Blogs and More

So as I sit here this summer trying to think about the upcoming school year and how I can make it a great experience, I'm back to thinking about communication tools for students.

There's always Twitter and we use that often (maybe not often enough). I always have the good intention of sharing something everyday but then it doesn't happen and I get disappointed. There's always a new day to start again.

I use Remind with my classes. The students seem to like it and will ask for reminds to be sent at times. Sometimes, they will even ask questions that they may not ask out loud with the chat feature.

Where to go next, blog? Instagram? Snapchat? Facebook? Hmmm, food for thought. Social media is a double edged sword at times.

Oh my....it's been too long.

I have let myself get into getting by mode and am not happy.  It seems to me that the fatigue I have been experiencing is taking its toll on my ability to do it all.  I have been exhausted and sleeping for hours at a time.  It's part of the disease and I will take it over pain, but it means I have been out of touch with the best part of the web.

My grading has been behind but I am getting caught up.  My exciting lessons have been a bit less exciting and I have lost the snap.  I think it is coming back.  But, I just got up for a 3 hour nap after spending 3 hours shoveling that monstrosity of snow we got overnight.  Most of CNY came to a standstill today.

I have done more projects in school and have most students more comfortable with working with others.  They still don't like sharing and talking in the classroom, but it is such a necessary skill for life.  They are not blog fans but I keep persevering. They have not found the benefits of diigo. Out of frustration, I almost gave in and went to notes and quizzes but I know that is not helpful and useful.

I have spent very little time following my PLN on Twitter and seriously miss that.  We are doing our first PD this week....I'm sharing wikis and more.  I am hoping for some co-workers to come and visit and see what we can do.  My students do seem to be a bit more happy with my wiki than with blackboard.  I know I am happier with my wiki than with BB.  It is much easier to update.

Flat Stanley Comes to the High School

It was a long week for me. I had forgotten that I had agreed to host Flat Stanley for @JasonSchmidt123's third graders.  When I first looked at the hand addressed letter in my mailbox at school, I was curious why I would get a letter from a child.  Once I opened the letter and Flat Stanley fell onto my desk, I smiled.  We gave him a good visit.  Some of my students recalled reading Flat Stanley in their elementary days. It was a nice diversion for my mood this week.  Here's the story that we sent back to Dakota. Now, if I can figure out why I can't get the upload tab to Jason's wiki, all will be good.

Dear Dakota,

Flat Stanley arrived on Monday, November 1. He was a very patient guest has he had to wait a couple of days to visit with my students. He spent his days  in Rooms A242 and A251.  I think he learned that our high school is a pretty big place.

He traveled to my five classes on Wednesday, November 3. He was able to help me take attendance in first period. High school students are not very awake in the morning. We start school at 7:25 am.

Later, he visited my law class but the students were camera shy so I won't be able to add a picture.

Next, he went to marketing class and helped some students create comic strips about some economic terms. He seemed to like this as the students were able to use crayons, markers and colored pencils. A group of students posed with Flat Stanley and really had a good time.

                              Wajeeh, Andrew, Matt, Raven, Andrew and Bob are in the photo.




Later, he visited the school store so Flat Stanley could see what we had available for purchase.  We have basic school supplies in our store.





At the end of the day, he came back to the computer lab and helped Travis with his typing. You will see Flat Stanley is helping to keep the place in the book. My students have to type without looking at the keyboard. The cover that you can see in this picture hides it.

Flat Stanley will begin his journey back to you on Friday. I hope he arrives safely and has great stories to tell you about visiting the big kids in the high school in upstate New York. It is possible that he will see some snow before he leaves here!

Sincerely, Ms. Murray

First week of school

This is the first Saturday of the 2010-2011 school year.  I find myself exhausted which usually happens as I adjust to the new year.  It should improve over the couple of weeks and I will be totally in my back to school mode.  This exhaustion means that I have not kept up with my PLN on Twitter or other sites I like to visit as often as I wish.  This should improve as the weeks progress.

The first week was relatively uneventful. It started with putting our computer lab back together because it apparently got left mostly done.  Lots of plugging in cables and situating supplies around the room.  I missed a plug so the first day that students turned on the computers, five of them would not work.  A little detective work and some crawling around the floor and it was fixed. Freshmen did not know their passwords because for some reason we change them when the kids come to the high school.  Some of my older student's don't remember them either and I had to contact our sysops who were helpful in giving me the information so students could find success. Later in the week, student passwords were posted on our PLC blackboard site.

It took three days to get the heat in my room fixed. The first three days were FREEZING.  I posted a picture of the thermometer on my desk reading 64 degrees.  After two days of emails with our building superintendent, I called and said that something had to be done.  Someone came in Friday morning and fixed something in the exchange unit and we got warm...well too warm is it got the upper 70s.  I requested that we step back a couple of degrees and they adjusted the computer.  Hopefully, we won't deal with this issue again.  I had male athletes coming with coats and hoodies - it was that chilly.

I still have not been able to lay eyes on two of the books that I need for my marketing and entrepreneurship classes. Fortunately,  I do not use a book in those classes for the first couple of weeks. However, it would be great to be able to see what the college expects my students to learn since we have signed a new articulation agreement with Cazenovia College.

With the downsizing we had in our building last year, we are down 10 sections of social studies electives.  My department is seeing an increase in our enrollment which is great for us.  We will continue to provide students the knowledge and skills they can use in their daily lives.  I am back to having three classes totally full with 30 kids.  My two classes with seats left only have a few. This means I will be very busy this year trying to talk to each student every day.  So far, my students all seem excited to be in my class and have contributed to our discussions.  A couple of them going to switch to something else because they don't like the idea of having to talk in front of others.  I do a great deal of getting students to stand up and talk to their classes because it is such an important skill for life. 

We created our "branding of me" boxes this week in marketing.  I have tons of sports nuts if their boxes are any indication.  My law students had discussions on laws they like and dislike.  Friday we completed a competitive scavenger hunt online.  In ownership, we started looking at ideas for businesses and we discussed what is missing in our town.

This week we will start some blogging, social bookmarking using diigo, and creating a glog for a project.

In between resting for school, I had to balance the needs of my own high school and college sophomore.  My dd is commuting this year to save some money so she had two long days and then works some hours to continue to earn money.  My son is on the varsity golf team and his game is struggling.  He was medalist on the first day of school with a par round and then his scores increased the next two days capping off at a 50! on Thursday - ugh is all we said.  He has an extra study hall this year as he could not get the electives he wanted because of his district's budget cuts :-(.  My oldest is trying to get her practicum at her old high school or mine so she can continue her path to becoming a social studies teacher.