Work in Progress

“About Me’s”

The craziness of life suddenly stopped or at least slowed down last night. The death of Steve Jobs has had a much greater impact on me than I would have imagined. I started each of my tech classes today by sharing a video which was shared with me by my friend, mentor, colleague, and Apple enthusiast Beth Knittle. This video was short and poignant. As students entered my room the haunting yet somehow welcoming projected image of Steve Jobs gracing the homepage of Apple greeted them. All knew who he was and commented sadly on his passing. As many times as I watched the video commemorating his life today, it still elicited goosebumps when I heard the MAC introduce “a man who has been like a father to me….Steve Jobs.” After watching this short tribute with my students, I reminded them of the first class of the school year. During this class I introduced the concept of passion. I had attended Angela Maiers’ workshop at the year’s BLC Conference in Boston and had been inspired by her book, “The Passion-Driven Classroom.” After incorporating some of her ideas in to this opening lesson, I had students use WORDLE to create word clouds displaying their passions. These WORDLES are covering the walls of my classroom. I told my students in my opinion Steve Jobs exemplifies the word passion. He was driven by passion, not money. I asked my students how many of them use products created by Apple in their daily lives. 100% of students in all of my classes shot their hands in the air. I then told them they should be inspired by the legacy left behind by Steve Jobs and to honor his work and life by feeding their own passions. It seemed so anticlimactic to then move on to our binder activator and MOODLE lesson after such an emotional start, but I will say my students were engaged and responsive. I have told them all I expect to see at least one of them on a stage sharing their passions some day. This I truly believe! In fact, it is what keeps me going each day.

The start of another school year means a fresh start for me and my blogging career. This year the pressure is really on as I’m determined to get my seventh grades blogging. The first step would be working on the role model, that would be me! After attending another great BLC conference in Boston and reconnecting with Jeff Utecht(I recommend his blog, The Thinking Stick at http://www.thethinkingstick.com/) I am fired up and ready to go. I have some great resources and inspiration. My goal is to add a new post to this blog once a week so I will have something to share with my students. I am working on lesson plans and toying with the idea of creating a WIKI or maybe a website about blogs and blogging. I have been looking for a poster depicting the anatomy of a blog. I have found a couple. One
actually in flicka.

The problem now is being patient. I want to jump right in to blogging with them, but I need to put on my brakes as I have some serious front end work to do on myself. I never would have thought the name I randomly chose for this blog many years ago would be so appropriate this many years later!

Okay so my pattern of posting has been approximately every two years.   Let’s see if I can start doing a little better.  So much is floating around in my head, I feel like it’s a roulette wheel waiting to land on a number….Here goes “Red 6″.  So  much has happened since my last post.  A new job, a new school, a new certification, a new lease on life….okay maybe a little bit overboard.  But I will say my battery has been recharged as I was definitly ready for a change.  You know that old saying, “Be careful what you wish for…”  The jump of going from third grade classroom teacher to 6th and 7th grade information technology teacher was HUGE!!!  I am finally starting to feel as though I really did land on my own two feet.  This first semester has flown by, and each week is becoming more exciting than the past.  My largest personal growth has come from me being okay with the kids knowing more than I do.  It has actually empowered me to ask a student to show me how to do something.  The plans we made over the summer have definitely taken on a life of their own and I really like not always knowing where lessons are going.  The discussions with the kids have been amazing!  They are so curious, and so am I!!  We are taking this journey together, and I must say it is energizing to be moving along with them.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with for their final projects on Digital Citizenship.  My next step is searching for support, ideas, suggestions, stories, and the like from peers.  I will let you know how I do with that.

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been here. TIME. That has certainly become a four letter word in my life lately. There just doesn’t seem to be enough of it. I so want to try all of the new and exciting technologies I have been exposed to over the past year, even the past two weeks. My problem is time. I am making a conscious effort to set aside one hour a week after school to work on integrating technology. What will this hour look like? I am not sure of that yet. It will hopefully start as time I allow myself to “play” and explore. Whenever I introduce a new material to my students, I allow them “free exploration” time. Why not give that to myself?!! I applaud those of you who have found the time to make this work. I welcome you suggestions on time management. I am open to just about anything. My first priority will be to create some new Smartboard lessons. My students are at the board frequently, but aren’t using it the way I would like to see them use it. I need to create some lessons for them to use. So after a bit of playing and free exploration, my goal will be to create a new lesson every week in that one hour time. I am hoping some of my peers will join me. If we each create a lesson, and share them….. WOW! Stay tuned. I will let you know how the process unfolds.

Okay so I forgot how to write and commented on my original page.  Now I have it back.

WOW!  I’m in.   This should be a great way to think aloud and figure out who I am and where I’m going in education.  Stay tuned!!