This is FANTASTIC! Check it out!

Okay, so it's been awhile...SORRY!

SHEESH! You guys sure do get irritated with me when I don't update. Hello...two words: BOOK FAIR! Did you miss it? I was standing there all day...didn't you see me? Okay enough. Our book fair did wonderfully because you guys are the BEST STUDENTS EVER! Did you hear that Timberwood, huh? Sterling students ROCK! We sold over $3800, and now we can get even more cool stuff for our library, so way to rock it out Bearcats.

Okay, so what's new? Well, the LONE STAR books have been announced... Hellooooooooo...where have you been? I know...no displays yet...I'm still cataloging a lot of the books, but who can pick 'em? Me, that's who! Tons of the books we have talked about that you guys check out like rabid dogs--Compound, the Hunger Games, Gym Candy, Suck It Up, The Dead and the Gone, Unwind...oh and not to mention...Neal Shusterman, author of Unwind and Antsy Does Time (um, yeah, he made it on the Lone Star list this year TWICE) will be at the TeenLitFest in January. You get to meet all kinds of fab authors, get their autographs, hear them speak. We are planning on getting a bus together to go to this free event at Kingwood High School on Saturday, January 31, 2009, so if you are interested, let me know, and I'll give you the hook up.

Okay, so what am I reading?

Well, I started on The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (a Lone Star winner). The cover has the question "How far would you go for someone you love?" OMG. Not only is that question enough to get me to dive right in, but the book is like eating birthday cake in little bitty pieces when you really just want to shove the whole thing in your mouth. Itty bitty little chapters about a girl who has been in a coma for a year and who can't really remember anything, but she can remember extraordinary facts about random things that have nothing to do with her. Her parents are freakishly rich and kind of freakish as well. When Jenna asks her grandmother, Lily, "Why do you hate me?" Lily responds. "I don't hate you, Jenna. I just don't have room for you." OUCH. That had to hurt. So what really happened to Jenna? I DON'T HAVE A CLUE, but as soon as I'm done, you can check it out.

I'm also reading Laurie Halse Anderson's (Speak) new one Chains. WOW. This one is an historical novel about young Isabel who was promised her freedom by her original owner who dies. The owner's nephew swoops in and quickly grabs hold and sells Isabel and her sister Ruth, who both become the possessions of a hateful couple in New York. That's as far as I am, but I can tell this one will not only be one that keeps me on the edge of my seat, but I better keep the Kleenex box handy as well.




Last, I am reading a grown-up book, which I am loving because it is by one of my all-time favorite authors, Wally Lamb. The book is called The Hour I first Believed, and it is about a couple's struggle to stay married before, but mostly after, their encounter with the students during and after the Columbine massacre. The male was a teacher there and the female, the school nurse. The story really isn't about the shooting--instead, it's about people and how they relate to each other, which is why I love Wally Lamb so much. One of my all-time favorite books is I Know This Much is True, which is a book about twin brothers, one of whom is schizophrenic. His writing is special and slow...I know he loves what he does because he takes his time, making every word count.



Gee Whiz! I hope I never have to make a top five list of my all-time favorite books. I could never pick! Gladden OUT!



p.s. Here is a video I made of the current Lone Stars...I cannot get enough ANIMOTO!

So, I WORDLED my blog, and look what happened...

READ ONE BOOK...need I say more?

Who wants to Wordle? www.wordle.net

So Now What?

Hey guys...so I haven't posted since about oh, a trillion dollars ago :0)...so here's what I am reading, what I've read and what's in my STACK. First, I just finished John Coy's Crackback, a story about a kid who loves football, has a jack for a dad, makes great grades, and is being pressured by his friends to shoot steroids. He decides--SHOCK!--to do the right thing, but instead of getting rewarded, he gets bumped to third string where he learns that life's lessons aren't all they are "cracked" up to be--depending on who your teacher is. OMG. I love this book--boy or girl, it's fast paced, quick chapters, and even a little romance thrown in for fun. Grab it while you can. Which brings me to a book in my stack...Box Out--also by John Coy...his new one with an interesting twist...this one is about a kid who plays JV basketball and gets moved up to Varsity. He is so pumped...until he realizes that the coach leads prayer before every game. This may not bother you, but this character has some moral dilemmas he must face and some choices he must make. John Coy isn't shy about writing the angles, that's for sure. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this one.

So, what am I reading now...? Two books, actually. Let's start with the Hunger Games. Can I OMG enough about this book? Those of you who have talked to me for five seconds know that I always tell you to never read a book you hate. Well, this ain't that book! This book HAS TO BECOME A MOVIE! This book crazy-good. Now, Ms. Rayburn and I may disagree (she donated her copy to the library, thanks, Ms. R), but this one definitely falls into one of my YA Top Ten. So, the U.S. as we know it is over. It is split into 12 districts, run by one Capitol. Every year, two children from each district--a boy and a girl, ages 12-17--are picked at random and sent to the Hunger Games. They must kill each other off one at a time. Whomever wins the game--stalking, hunting, hiding, chasing each other for days, weeks--wins food for that district for the year. Sick and twisted. Need I say more? It's like Survivor for kids without the million and death. YIKES! The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. READ IT!

Last but not least, I am also reading Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks--a green shelf book for sure. Gail Giles (What Happened to Cass McBride and Right Behind You) sort of recommended this book indirectly, and when one of your fave-all-time authors tells you to read something, hello, you go and get it! So far, there has been violence, deception, teenagers...what more could you want from a book where you need your parents' permission to read?

So that's it, kiddies. Don't forget about the book fair. Bug your parents. Bug your teachers. Read. Read. Read. Gladden OUT.

How much exactly is 1 TRILLION dollars?

Well, for starters, one trillion dollars is how much the United states has spent on the war in Iraq. As for me, it doesn't matter what your political views are, but it seems that if you could really wrap your mind around how much a trillion dollars is, you might see that enough is enough. That is exactly what Rob Simpson has done in his new book What We Could Have Done With the Money: 50 Ways to Spend the Trillion Dollars We've Spent on Iraq. Imagine what a trillion dollars could have done for America? Well, all

you have to do is visit this website and spend away. It's exhausting as a matter of fact--not that I would mind. Heck, I could buy the Astros--and keep spending!

I HATE CENSORSHIP!

Okay, so I'm sure all of you have noticed some of my crazy displays around school by now, and I'm sure that you noticed the "Banned Book" announcements during Banned Books Week. But what is a librarian to do when an author censors HeRsElF? Sounds crazy, huh? It's true. Stephenie Meyer has said that the fourth installment of the Twilight series should not be read by kids under 16. WHAT? Whose kids? Mine? Yours? You? Can you all hear me screaming Noooooooooooooo! from a cave somewhere??? What is this world coming to? I thought that censorship was up to the parents! I thought we had stopped all of this book rationing a long time ago! That that's why parents are there...we count on them to be the moral compass...just like, well, Bella and Edward are moral compassess for Renesmee, but wait a minute...YOU CAN'T KNOW THAT IF YOU CAN'T READ IT!

Someone PLEASE...stop the madness...Gladden
o
u
t...

So what did I read during Icky Ike?

Well, let's start with Barry Lyga's newest one Hero Type. OMG. I wish I could write like Barry Lyga...I'd so be a millionaire. Anyway, Hero Type is a story about a boy who saves this girl's life and well, becomes the town hero. But then, with the flash of one photographer's camera, he goes from hero to ZERO. But the book is so much more...it's about stalking and divorce and if you had to choose between your mom and dad, could you pick? This is my new fave (well, for today). Lyga also wrote the amazing book, The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl, a story about two opposites who come together as one plans to destroy his school (YIKES!).

Another book I read was Ellen Hopkins new one, Identical. As most of you know, all of Ellen Hopkins' books are on the back shelf, but she is one of our Teen Lit Fest authors this year, and if you want to grab ahold of this new one, you'll definitely need a parent permission slip. I can tell you, though, you won't be able to put it down.

I also started reading the Doll People by Martin and Godwin (illustrated by Brian Selznick...the same guy who Illustrated the Invention of Hugo Cabret), but my sixth grader stole it. Hmmmm...I wonder if they ever did find Aunt Sarah? Don't tell me ! I'll finish it!

I also read two more, but I'll have to post on them later because the titles are escaping me for the moment...that will happen when the wind was moaning through the windows at 110mph and the house was hotter than heck. I am currently, however, reading a FANTASIC book which I NEVER would have picked up because yes, I unfortunately DO judge books by their covers...this one is called Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls and it starts out like this:

List No. 1: Five Facts About Me

1. My name is Sam.

2. I am eleven years old

3. I collect stories and fantastic facts.

4. I have leukemia.

5. By the time you read this, I will probably be dead.

So that's it for now. I've missed you guys...celebrate reading! Gladden out...

***********I remembered the other two books! The reason I couldn't remember was because they were books that I had picked up a long time ago. I really don't read a whole lot of nonfiction, but I'll share these with you because so many of you always ask me what I am reading right now or have read lately...

The first one was a book by Eckhart Tolle called A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. This book was probably harder than any college text book I had ever read, but I was glad I had finished it. It gave me a new insight into people and friendships and relationships and what my responsibility is as a human being to other human beings. It also gave me some perspective on why people (including myself) act the way we do.

The other book I finished is called Blue Like Jazz which is a about a guy who is talking about his life story and how he finds spirituality...not religion (to me, the two are very different). It is an excellent story about being WHO you are WHEN you are right in the moment, and I believe the quote is something like when you find that out about yourself it's "blue like jazz." The book is easy to read and best of all, ineteresting.

Gladden out on Icky Ike's Books. :0)

Celebrate Banned Books Week!

So here we are again bringing attention to all of the infamous books that have gone down and are continuing to go down in history during Banned Books Week 2008! From J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye to the Koran to What my Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones to the Bible itself, you throw out a title and somewhere someone has probably challenged that book based on religious or political ideals, racism, sexuality, language...the list goes on. So celebrate the elimination of censorship by reading a banned book! Know your rights...and DON'T BE HELD HOSTAGE! READ WHAT YOU WANT!

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

So what am I reading? Well, of course, Breaking Dawn...

I couldn't let you guys down. But don't tell me what happens! I'm not done yet!

And I'm almost finished with Evernight by Claudia Gray. OMG. Another yummy vampire novel with a twist to die for. Speaking of to die for, if you haven't signed up yet, make sure you bug your RELA teacher to tears to sign up to purchase Michael Scott's new book The Magician ($15) or The Alchemyst ($8) in paperback . He'll be here on the 22nd of September, and you don't want to be the only one stuck in class because you forgot to sign up. DUH. So, what else?

That's it for now. Get your copies or get gone. Gladden out.

Thing #23--WooHOO!

Well.. here it is...the final blog for this assignment, but since this blog is now on my library home page www.humbleisd.net/smslibrary , this will not be my last post! Here are the answers to the questions:

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I loved the flickr tools, learning how to mess with and convert videos on Teacher Tube, and generally learning how to manipulate Library Thing to get it to do what I want for the purposes of my library. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to use Twitter for www.hoboteacher.com/blog and when I do, I'm sure it will be one of my faves.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

I am hoping there is another one next summer. I have heard a lot about Web 2.o, but I never really "got it" until now. I am always looking for workshops or whatever to stay one step ahead of the game, and this did it for me.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I loved Shelfari..I had never seen that before. I made a blog for my husband...who still remains in the 19th century when it comes to computers (sorry, honey), so I love to share new things with people. I think the whole idea of this has spread like wildfire and that excites me. Oh, I also loved those tutorial guys (Common Craft?) and their videos. They were awesome.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

Well, since I didn't have a time crunch like everyone else (except Aug. 5th), nothing really.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

Without a doubt.

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?

23 Things is the best free online interactive tutorial I have ever used.

Okay...I'm off to comment on other blogs! Ciao for now!

Thing #22

I am not super-big on listservs. Although they can be very helpful and informative (and sometimes racy and controversial), I think that often times, they are mostly overwhelming...which brings me to Nings. I never really knew anything about Nings, but I certainly like the idea about a social networking space with a focus. I really liked the Teacher Librarian Ning and the group that focused on YA literature in middle schools. It had some great threads going, as well as some specific discussions that were pertinent to my needs. I certainly can see myself using this in the future. I will also show this tool to my teachers, assuming it is not filtered in my district.

Thing #21

I really love using video/audio tools, especially Photostory. Here is the library orientation that I made that I plan on using for the kids this year. Since I also work at an academic college, we also link many instructional pieces to podcasts (click on the "click to listen" button). Enjoy!

Thing #20

If you have read my earlier blogs, then you know that I already fell in love with Teacher Tube in Thing something-or-ther way back there and decided to show the following video on the first day back with my teachers. Enjoy if you haven't already seen it.


Teacher Tube is my new BFF. Again, I must be the only human on the planet who doesn't know about the good stuff.

p.s. The search engine Blinkx is definitely one that I have bookmarked--um, tagged, in del.icio.us. It is highly useful. People will think I am the smartest librarian on Google Earth.

Thing #19

The Web 2.0 Award I chose was in Mobile Technology (1st Place), and it's a new communication program called Twitter. I chose this because I recognized it from something that my business partner from hoboteacher.com said. He told me that we needed to start "twittering." I had no idea, of course, what he had said. I thought maybe, after all these years, he had developed a speech impediment, so I asked him what the heck he was talking about. He said, "you know, twittering." Like I was the only person on the planet who didn't have the first clue. Apparently, I was.

Twittering is what you do between emailing and blogging (can you believe there is time between emailing and blogging?). You just kinda keep people informed. No more phones calls, really, b/c it's a sort of mass shout-out. I put a link up so you can see it. I really like it b/c it's somewhere between an email and an IM. Yep, I'm a Twitterer.

Thing #18

I absolutely use and adore Google docs. It's a networked computer away from your network. I have been using it for sometime, and it has saved me countless worries and questions about "did I bring that flash drive...or is this powerpoint too big to email...???" No more of that nonsense. I stopped the download of Open Office. It was too big, but I very much appreciate the notion of a bunch of people coming together to make these things free (as with Google as well) for people instead of making Bill Gates and Microsoft richer. I work in a Title I school, and I know if we can get some parents in for some free training--since they don't have Office Suite--these things will come in very useful. Heck, I'm using them to death, and I have Office Suite!

Thing #17

I know I keep saying this, but I think Rollyo is one of my favorite thnigs that I have found so far. It is an excellent organizational tool for teachers, especially RELA and history, who are looking for a neatly boxed group of places their students can go to search for information other than the databases we provide them. It also saves me an immense amount of time trying to create assignment guides for them for each assignment. I also love how the students can access Rollyo at home and continue with the assignment. It is brilliant in its simplicity.





In mine, make sure when you get in there, you click on my name so you can see my list of hoax websites. My objective was to create a kid-user-friendly list of hoax websites so that when I teach internet authority, objectivity, and authenticity, I can show the students the different websites, and have them all ready in one place. What I didn't learn until I had Rollyo link to my blog is that I was creating a search engine (yes, I watched the video); I am hard-headed...sometimes it takes me awhile, but that's why we're here. So, anyway, my search engine is useless, really. But I get the jist, now. The reason it is useless is b/c these website have nothing in common except they are hoaxes. Th problem with that is that the websites do not announce themselves as hoaxes as say spa websites would announce themselves as spa websites. But hey, I can learn.

Thing #16

When I think of Wikis, I always think of a giant techno-Starbucks...or even better, a techno lyceum...you know, somewhere where people gather to discuss--intelligently--the things that everyone wants to know. For teachers who are not afraid to try them, wikis have endless possibilities. For example, language arts classes can create wiki menus for novels they are reading; math and science classes can research theorists and scientists and post true or false findings and have other groups decide which are false...history classes can recreate journals and responses for historical time periods.

Thing #15

As I've mentioned before, I also work in a college library, so I have had the opportunity to see the newest things happen as they unfold. I think libraries are changeable entities whose main goal is the necessities of its patrons. Certainly, in this technologically hungry generation, we see a need to feed this generation new food. But, in my middle school library, on the whole, the kids really want graphic novels and a game codes. It's my job to show them the newness. What I loved was the video, and it made me go out and search Teacher Tube which I am hoping is not filtered in my district. If it is, I may just fight that battle. I had no idea of its existence, but it's brilliant. I may just show the posted video--HOLD EVERYTHING!--I just realized that Thing #20 is all about Teacher Tube...what the heck? You'll' have to visit Thing #20 if you want to watch this amazing video, now that I've finally figured everything out. Gosh! I'm so impatient. :)

Thing #14

Technorati is--in a word--AMAZING. How do people think like this? I am so glad I registered my real blog...the one that will one day make me millions (I hope)...if you haven't checked it out yet, please do...www.hoboteacher.com/blog --these people are purists at heart--sort of like librarians! I wanted to stay on technorati so that I could see what people were really out there looking at. It's like being a voyeur to the world.

Thing #13

I have to get to this before it leaves me. I found this while exploring del.icio.us (the social bookmarking site), and if any of you librarians have yet to see it, OMG, it is a must this instant.
http://curiousexpeditions.org/?p=78

Okay, now that I have had time to peruse these social bookmarking sites...and I have to admit that I have been curious about what all the fuss was...this is probably something I will show my teachers but not something I will use myself. For whatever reason, delicious took me longer to figure out than I think it was supposed to, and I'll just stick with my favorites for now. If it gets too long, then maybe I'll take another look. For now, though, I may just use the cloud of frequently used tags...that may be more helpful.

I can see how teachers may want to guide their students here, especially in middle school to use the frequently used tags. High schoolers may want to create their own bookmarks for research assignments.

Thing #12

I really liked the Ten Commandments of Blog Commenting. My two favorite "rules" were to use emoticons and have a sense of humor. It's so hard to emit tone across the internet, so it's important that readers know that are not being attacked at every turn. On the other hand, in Edublogger Etiquette, I also found it interesting that you don't and shouldn't respond to everyone and everything. I try to look at it as though I would a conversation...I wouldn't interrupt, but if I had something valuable to add, I would...and I wouldn't scream or be mean or call names. Why should social moires fly out the window simply because we are conversing across wires?



The two blogs that I really enjoyed that I found were http://blog.despair.com/ which is pretty irreverent but absolutely hilarious. It's company mission statement is this: "We're not satisfied until you're not satisfied." The other one that I loved (because I LOVE political humor) was http://thekarmicboomerang.blogspot.com/ . These probably won't be useful in the classroom (unless you want to teach satire), but they are hysterical.

Thing #11

Although I am a middle school librarian by day, I am a college librarian by night, and we have used librarything for quite sometime. I have never used it personally b/c well, the usual...lack of time. However, Library2Play has forced me into the dregs of all the things I have been avoiding, and I have now find that not only is this a great place to find the hottest new books, but what a super place to find COVERS! I did find someone who is reading the exact three books I am reading now (which is REALLY weird). And well, after posting, I decided to share my fave blogs on my blog. Who do I think I am anyway?

Thing #10

This has been my favorite so far. I am a display fiend, so I will be using the heck out of these. Smiley Generator created the user-friendly logo above. Image Chef was by far the quickest and most user-friendly. It created all three of the images on the left in about 5 minutes. I had messed around with Custom Sign Generator for about half an hour, and got one magazine cover that was too big to post. I can easily see how teachers and students alike will use this in their classes to create projects or visual assignments. This is FAB!

Thing #9

My favorite search tool for blogs is Google search. I really like it because it shows how long ago the blogger posted without actually clicking on the blog. When I advanced searched the terms education humor (with nothing on the word library), I got this prayer:

Lord, grant me the Serenity to accept that the book is lost forever;The Courage to refuse a loan when there's an overdue book;And the Wisdom to know when it's time to take a break.

It's from a clever blog called, "Library Technicians: Education, Training, Practice, Career, Jobs, etc. "--interesting that I never would have thought to click on it for humor.

Here's another one...recite to the cadence of the Lord's Prayer:

Our Chief Librarian at BNB,
Hallowed be thy Catalogue,
Thy Issues be increased,
Thy Books be Strict-Ordered,
In Fiction as they are in Non-Fiction
Give us this day our Overdue Books back,
And forgive us our Classification Errors,
As we forgive those who Misplace our Books
(as they know not thy Prophet Dewey)
Lead us not into False Subject Headings,But deliver us from Categorisation
..........and cuts in Opening Hours
..........and reductions in the Book Fund
For thine is the Issue System,
the Date Stamp
and the Light Pen
For Ever and Ever
Amen (submitted by Sue Marsden) @IFLA' site

Anyway, I found Google (as usual) to be the most user friendly, and I spent WAY too much time on it.

Thing #8

Yeah, okay, so I'm not so big on RSS feeds, and I'll tell you why. I often have to decide if I am going to go to work and work or go to work and read my email. The last thing I want to do is go to work and read blogs or the news even. I am so busy all day that I do not have time to do any of that. When I get home, I am nowhere near a computer. Although I think the technology is good stuff, it's just not for me. Because of that, no one would probably think my blog choices are any fun to read anyway, so I'll keep them private...but I will say that this tool sort of reminds me of a listserv, which is probably why I don't like it. :(

I do think, though, that teachers could really use these in their classrooms (if not filtered) for say, science blogs to see if new technology is posted or English teachers to see if the students' favorite authors have posted. Like I said, it definitely has value, just not "my thing." Ha ha.

Thing #7

Hello all!

I have used some Google tools in the past, but most recently, I have experimented with Picasa and Google alerts. I had made a powerpoint for my husband who organized a parade in our community. Well, the powerpoint was too big to send through email. From what I had learned through the technology on Library2Play, I quckly set him up on his own blog, changed the powerpoint into a Picasa presentation, and all he had to do was email the link! It was fast and easy. Had I known sooner, I would have used Google Docs to make the presentation.

What I also love is the Google alerts. It's important for me to know who is reading my blog, www.hoboteacher.com , and how often. Google sends me an email every time someone gets on. Often times, publishers that I have sents query letters to check out the blog. Hey, a girl needs to know these things!

Thing #6

Okay, so I had NO idea what a mashup was. I spent a ton of time messing around with this stuff. This will definitely go into the teacher resource lesson this year. I did make a trading card of myself...pretty scary. My favorite mashup, though, was the pallette generator from flickr. You can take any picture, and it will generate the colors from that picture into little paint swatches. For example, if I wanted to paint my dining room the colors of the picture of Greece that I posted earlier, the pallette generator will break apart all of the colors in the Greece picture into colors such as "dolphin," "bison hide," and "pink swan." It also has many cool ways to manipulate photos. My daughter is an art major. She's going to have a field day with this! Additionally, I made a lovely trading card of myself using the Warholizer. Like I said, this stuff could be addicting if you let it.

Thing #5

I love flickr. I particularly love that if you download their software that you can save even more pictures using their free site than paying for it. I have to say, though, that I never thought about using flickr as an image search tool for my students. Since I am a middle school librarian, my students do a project where they have to complete a unit on a country like Greece...the foods, art, weather, architecture, economy...you name it. Wow...when I typed in Greece and saw the pictures these lucky people took, not only was I jealous, but I am planning my trip as we speak. I cannot wait to share this with the kids (if it's not already filtered).

Thing #4

Okay, so I am all emailed and ready to roll! I cannot wait to see what's out there that my students can incorporate into their projects and even their daily lives because of the things that I learn here. Here we go!

Thing #3

Since I already have a blog (as mentioned in Thing #2 www.hoboteacher.com/blog), I love to blog! And I cannot wait to make another avatar!

Well...I love my avatar...and of course my background has to be the beach--in my heart and my head, that's where I will always be.

Thing #2

I found that the easiest habit for me is that I accept responsibility for my own learning. That really has never been a problem. I have two masters degrees, a novel that my friend and I are looking to find representation from an agent, a daily blog (www.hoboteacher.com/blog), two jobs, and I am doing this not knowing if I'll get any credit. And for crying out loud, I have remained in the education industry (yes, it is an industry--a failing one--but an industry--for 15 years WITH student loans), so I clearly accept resposibility.

The hardest habit for me is to view problems as challenges. I just want to fix everything and be done with it!

Thing #1

As a former high-school-librarian-turned-middle-school-librarian (now you know why I am a lunatic on the loose), I love tools like this. Not only do I think our students should be using more assignments like this, but they should be CREATING them. Let's get this baby ROLLING!