February Blahs

I am certainly not an avid blogger, but it occurred to me today that a lot has been happening and I haven't updated my blog in a while.  I wish I took the initiative to update this page more, but I guess I will accept my limitations along with my poorly maintained blog.
I have been the librarian at the Middle School for a while now and I guess you could say I was settled in. My car now automatically aims for the middle school instead of the high school, but I still feel a little out of place here.  I know where stuff is on the shelves, and I think I have been through most of the stuff in the cabinets.  I still miss my high schoolers, but from a distance I realize I miss more than the building and the classes.  I miss the people who used to be there - the staff who have retired or moved on and the kids who have graduated.  Philosophically, I think the middle school may be better for me because in my mind the kids that leave here will still be just down the road, not grown up and gone.  I suppose it will take me some time to really 'feel' at home here, but I am making progress.
I truly feel like I have the best job in the building.  I have enough freedom to budget my time and still have enough interaction with the students and teachers that I feel like part of the campus.  The reading teachers are great and value our library and resources. I teach a single STEM class that I enjoy, but it does distract from library business.
I thought it would be important to blog now, during the February blahs.  We benchmark tested this week and it seems to have really brought the race to the end in to focus.  Only three more months to go.  With the weather bleak and cold, students and teachers get restless and tempers get short.  It seems as though everyone is just trudging through school, holding out for spring break.
An important incident happened this week.  One of my stuffed animals who lives in the library reading chairs and snuggles with kids disappeared. As the last period of the day began, he was here, but when school let out and I was re-arranging chairs, he was gone. They talk about the stages of grief - at first I was convinced he was here somewhere, under a chair or on a shelf.  Then I was angry that someone would intentionally take him. The next day, we discussed his disappearance with the classes that had been in the library and asked for their help and his return.  Yesterday, I cried.  Not because I just miss him so much, but because it breaks my heart that someone would take something from me. Today, I simply hope wherever he is, he is loved as much as he was here.  Maybe they needed him more than me. I am going to try and let it go without it changing the way I share with the kids, but for now, it still makes me sad.
This theft has brought home my concept of discipline.  I have always thought my strength in classroom management was establishing relationships with all the kids and showing them I care about them.  I went out of my way to do this with students who were particularly challenging and we usually found a way to make things work together.  Maybe the students here do not know me well enough, or maybe I haven't done enough to make that kind of connection with all the students.  It is harder with 400 kids than it was with only 100 or so.  I am going to work harder at connecting with everyone and forget about the theft so I can move forward in a more positive way.
The February blahs are in full swing here but Monday is a workday for test training.  Hopefully the extra day will give the kids and teachers enough of a break to recover from all the illness and generally ickiness to make it to spring break. Maybe.

Graduation Day

   I have completed my requirements and graduation is tomorrow.  As this long awaited moment approaches, I am feeling a kaleidoscope of emotions:  relief, regret, exuberance, and gratitude.
   I am relieved because I am finally done.  I survived my Research Methodologies class and even though I may have made my first B, I am glad it is done.  It is the only class I have taken as part of my Master's program that I did not feel will benefit me in some way in the future.  I learned a lot about the research process, but I do not ever want to conduct or write a real research paper.  I am looking forward to having some spare time without homework looming in the back of my mind.
   I am a little sad because I love taking classes and do not know what to do next.  I looked in to the PhD program, but that would in fact require the above mentioned research paper and I do not want the Dr. prefix bad enough to do that.  I would like to take other classes, learn more, and possibly become eligible to teach dual credit classes, but most of the classes I would consider or fit within my certification are not offered online.  However, if I don't find something else to take in the fall, I have to start paying back my student loans and that makes me even more depressed!
   I am, of course, excited about graduating and finally having that evidence of learning in my hand.  This accomplishment is not something I take lightly and realize I am the first in my family to achieve this type of degree.  I am also moving on to a dream job in a library next year which would not be possible without this certification and degree.
   I am also feeling very thankful.  There are so many people who have helped push me to work on this and I have taken some time to write a few thank you cards to hand out tomorrow.  My first thanks would have to go to my family and students for putting up with my, "I can't do that, I have homework" excuses for the past four years.  I would also have to thank the high school librarian for pushing me and assuring me I would make a great librarian even if the positions were hard to come by.  I would have never dared believe I would have gotten a job like this without her faith in me.  Then there are the administrators who not only believed I could and should complete my Masters, but who took a chance on me when I transitioned from an office secretary to an alternative certification teacher.  There were also plenty of co-workers and friends who all recommended alt cert and the Master's program and believed I could accomplish this goal.  I appreciate their support and faith in me.
   I have learned so much over the past few years and consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world.  I work for a great district with amazing people and have been given unbelievable opportunities to grow as an educator and a professional.  I will miss my high school kids but trust they will be in good hands next year and I am looking forward to working at a new job on a new campus.
   For now, I am going to focus on my graduation and celebrate it.  I still refuse to think about the student's graduation that is coming up in a couple of weeks.  I am not yet ready to let them go.

Note:  In my last post, I mentioned how and why I turned down the librarian spot I have now decided to take.  I am just going to say, a girl has to reserve the right to change her mind.  My kids are still a higher priority, but I realized there will always be a reason to stay where I am and I can love them and annoy them with my hovering from one campus over.  I am satisfied my robotics kids will be loved by their new teacher and I will still have the opportunity to watch them compete and shine.  It is hard to go, but I have faith it will all work out for the best.

What a Year!

I am feeling the need to post here again - not just to keep my readers informed, but also to get a few tears out of the way.  Maybe it is the wintery weather or the time of year, but as this year comes to a close, I find myself wanting time to slow down so I can enjoy every moment for a bit longer.
This has been a crazy year - do I say that every year?  I am on my last two courses now and am looking forward to graduating in May, but I am already wondering what to do next.  Computer Science?  PhD?  So many options and still so much left to learn!

I became the robotics coach this year.  I wish I could adequately describe how proud I am of those kids and their accomplishments.  I felt like a freshman being dragged along by the seniors who already had all the answers and were willing to take me along for the ride.  Being a part of the robotics program has really shown me the power behind real world applications of core subject knowledge.  These kids have no problem pulling out paper, pencil, and calculator and figuring out a problem.  It would make any one of their math or science teachers proud.  We have intellectual discussions about perpetual motion or computer programming.  They are just so smart!  They amaze me every day.

Beta Club has reached an astounding 140 members.  We just took 105 to the state competition in February.  We have such talented kids and they proved it over and over again.  We are now furiously fundraising to finance 76 kids going to the national competition at Disney World in June.  It takes up so much time, planning and fundraising.

They say teachers hit their stride in the third year and it becomes easier sailing.  I guess that is true.  I have my lesson plans and curriculum under control and I feel more confident in my content areas now (I didn't especially in the Physics area originally), but I still have tons to learn about robots.  I hope to spend my professional development in that area this summer.

I have turned down a librarian position at the middle school to stay where I am at the high school.  I  know several of you just gasped and now think less of me.  Librarian jobs come along so rarely and I must be nuts to turn one down.  I debated a lot about what to do that was best for me and finally decided to list my priorities from the top down. I won't bore you with the entire list, but we can suffice it to say my kids are listed above my career.  My kids are in high school (or will be really soon) and I get the joy of seeing them every single day.  I have the advantage of knowing their teachers and friends, being right there when they need me, and being involved in their day to day activities.  Those were just things I couldn't give up.  Couple that with my love for my robotics kids, I just couldn't go.  I know there will be an opening in a few years at the high school and I will hold on to that option as long as I can.

Graduation.   What a dirty word.  Can we just skip it this year?  I wanted to be a teacher (as opposed to a school secretary) to spend more time with the students, but no one ever told me it would break my heart to see them go.  I am so proud of everything they have accomplished and now they are going to go out and make the world a better place by becoming lawyers, engineers, and Marines.  But I am going to miss them and don't want them to go.  I know this feeling will only get worse as my son and daughter move closer to their year.  Graduation fills me dread.  I hope by pouring my heart out here and other places I can prevent a complete breakdown on May 25th.  That would be embarrassing.

One thing I really like about being a teacher is the fresh start every year and a definitive end to each one when everything changes again.  But I really wish my friends and colleagues would stay put!  Every year a few more respected teachers retire or move on and leave our school worse for their leaving.  Sure we have gained other great teachers, but sometimes you don't need to fix things that aren't broken!  Mr. Martin and Mr. Wooldridge are great mentors for me and I will miss their friendship.  Who will I torture now, Mr. Martin?!

Quiet Semester

So this has been a quiet semester here on my blog.  I have been concentrating on my Library Science classes so I haven't needed the blog for classes.  I have learned about cataloging and collection development though.  Its a lot more complicated than it appears on the outside - Just buy books and check them out!
Cataloging is an exact science and one I am still not sure I understand completely.  Basically, the way you catalog them determines how people find them and once you think of specific details you can see how that becomes complicated very quickly.  How do you catalog a book by HG Wells.  Do you enter his name as HG Wells, H.G. Wells or spell it out?  Picking one eliminates anyone searching for the name the alternate way.  Believe it or not, there are librarian rules for how to approach those problems.
Collection development is also more complicated than just buying books.  You have to buy the right books, spend the school money wisely, and do your best to avoid censorship or bias.  The library often has one of the largest budgets the school hands out so it makes sense they would want that money well spent.  The key is buy with a purpose and always be able to justify the money you spend.
Next semester is going to be crazy, but fun.  I am still concentrating on Library courses so I am taking my Library Administration and my Library Practicum course.  The Practicum course will require me to spend a minimum of 165 hours working in my school library and officially assign Tammy Butler as  my mentor.  She has always been that, just unofficially.  She has really helped me out with questions as I go along and has answered all my silly questions about collections, reference materials and cataloging.  The only class I will have left in Library after next spring is Young Adult Literature and that one should be my favorite - that's why I saved it for last.
I am still expecting to graduate in the Spring of 2017.  Right now that seems like a long way off, but really I only have 18 hours to go.

Teaching is going well and now that football season is over, all I have to focus on is getting our Beta Club ready for state convention in  January.  That is much more complicated than it seems, especially with 104 members.  Its like herding ducks!  Ha!  They are good kids though and fun to hang out with.  I am expecting great things from them this year at convention.  I will keep you posted on how it turns out.

A New Year. . .

The week of in-service has passed, the floors are polished, the rooms are ready and waiting.  The year holds so many possibilities and so many fears.  Excitement and anticipation mixed with equal amounts of trepidation and dread hangs in the air.  Some students (and teachers) can not wait to get back to it; for some it is the end of their favorite part of the year.

For me, its a preparation time for the coming flurry of activity.  I can only prepare so much for what is about to be and I have tried to anticipate and plan.  I will be teaching four different (very different) classes this year - Digital Interactive Media, Web Technologies,  Principles of Technology and Concepts of Engineering and Technology.  I am in varying states of readiness for these classes.  I created and worked diligently last year (and some this summer) to get all of my presentation and classroom materials ready for Principles of Technology.  I have my completed lesson plans from last year for DIM and Web Tech to revise and improve this year and I have all kinds of great plans for Concepts of Engineering.

Personally, I will also be taking six more hours towards my Masters, both Library Science courses - something to do in my spare time.  My son will be a freshman this year and will be so busy I don't know when I will see him except when I am carting him to and from practices and watching him perform.  He is both in the varsity band (Friday night football games) and the JV mascot (Thursday night games).  I wonder when he will sleep.  I have become the Beta Club sponsor and that comes with a ton of expectations for the fall semester.  I am fortunate to have a great group of officers already picked out for me and I will rely heavily on them to get all of the work done between now and convention in January.  We are also planning a big family vacation to Disney at Christmas time and my daughter's twelfth birthday.  Hopefully, things will be more easy going during the spring semester.

Overall, it is going to be a fabulous year.  I know my counselor and PEIMS person has busted tail all summer to get our schedules done and kids assigned.  I am looking forward to meeting my classes on Monday morning and then getting right to work.  My favorite part of this job is that things are never the same; I get to meet lots of different kids and be a part of their lives.

The doors are about to open on endless possibilities.  I can and I will. . . .

End of Year One

Today is the last day of school for teachers.  Tomorrow is graduation.  All the grades are finalized, rooms are cleaned up, the halls are silent.  The district has met and handed out honors and recognition for all our hard work and well wishes have been handed out to those leaving.  I thought this would be a good day to reflect on my first year in the classroom and ruminate on the year that was.

A colleague asked me yesterday how my first year was and I really didn't know how to respond.  The kids were exactly as I expected.  If anything, it was me that surprised me the most.  I learned so much and managed to get everything done despite all the obstacles.  I will certainly do a few things differently next year - I think most first year teachers feel the same way but overall, I like where I appear to be heading and I wouldn't trade this year for anything.

This past year has been so busy with lesson plans, creating tests, taking classes, and shuffling paperwork - it seems to have passed in a blur!  I had three classes to prepare for everyday and I created some resources I intend to use again to make my life easier next year.  I will be teaching an additional class next year and I intend to use this summer to prepare for it as best as I can. I have also taken on a sponsor responsibility next year and I am sure I will learn as I go there too. 

Sitting in the cafeteria today, we recognized the teachers that will be leaving us next year.  Some will be retiring; other just moving on to hopefully, bigger and better things.  One of my favorite things about this job is that things are constantly changing, evolving in to something new.  Today, maybe it is the people who are leaving or just a result of the emotional rollercoaster this year has been, but it was hard for me to say goodbye to these co-workers.  My daughter's UIL coach is going to a district closer home and moving up to bigger and better things, but all I wanted to do was grab her and tell her she can't go!  Our district is less without her.  Two of the most influential and inspiring teachers I know have retired this year and I know they will enjoy a well-deserved retirement.  At the same time it breaks my heart that my two kids will not have the opportunity to experience them in the classroom.  I know whomever is hired to replace them will be excellent and they have earned a rest, but I will miss them.

Graduation is tomorrow morning and it will be hard to say goodbye to these students.  Since I have worked as this district for six years now, I have known most of these graduates since they were silly, scared freshmen coming in to pick up their schedules four years ago.  It has been gratifying watching these students grow and mature in to wonderful young men and women and I hope I have, in some way, influenced their lives for the better.

I am looking forward to next year and hope it will be more fun and less work (although I recognize the improbability of that!)  We will have some new administrators and I trust our campus will be better for their coming.  Of course, there will be staff changes, a new schedule, as well as the expected new pile of students to get to know.  On top of that, my son will be in High School and busy with all of his activities (mascot, band, theater, honors classes, etc.) and my daughter has bumped up to Middle School.  I will also be continuing my pursuit of a Masters and will be completing two classes next fall - Library classes as part of my Library Certification. 
I am wondering now why I ever started the book challenge last January!  I mean, who has time to read?!

ETEC562 Article Review

I accidentally reviewed two articles, but I didn't really use the first one, but I included it here anyway.

 Short, D. (2012). Teaching scientific concepts using a virtual world - Minecraft. Teaching Science: The Journal Of The Australian Science Teachers Association, 58(3), 55-58.

I read this article first and I wanted to include it in my blog post.  This article is several years old but gives a broad overview of how virtual world games, and specifically Minecraft can be used to teach science.  The article is really intended for people who are unfamiliar with Minecraft and all its possibilities so I was kind of disappointed in it.  If you are not familiar with the game and its educational applications, please read this article, but know that this article only talks about science curriculum.  There are tons of other uses in curriculum from art to math to literature exploration. 

After reading this article and not really learning anything new, except that you can use Global Information Systems (GIS) to create real world replicas in Minecraft.  Basically that means you take GPS information that is publically available and have Minecraft replicate that in game so players can experience their community (or other locales) in game.  I have been doing research on exactly how that works, but I don’t have it all figured out yet.  Anyway, I decided to look for a newer article that might provide more incites in to gaming as an educational technology tool.

Q & A: Journalist Steps Into Realm Of Digital Games. (2015). Education Week, 34(28), 9.

This article was published a week ago, on April 22, 2015.  Because it was so recent, I was hoping for a current view of how gaming is changing things in the classroom.  This article is an interview between the Education Week staff writer Benjamin Herold and Greg Toppo, the author of a new book titled “The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Children Smarter.”  Toppo set out to discover how teachers are using digital games to increase engagement and improve learning.

During the interview, Toppo mentions several instances where students were doing amazing work while playing video games.  4^th graders in California are using video games to complete advanced mathematics, or kids completing a full opera in Minecraft, making the subjects students do not normally enjoy engaging because it is coupled with computer gaming. 

Some schools are also pushing up class size by incorporating more gaming.  When computer gaming is doing the teaching and students are engaged, teachers are more able to manage larger class sizes.  This does not mean, of course, that teachers are going to be replaced by computers and games, but Toppo things computers could (and probably soon will) replace textbooks.

The article also mentions Amplify which I had heard about in other similar discussions about gamification.  Amplify is a company that is going out to intentionally create educational software that kids enjoy by grabbing up popular software programs and modeling their educational software after already popular games.  Maybe someday soon we will see a division of EA Games called EA Education!

For me, this article is a validation of things I am already seeing from my kids at home.  The article mentions the drawbacks and concerns about gaming – less social interaction, less physical activity, too much screen time, but says we are already asking students to sit still and be quiet most of the day anyway. And students are more likely to sit still when engaged.  Gaming in this case allows students to experience (and possibly enjoy more) a subject they may not have liked before.  Gaming helps them ‘get it.’   Despite what they say about concerns of lack of social interaction, my kids have learned to work cooperatively and collaborate when playing together.  They play to their skills.  When playing Minecraft, my son is the explorer/fighter.  My daughter is the builder and I am the resource collector.  They know if I am playing they do not need to chop down trees, because “Mom does that!”  They work together to plan huge cities and divide the work.  My son plans out and builds the streets while my daughter gets started on the house or store.  They have also learned to work cooperatively when fighting bad guys.  I often hear, “I’m nearly dead, you get em!”

I plan to use Minecraft next year in my Engineering classroom as a building area to teach basic construction methods as well as managerial concerns, like figuring out how much of each material you need BEFORE you start building, building quality structures on a limited budget, etc.  I am excited about this and I am sure you will hear more about how this works out here on my blog.