iKON - Anthem Reaction (Inki App Beta)

Here's my reaction to iKON's Anthem MV using the Inki App. If you would like to make reactions please visit @inki_app on Twitter or visit www.inki.tv Let them know DeShonda sent you! Thank you for watching!

VIXX - Chained Up Reaction - (Inki App Beta)

Here is my reaction to VIXX​ Chained Up MV! I have been using the Inki App for my reactions! If you want to make K Pop reactions just visit Inki on Twitter @inki_app or visit them on inki.tv! Let them know DeShonda sent you! #inki #inkiapp #reaction #kpop #VIXX #ChainedUp

Learning Korean: Weeks 5 & 6

Week 5 of Korean class was very fun! This week was Korean Thanksgiving or Chuseok. On this day Korean people celebrate the Fall harvest. Korean people also spend time with their families, eat delicious food and give thanks to their ancestors. Kids in Korea play games, have fun and eat candy. I have pictures of kids playing games on my Instagram (pmsblackqueen), Twitter (PMSBlackQueen) and Facebook (deshondat). Some of the kids looked very pretty as they were dressed in traditional Hanbok. We also made Songpyeon in Korean School. Songpyeon is a rice cake that is rolled into a ball and filled with sesame seeds, red beans, chestnuts or other ingredients then they are steamed. They were delicious! I posted pictures of them on my social media and took some home to steam myself. This was a fun time for me in Korean School. I love kids and I really enjoyed seeing all of the kids playing traditional Korean games.

Also on this week we had our first test on the flash cards we made the previous week. We were tested on writing our vocabulary words. So my teacher would say the word and we had to write it.  I did study and  I did OK, but I needed to study harder. I missed a few questions and I don't like to miss a lot on my tests. Next time I will improve.

Week 6 of Korean Class was another test of our vocabulary words. We learned a lot of words and the vocabulary was a bit more challenging, but it was not impossible. The main thing is to learn and get the alphabet and vowels down pat. When you are comfortable with that, then reading and writing comes pretty easy in my opinion. So same format as before, my teacher read the word and we had to write down what she said. We had a test on almost all of the words we learned so far.I must admit I missed a few, and that's OK. I won't beat myself up over it too much, but next time I will study hard and do my best. We learned today more vocabulary words which means more flash cards I will have to make to help me study from. The teacher in me loves flash cards and they really help me as I practice my writing and such. We also learned some Korean phrases during this week as well such as "To The Right", "To The Left", and "I'm Sorry." We learned about greetings and telling time also. I am learning a lot in Korean School and I really enjoy learning about Korean Culture as well. Next week we will learn some conversational Korean I believe and on Halloween we will be taking a field trip to a Korean BBQ restaurant here in my hometown! I am so looking forward to that because Korean food is so delicious! I will make sure to post a lot of picture s of my experience so stay tuned!

Learning Korean: Weeks 3 & 4

Weeks 3 & 4 of learning Korean went very well! We continued to learn about the alphabet. In these weeks we learned the entire alphabet, all of the vowels and the double consonants. Because there are a lot of vowels and consonants in the Hangul, the teacher in me decided to make flash cards to help me study. I must say these help me learn the alphabet along with the pronunciation of each letter sound. As my teacher always says, "Writing is important", I practiced my writing too. I have to practice more of my writing however. I have it down pretty good, but I feel it's not good enough sometimes, and I make some mistakes. Practice makes perfect, so I will continue to work hard on my writing. Sometimes the pronunciation can be a little tricky too, but if I practice that, I am confident I will improve.

Speaking of flash cards, we made flash cards on these weeks of vocabulary words. On one side was the picture and the other side was the Hangul. The cards were two characters long for example butterfly in Korean is "na bi." so on one side of my card was the picture of the butterfly and on the other side was the character for "na" and "bi" It's difficult to explain here, but I think I have pictures of my writing on my Instagram (pmsblackqueen), Twitter (PMS Black Queen) and Facebook (deshondat). I found it really satisfying when I began to put the letters I learned together and began to read, write and understand Korean a little bit! I felt kid of smart because I learned something new. 

On week 3 and 4 we also continued to learn about Korean Culture through Korean Art. We practiced drawing bamboo. As I mentioned before at the end of the semester we will be making a very nice plate or mug with our Korean art on it. Also the elders came to help us and show us how to do the art work properly. I really enjoy the elders who were helping us. I wrote my name on my paper in Korean and they read my name and said it was pretty. I just had a big smile on my face because I actually wrote my name and they understood it and they liked it. I have pictures on my Instagram of my art drawings. So far we were just practicing the strokes with the brush and ink. The brush and ink that are used is really cool too. You have to mix the ink with water and the more you mix it the darker the ink will become.  I need to practice my Korean Art more in the coming weeks. I really want to make something really pretty and show everyone what I have learned and accomplished. 

These weeks were fun for me at Korean School. I really enjoy my classmates and my teacher is very nice, patient, and kind with us. We learn a lot from her every week and she is a very good teacher. I always look forward to coming to class ready to learn. I just need to continue to study hard on my flashcards, and practice my writing and pronunciation. 

Learning Korean Weeks 1 & 2

As you may or may not know I am really into Asian culture. Specifically Korean culture. I have always been into the culture from a very young age from gaming and such. From there I fell in love with Anime, K Pop, K Dramas and everything else the culture has to offer. After a very long time of teaching myself Korean by using You Tube and various other sites, I decided to finally take formal classes. Besides I only know a few words and phrases from watching K Dramas and K Pop and such.  I do much better in a classroom setting anyway. I found a place here in town that has Adult Korean Classes. I had no idea this place existed, but I am very excited to find it! I found it by doing a google search and found the Facebook page of the Korean School. I decided to register and take classes.  

My first week went very well. My class is quite small. I met some great people though. There are several classes at the Korean School. They have classes for kids and adults. The adult classes are separated into Beginner and Intermediate Classes. Of course I am in the Beginner Class, but I am not the only one. I met a couple who is adopting a little boy from Korea, and another young man who enjoys traveling and learning different languages. He has traveled all over Asia and knows Chinese. And there are two girls that are 11 and 14 who come with their mother. They have a adopted little brother who is Korean and he is taking classes as well. The teachers and staff are very nice and very accepting of everybody. They are very patient with all of us in the beginner classes and I really like that. The first week we learned the Korean Alphabet which consists of 14 consonants, and I learned how to write my name. I did not know this was even possible since my name is not even close to being Korean. We learned how to write and pronounce the 14 consonants. I made flash cards and studied them the entire week. We also received some worksheets to practice writing them. I was very nervous when I was in class but after a few tries at pronunciation I got the hang of it. Now I am confident that I can read, write, pronounce the consonants. 

Week two was a review of the 14 consonants. Our teacher also added on the 10 vowels too. So now this week I will be studying the 10 vowels which are easy in my opinion. I have to just put them with the consonants and practice pronouncing and writing them. I already have my flashcards made and started to study. We also did some Korean art in class as well. I practiced painting a bamboo with this very cool ink and brush. I can’t remember what the name of it is called but you mix the ink with water and you use a tool to mix it with. When mixing you have to go counter clock wise. I have posted my art and things on my instagram (@pmsblackqueen) and here as well. I really like the art portion of the class because we get to learn about the culture of Korea. We will be painting the 4 seasons of flowers on plates, mugs and such. I must say I am having a lot of fun so far and learning so much. I really like the people too. 

Now I know what you may be asking....Why do I want to learn Korean? Well as I mentioned before I have always been interested in the culture and I want to go to Korea one day. I would love to see the schools there. I know they are very different from here in the United States. I hear that teaching is a great job in Korea as well. So visiting Korea is definitely in my plan one day. I would love to visit Seoul, Busan, and Jeju Island. Hopefully one day I will get there........and learning the language is a great start. 

The Start Of A New School Year

Wow, I cannot believe it's that time once again! For me it's the start of the new school year! My summer has officially come to an end.  What's so different about it this year is that I will be starting at a new school. I have the same position as before (Miss Tech Teacher) and I am very excited!

I officially started my first day today. I met most of the staff and teachers that I will be working with, and they are all happy that I am there. Everyone seems so nice and kind too. The librarian even invited me to lunch with two other staff members. I thought that was very nice of her to invite me. And it was good getting to know them.   I just hope that I do a great job and provide my students with the best I have to offer them.

This will be my fifth year teaching Technology! Wow time sure does fly! I can remember when I posted here a few years ago about my first day on the job. I have learned a lot since then and I play to to take what I learned and apply it at my new school.

In a couple of days I get a chance to meet most of my students. I am looking forward to that. I will be teaching Kindergarten through Fourth Grade like I did before at my previous school. The students will be using laptops to complete their work.   I really hope and pray that this school year goes well for me. I look forward to collaborating with teachers and coming up with new and exciting projects for my students to enjoy.

This year I will be teaching out of a portable classroom located on the property of the school. Think of it as a double wide trailer. I really like it! It looks very nice with new floors and such. I will be getting a Smart Board, Projector and Elmo to use in my lessons. My space is pretty big and I have a lot of room to work with. I have the usual tables, chairs, desks, bookshelf, etc. As of right now however, my space is not quite ready. I do not have electricity as of yet. Hopefully that will change by the end of the week. So I really cannot do anything with my space as of yet. I will take before and after pictures and post them later.

I think I am going to have a great school year. This will be the first time that I am without any of my previous employees that I worked with for four years. Although we are all gone our separate ways I hope and pray they have a great school year as well. And although I feel like a small fish in a big pond, I am confident that I will get comfortable and make new friends.

First Day At The New Job!

Today was my official first day as a Technology Teacher! I am very excited about this position, and I feel more confident too. My classroom is not a traditional classroom with a white board, desks, etc. My classroom is way cooler in my opinion. My classroom is none other than the Computer Lab! I am excited at how it is going to look after I decorate it and all. Right now the computers that are in there are kind of old and slow, but the do work. My boss told me that those old computers are coming out and I will be getting brand new ones! There are other things in my room that are coming out as well like old computer screens or keyboards that don't work, overhead projectors that don't work and etc. That room was basically a storage for technological things that do not work or are old. I did get to meet some of the staff today as well. Everyone was really nice too. I met my mentor Carol who will be working with me and guiding me through this process. Carol was a Technology Teacher before, so I am excited to learn all I can from her. I met two other ladies that were with her who have been Technology Teachers as well. I can't remember their names, but they will be at the school to help me as well. All three ladies showed me some websites that I will be working with this school year. Some of them I am familiar with from working as a Teacher Assistant in IL. So that makes it easier for me. The ones that I am not familiar with, I will have to learn my way around.  I also met the Media Specialist. Mr. Ferrar. He is a very nice man who is very excited to have me working with him. The library and my classroom (The Computer Lab) are adjacent to each other, so we will see each other a lot.  So I spent the day checking all 18 computers and making sure they worked and all, meeting new staff, and learning the basics. I am coming back tomorrow to do some more work and cleaning. School starts next week, I hope I will be ready!