly disappear.  I know one ability you all have.  I believe it is the most important ability and I know you have it because you’ve made it this far – It is the ability to learn.  You can learn a new skill and you can learn about yourself.  You are going to use this ability for the rest of your life.  So have faith in your abilities and live your life with faith.

The last letter in LIFE is E.  E is a silent letter, but it has an important job.  Just think if it wasn’t at the end of the word life, it would change the word completely.

E stands for Expect.  Now, expect is kind of tricky because you can expect things to happen that don’t happen AND things can happen that you don’t expect to happen.

So I have a list of The Do’s and Don’ts of Expectations:

·        Don’t expect life to be fair – Do expect to be happy with what you have

·        Don’t expect to automatically get everything you want – Do expect to be satisfied after you have worked to earn something

·        Don’t expect life to be easy – Do expect to have people in your life to love and support you

·        Don’t expect to be paid back for everything - Do expect to feel joy when you show someone a random act of kindness

When you have these kinds of expectations, you have hope.  Hope is what gets you through life’s struggles – hope that things will get better, hope that your dreams will come true.

That’s it – four simple letters L-I-F-E to spell a big word – LIFE.  So remember first grade and all the things you’ve learned about life since then.  LIFE will take on a whole new meaning in the weeks and years to come.

So live your life to the fullest

Live your life with integrity

Live your life with faith

And Live your life expecting hope

The Real World

In 8 days, I have the honor of speaking at a high school graduation.  I was asked a month ago and have had thoughts flying through my head of what I want to say.  "Today you join the real world" - typical graduation phrase, not one I want to use.  I don't think it makes sense.  Most seniors live in the real world.  They've already had life experiences that have been full of joy and sorrow.  It is hard for me to stand in front of people and tell them that the world that they've known thus far hasn't been real - that they've been in a bubble and protected from all the "really bad" things.  No my thoughts went in another direction - HOPE. 

HOPE
This word is repeated in my head every time I think of what I want to say to these graduating seniors- Hope, Hope, Hope.  I want them to have hope for their futures.  To be able to look ahead, especially on graduation day, and see a life full of possibilities.  A life that can go any direction and do anything, a life that hasn't been lived yet.  I want them to have hope themselves, in their uniqueness.  Each one of them is a blend of backgrounds and experiences - yes, some are shared (school events, PROM) but no two are the same.  They will each continue adding to their uniqueness after graduation.  I want them to see the hope in that and not long for high school again.

Mostly, I hope that I can deliver a graduation address that is every thing that they need - short, simple, yet meaningful.  Well, 8 days and counting.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Wrap Up

What a wonderful experience!  I enjoyed getting to explore all that the SD State Library site has to offer.  I finally know how to use some of the resources on the site.
My biggest discovery is the World Book Online.  I have already used it with my students and am going to be using it again this week.  Actually, they are going to use it - not me.  I think it is a great resource and know I will use it over and over at school
Personally, I loved Ancestry Library & Heritage Quest.  As I was exploring these two resources, I was asking questions of my parents.  This prompted them to find the information already gathered about my ancestors - family books that were made, history that was typed up, family trees printed off, and photos to show me.  It was fun to see all of the work that my relatives already did.
I will do my best to share my knowledge about these great resources with my colleagues.  The best thing that I can do is to share by word of mouth & to back up the librarian when she shares these great resources.

Searching History

AncestryLibrary:
I did not find any info about me on AncestryLibrary.  I did find a marriage license for a woman with my same name in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 
There is a lot of information on my grandparents.  I learned that I would have to do some research because my grandparents and great grandparents have family names.  Most of my relatives on my dad's side were named John, but I know them by there middle names.  So I was unsure of whose census information I was actually looking at.  I would have to ask my parents for more information to know for sure.  I found out that when my maternal grandfather was 10, there was a hired hand living with them from Wisconsin who was included on the census.  I also learned that my grandpa lived in Illinois before his family moved to South Dakota.
I love looking at old photos because it reveals so much history.  My favorite photo was Gathering fuel on South Dakota Homestead, 1880's.  It shows a woman collecting buffalo chips to burn to keep warm.  I think the photo shares a glimpse into what it was like to homestead in South Dakota.  It was challenging, but the settlers did all that they could to survive and create a home for their families.

HeritageQuest:
I searched under Places for Edgemont, South Dakota.  There were several hits, but I chose to look closer at History of Dakota Territory by George W. Kingsbury with a date of 1915.
There were 7 hits in this book for Edgemont, SD.  The book listed biographies of men in the Dakota Territory.  I enjoyed reading about people who used to live and work in Edgemont.  There were names and businesses that I recognized.  Yet there were many things that I learned.  I was born and raised in Edgemont and my great-grandparents homesteaded outside of town 100 years ago.  So it was interesting to read about some of the people that were around at the same time as them.

Sanborn Maps:
I looked at maps of Hot Springs, SD in May of 1923.  I found Evans Plunge, the County Court House, the Braun Bath House and Hotel, and the South Dakota State Soldier's Home.  I looked at the August 1891 map and found one of the buildings for the Soldier's Home.  It was fun to look at the different maps and compare them.

ArchiveGrid

I've often wondered how Sitting Bull could be part of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show if he was being chased by US forces.  I learned that he became part of the show after being captured.

I wasn't sure what to search, so I looked on the ArchiveGrid homepage.  I noticed that it listed one of the contributors was the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.  So I searched Errol Flynn and was given 56 results.  There were a number of papers, interviews, and autograph albums listed.  They can be found in libraries and universities in New York, Chicago, San Diego, and at Standford University to name a few.  I chose to look into "The Adventures of Robin Hood excerpt from Warner Bros. Pictures".  I was surprised to find that this clip was found at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, Wisconsin.  So I clicked on the link to the Wisconsin Historical Society.  I explored the website and eventually found the Archives Division.  I searched for "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and found not only an excerpt, but also 3 film reels of the movie.  In my searching at other parts of the website, I also found a picture taken in front of the Majestic Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin.  The theater marquee announces Errol Flynn in "Robin Hood" in August of 1948.  This just fanned the flame of my curiosity, so I searched the Majestic Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin and learned that it was built in 1906.  I read the history of the theater and found that it is currently open and has performances from an eclectic array of musical guests, comedic performers, and also shows a few movies now and then.

CAMIO

Paul Revere made a tea urn for Mrs. Hannah Rowe.  It is said to be the largest of three tea or coffee urns made by Paul Revere.
After searching "Sioux," I was given results of many paintings and photographs of people from the Sioux Tribe.  Items of clothing and items of use by the Sioux Tribe were also displayed in the search results - ex. a buckskin coat and carved pipes.  There were some photos of Sioux Springs near Humbodlt Salt March, Nevada.  John-Charles Sioux from France helped create a writing table which was displayed in the search results.
Georges Seurat has paintings and drawings in museums all over the United States.  He used many different sizes of canvas, paper, and wood as a base for his art.  He developed a new technique sometimes called pointillism.  I've used this as a teaching tool in my classroom.  My students enjoy using watercolors and ear swabs to create pictures.
I think most obvious is the use of CAMIO in Art classes.  It could be used for studying a certain artist, studying a certain technique, or comparing artists.  It would also be beneficial to study art from the same time period and/or country.  You can learn a lot about history of a country through art, so CAMIO could be used in American or World History classes, as well.  There is so many things that could be studied and researched through art!
I think the Favorites is a great feature.  It allows for so many possibilities for teachers - especially in art.  There is a compare feature that allows you to look at 2 paintings at the same time.  I can see this being used on Smart Boards.  I could even use this with my first graders.  I could show 2 pictures and ask them what they notice that is the same or different.  This helps with higher level thinking skills which overflow to other subject areas like science and reading - comparing to objects physical or chemical makeup or comparing 2 different texts or characters.

WorldCat and FirstSearch

WorldCat
3121 libraries have Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.  The Alexander Mitchell Library is the top library.  The call number or class descriptor is PZ7.M5717515 or PS3613.E979.  I was able to read an excerpt from the book, which I thought was great.  There were also reviews and comments to read.  I thought this would be helpful if you wanted to know more about a book.
I found that with my search in OIAster that many of the results for South Dakota were images.  The Access link allowed me access to see the images.  I could also click on the results that were text and gather more information.  I liked how it took me to the "home" website of the text or image.  I felt that it gave me further resources to use if I wanted.

NetLibrary

NetLibrary
NetLibrary is organized well and it is easy to navigate the ebooks.  I like the advanced search options.  They are easy to use and provide search results.  NetLibrary has a wide variety of reference books.  I enjoyed finding professional development resources for my profession.
After searching for Constitution Day, I found that Representing Popular Sovereignty: The Constitution in American Political Culture by Daniel Lessard Levin gives the history of Constitution Day.  Of course, the students could always read The Constitution of the United States of America which is also found on NetLibrary.  I would also suggest A Companion to the United States Constitution and its Amendments by John R. Vile.
In the Advanced search of Oklahoma publishers, I found a wide variety of books.  The ranged from biographies to historical tales of the prairie, Native American biographies to travel guides.  I believe many of the titles I found would benefit the students researching Western history.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

I accessed the Dictionary of American History.  I am talking about George Washington with my students this week and next week we will look at American Symbols - so I selected the Washington Monument.  I learned a lot about the monument that I didn't know and am excited to share it with my students.  I also will search other American Symbols to gather information.
I learned that oysters are high in zinc.  Other foods that have zinc are pure maple syrup, beef, chicken, turkey, milk, cheese, and yogurt.  I like the "read to me" feature because it doesn't sound robotic.  You can select the part you want read or listen to the whole article.

Proquest

Proquest was a bit overwhelming for me.  I typed in a few different search subjects to explore.  I was given many options in my results.  I think it would help if I had more specific search topics.  I also can see the use of the option of emailing an article to someone and also translating articles to a different language.
I can't see myself using Proquest in my classroom because I teach 1st grade.  I do like the option of a Publications search.  I can see myself using this for checking articles in specific magazines or newspapers for personal and professional use. 

SIRS Discover & Issues Researcher

SIRS Discover:
I found some articles about the armadillo.  There were no web sites listed.  I love the picture of the armadillo rolled into a ball!  I like the fact that you can sort the magazine and newspaper article by date.  Yet when I sorted by date, the articles weren't as relevant and didn't have as much information about the armadillo.
I selected Costa Rica.  I found economic information, historical information, and a map.  There was a link to a graphic organizer to collect information about the country.
To find a map, I browsed under the letter P.  There were country, state, and providence maps.  But I also found a map of the Persian Empire, a map of some of the battles in World War II,  a map of Panda Reserves, and a map showing where penguins live.  All of these maps would be useful - from learning about animal habitats to learning about battles during wars.
I searched in Biographies for Abraham Lincoln.  It gave a good summary of his entire life and included pictures.  I was actually surprised to see that there was more than just one picture.

SIRS Issues Researcher:
I selected Advertising in Schools.  There were listed articles of pros and cons for the issue.  There was a video of a news report about a school that was preparing to allow advertisements to hang on the football field.  There were a number of magazine & newspaper articles, and a few viewpoints.
I choose the curriculum of Fine Arts: Dance.  I was given a list of dance theater website links, history of dance, and information on famous dancers.

Learning Express

I tried out the ACT Math Practice Test 1.  The structure of the test was similar to other online test and practices that students encounter.  I like the fact that you can see what questions were correct or incorrect and an explanation of the problem is given - at least in the test that I took.

I've started the Business Writing Basic Course I.  The course is set up with information to read and a few chances to practice the skills.  I think the practice gives the course a "real world" purpose.

I browsed the eBook titles and found one called Best Careers for Teachers.  There were several chapters on careers, but it also included chapters for writing resumes.  The first chapter was about finding out about yourself and reasons to look for a different career.

World Book Foreign Language Edition

Visual Dictionary
I think the visual dictionaries can be used in high schools to help enhance foreign language classes.  It would provide an image for visual learners with the labels written in the foreign language.  It could provide a review for these students.
Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos
This site would benefit students learning Spanish.  They would be able to hear the words being read and know/learn how they are to say the words themselves.

World Book Public Library Edition

World Book Online Public Libraries for Kids

I searched the wolf and found that the timber wolf lives in forest in northern Asia, Europe, and North America.  The tundra wolf lives in the north Arctic.
World Book Online Public Libraries Info Finder
There is more information about the wolf.  I like the Article Contents on the left side.  You can easily navigate the articles with the links.
World Book Online Public Libraries Reference Center
I searched Italy and found lots of information available.  The Article Contents links were a great navigational tool.  You can read about the history and the current life in the country.

World Book School Edition

World Book School Edition:

I love World  Book Kids!  I teach first grade and they love to learn about animals.  It would be a great resource for my habitat studies.  We study the African Savanna and the Amazon Rainforest.  I can't wait to have my kids use this source.  The option to "Hear the text read aloud" is a great feature for reaching all skill levels of students.  The students can read it themselves or hear it read aloud.  I also like the option to double click to define the word.  It gives the students more learning opportunities.

Discovery Exercise:  Sea Turtles live almost their whole lives in the ocean.  They can travel thousands of miles across the seas.

World Book Student offers more information, especially a higher level of scientific information.  It adds some information about the habitat.  Most sea turtles live in warm parts of the ocean. Leatherbacks can also live in colder waters near Alaska, Canada, and Iceland. Sea turtles nest on many tropical and subtropical beaches throughout the world.

World Book Advanced would be a great site for research.  The links on the sides provide quick access to different parts of the country: government, food, people, family life, education, climate, economy, history, and many sub-topics.  I love the Content Standards link on the right side!  It is a great resource for teachers.

World Book Discover can translate the text into a variety of languages.  It would provide a great way to compare languages and help to understand the "new" language better.

New Blogger

I am now a blogger.  Welcome to Koller Korner.  It is my own little corner of the world.