Reflections on a first day:
Arrived. Pam's here already. No time for hellos. Need to change light bulbs. Tables need moving. Food here? Good. Cram those chairs around. How many chairs do we need? Need to squish one more. People start arriving. "Hello, I'm Tim Kenney..." Rush to make copies. "You're kidding me--did this damn machine jam?" Back with copies. Let's begin. Excited to be working with Pam. She has forgotten more than I know. "Sign up at nwp.org." Journaling. What to say? Alicia: "I need a prompt." Out of practice. Good to be writing again. Son was sick all night throwing up. Wife exhausted. Dad exhausted. Kid absolutely fine in the morning. Wants food. God has sense of humor. Anyone want to share? Let's clap at the end. Corny, I know but it makes you feel validated. Housekeeping: syllabus, I-search, REGISTRATIONS! (shouldwedoitonlinewhydowehavethesehandoutswhatismystudentidweweren'tregisteredwhenweregisteredfortheclass....) Need to find some answers soon. Off to the computer lab. Talkin' shop with Ron. (He's becoming my summer fling.) People off starting their work. Need some food. Come back to talk some more. Discuss the handouts. Plagiarism is an issue. Wikipedia? See our students as kids. Do kids even recognize ownership of ideas? Good questions. Good ideas. Good first day.
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What is this?
This BLOG is a forum for members of the RIWP's
Planning for Change summer 2008 to exhange ideas, to offer help
and to post
writing from class.
Facilitators:
Pam Fracareta
Tim Kenney
Ron to the Rescue
Lisa Checks in
I-Search Papers
If we kept this blog up, how likely would you be to read and post during the school year?
Ron's You Tube Video "Teacha Teacha"
RIWP Embedded Institute
TEXTS FOR THE CLASS
SYLLABUS FOR CLASS
COMPUTER AND LIBRARY ACCESS
If you want to check out books or have complete access to the computer labs at RIC, you need to go to Campus Card at the Union Building. They will issue you a temporary ID card for use during PFC. Once you have the card, you can use the computer lab. However, to use it in the library, you must take the card to the circulation desk to have the bar code activated.
I-SEARCH HELP
USEFUL LINKS
- This link provide lesson plan information broken down by topic or subject. Take a look.
- Read Write Think is a useful resource for teachers
- This web site breaks now cutting edge web sites into 7 useful ones for teachers. These are broken down by year. Some very interesting ones.
- Link to research on why teachers should use blogging
- One Laptop per Child--offers free laptop computers to kids around the world
- Free Rice is a web site that asks students vocabulary words and then donates rice to the WFO for every word that they get right.
- Quiz Developer
- National Writing Project
- Rhode Island Writing Project
- Teacher Tube
- Moodle
- Div Share
- Daily Motion
- Tech Friends
FAVORITE BOOKS
- The English Teacher's Companion
3 comments:
Class Log – Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Reflections:
A new table arrangement spreads us out, but lively conversation continues to draw us together. After sharing several “grim” journal entries and few lighter ones, everyone signed up for individual conferences with facilitators on Wednesday.
Research time finds class members all around campus often with laptops. Our quotable Alicia stated of her own research, “Doing this just screws up all my lesson plans.” Of course, that’s our mission.
Status-of-the-class revealed plenty of progress and plenty of struggles with focusing and refining questions. Marcia is even wondering if she needs to be the one to write the book she is looking for. And as happens each year, participants are invaluable resources for each other.
Although “contrived” was the adjective of choice for Entertaining an Elephant, many felt the book was worth reading because it reminded the reader that knowing and caring about their students must be the highest priority for teachers.
On to tomorrow and The Queen of Education.
DAY 3 (cue the music)
The new table arrangement continues. Everyone seems happy, although I cannot seem to find a permanent spot. Regarding the menu: Although the mundane spread of bagels and cream cheese got some attention -- those damned Reeses Peanut Butter Cups seemed to be an immediate sensation -- "Who brought candy? What a novel idea!" Claude showing me up, methinks. :(
The journals entries appear to be a welcome release for everyone. From "shop talk" centered entries to family matters -- we seemed to run the proverbial gamut once again. It's funny, in three years of attending this summer shindig and writing the 8:30 journals, I have probably learned more about a handful of "strangers" than I have about many people I have worked with for 18 years. Hmmm.
At 9:30-ish, Tim marched us over to Gaige Hall (all the time singing the US Marines cadence marching song) and walked us through some nifty tricks and tips in MS Word. When Tim introduced these tips in a previous session, I immediately used them. Thus, I can vouch for their effectiveness. With a little practice and simply toolin' around, even a novice PC user can learn enough to make themselves dangerously good at this stuff. Tim's presentation on The Hollow Men slide show was particularly cool for me. One of my favorite poems, the complexities of Eliot's themes demand that a reader REALLY interact with the piece. Tim's approach certainly affords this.
When Tim finally off his soapbox, the class members started working on their papers. Murmurs of MLA formatting, printing snafus and various resource topics made their way among the clickity clacking of keyboards, as people became immersed in their individual journeys. I personally beat my own high score on Donkey Kong. Impressive.
We all made our way back to the classroom at our assigned times for conferencing. Although I wasn't there for most of the conferences -- they apparently were meaty enough to warrant spilling over to Thursday's class. As long as no money exchanged hands, this works out for me.
We concluded the day by discussing the first three chapters of The Queen of Education. Comments varied here. Some felt that the book surfaced themes and ideas that were too negative. One person stated -- and I'm sorry if I screw up the exact verbiage -- that they "didn't have the time or energy to focus on some of the author's ideas." However, the chapters did cause some lively discussion about the role of the teacher in a world filled with political entities that too often don't see eye to eye with what many teachers believe is the core of what they do.
It is what it is...it is, it is...
Ron
Today's class was "mad cool" my son Eric would be on cloud nine if he knew I said "mad cool". What a class! Guys I have to say it has truly being a blessing spending the last 3 days with you. The discussions have been lively, philosophical, angry at the systems and very supportive of our roles as teachers and educators. Thanks Tom, can't wait to show my 14 year old son Van my new "tricks" on the computer. I will definitely be using those new skills. The water melon was simply the best, I should have taken the seeds so I could plant it in my back yard.... or was it seedless, at any rate it was refreshingly delicious! The concept of change must have gotten me because I tried the onion bagel for the first time this morning and liked it! Thanks guys for doing the surveys, I'll see you all tomorrow.
Tahtiah
P.S. Who were your grade school teachers........? Did any of them help to shape your career?
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