Back to blogging?

Just for the value of reflecting and recording, I hope to put into written word (again) some of what happens in my classroom this year. We'll see if I am able to keep it up or not! If anyone else lands here and finds any of what I have to say at all useful, that will be a bonus.

One notable thing about the beginning of our school year a little over two weeks ago has to do with frosh tech orientation, for the first time completely student led. I was just the observer/extra helper while two sophomores in my assigned session shared with our newest students the ins and outs of Pages for their iPads. These two, along with all the iWizards, were very well prepared by associate principal Larry Baker. It was such a gratifying experience to see students take on this leadership role, and the new setup of groups rotating to different sessions/topics seemed to work very well.

Over the summer I got my feet wet with iBook Author as part of a committee making a book to explain about how technology is integrated into our school. Working with a Macbook for the first time was frustrating, but helped to prepare me for the Macbook Air that replaces the PC laptops we have carted around for several years. It's sort of like operating in a non-native language, but I am learning bit by bit. As far as iBooks go, a colleague and I may create one, or a series of them, for a course we teach that has a supplementary book but no actual text.

I have redesigned plans for my other two courses this year, adding more variation in assessment to the frosh course, and more learning by discovery and collaboration to the Justice and Peace course. Taking stock now and then in this space will help me decide on future direction for each of these courses.