Monday, October 8th

Homecoming Week is now a memory.  I enjoyed seeing all the students get dressed up and excited for the week.  I felt the spirit of Verona especially on Friday when nearly every student was wearing black and orange.  The pep rally was fun, the parade always fun, and the game in the evening was cold, but fun.

Our student teacher has begun teaching my eTechnology course.  I forget how hard that is to take over someone else's class as the tone and atmosphere has already been established.  He is doing a nice job, and I wonder if it would be better if I left the room?  He is good at conversing with the students and having discussion.  Some areas to focus on would include pacing, small details - like lights, size of the projection on the screen, and checking in to make sure all kids are understanding.  This class has a good mix of abilities, some really bright kids and some who need more instruction, that is always a challenge.

Desktop Publishing:  Students have been working on a digital camera project and their portfolio covers.  I like seeing the creativity of the students.  This week has gone pretty well, students have been working hard on getting all their projects in and I like to see them helping one another.  We'll be having our second quiz next week.  I do need to learn how to make a quiz in Moodle.  I'll add that to my to-do list.

eTechnology:  We have been continuing our work in Excel, students have been working hard and helping one another.  I have a student who likes to appear as an expert in technology, however, he hasn't turned in much work.  I talked to him, and all students, the other day about the progress they were making.  It did seem to motivate him to turn in some of that late work.  As I explained, let the world know how smart you are.  I think the transition from my teaching to our student teacher taking over has gone relatively smooth.  I am considering having the students provide feedback for him in a future blog post.

Mac Applications:  After a bumpy start, our eBook project is under way.  I am really excited to see the finished projects that the students have created - they have some great ideas.  I especially like the projects that are personal to the students.  I will be exploring how to share these as I have some learning to do.

I have some odds and ends to do:  my PDP, which is late, some meetings for students, reading a book on summarization, and trying to keep the balance between my work life and my personal life in check.

September comes to an end

It feels as if we are really in the midst of the school year now.  I am noticing that the students are becoming worried about their grades, stressed about homework, and generally getting more comfortable in class, which isn't always a positive.  I am also feeling the stress of the school year.  It feels like being buried, okay, not really.  The work load is a challenge to handle and I don't know how to ease that at all.  I keep thinking back to the beginning of the school year when we were told to "take care of ourselves."  Now I keep thinking of when do we have time to do that!  I am also feeling a bit negative, and I need to watch that.  I find that most communication from the higher ups is negative and the work just keeps on coming.  It would be great to hear some positives now and then.  I will say that I am really enjoying my classes this semester.  I have great students and I am working to connect in some way with each one.  I try to have some conversation with each student each day.

A quick recap of projects/what we are doing in classes this past week:

Desktop Publishing:  We got some resolution to the printing issues we were having - that has helped a lot.  Students were cooperative about the issues and that was appreciated.  We worked on a few projects, primarily learning how to be creative with text and color.  I have completed a lot of grading, and will give students an opportunity to get in missing work prior to the progress report deadline.

eTechnology:  We visited Bruce the District Network Manager at Central Office to learn about the district technology.  It was a great trip and answered a lot of student questions.  We began learning about Excel.  Students have varying levels of skills so the challenge is to keep those with more skills challenged while getting those with less experience and skills up to speed.  I encourage students to help one another, I am trying to show that we are all teachers.  They are writing really complete blog posts - I have enjoyed reading them.  Next week I want them to share with their parents.

Mac Applications:  We are wrapping up the Keynote project.  I anticipated that some students would be uncomfortable with narrating their presentations and that is the case.  Our next project is iBooks Author eBooks - I really want the students to create something that is personal to them or useful for another class.  So far, they have generated some great ideas.  This is my first time through this project, so a learning curve ahead.