It is hard to believe how incredibly fast the year has flown by. I am so fortunate to have spent the last year teaching all of the awesome students at Miller and to have had the support from staff. I will never forget all of the laughs, jokes, stress, and days I wanted to bang my freaking head against the wall. In the end, I wouldn't trade the experience, my students, fellow staff members or school for anything. It actually seems like yesterday I was gearing up for my second backpacking trip through Southeast Asia. Now, one year later, I am packing for my trip through Central America. Our first stop is Panama then we will move north through Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. I am nervous, excited, anxious and just ready to jump on that plane and see what adventures await me. It's not always about the places that you've been but more so the people you meet along the way. If you're following, I've made it my goal to blog at least twice per week throughout the trip and to post pictures along the way. See you when I see you. Have a great summer! Go to the Science 9 tab to view photos from the Science Center. There are some good ones! Here is a little teaser:
It has been a while since my last Blog post so I figured it was about time to update my front page on what has been going on in the classroom. 1) Harry Potter Unit: My approach for Harry Potter was based off two teachers at Miller who are successfully executing a 'Flipped Classroom' concept in their classroom. After hearing about this, I decided I would give blogging and posting online another shot. I told my students that this is a great way to steer away from the traditional paper/pen method and try something new. Their goal is to create their own Weebly through Weebly Education and creatively present their comprehension questions, journal entries, reflections etc. I can honestly say that I am very impressed with my students' dedication to their posts and the amount of time they have put in to create their unique blogs. On top of this, I am focussing more on the themes of the novel (rebellion, loyalty, motifs, humility etc) and challenging students to apply these to real life situations. In order for students to be successful, they need to identify with the material we are learning in class. I am still working on this, but it is a daily goal of mine to ensure that students are engaged and can gain something from each class. 2) Skype Classroom: In January, I decided to sign up for Skype Classroom in search of opportunities to connect with other classrooms and teachers from around the world. While I was searching through the posts, I came across a lesson by Jon Tait, a 2012 Olympic Torch Bearer. The week before the 2014 Sochi Olympics, we Skyped in with Jon all the way from the United Kingdom. His lesson talked about the history of the Olympic torch, his experience as a torch bearer and how he was selected. Jon also had the Olympic torch with him to show to the class. This lesson was an awesome experience for my students and truly showed them how incredible our technology is today. I heard many positive comments about 'how cool' it was and they were asking when we could have another Skype session. I am currently in the process of setting up 'Mystery Skype' lesson with classrooms around the world. 3) Positive Learning Space: How awesome are these life maps that my Ethics 9 students created? I am surprised daily by their creativity and the effort they put in to assigned projects. It is easy for me to give homework and assignments and expect quality results. I sometimes forget that even though I spend hours planning and organizing, students are doing the same thing. These posters are something to be proud of and needed to be displayed in the classroom to not only spruce it up a bit but to remind students that hard work pays off. 4) Integrating Technology: This picture showcasing taking advantage of our Apple TV in PE9. I'm not much of a 'Zumba' teacher but my PE 9 girls really wanted to do it so after my set and warm up, we tuned into a Zumba lesson and the girls loved it.
Using Twitter has proved to be a great way to connect with students, other staff and teachers from around the world. A fellow teacher has started these 'Twitter contests' and promoting these in the classroom is a ton of fun. I've also used to Twitter to post assignments, reminders for homework or just a joke of the day. In Social 10, we were talking about Social Contracts and I had my students create a series of Vines to help show what life would be like without Social Contracts. Small assignments like this help engage students with apps that they use every day. If you're interested, you can watch these on Vine with the hashtag #lepagess10. Other apps that are being used throughout the week include Viz, Science360, ShowMe and Write About. I am having a great time looking into new apps and experimenting with these in class. The CUE conference in three weeks will be sure to spark another level of inspiration. Welcome to my new and improved blog. Here you will find updated blog entries on what I have been up to, posted assignments, pictures of classroom activities, hilarious videos and much more. I am excited to stay on top of this new goal of mine. I was going through pictures to accompany my first post and I saw this. Last year for Christmas, I received a book called 'Jesus Calling' by Sarah Voung. A great little book that has devotions for every day of the year. I read this Psalm the day I left on my two month vacation--very cool. |