It has been almost 6 months since my last blog entry. I really had no idea how busy the end of year would be as a first year teacher. I took on a "video club" where we produced an end of year video for our school. While this was a blast, it really added just one more thing to my already over filled plate. I also had to support staff as they prepared for a new computer rollout by helping them make sure all of their files were saved in a networked folder etc. Though, perhaps the most overwhelming thing for me was not related to teaching.
My wife and I were married on July 9th last year, and we were planning our wedding ourselves. I really am appreciative to all those who helped, but if I could offer advice to anyone in a similar situation, I would recommend that if you could at all afford it, hire a wedding planner. I really didn't appreciate the complexities of that job, but now I know. Even if you do hire a wedding planner there is a tremendous amount of work to be done. We ended up taking our honeymoon in Thailand and that was extremely relaxing and culturally eye opening. What a beautiful country, I hope to return soon. Even though I haven't actually blogged recently, I haven't been avoiding ElEdBlog, quite the contrary.
One of the goals we had set for ElEdBlog was to have users be able to create groups where educators/learners with similar interests could come together and discuss issues which pertain to them in a more specific arena. As many of you have seen, after much time and effort, we have launched groups and after deciding to include the option to join the groups when users register for the site, people are starting to join. I'm looking forward to seeing this feature get used in the future, maybe by individual schools, or whatever. Please check it out and let me know what we can do to make it more user friendly or feature rich. Speaking of ElEdBlog features, have you checked out the Lesson Plan submission page?
I really would love it if more teachers out there would share some of their wonderful lesson plans with the rest of us. Please check out the submit lesson plan option and give it a go. ElEdBlog will always be free resource for teachers. I have a hard time understanding how sites out there that claim to have thousands of lesson plans, got those lesson plans, especially when they charge for access. Maybe they hired someone to write them, or paid for the lesson plans. I'm not sure, but we will never charge for access to ElEdBlog, and consequently we don't have money to purchase lesson plans. This is a labor of love and we hope people will continue to share their hard work and experience with the rest of us. I haven't just been working on ElEdblog though I'm back teaching for my second year in the Seattle Public Schools.
Some exciting things are happening this year. I'm enjoying the opportunity of being one of the leads at our building for Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) testing the district is undertaking. MAP is a computer based adaptive testing application put together by Norhwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) http://nwea.org. Those know me or have read my blogs, know that I'm pretty excited about computer based adaptive assessment, so I am thrilled by this. As an adaptive test, the test meets the students where they are at, and allows them all to feel some sense of accomplishment or success. The data is detailed and even broken down into content strands. The goal of course is to help target instruction to meet the individual student needs, and I believe this assessment tool should help with that. Implementing the test has been interesting and we are still working on how to best accomplish this task. We will be assessing the students three times a year using this system, and we just completed our first round. They will next be assessed in Winter then Spring. Another cool thing I'm doing with computers is using some web based adaptive software to focus on student computational fluency.
I've got all of our grade 1 though 5 classrooms enrolled in an application called XtraMath, which was programmed locally here in Seattle by a gentleman Named David Jeschke. He worked with some local Seattle teachers to create his application which compliments our curriculum perfectly. The goal is for students to learn all of there basic Math facts for all four operations. Those who have followed my blog know that I used this application last year for my math group and was very pleased with the results. David put a lot of work into XtraMath over the summer and the new interface is beautiful and very student friendly. The program is adaptive so it meets the students where they are at and gives them increased exposure to facts they are struggling with. It is kind of like having a tutor with data using very targeted flashcards with students. The sessions last for about 7-10 minutes and students are encouraged to use it daily. The program can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection and Adobe Flash installed. In case you were wondering, it's free! If you know me, you know that's my favorite price. The data tools are beautiful and track when students access as well as how they are doing. He has added a feature where a student's parents can log-in and monitor how their student is doing as far as access habits and proficiency. We all know how helpful it is to be collaborating with parents. He still has room for teachers who would like to try it out, so look him up at http://xtramath.org, and tell him Robert from Highland Park sent you. As far as being a second year teacher though, I'd have to say things are generally feeling better.
My job seems to be easier this year now that I have gotten to know the community more and they have gotten to know me. The students know what my classroom expectations are and I'm in turn getting to know them and their individual needs. Everything isn't hunky dory, but things seem to be far more relaxed for me. I've got my first observation coming up at the end of the week, and I'll let you know how that goes. Contrary to some of my own advice, my observation is scheduled for a Friday and that in and of itself makes me a bit nervous. I'm not sure if it is a State requirement or District, but teachers in their first five (?) years are required to be formally observed and evaluated by the building administrator (Principal). The formality of it all and the relative high stake nature of the process make it a bit daunting even for the best teachers. Combine that with my relative health lately and I'm looking forward to having this observation out of the way.
It seems like I have been sick since the start of school. I'm trying hard to figure out why, but I have had some type of cold or flu since school began. I am trying to figure out why, and if fact have a doctors appointment tomorrow on Veteran's day. I am very fastidious and always wash my hands. I make sure that I don't touch what I eat and I am careful about my contact and proximity with sick students. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I work in a computer lab which has very little air circulation and no windows, though I'm not sure. It probably also has something to do with the fact that I am a sufferer of chronic sinusitis and we are having a particularly nasty cold/flu season. I'm not sure exactly but I look forward to feeling better. I thought maybe I could boost my immune system by getting back in the gym, and a thought I would try that. About five days after my second sequential round of anti-biotic I was feeling much better, so I went to the gym and did some cardio followed by some weight training. I did this same routine two more times the next week, and boom, I was floored again by another "cold". I think I may have gone to the gym too early after recovery, too frequently, with perhaps too much intensity. I have a difficult time modulating my effort and will have to work on that. I'll let you know what the Dr. says when I update you after my observation.
Sorry about the super long blog/novella, it's just that after almost six months I had some catching up to do. I'll try and do more frequent shorter blogs in the future.
Cheers!
