An app that I love having on my phone is called "Timehop". I've had it for quite awhile, and if any of you are not familiar with it, here is what it does: it goes back for the past few years (as long as you've been on Facebook, etc.) and reminds you of what you posted in past years on the current date. Obviously, this time of year, I am rereading lots of posts about graduation, the end of the school year, and how things will be never be the same because students will be moving on to the next phase. Oh yeah, and lots of "teacher" posts about the end of the school year and how we all love summer!!!
So, this week was the one year posts about our "baby" graduating, and how weird it will be to not have him at school with me. Little did I know that not having him at school with me was only a small piece of the changes that were to come! I had no idea that Chris and I would both be getting new jobs that would lead us to relocate to a new community. Our "mid-life" change (crisis?) has been a wonderful one that has led me to a new school that I love both the co-workers and great students that I am privileged to work with!!!
So, spring has sprung and the college kids are heading back "home" for the summer, our youngest being no exception. As he stated that he was sooooo ready to come home, we took a car down to him to schlep all of his stuff back. Actually, he had two carloads full, one of which was dirty laundry...
As he was trying to begin on his journey home, he had a little "mishap" with the car as he was leaving Atchison, causing us all what might be referred to as "a little stress", with Chris and Older Child rushing to the site of the crisis. We were pessimistically thinking we'd have a bill of several thousands (AKA a blown transmission), which fortunately turned out to be a radiator hose and only $260! So after all is said and done, we are now celebrating having him back home with us for the summer. With. His. Carload. Of. Dirty. Laundry. YAY! (Thus, the Filling with Feathers part of my title of this blog entry...)
It is wonderful to have Ross home with us, and will be even better when the above issue is finally all clean and put away. (Notice I mentioned the put away part...) Mr. Yoder is very happy His Boy is home and he can sleep in a bed at night, and not in his kennel. Now if I can just finish all of the end of the year projects with my students to close up this school year, I will be ready for some summer days and a few great adventures. Oh, BUT only AFTER the laundry is done...
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Monday, February 2, 2015
Getting Started... Again!
Since I was awake and couldn't go to sleep, I was cruising through the internet and decided to google myself. Have you ever done that? Googled yourself? I'm a pretty boring person, but it WAS nice to see that I hadn't made the front page of a newspaper for doing something that I didn't remember doing. I really could only find one traffic ticket that I'd only HOPED to forget. I eventually came across my old blog that I had started way back in the beginning of my wannabe "techie" phase. I'm not sure why I quit writing on it; probably because of the previous issue that I mentioned. (I'm boringl) Lack of anything to write about, maybe?
In my new school, we are just beginning to use technology in the classroom. It has been interesting moving to a school where the classroom did not revolve around technology. In some ways, it has been refreshing to not have to compete with a piece of equipment for the students' attention, but it has also shown me how much I had grown to depend on the technology component being available all of the time. It has also made me realize that not all of my students automatically know how to do all of the things I took for granted that they would know how to do on the computer. Some of the kids do have a great background, but much of their knowledge is from exposure at home, or from individual teachers introducing information to their own classroom. This means that not all students have been given the same amount of information, and are at various stages of independence.
For instance, logging in with their user name and password is something that I previously hadn't had to coach kids on, at least not for a long time. The older kids all know this, but my third graders haven't all quite gotten it down yet. (Having to remember a password can be difficult!) I think they are still at the "afraid to make a mistake" stage. Another problem the younger ones have had is saving things never to be found again, or so they think they'll never find it again. I have to admit, it IS really fun for me to be able to solve their technology problems and find their work for them. They think I'm really smart and act like I've just saved their life!
Another fun part of being at a school that is at a more basic level of daily technology use, is getting to introduce students to new Web 2.0 tools. Two years ago, I taught a 6th grade technology class and much of what we did was to create small projects using some of these tools. The students are so excited to see how easy it is to create a movie or presentation to share their ideas and information that they are learning! Once again, they think I'm wonderful when I can introduce and guide them to do something brand new and different. It is fun for me to watch them grow and accomplish new things!
If you have any advice about fun, new tools that work for your students, please either email, FB message, or tweet them to me! I am always on the lookout for new and fun (free) ways to teach kids by integrating technology. I appreciate USER-FRIENDLY tools. (In other words, I'm about like an 8 year old, so if I can't figure them out easily, they are probably going to be hard for them, also! I'd probably have to call in one of my 4th or 5th graders!)
In my new school, we are just beginning to use technology in the classroom. It has been interesting moving to a school where the classroom did not revolve around technology. In some ways, it has been refreshing to not have to compete with a piece of equipment for the students' attention, but it has also shown me how much I had grown to depend on the technology component being available all of the time. It has also made me realize that not all of my students automatically know how to do all of the things I took for granted that they would know how to do on the computer. Some of the kids do have a great background, but much of their knowledge is from exposure at home, or from individual teachers introducing information to their own classroom. This means that not all students have been given the same amount of information, and are at various stages of independence.
For instance, logging in with their user name and password is something that I previously hadn't had to coach kids on, at least not for a long time. The older kids all know this, but my third graders haven't all quite gotten it down yet. (Having to remember a password can be difficult!) I think they are still at the "afraid to make a mistake" stage. Another problem the younger ones have had is saving things never to be found again, or so they think they'll never find it again. I have to admit, it IS really fun for me to be able to solve their technology problems and find their work for them. They think I'm really smart and act like I've just saved their life!
Another fun part of being at a school that is at a more basic level of daily technology use, is getting to introduce students to new Web 2.0 tools. Two years ago, I taught a 6th grade technology class and much of what we did was to create small projects using some of these tools. The students are so excited to see how easy it is to create a movie or presentation to share their ideas and information that they are learning! Once again, they think I'm wonderful when I can introduce and guide them to do something brand new and different. It is fun for me to watch them grow and accomplish new things!
If you have any advice about fun, new tools that work for your students, please either email, FB message, or tweet them to me! I am always on the lookout for new and fun (free) ways to teach kids by integrating technology. I appreciate USER-FRIENDLY tools. (In other words, I'm about like an 8 year old, so if I can't figure them out easily, they are probably going to be hard for them, also! I'd probably have to call in one of my 4th or 5th graders!)
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