The End is In Sight

It's May!
I am a runner. I run to relieve stress. I run to lose weight. I run so I can drink. And as a runner I like to pick a race to keep motivated in my training (so that I'll keep running).
May is the part of the race, where you crest that final hill (all races like to put a hill about half a mile to a tenth of mile before the finish line - why?) and the finish line is in sight. There is relief - I made it! But then terror at the same time - still not finished yet and I'm really tired!

So again it's May! I see the end, yet not finished yet and I'm tired.

Even though I'm tired, worn out - I want to finish strong.
I must keep my energy up, to motivate the kids to keep working (AP test are in two weeks!!!).
I must keep re-examining my lessons from this year - what worked, what didn't work?
I must start thinking of next year - what do I need to change? What new subject could I be teaching?

It's May and I'm tired. But it's not time to slow down, it's time to speed up and finish strong (and maybe even look good for that finish line photo)

Been Awhile ... Some Thoughts on the 2nd Half

So I really want to do a better job of blogging. I want to do a better job of blogging, not only the successes of my class, but the failures. I know the benefits of blogging - the sharing of ideas, gaining insight, the reflecting and improving my craft. Yet it seems that when things get crazy, it's the first thing to get dropped.

This semester has been particularly crazy - in both good and stressful ways.

the good
- I have my AP Macroeconomics classes this semester. This is probably my favorite class to teach, for some strange reason, I love economics. the details of the craft. I also love to take a subject that students hate when they walk into the room, and turn it into a class that they look forward to and want to perform well in. We are less than 4 weeks away from crunch time - May 15th, the College Board AP Test.
- I have pushed myself as a teacher, in flipping my AP European History class (this was an easy choice, since it's the first year I'm teaching the class, lots of prep work anyway). These kids have taught me, and been patient with me, as we try new things, experiment with learning. The students have created some wonderful work - videos, infographs, Socratic Seminars, written many DBQs and FRQs, been on field trips.
- I've had the joy of helping mentor a student teacher, and through this process have learned much about myself. The student-teacher working with my economic classes, is willing to try new things, fail, reflect, and try again. I wish more of us (including myself here) were willing to do these things. Its been inspiring and refreshing.

the stressful
- Did I mention I teach two different AP classes, and that those test are in less than 4 weeks?
- We lost our Superintendent, and then principal within a 3 week period. As department head, I'm trying to think ahead to next year (building sections, class sizes, and teaching assignments) while getting hard answers on things is impossible. Through in changing state guidelines for graduation and course requirements, it's like trying to aim at a moving target.


Even with all these things, I love my job. I love teaching. I love seeing kids get it.

Looking forward to a strong close to this year (including more blog posts, hoping to have a minimum of one a week) and then this summer - AP grading, presenting at iPadpalooza, going to Technopalooza, submitting presentation proposals for state social studies conferences. The list goes on, and it keeps me motivated to be not only a good teacher, but a great one.

Till next time - Live long and prosper.

The Doctor Visits

Love when students make nerd references in their costume selection (it's a pep rally day with a theme of Halloween)

Simply Amazing!

If the goal of education is to inspire students to learn and foster innovation, then this group and school have it. I hope to one day to provide students the space and ability to be this innovative within my classroom.

Students Invent New School Lock

8 Weeks into the Year: An Observation

So we have completed 8 weeks of our school year - a forth of the school year is done!

Here are a couple observations ...

1. My students are more engaged, and are performing well on (in their words) "hard assignments." In the past (P.F. or Pre-Flipped Era) my class was straight forward - I would lecture, students would take notes, we would do a review and then test. Nothing overly fancy - except my random Superhero/Star Wars references. Now my students are finding the information they need (with guided helped at times), putting their findings into practice, and then producing a product of their findings (be this a graph, video, or some other product).

2. My students are struggling - they are so use to being handed the material they need. They struggle to work with not very detail, step by step, directions. I give them parameters, the problems, a starting point on what they need to solve the problems, and we even talk as a class on the material needed. Yet they struggle because we have trained them over the years to do not learn. Teaching them how to find the material they need, and then how to apply that information is a struggle - both for me as a teacher and the students.

In a lot of ways my class is harder than it has been in the past, and I think this is a good thing. And yet with this increase in rigor, my students are stepping up (though there are growing pains) for the most part.

Looking forward to see what the rest of the year has in store.

Updating an Effective Project: The (Digital) Poster Show

So this year's motto for my classroom is the wise word's of Yoda
     "Try not! Do or do not, there is no try"

And I was reminded of these words after reading a couple blogs by some inspiring teachers (Flying by Coffee with Chloe and The Story of Carl by iTeach and iLearn). With those blogs rolling around in my head and knowing I was coming up on an effective project I have my students do in class, I decided to update the project and move it into the 21st century.

The project is a poster show. In short the students work in small groups and create a poster over a section of the unit material, including a summary of the material, key vocabulary needed to understand their section, and an illustration. The students also must develop 2 questions from their section, and then will go around answering each other's questions to cover the whole unit. Students not only learn the unit (they put things into words their peers can understand, and usually come up with good illustrations and examples) but they also learn how to write effective questions (sometimes by seeing how some groups wrote bad questions that are hard to understand).
The updated version - students will no longer be making posters but Prezi's. No longer will I just give them a few pages from the book to cover, but topics (they can still use the book but know outside resources are required as well). They are still responsible for coming up with questions and examples/illustrations on their own. The new wrinkle is they are also going to have to teach the other groups their material as they do a gallery walk. My hope is this takes this effective project deeper.

Thanks to iTeach and iLearn and Coffee with Chloe for pushing me to do something instead of just thinking of doing something.

20% Model (Genius Hour)

So after much research, reading, thinking and planning for this school over the summer I decided to put all that time and thought into action. I wasn't going to try something new, because that means at the first sign of failure, I'm done and reverting back to old habits and ways. No I was taking the words of a wise man ...

"Try Not! Do or Do NOT, there is no try"

This has become the theme for this year in my classroom. I expect my students to do not just try.

So today was the second day of Genius Hour, and things are going great. Students are excited to come to class on these days, they are reading medical journals, studying architecture, and watching TED Talks. They are challenging themselves in ways I never would have imagined before.