If you are reading this via the feed, you might want to hop on over to the site and check out the new theme. I thought it was time for something that was a bit more simple, yet eye-catching. I think this theme works well. It’s very simple, minimal image usage, yet at the same time it’s very elegant and professional looking. I have been modifying it a little, adding the recent comments plugin to the sidebar, as well as a link to the feeds. I’ve also changed the way the theme handled the title of the site and page/post. The other way seemed a bit backwards to me putting the page name/post name before the site name, e.g. About Me-piece of shep instead of piece of shep- About Me. Also, the sidebar is not widgetized yet. I was thinking of widgetizing it but I think that would just spell trouble because I’ll just continue to add more and more stuff to the sidebar and the goal here is for simplicity. I think I may keep this theme for a while.
I was browsing this HNN.us page and saw my history blog listed (though, my last name is spelled wrong) and found quite a few really interesting blogs that I have since subscribed to. One of my favorites to read is A History Teacher. Two recent posts I thought were excellent. I hope one day I will be able to incorporate the technology that this history teacher uses in my classroom. I think much can be done using the web to further students’ understanding of not just technology, but also social studies. Who says the computer lab is just for English class?
This reminds me of a professor I had in college who would not let us use the internet for resources in writing our term papers. He concluded that the internet was full of false information, which to some extent, it can be, but this teacher shows how it is truly a valuable tool to be embraced, not shunned. I can’t wait to see what kind of activities I can come up with when I get into a classroom. There is so much out there that will help students learn in unique and creative ways.
If you’ve used the contact form to try and get in touch with me over the past couple weeks, I’ve probably not gotten the email. There is something weird going on with the php mail () command and emails generated by the contact form (or WP) aren’t getting sent out. So if you tried to contact me or need to contact me you can always email me at mike at mikeschepker.com Hopefully this will be solved soon.
EDIT: Everything seems to be working fine now. If you contact me and I don’t respond, let me know, but all emails from the comment form and contact form should be working now.