I”ve got about an hour before lunch–then it’s time for my session on Microsoft Movie Maker. I’m looking forward to it; a lot more so than the time I spent loading a gigabyte of files onto 25 computers while preparing for the class!
That’s like asking if we’re there yet…
It’s Friday night, and I’m regretting the nap that I took when I got home from the last day of AMSTI. 90 minutes of sleep at 4:30 makes it tough to call it a night sometimes.
Overall, AMSTI was good, but I’m glad that it’s over. I’ve got a mountain of math and science materials to go through: it’s a good thing there’s a month of vacation left.
Why do you get critique sheets at the end of an event? Okay, I know that you can’t give feedback on an event until it’s over, but by the time a two week long training session is over you just want to get out of there. Given the magnitude of the endeavor that is AMSTI, I think that the powers that be do a pretty good job. There’s quite a bit of tweaking that could be done, but nothing too big.
For example, as lead teacher this year I was the one from my school to sign for our new big-box-o-stuff. Last year’s box had thermometers, a weather shelter, a huge tape measure, and some other cool stuff. I was sort of looking forward to taking some time this summer playing with whatever goodies we got this year. I cut open the box (about the size of a really big briefcase) to find: cloud charts and an equally really big bag of packing peanuts. Cloud charts? That’s it? Granted, we’ll probably use the cloud charts, but I’m pretty sure that the packing and handling cost more than the charts. Um…why?
Or my aforementioned (last post) classroom management session. By my rough calculations, Alabama paid our group around $500 to spend an hour discussing how to use this material with our students. Nothing earth-shattering (same stuff I’ve heard many times), and presented to a group with 200+ years of combined classroom experience: best use of funds? Maybe not.
I don’t like negative posts, but I did want to get that out of my system. There was a lot more positive than negative on the week, and I’m excited about getting the year rolling. I don’t know if I can take my marching orders for the upcoming year from a t-shirt slogan, but one day the staff had a shirt that said something like this:
To get what we’ve never had, we must do what we’ve never done.
Alright, let’s do it.
We’re 80% of the way through year two of AMSTI. We’ve finished Math, made it through Earth Materials, filled in the science “holes,” and have just Human Body to go. It’s been a little bit like the old “drinking from a fire hydrant” experience that you hear about, but it’s not nearly as overwhelming as last year. Good thing.
I suppose the biggest difference from last year has been the materials. Last year we went home with a disparate collection of books and materials. The math materials in particular were not inspiring. I’m not holding it against her, but last year’s math teacher wasn’t supposed to let us know we were a “transition” (sometimes I really don’t like that word) group. Last year’s materials: black and white with an overwhelming amount of text on each page. This year’s materials: color with plenty of relavent illustrations (pictures! and not line sketches of apparently eager students) and a logical progression. Who’da thunk it? Those Scott Foresman folks are on the ball (not to mention making a pretty penny from the ol’ yellowhammer state).
Science has had different materials as well. Last year’s material was by Carolina; this years is FOSS. Neither are bad, but I like this year’s layout a lot more.
I suppose that having a year of experience under the belt has made this year a bit easier as well. Instead of wondering how this will work in our classroom, I’m able to think about how I’ll be able to fit this into the master plan. Big difference.
Two stars and a wish:
- Star: I like the materials a lot. The array cards ($185.50!) that we were given seem a bit much (since we already have set from last year), but everything else looks great.
- Star: Overall organization of the session has been nearly flawless. It’s obvious that the AMSTI/UAHuntsville folks have done this before.
- Wish: By my conservative estimate, the group of teachers I’m with has over 200 years of combined classroom experience and nearly 80 years of college under their belts. It’s probably not necessary to spend so much time on generic classroom management and teambuilding. Not a lick on our teacher; it’s a question about the program.
Like I said, it’s been a good time so far. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all works out in the real world!
Summer vacation is here! That mythical “three months of getting paid for nothing” that all teachers allegedly enjoy.
Well, the three months are actually two, I have training for 3 of those 8 weeks, and a week has already gone by and I’m still not sleeping as well as I should. Oh well, the enjoy part has proven to be correct! A little gardening, some time spent with daughter #2 at her college orientation, and every morning drinking tea with my wife. I like it.
What to do this summer? I guess that revolves around my goals for the upcoming year. (Ok, I’m going to do a bit of traveling, see my family, do some stuff around the house, and relax–but that’s not really what this blog is about, now is it?) I have one big goal so far, and one smaller (supporting) goal. My big goal is to base my entire teaching effort on writing. Reading (especially), language, mathematics, science, social studies: I want to base all of these things on writing. The supporting goal: using technology to support the big goal.
In previous years, I’ve made technology my goal. I’ve come to realize, though, that making technology a goal in and of itself is like saying your goal is to put one foot in front of the other or to learn how to swim the crawl stroke. Don’t you really mean that you’d like to hike the Appalacian Trail or swim the English Channel? Technology is a means to an end, not an end. That’s probably obvious to everyone but me, but, hey, I’ve got it figured out now too!
Since most of my students will be unable to accomplish even the simplest task (outside of video games) on the computer, I will be teaching a bunch of tech; again, though, it’s a means and not the end. I’m looking at blogs and wikis, PowerPoint (as in, “No, Mr. Gels doesn’t have to help me I can do that myself” PowerPoint), Photostory, Movie Maker, word processing, and a little bit of Logo programming thrown in to help with geometry. Oh, yea, file management too.
Other goals for the upcoming year:
- 45 minutes of meaningful reading each day in addition to reading during lessons
- Going outside 3-4 times a week in addition to recess (year-round; you’d better have a coat)
- Replacing the concept of classroom management with the reality of community
- Going into testing season (early March around here) without breaking the normal routine
- More stuff that I can’t think of yet
Writing, writing, writing! First step: learn how to teach writing. The last few years have been okay, but let it suffice to say that they won’t be models for the upcoming year…
It’s time to start planning for next year…
Incredible.
Taking a trip to school today–it’s a tough one. We’ve still got 2 student days left, but they won’t be the most “academically productive” days of the year. ( We will, however, learn a lot–I didn’t count the pyramid as “academically productive,” but I think it was certainly worthwhile.) Today is the day that I start to decide what to bring home for the summer. I tend to bring home more than I’ll actually use, so I’m trying to make each box really count.
Ah, what the hay: I’ll just bring it all home…
It worked this year! The class made pyramids out of 6 pieces of rolled up newspaper. After we had enough (35), we put them together into a pyramid that’s nine feet tall! Too cool!
It's nine feet tall!
This is starting to be a recurring theme: a lack of buy in.
It’s the last week of school here (so I’m not spending a lot of time thinking about this since I’m sort of otherwise occupied), but I continue to come across more examples of school folks–students and educators–not buying into technology. It’s almost as if school is insulated from the rest of our lives.
This is from a tweet, so I’m obviously a bit sketchy on the details. Appparently Lee Kolbert was conducting some tech training yesterday at the “middle school.”
Teachakid: Training at middle school today went well. They gave me 40 min. When the 40 min was up, they got up and walked out. I was still talking.
Again, this is just a guess on my part, but I’m assuming that the collective group had something more important on their minds than integrating technology into their teaching effort. Or Lee was simply boring (I’m going with the former).
Do most teachers believe technology is important to their instructional effort? Is it?
I saw a tweet by Will Richardson this morning in which he asked “Aside from tools, give me one thought about schools or classrooms or education in general that is “new” in the last six months? 12 months?”
I don’t like to put forward unbaked ideas (which is a problem, I know…), but my initial reaction was “regressing.” I’m referring to technology usage.
If I was a graphic artist, I’d create a picture of a “pro-technology” teacher buried under a pile of bells and whistles. I love all of it, but, truth be told, it’s turning into a distraction for me as well as my students. I know technology has always sat on shelves collecting dust, but I’m starting to see it more and more.
I read a post this morning in which Mark Ahlness discussed the end of the online submission of school newspaper content. He mentioned “buy-in” and a lack of student commitment as possible problems. That post, I suppose, feeds my thinking: are we am I jumping the shark (albeit, a little bit at a time) with technology usage? Would my students sometimes be better served with a box of crayons? Hmm. Maybe I’m just tired because it’s the end of the year…
Note: as I’m re-reading this post I see that it’s (despite the sentiment in the 2nd paragraph) not nearly baked enough. More to follow.
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