Triumph!!!

My school just won its first football game EVER! This is the 5th year the school has had a football team, and they had never won. Sad. This year they have a new coach and he has been working on the personal character of each player as well as creating a TEAM. Obviously his philosophy is working! The team totally kicked butt last night! I was so proud of my kids. They played really hard. After the game my student government hosted a stomp (what normal people call a stag dance) on the football field. It was also a roaring success, obviously helped drastically by the fact that the team won. I was really excited that our first activity went so well. This will really help set the tone for the rest of the year. Go Eagles! (ps. I don't know why the scoreboard picture shows 12 minutes left in this picture... I took it when the clock said 00:00. Regardless, that was the final score!)

Back to School!

Yesterday was the first day of the school year. I did a little song and dance. Literally. I don't know what came over me, but in one class I momentarily burst out in song whilst going over the rules and expectations of the class. In another class I did a little jig. Apparently I was happy to be back at work.

Being a teacher is sometimes a bit like being a stand-up comedian. The kids are staring at you with glassy eyes and look slightly better than zombies. You see their eyes roll back into their heads and you think, "Crap! What can I do to get their attention?" Sometimes you do crazy things. Mostly I crack a few jokes and we're back on track. Sometimes though, you come across a really tough audience. That happened today. After cracking some of my best jokes ever they were still staring at me like a herd of zombies. I looked at them and said, "Hello! You're supposed to be laughing. I'm funny!" I guess it's not very funny when you have to tell people you're funny. Luckily, I was sitting on a tall chair at the front of my room and suddenly slipped off. It was completely accidental (those of you who know me also know that I'm a bit klutzy), but the timing couldn't have been more perfect. I'm OK with making the occasional fool of myself if it gets the class to wake up. I'm pretty sure they think I'm crazy, but that's alright.

So, one song and dance and spill onto my backside later we're ready to go! The year is off to a running start and looks like it will be a good race if I can keep up my endurance.

Student Government Retreat

This year I am the adviser for the Student Body Government. I've always wanted to work with student government and am flattered they asked me. We had a retreat this weekend to bond and plan. It was an excellent experience! I'm so excited to work with these kids. They are really good kids- hard workers, thoughtful, compassionate, good communicators, and a lot of fun. We met at the school and worked on some welcome back gifts for the faculty. Then we went to a ropes course to learn how to communicate and work with each other. This was fantastic- despite my failure to succeed with the "leap of faith" exercise. I know I'll be really busy this year, but I'm finally excited about going back to work!

Project Completion!

Hallelujah! We are done with the project. What a relief! I am very proud of our group and what we accomplished. I am proud to have my name associated with this project. In fact, I think you should look at it!

The other group in our class also completed an awesome project that you should look at. It's about plants and is for younger children.

This semester has completely kicked my butt! However, I've learned a great deal. I'm really looking forward to the next semester, graduating in April, and starting work in a week.

Week 7

We are almost done with our project!!! It's been a tough experience, but I've definitely learned a lot. Our group has worked together very well. I think one reason we worked so well together is because we have known each other for almost a year now and done several projects in other courses. If we didn't have that previous experience with each other this project would have been so much more difficult because we would have been trying to figure out how to work with each other, learn the new technology, and complete the project. So, what have I learned from this project?

1. I was in charge of the web quest assignment and pretty much did that on my own, after a lengthy discussion with the group about the purpose and scope of the assignment. Once we were all in agreement about the project it went very smoothly. This experience made me realize how important it is to plan before executing. It also reiterated the point that goals and objectives are a must. If I would have just started on the web quest without the group discussion and without objectives... it would have been a mess. However, our discussion really helped clarify things for everyone and I was able to complete the assignment fairly quickly as a result. Also, I had my sister complete the web quest and give us feedback so we could improve it. The feedback she gave us was really helpful and I feel like the web quest works better because of it. This reminded me that I need to ask my students for feedback so I constantly improve assignments and assessments.
2. I have learned a lot of new technology tools that I am excited to use in my classroom.
3. I have learned a lot about communicating with team members. Sometimes there are misunderstandings or differing viewpoints. I learned how to better discuss and approach issues. I can use these skills in the classroom with my students as I teach and as they are doing group assignments.
4. I have learned a lot about problem solving and group dynamics. I already have some activities planned for the student government retreat where I will put these to use. I will be teaching a lesson about group dynamics and then we will engage in some role-playing about conflict resolution and problem solving.
5. I have learned a lot about planning a successful project. This will help me in my teaching, particularly with student government. We have to plan all the assemblies, dances, and other activities. I will use the ADDIE principles with my students as we plan these activities. I will also be able to use these skills as I plan and implement my master's project.

Week 6

The Project- We are nearing completion on our project! I finished the Web Quest. I have asked to people to test it for us. We have finished our Digital Story and were able to upload that as well as our instructional video to our website. We have all the lessons complete and uploaded. All of our documents are uploaded. Now we just need to go through and fix our links, fix colors, fix spelling, etc. So, basically we're in the final editing process. This is such a relief! I believe we'll finish that in class tomorrow and then be able to focus on finishing and editing our project report. It certainly is nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

The Reading- Well, we finished all of our reading for the course so I have nothing to say about the reading. I do, however, have some other thoughts I'd like to share and questions to ask. This is really the "So what?" portion of this entry. Now that I've learned all of this technology... so what? Well, I'd like to use it in my class.

Digital Stories- I'm beginning my 10th grade classes with Native American Literature. We will be learning about storytelling and attend the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. I would like to have th students create digital stories as part of this unit. Luckily, I have a computer lab in my classroom!!! I think this will be a great project and I'm really excited about it.

Blogging- I want to incorporate blogs in my class this next year. I'm still not certain the best way to go about it, and I would like outside input. I know I have at least two options.

1. I can have each student create their own blog, privatize it, and then invite myself and their classmates to be readers. This will allow it to be "safe," but they will still have readers and can comment on their classmates writing. I worry that it will be confusing for me to try and stay up on all their blogs and it will be hard to monitor that they are, indeed, commenting on classmate's writing.
   
2. I can create a class blog and make the students all authors. I would still need to privatize the blog. I worry that this option might be cumbersome and confusing to read. It would be easier to grade because it's all in one place... but having 40 posts on the same day might be just as confusing as going to 40 different blogs. I'm not sure how commenting would work with this option.

So, if anyone has used blogging in the class I would really appreciate your input on the best way to use blogs. I want them to publish their writing, read each others writing, and comment on the writing of their peers.

Texting- My little sister will be going to high school this next year. My parents had the option to have texts sent to their phones with school information. I know the school can't possibly be using a cell phone to send all these texts... they have to be using some kind of program where they input all the phone numbers and then send out mass texts using the computer. I would like to be able to do something like this for my students and their parents. I'm in charge of Student Body Government this next year and I think it would be really helpful. Does anyone know of programs I could use that would be free? Is Twitter the best option?

Web Quests- I have some thoughts about units that I can use Web Quests in. I would really like to have my students complete a few Web Quests and then have them create their own. Maybe that's biting off more than they can chew, but I don't think so. I teach 10-12th grade students and I think they can handle it. I'm especially thinking of having my AP Literature students create Web Quests about either the short stories or poetry we read. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Well, I think that's it for this entry. I'm sure I'll have more to say next week!

Week 5

The Reading
We have finished our textbook reading. This is nice and will allow us much more time to finish our project. The thing that stood out to me the most in the reading this week was

The first step in establishing an instructional development service within an organization is to recognize that systematic planning can make an important contribution to education or training.

Designing Effective Instruction, 5th Edition, 2007. Morrison, Ross, & Kemp. pp. 385

I think too often teachers don't systematically plan their instruction. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have often flown by the seat of my pants. My goals for this coming school year are

1. Set objectives for each course that are aligned with the state curriculum
2. Systematically outline my curriculum for the year
3. Each unit/lesson will meet the course objectives

The Project
We have met several times in the past week and things are moving along nicely. We are ready for people to evaluate our curriculum. We finally have the majority of the components completed and now just need to finish up all the little details, revise, etc. That is a huge relief. After we complete the curriculum we will be able to finish the project report. It's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hallelujah!