School's out

Actually, we've been "out" for over almost two weeks, our earliest ending time in all the years I've taught at this school. But there's no being "done" for months anymore. On my list of things to do this summer: Re-do a course to incorporate material to relate to the CBL we will be doing. Work out some of the details of the project itself. Start to prep the course I will teach that will utilize a new textbook following the Bishops' curricular framework. See if there is a book to replace the text that I just found out will be discontinued for a third course I teach. And, whether the answer is yes or no to that, find more online resources for the course.

As well: read some blogs, and keep up with discussions on our staff wiki about refreshing the look of the building.

A teacher's work is never done!

Google Documents

First of all, here we are getting close to the end of the year and I asked my two frosh classes how many had experience with Google Docs, and probably one third to one half raised hands, which I think says something about what is going on in our school. Each of the seven groups ended up with at least one person who knew what to do. I think I had to help exactly one person get signed on to her group's document, because she was logged onto a Google account with a different e-mail address.

Secondly, even when I am not doing an official "CBL" I find myself thinking in that direction, and so I had my students who are exploring sacraments asking questions first and also documenting their thinking and research on a doc so that I can see the work in progress and get a glimpse into their collaboration.

Lastly: I love Docs. I can't be with every group all the time. In class I floated from group to group. But this morning I took a look at the documents and got a very good idea of what they've done and in what directions they are thinking.

Offline

Once in a while, not terribly often, we will have problems with our server or internet connection or some such thing on a school day, but generally only for a short period of time before the IT people figure out what's what and we get back on track.

This time was different. This time we lost our connection to the outside world for around twenty-four hours. Nor could we get into school systems from the outside. I had a pretty free evening last night because the things I needed to do required connecting to either Moodle, our school grading system or school e-mail, and none of that was possible. This morning we traded stories about the effects of the deprivation, much like people do after a power outage.

During the day we could not get to outside websites, but we were able to do all the things I mentioned above within the building. So I got somewhat caught up. In classes then, I used actual paper for a handout some students couldn't get to on Moodle for some reason. And instead of going online to research saints, we used more old-fashioned resources, which worked fine.

But we were all glad, I think, to get our connection back. Some of us have become more dependent on it, perhaps, than we had realized.

More about Photostory

I like Photostory for Windows very much. Animoto is cool, and easier, but Photostory gives more control.

A couple of weeks ago I shot some photos of my two freshmen classes, and very quickly that evening put them together into a Photostory to show classes the next day, just to introduce them to the program.

They loved it, of course.

The frosh project

My second-semester freshman turned in their projects about Jesus yesterday. Well, most of them. Technical problems are being worked out in a couple of cases. It's sort of like a take-home essay test because I structure the content fairly rigidly. But they're free as birds in the case of format. I don't teach the tech. I tell them to choose something they are comfortable with (everyone can do Word), or something they want to explore.

There are many Word documents, but several in Publisher, too. I'm impressed at how easily ninth-graders who have never used Publisher can figure it out and turn out beautiful products.

I have at least one video, and I haven't watched it yet, but I look forward to it. It's supposedly about eight minutes long, partly because John the Baptist (a student's dad) took his part and ran with it. Or so I'm told.

Photostory is a little less intuitive than Publisher, I guess, but I have at least one of those to look forward to once the kinks are worked out. The variety of formats helps to make the grading process less tedious for me.

Detroit projects update

The "Detroit" group met yesterday to discuss current projects. Not everything is "CBL," but it's good stuff. Students in a short story class interviewed people who grew up in Detroit or live there now to hear their storied and, I think, to incorporate them into their own writing. A Spanish teacher plans a field trip to talk to people in the southwest part of the city where a largely hispanic population resides. Our group talked about how there is a fear of the unknown among some suburban families, and providing opportunities to connect with people they might not otherwise meet could make a difference in their attitudes about the city.

As for me, the course I'm planning for is not in my schedule again until next year, so I have only ideas swirling around in my head for now.

Not my CBL update

Last week I got an invitation to be part of a panel to listen to the presentation of previously mentioned AP Gov students of their project on health care. Other panelists will include folks in the fields of health and insurance. It's on a Sunday, and it's beyond my job description as a Monday-Friday teacher, but I am happy to go. I want to support what these students are doing and learning, yes. But I think I will learn some things myself!