Procrastination

Honestly I have a ton of things I should be doing. I need to finish my presentation for the Mobile Learning Symposium, lesson plans are only written for Monday, grades need to be put into the grade book and all of my home things. Nothing is motivating me to do these things. I know how my kids are starting to feel.

We start OAA testing this week. Thursday my students will take the Reading OAA. We will start the morning with yummy Panera Bagels thanks to our PTO and while the kids work I think I will show them Let It Go Testing Parody. These teachers did an amazing job of saying what I would to my middle school students. Goofy yes, but they expect it from my class and me. I started getting everything ready for Thursday. Huge bag of mints, canister of bubble gum, water bottles, erasers, just need to hit the dollar store for some cheap headphones/earbuds since they listen to the questions. I know the growth that they have made, I just hope that it translates to the testing situations.

I did my final observation for the year, I had my principal come in to watch the 6th grade iPad class present what they did for App Smashing. I saw some amazing work from them. I was overly nervous because we had been having some tech issues with the Apple TV (and this is a HIGH group of students (I'm used to the other end of the spectrum.) My principal remarked that he "never thought he would see kids combining apps, creating an imovie about it, then present and share all within one class period." I guess he liked it because he came back and did a walk through for 20 minutes a week later in that same class. The best part of all this won't come until next year. For the 2014-2015 school year I will teach 2 different 1:1 iPad classes. The incoming 6th graders and the 7th graders. My wheels are already turning for the 7th graders. I would love for them to create an app to solve a problem that we have within the district or building. In addition, they might have to create their own stylus that can be made with household materials and also functional to use on the iPad. Let me know if you have any other suggestions on what to do with the kiddos.

I wrote about sending challenges to my former students and I had one student take me up on the challenge. Here is the video she created iPad Class. She is a great young lady who really came out of her shell in the iPad class. I plan to continue posting challenges for the kids knowing that one student is continuing her education outside of my classroom and the school building.

Ready to Wind Down The Year

So hard to believe that there are less an 8 weeks left to the school year. Last year at this time I was still working on IEP's and trying to think about how we were going to be a 1 to 1 school. This year it seems to different.

All of my IEP's and ETR's have been done since the end of March. I had my 2nd OTES evaluation today. I originally completed my first OTES evaluation early in the year. In my mind it went well overall. I was fortunate enough to have data about my kiddos since I looped with them since 6th grade. It was a safe bet as it was also my reading class. We had been doing amazing things in reading and I wanted to showcase them.

This time around I went outside of my comfort zone and had my principal observe me in a general education setting. I haven't been observed in a general education classroom since my 2nd year of teaching. To complicate things even more, I wanted to showcase the use of technology within the school and most of the class had OAA scored above 430 (talk about the other end of the spectrum.) Being 1 to 1 this year has caused a great deal of headaches, we learned a great deal and I wanted to showcase. So my students app smashed and made them into iMovie trailers. I was proud of the kids who presented today, they only had a few days to complete the assignment and had to present to the entire class and the school principal. Aside from some little blips (not enough space and Apple TV not allowing us on) I think it went well. The kids have already asked "What are we going to do next?"

About this time of year, I start thinking about the next school year. I know I shouldn't rush it but I use my summers to front load my plans. I might not have everything written out but I have an idea of what I want to do. It makes my life more enjoyable. Today I started a quest to find new tables for my classroom. I'm thinking round ones and a little birdy told me there might be some in storage. Now to just convince the powers that be to allow me to use them in my room.

I guess I should focus on my upcoming presentation at BGSU Mobile Learning Symposium first...

Challenge Number 1

Spring break was not long enough. I only accomplished about 5 things on my to-do list. Granted one of them was because my husband was not too keen on me painting the kitchen island green. It was a really pretty green that I picked out. I did get the two books I ordered, one has been pushed to my summer reading basket, the other one I need to be able to focus and learn from it. 

What I did accomplish was coming up with my first challenge for my former iPad class. Here is the challenge 

"Your challenge should you choose to accept it, is to make a qr code linking to an imovie trailer about the iPad class. What are the benefits, your favorite parts, least favorite parts, how can you use the the things you learned in other classes. Send me the qr code in an email or try and figure out how to link it to Schoology. Challenge 1 is due April 11. You can see me during AA if you need anything. Have fun."

I had kids emailing me and sending messages via Schoology on when I would have one up and running for them. I love that they want to continue learning on their iPads even though I don't have them for class any more. I have to be careful. I have them next year for iPad class. I hope that I will be able to show the powers that be what kind of amazing work the kids do when they are left to their own devices.

Now I have to go back to writing my lesson plan for my 2nd OTES observation :(  This one is not going to be in my normal resource room. I decided to branch out and see how I can do in my general education technology class. Should be interesting.

Ideas for student challenges

At the end of the last marking period, my students did not want to end. Of course it was the marking period that had the most delays and cancellations. This was also the first group that I used @Schoology with the entire time. When I told them that since the marking period was over, the course would be closing. They begged for me to keep it open to communicate with them and asked if I would post challenges to them.

I love that learning is not stopping even though the course is over. I told them to give me until after spring break (about 2 weeks) to get ideas together. The questions started coming in asking when the challenges would begin, to be honest I never thought they would want it. It looks like I will be spending some time looking for challenges that they can do and submit to me for their iPad. Maybe being the day of spring break at 3 PM isn't the best time to think of some but I don't know what to do. Any ideas or suggestions?

Being that I had testing last week, this was the first week that I have seen my iPad class. I decided that when we start a class each marking period, I am also going to bring the laptop cart into my room. It is so much easier to get +Schoology set up, change their pictures, and link their Google Drive all in one place. It took only 1 class period to get that all done. Pretty impressed with them.

Now to enjoy my Spring Break and think about these challenges.