Friday, January 15, 2010
Visit These Blogs!
I use my Google Reader a lot! I have blogs on there from everything having to do with teaching and technology, to reading books, to cooking, to fashion, and entertainment. So many, I can't keep up and I need to pare it down. In the spirit of de-cluttering my reader and sharing resources, here are two GREAT blogs that I wanted to share with you:
Angela Maiers Educational Services - I probably should keep this one on my reader because she does have fabulous ideas; but with literacy and reading. If you're a Language Arts/English/Literacy teacher, you should definitely be reading her blog!!
I Learn, You Learn, We Learn - Great resources especially for DEN members.
Angela Maiers Educational Services - I probably should keep this one on my reader because she does have fabulous ideas; but with literacy and reading. If you're a Language Arts/English/Literacy teacher, you should definitely be reading her blog!!
I Learn, You Learn, We Learn - Great resources especially for DEN members.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Starting School Before Labor Day?
This week I found out my school district is looking to start school a week earlier, before Labor Day. To those outside the state of Virginia, you may be thinking why do they start so late? Two words: Kings Dominion.
The Virginia General Assembly voted in 1986 to rein in districts that were starting early and restricted school boards from scheduling the first day of instruction before Labor Day. Virginia educators began to refer to this as the "Kings Dominion law," since its strongest backers were leaders in the tourist industries (mainly Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg) who wanted families to vacation through August and early September. Not to mention they would lose high school age employees if schools started a week earlier.
Under Virginia law, school districts that want to open before Labor Day need a special waiver from the state Department of Education. Those that receive the waiver are often due to reports of bad weather and multiple school closings. My school district is looking into applying for this waiver for the next school year. They have applied before and been denied, but there seemed to be some hope it would go through this time. Our new school board member asked us to send her our comments on the issue.
What all of this background information boils down to is: I don't really know how I feel about this. On the one hand, I was raised in the Virginia school system and don't know anything different. It wouldn't bother me whichever way it worked out; it would either be a something different or what I've always had.
However, on the other hand, there are advantages to starting early. The most important is it gives teachers a few extra days in the classroom before the Standards of Learning (SOL's) and Advanced Placement (AP) exams take place. Not to mention we would get out of school a week earlier. Anyone up for not graduating on June 18th? (Like I did.) I do realize that if this happens, I will lose a week of summer vacation the first year it's enacted, but there are upsides and downsides to everything. Of course, there was also talk that we may not get out earlier and instead extend the school year by a week.
If you were in my position, how would you feel? Is this a good or bad thing? Check out these resources and then leave a comment below!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/valeg/vaschools0111.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11932-2004Oct6.html
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/173633
The Virginia General Assembly voted in 1986 to rein in districts that were starting early and restricted school boards from scheduling the first day of instruction before Labor Day. Virginia educators began to refer to this as the "Kings Dominion law," since its strongest backers were leaders in the tourist industries (mainly Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg) who wanted families to vacation through August and early September. Not to mention they would lose high school age employees if schools started a week earlier.
Under Virginia law, school districts that want to open before Labor Day need a special waiver from the state Department of Education. Those that receive the waiver are often due to reports of bad weather and multiple school closings. My school district is looking into applying for this waiver for the next school year. They have applied before and been denied, but there seemed to be some hope it would go through this time. Our new school board member asked us to send her our comments on the issue.
What all of this background information boils down to is: I don't really know how I feel about this. On the one hand, I was raised in the Virginia school system and don't know anything different. It wouldn't bother me whichever way it worked out; it would either be a something different or what I've always had.
However, on the other hand, there are advantages to starting early. The most important is it gives teachers a few extra days in the classroom before the Standards of Learning (SOL's) and Advanced Placement (AP) exams take place. Not to mention we would get out of school a week earlier. Anyone up for not graduating on June 18th? (Like I did.) I do realize that if this happens, I will lose a week of summer vacation the first year it's enacted, but there are upsides and downsides to everything. Of course, there was also talk that we may not get out earlier and instead extend the school year by a week.
If you were in my position, how would you feel? Is this a good or bad thing? Check out these resources and then leave a comment below!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/valeg/vaschools0111.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11932-2004Oct6.html
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/173633
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
2010 Blog Resolution
I slowly started to branch out and write about recommended websites, what I was learning, and what projects I was working on. While many of my classmates chose not to continue their blogs, I was thrilled to keep mine going! However, what I found was that it was hard to keep up with the blog when I didn't have a deadline looming over me and that problem has continued. I used my blog more than ever in 2009, but I still have weeks in between posts. I really want to change that! I want to post on a scheduled basis, giving all of that information that made me excited about starting a educational technology blog in the first place.
So here is my 2010 blog resolution: I will post more often, with more information on ideas, tips, and advice for using software and websites in the classroom, and provide more up to date results of projects. Here goes nothing!
Picture "Happy New Year" uploaded to Flickr by Paul Wash.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Oh, Those Kids!
I've been working with our 8th grade classes using Comic Life to explain how to balance chemical equations, counting atoms, and how to tell when there's been a chemical reaction. I worked with one class right before break and am currently working with another class.
The kids have blown away their teachers and my expectations--they've done a fabalous job! I just wanted to share moments and tips I've learned from them during this project:
1. If at first you don't succeed...In the first class I worked with, we had one student who just HATED this project; couldn't stand it and wasn't happy about doing it. But then some of the students "accidentally" found how you could take pictures of yourselves. (We don't openily show them this feature). The kids kept it clean, so we decided to let them use it. When the teacher and I causually mentioned it to this student, you should have seen the lights go on! AMAZING! The student came up to us afterwards and asked when they would be using Comic Life again.
2. How do you delete this box? This was the question that most surprised me during this project. I had a number of students ask me how to delete a box, a bubble, or a picture. When they realized all they had to do was click on the box and hit the delete key, they were like "Ohhhh, that was really easy!" Almost all of them thought it would be a lot harder for some reason. It just made me smile.
3. Arrow me this. I had a "duh" moment today. One of the students wanted to show the chemical equation and wanted to know how to enter an arrow in the text box. Up until today, we'd been going to Google images and finding an arrow and inserting into their comic, but I knew this wasn't exactly what the student wanted. A few minutes later, they called me back over to show me this. ---> Looks like an arrow, right? A couple of hyphens and a carot did the trick. Oh well...
The kids have blown away their teachers and my expectations--they've done a fabalous job! I just wanted to share moments and tips I've learned from them during this project:
1. If at first you don't succeed...In the first class I worked with, we had one student who just HATED this project; couldn't stand it and wasn't happy about doing it. But then some of the students "accidentally" found how you could take pictures of yourselves. (We don't openily show them this feature). The kids kept it clean, so we decided to let them use it. When the teacher and I causually mentioned it to this student, you should have seen the lights go on! AMAZING! The student came up to us afterwards and asked when they would be using Comic Life again.
2. How do you delete this box? This was the question that most surprised me during this project. I had a number of students ask me how to delete a box, a bubble, or a picture. When they realized all they had to do was click on the box and hit the delete key, they were like "Ohhhh, that was really easy!" Almost all of them thought it would be a lot harder for some reason. It just made me smile.
3. Arrow me this. I had a "duh" moment today. One of the students wanted to show the chemical equation and wanted to know how to enter an arrow in the text box. Up until today, we'd been going to Google images and finding an arrow and inserting into their comic, but I knew this wasn't exactly what the student wanted. A few minutes later, they called me back over to show me this. ---> Looks like an arrow, right? A couple of hyphens and a carot did the trick. Oh well...
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