It is well with my soul

I was featured at BirthMom Buds!

BirthMom Buds is an organization and website that provides peer counseling, support, encouragement, and friendship to pregnant women considering adoption as well as women who have already placed children for adoption. 



It was a huge honor for me to be featured as a guest-blogger at BirthMom Buds Blog.



Check it out by clicking here -->; Spotlight Blogger: Meet Amy H.  Enjoy!

Crowdsourcing Knowledge with Students

Over the last few weeks I have been playing with a very simple brainstorming and voting website called tricider. The great thing about tricider is that it is incredibly quick and simple to use, and yet it enables users to collect information and opinions from all over the web in a very easily digestible and powerful way.

It's very easy to create a tricider topic or question and you don't even need to register, just type your topic or question into the field.


You can also add a bit more detail and instructions to guide your students.

After you have saved the description, you or your students can start adding solutions.

Once there are some solutions added it's easy to either vote for them or add arguments for or against, using the + or - symbols.


Once you have set up your page you can add your email so that you get notifications when ever anyone adds something new or votes. You can also get a URL to edit the page (in case anyone adds something offensive) and a separate URL to either share with your students or post to Twtter or Facebook.

Here are some examples that I have set up to crowdsource in formation from my PLN.
So how can we use this with students?
  • Set up some controversial statements and get students to vote for the ones they agree / disagree with and leave pro and con comments. You could assign groups of students to all think of pros and another group to think of cons and see which can come up with the most convincing arguments. Example: Controversial Issues
  • Your statements could be about a particular book your students are studying and they could add arguments for or against. Example: Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
  • Get students to brainstorm word or phrases based around a theme. Example: Computer Phrases
  • Get students to vote on a list of topics they want to study. Example: Topics
  • Put up a list of favourite films or books or bands and get students to vote and debate which is best. Example: Favourite films
  • Get students to brainstorm, debate and share knowledge about any particular topic or even language point. Example: Present Continuous
  • Set up true false questions to check comprehension of a text.
  • Create action research questionnaires to get feedback on the things you do in class. Example: Things we do in Class
  • Create needs analysis questionnaires for your students or other colleagues. Example: Needs Analysis
  • Get students create their own questionnaires and circulate them online (through Twitter or Facebook) to collect opinions. You could also get the students to use this information as part of a written assignment.
What's so good about tricider?
  • It's free and really quick and easy to use.
  • It's allows people to interact and share opinions.
  • It doesn't require any registration.
  • It's very simple for students to add their arguments or just vote.
  • It updates very quickly so you could use it live in class and just click refresh as students add opinions or vote.
  • It's versatile.
  • It can help students pull in opinions from outside their classroom and also share opinions beyond their school.
  • It creates easily digestible information.
What's not so good?
  • Well there's not much wrong, but a couple of nice extra features would be:
  • An embed code to allow me to embed the page into a blog or wiki.
  • An archive button to enable me to close some of the debates so they don't go on forever.
  • The ability to export the results to pdf or csv.
Well I hope you find tricider a useful tool and please do share any ideas you have for using it in the comments below.

Related links:
Best

Nik Peachey

On Mother's Day, Honor Moms Who Chose Adoption Over Abortion

I found this article on lifenews.com, and I just had to share! 



On Mother’s Day, Honor Moms Who Chose Adoption Over Abortion

Article written by Kristan Hawkins | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 5/3/11

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and this year be sure to honor all mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and birthmothers. Amanda Lord, Field Coordinator with Students for Life of America explains the importance of reaching out to all mothers, including birthmother’s this year:



Nearly every American can tell you why we celebrate Mother’s Day. People use it as a day to honor their mother, grandmother, stepmother, or someone else they view as a mother figure.



But there is one type of mother that is commonly forgotten. These mothers watch as other women receive handmade cards, flowers, breakfasts in bed, and family brunches. On Mother’s Day, they don’t receive a card made by their child, no burnt pancakes covered in maple syrup, and there isn’t a single flower to put into a vase.



Some of these forgotten mothers will spend this May 8th in tears.



The mothers I’m speaking of are Birthmoms, women who place a child for adoption. Generally, these mothers are not celebrated on Mother’s Day.  It’s not because people are cold-hearted or thoughtless toward birthmoms. Rather, most don’t know how to respond. They think it might be insensitive to say anything to a birthmom on Mother’s Day. Others are simply unaware of the birthmoms around them.



Birthmoms never celebrated their baby’s first word. They could not guide them in their first steps. They didn’t pack their child’s lunch for the first day of school. They weren’t there to take prom pictures. But they are still Mothers. They should be honored as much as mothers who parent their children. They made the ultimate and most selfless sacrifice in order that their child may live and thrive.



As a Birthmother, I am so grateful to be surrounded by people who honor me as a mother. Every year I am honored in one way or another – flowers, cards, or even dinner.  Having someone celebrate my motherhood reminds me that I am not alone on a day that can sometimes be painful.



This year, my organization – Students for Life of America – has expanded our annual Mother’s Day Postcard campaign giving individuals the opportunity to not only thank their mothers and grandmothers for choosing Life but to thank their birthmothers or a birthmother they have never met. View the postcard here.



It is my hope that there will come a day when all mothers are honored on Mother’s Day, and I believe that receiving a ‘thank you’ via an organization that helps save the lives of babies like my son would be a blessing.



To view this article on lifenews.com, click here!

Create Video Questionnaires

Intervue.me is a new website I have been using recently. It's another website that is based around the use of webcams. The site enables users to create questionnaires and then get the recipients of the questionnaire to leave video recorded answers. The site is very easy to use.

Register the go to 'My Dashboard' and click on 'Create New' to start your first questionnaire.


First you decide on the levels of privacy you want for the questionnaire and whether you want people to be able to leave anonymous answers or add comments to the answers.


Next you click on 'Start adding questions'.
You can type in your question and give more explanation below the question if you think that makes it clearer. You can add as many questions as you want. You'll also need to click on 'Edit title' so that you can give your questionnaire a name.


Once you have added all your questions you can just click on 'Share' or 'Invite' to either get a URL for your questionnaire or to email it to specific people.

Then once people receive the questionnaire they just click on the questions and record their answers using the webcam in their laptop.

To see all the videos you can just go to 'My Dashboard' and click on the 'Videos' tab.

Here are some example questionnaires I have created. Feel free to leave an answer to any of the questions.

How to use Intervue.me with students
  • Create comprehension check questions to go with reading homework so that students also do some speaking for homework.
  • Create opinion polls for students to answer.
  • Make action research questionnaires
  • Play the alibi game and get students to explain where they were and what they were doing at particular points in time.
  • Ask students about childhood memories.
What I like about Intervue.me
  • It's very quick and easy to create questionnaires
  • It's a great way to provide speaking practice for students.
  • You can add more detail and explanation to the questions.
  • Students get to practice their digital communication skills.
  • Students will be able to watch and listen to their replies and rerecord them so this will focus them on accuracy.
  • It can be more communicative and engaging than writing down answers as students can also see the other answers that have been recorded.
  • You can create long questionnaires or very simple single question ones.
What I'm not so sure about.
  • It could take time to get students feeling comfortable in front of the camera, so you might need to help them a little and get them to think about lighting and getting the correct distance from the camera.
  • Be careful about enabling anonymous replies or comments as this could be abused.
  • Students need a laptop with a reasonable quality microphone.
I hope you find Intervue.me useful and that your students get plenty of speaking practice.

Related links:
Best

Nik Peachey

Adoption Cards!

Hello fellow birthmoms! Reminder: Sunday, May 8th is Mother's Day, which of course means that Saturday, May 7th is Birthmother's Day! 



Below is an important message from Coley Strickland, Founder & Executive Director of Birthmom Buds.   



Dear Friends, 


Just a quick note to let you know that we have adoption cards for purchase in a new Etsy store, Heartmark Designs. Currently we have Birthmother's Day cards, cards appropriate for birthmothers to give their child's adoptive Mother for Mother's Day, and a few cards specifically for reunited birthmothers and their children. We will be adding other cards as we create them. We're currently working on some special cards appropriate for birthmothers to give their children on their birthday, which has been requested numerous times!


Feel free to spread the word about our cards. Bulk orders are available for adoption professionals.  Proceeds from the cards benefits BirthMom Buds. 


Use the code "BMOMBUDS" at checkout to receive 15% off your purchase. 


Thanks,
Coley Strickland,

Founder & Executive Director

BirthMom Buds


The Feminist Case Against Abortion

The Feminist Case Against Abortion -- Tonight at 7:00 pm at UNC Chapel Hill, Serrin M. Foster, president of Feminists for Life, will present her speech, "The Feminist Case Against Abortion," which has been anthologized in "Women's Rights" under the series "Great Speeches in History."  



Serrin has led Feminists for Life of America since 1994. Under her leadership, Feminists for Life has successfully advocated benefits for poor and pregnant women through the State Child Health Insurance Program, worked in coalition with other women's organizations to defeat the mandatory "family cap" and other punitive child exclusion provisions in welfare reform, and helped to prevent poverty and coerced abortions due to threats to withhold child support through passage of the Enhanced Child Support Act.



Serrin served on the National Taskforce Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, which worked to pass the Violence Against Women Act, and testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in support of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as "Laci and Conner’s Law."



Feminists for Life helped to introduce groundbreaking legislation—The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Pregnant and Parenting Student Services Act—that inspired Pregnancy Assistance Fund grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. The grants will help put into hyper-drive new pro-woman solutions on campus.



The creator of the Women Deserve Better® than Abortion campaign has appeared on C-SPAN, CNN International, FOX News and ABC World News Tonight as an outspoken opponent of pregnancy discrimination and has focused on developing on-campus resources and support for under served pregnant and parenting students.



There will be a question and answer discussion after the talk.  The event will be held from 7:00 - 8:30pm at UNC Chapel Hill (103 Bingham). 
If you can make it to this event, it will be worth your time!    



**The event is being hosted by Carolina Students for Life. 

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الاثنين، 11 يوليو 2011

It is well with my soul

الثلاثاء، 28 يونيو 2011

I was featured at BirthMom Buds!

BirthMom Buds is an organization and website that provides peer counseling, support, encouragement, and friendship to pregnant women considering adoption as well as women who have already placed children for adoption. 



It was a huge honor for me to be featured as a guest-blogger at BirthMom Buds Blog.



Check it out by clicking here -->; Spotlight Blogger: Meet Amy H.  Enjoy!

الجمعة، 24 يونيو 2011

Crowdsourcing Knowledge with Students

Over the last few weeks I have been playing with a very simple brainstorming and voting website called tricider. The great thing about tricider is that it is incredibly quick and simple to use, and yet it enables users to collect information and opinions from all over the web in a very easily digestible and powerful way.

It's very easy to create a tricider topic or question and you don't even need to register, just type your topic or question into the field.


You can also add a bit more detail and instructions to guide your students.

After you have saved the description, you or your students can start adding solutions.

Once there are some solutions added it's easy to either vote for them or add arguments for or against, using the + or - symbols.


Once you have set up your page you can add your email so that you get notifications when ever anyone adds something new or votes. You can also get a URL to edit the page (in case anyone adds something offensive) and a separate URL to either share with your students or post to Twtter or Facebook.

Here are some examples that I have set up to crowdsource in formation from my PLN.
So how can we use this with students?
  • Set up some controversial statements and get students to vote for the ones they agree / disagree with and leave pro and con comments. You could assign groups of students to all think of pros and another group to think of cons and see which can come up with the most convincing arguments. Example: Controversial Issues
  • Your statements could be about a particular book your students are studying and they could add arguments for or against. Example: Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
  • Get students to brainstorm word or phrases based around a theme. Example: Computer Phrases
  • Get students to vote on a list of topics they want to study. Example: Topics
  • Put up a list of favourite films or books or bands and get students to vote and debate which is best. Example: Favourite films
  • Get students to brainstorm, debate and share knowledge about any particular topic or even language point. Example: Present Continuous
  • Set up true false questions to check comprehension of a text.
  • Create action research questionnaires to get feedback on the things you do in class. Example: Things we do in Class
  • Create needs analysis questionnaires for your students or other colleagues. Example: Needs Analysis
  • Get students create their own questionnaires and circulate them online (through Twitter or Facebook) to collect opinions. You could also get the students to use this information as part of a written assignment.
What's so good about tricider?
  • It's free and really quick and easy to use.
  • It's allows people to interact and share opinions.
  • It doesn't require any registration.
  • It's very simple for students to add their arguments or just vote.
  • It updates very quickly so you could use it live in class and just click refresh as students add opinions or vote.
  • It's versatile.
  • It can help students pull in opinions from outside their classroom and also share opinions beyond their school.
  • It creates easily digestible information.
What's not so good?
  • Well there's not much wrong, but a couple of nice extra features would be:
  • An embed code to allow me to embed the page into a blog or wiki.
  • An archive button to enable me to close some of the debates so they don't go on forever.
  • The ability to export the results to pdf or csv.
Well I hope you find tricider a useful tool and please do share any ideas you have for using it in the comments below.

Related links:
Best

Nik Peachey

الجمعة، 6 مايو 2011

On Mother's Day, Honor Moms Who Chose Adoption Over Abortion

I found this article on lifenews.com, and I just had to share! 



On Mother’s Day, Honor Moms Who Chose Adoption Over Abortion

Article written by Kristan Hawkins | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 5/3/11

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and this year be sure to honor all mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and birthmothers. Amanda Lord, Field Coordinator with Students for Life of America explains the importance of reaching out to all mothers, including birthmother’s this year:



Nearly every American can tell you why we celebrate Mother’s Day. People use it as a day to honor their mother, grandmother, stepmother, or someone else they view as a mother figure.



But there is one type of mother that is commonly forgotten. These mothers watch as other women receive handmade cards, flowers, breakfasts in bed, and family brunches. On Mother’s Day, they don’t receive a card made by their child, no burnt pancakes covered in maple syrup, and there isn’t a single flower to put into a vase.



Some of these forgotten mothers will spend this May 8th in tears.



The mothers I’m speaking of are Birthmoms, women who place a child for adoption. Generally, these mothers are not celebrated on Mother’s Day.  It’s not because people are cold-hearted or thoughtless toward birthmoms. Rather, most don’t know how to respond. They think it might be insensitive to say anything to a birthmom on Mother’s Day. Others are simply unaware of the birthmoms around them.



Birthmoms never celebrated their baby’s first word. They could not guide them in their first steps. They didn’t pack their child’s lunch for the first day of school. They weren’t there to take prom pictures. But they are still Mothers. They should be honored as much as mothers who parent their children. They made the ultimate and most selfless sacrifice in order that their child may live and thrive.



As a Birthmother, I am so grateful to be surrounded by people who honor me as a mother. Every year I am honored in one way or another – flowers, cards, or even dinner.  Having someone celebrate my motherhood reminds me that I am not alone on a day that can sometimes be painful.



This year, my organization – Students for Life of America – has expanded our annual Mother’s Day Postcard campaign giving individuals the opportunity to not only thank their mothers and grandmothers for choosing Life but to thank their birthmothers or a birthmother they have never met. View the postcard here.



It is my hope that there will come a day when all mothers are honored on Mother’s Day, and I believe that receiving a ‘thank you’ via an organization that helps save the lives of babies like my son would be a blessing.



To view this article on lifenews.com, click here!

الأربعاء، 20 أبريل 2011

Create Video Questionnaires

Intervue.me is a new website I have been using recently. It's another website that is based around the use of webcams. The site enables users to create questionnaires and then get the recipients of the questionnaire to leave video recorded answers. The site is very easy to use.

Register the go to 'My Dashboard' and click on 'Create New' to start your first questionnaire.


First you decide on the levels of privacy you want for the questionnaire and whether you want people to be able to leave anonymous answers or add comments to the answers.


Next you click on 'Start adding questions'.
You can type in your question and give more explanation below the question if you think that makes it clearer. You can add as many questions as you want. You'll also need to click on 'Edit title' so that you can give your questionnaire a name.


Once you have added all your questions you can just click on 'Share' or 'Invite' to either get a URL for your questionnaire or to email it to specific people.

Then once people receive the questionnaire they just click on the questions and record their answers using the webcam in their laptop.

To see all the videos you can just go to 'My Dashboard' and click on the 'Videos' tab.

Here are some example questionnaires I have created. Feel free to leave an answer to any of the questions.

How to use Intervue.me with students
  • Create comprehension check questions to go with reading homework so that students also do some speaking for homework.
  • Create opinion polls for students to answer.
  • Make action research questionnaires
  • Play the alibi game and get students to explain where they were and what they were doing at particular points in time.
  • Ask students about childhood memories.
What I like about Intervue.me
  • It's very quick and easy to create questionnaires
  • It's a great way to provide speaking practice for students.
  • You can add more detail and explanation to the questions.
  • Students get to practice their digital communication skills.
  • Students will be able to watch and listen to their replies and rerecord them so this will focus them on accuracy.
  • It can be more communicative and engaging than writing down answers as students can also see the other answers that have been recorded.
  • You can create long questionnaires or very simple single question ones.
What I'm not so sure about.
  • It could take time to get students feeling comfortable in front of the camera, so you might need to help them a little and get them to think about lighting and getting the correct distance from the camera.
  • Be careful about enabling anonymous replies or comments as this could be abused.
  • Students need a laptop with a reasonable quality microphone.
I hope you find Intervue.me useful and that your students get plenty of speaking practice.

Related links:
Best

Nik Peachey

الجمعة، 8 أبريل 2011

Adoption Cards!

Hello fellow birthmoms! Reminder: Sunday, May 8th is Mother's Day, which of course means that Saturday, May 7th is Birthmother's Day! 



Below is an important message from Coley Strickland, Founder & Executive Director of Birthmom Buds.   



Dear Friends, 


Just a quick note to let you know that we have adoption cards for purchase in a new Etsy store, Heartmark Designs. Currently we have Birthmother's Day cards, cards appropriate for birthmothers to give their child's adoptive Mother for Mother's Day, and a few cards specifically for reunited birthmothers and their children. We will be adding other cards as we create them. We're currently working on some special cards appropriate for birthmothers to give their children on their birthday, which has been requested numerous times!


Feel free to spread the word about our cards. Bulk orders are available for adoption professionals.  Proceeds from the cards benefits BirthMom Buds. 


Use the code "BMOMBUDS" at checkout to receive 15% off your purchase. 


Thanks,
Coley Strickland,

Founder & Executive Director

BirthMom Buds


الأربعاء، 6 أبريل 2011

The Feminist Case Against Abortion

The Feminist Case Against Abortion -- Tonight at 7:00 pm at UNC Chapel Hill, Serrin M. Foster, president of Feminists for Life, will present her speech, "The Feminist Case Against Abortion," which has been anthologized in "Women's Rights" under the series "Great Speeches in History."  



Serrin has led Feminists for Life of America since 1994. Under her leadership, Feminists for Life has successfully advocated benefits for poor and pregnant women through the State Child Health Insurance Program, worked in coalition with other women's organizations to defeat the mandatory "family cap" and other punitive child exclusion provisions in welfare reform, and helped to prevent poverty and coerced abortions due to threats to withhold child support through passage of the Enhanced Child Support Act.



Serrin served on the National Taskforce Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, which worked to pass the Violence Against Women Act, and testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in support of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as "Laci and Conner’s Law."



Feminists for Life helped to introduce groundbreaking legislation—The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Pregnant and Parenting Student Services Act—that inspired Pregnancy Assistance Fund grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. The grants will help put into hyper-drive new pro-woman solutions on campus.



The creator of the Women Deserve Better® than Abortion campaign has appeared on C-SPAN, CNN International, FOX News and ABC World News Tonight as an outspoken opponent of pregnancy discrimination and has focused on developing on-campus resources and support for under served pregnant and parenting students.



There will be a question and answer discussion after the talk.  The event will be held from 7:00 - 8:30pm at UNC Chapel Hill (103 Bingham). 
If you can make it to this event, it will be worth your time!    



**The event is being hosted by Carolina Students for Life.