That's all folks

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't excited to be finished with this class. However, let me clarify my previous statement. Although the class was useful and helped me to get a head start on next year's curriculum, I now have 60 credits above my masters, something I had hoped t accomplish by the end of my 30th year of life -- mission accomplished... barely...
It's both a blessing and a relief. I feel that throughout the journey to a masters plus sixty I've come across a couple things that I can actually use on a daily basis in my classroom, mostly through my East Ramapo Teacher's Center classes. Between creating a useful website, using google docs for things like forms and presentations, the plethora of smartboard lessons that I have created, and the overall investment that I have made into my students through the classes, I can honestly say that there were many positive experiences. Thus being said, I hope that the teacher's center is around long enough to afford (no pun intended) this opportunity to my colleagues in the East Ramapo School District.
As my final assignment for this class, I have created a survey for my juniors to have them fill out prior to really starting class so that I can tailor my lessons towards their needs rather than just guessing. The survey is based around the New YOrk State Regents Exam in English and I hope that it is something that I can use in years to come...
Here's the link: http://www.eram.k12.ny.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=62031&&PHPSESSID=73e19f76b82d9804282a6f4e6211ed75

Who Am I???

So I've finished my final lesson plan for this class, my final lesson plan for my master plus 60. I'm not one for saying that something is surreal because it's a cliche nowadays (and I am bothered by most cliches), but it is definitely surreal. I think through the process of taking classes above my masters the most worthwhile ones were those where I go to do something that I felt had worth.

And it is because of that idea that I decided to use the "Soundtrack of Your Life" project as my final lesson. The kids LOVE this project. I cannot take full credit for it as one of my colleagues first used something similar in her class, but each year I deviate further and further from her original idea and feel that I have truly made it my own. It is the final project I do with my kids before the year is out and their presentations have been spectacular. From the meek to the flamboyant, every kid has had something special to contribute. Answering the question, "who am I?" is not always the easiest but these kids always make me proud to be an educator with their responses. They are so comfortable sharing a small part of themselves with me (and their classmates) that it is truly one of the highlights of my year.

Here are the links to the lesson plan and the project. I truly think it can be modified for any level...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aGZC_mWL3a3ZSMD1tp0ckA0Gjdk0U6KaRDulPWOKEkQ/edit?hl=en_US

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-YW468gS5zbqd09a0M6_NsAgJmgQYbgBQCa0PUoFjBU/edit?hl=en_US

A lesson in censorship

So this morning I completed my second lesson plan. THis is actually one of my favorite projects that I've done in the past, but the course that I used to do it in no longer exists. I used to teach Law and Literature which like most electives got "swept under the rug". Although the cliche may not make sense to some, it is truly the perfect one for this instance.


I decided that because I am teaching senior English this upcoming school year that I could salvage the project and use it for their required research project. I plan on making them keep an ongoing blog so that there is more accountability. It is always difficult to get seniors to stay on task outside of the classroom so I figured that by adding a blogging element, they could be doing my work while their facebooking and tweeting. I know this is a lofty dream, but I will try nonetheless. 


Here are the links to the assignment and the corresponding lesson plan:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V18Rq_qG-PjL2MW8k_oSRSQvP8poujn-Kn4iPjzaytE/edit?hl=en_US

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1esBMuAGDWa882Gcdxa8djBYlBhAtKbXgW3zqifZ0WQs/edit?hl=en_US

1984 in 2011

So after yesterday's class I was trying to decide how I wanted to go about creating lesson plans that I would use in my classroom for this upcoming school year. Although I try to use technology as much as possible with the students, there is always room for more, therefore I started going through the projects that I use and came across my 1984 project that I use with the AP English Language and Composition class and decided this was the perfect opportunity for me to revamp it.  I decided to have all of the documents available through google docs because I felt that because it is a collaborative project it would be much easier for the students to collaborate on a shared document. I'm hope that I will in turn, receive a better product from the students because it will be viewable by all of their classmates. There is just something about others being able to view their work that puts the fire under the butts of my eleventh graders. Hopefully, this will work and I will get some really great ads out of it... I guess we'll see...

Here are the links:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F5ySiptupXn7N4ii2O2PknH-WNvVSJTj_KYwcp8UC9U/edit?hl=en_US

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zcehrMmD1DmtEqk85iT_2fB2OCaxXbM-eE1tl_gnXKE/edit?hl=en_US

Screenshot 101

Today I finished my presentation and posted it in our shared presentation for class. I feel just that much closer to my 60. I cannot help but be excited. The one issue I had was that I just could not remember how to take a screen shot other than downloading a program such as Jing, so I used google for what everyone else uses it for... a search! I was happy to see that because I have a Mac there are quick shortcuts to do so. Just when I thought I couldn't love this computer anymore, it makes my life even easier. After all, isn't that the actual purpose of technology, to help, not to frustrate!!

Here are the shortcuts for taking screenshots for those of you with Macs:

• Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Control-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the clipboard
• Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it to the clipboard
• Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it to the clipboard

A little of this and a little of that...

This morning I started looking through Picnik with a defined purpose, creating my slides. Although I did not create my slides as of yet, I did take some notes that will be helpful in doing so. Picnik has so much more to offer than I initially anticipated.  I didn't really see it being used in the classroom so often, but I was pleasantly surprised when I can across a link for educators.

Additionally I came across a Discussion Group for educators on using Google in the classroom --

https://groups.google.com/group/google-for-educators?hl=en&noredirect=true&pli=1

This is most certainly something that will be useful to many of my colleagues. I love these groups because it gives you an opportunity to see what others are doing in their classrooms and you can steal everything!! The one drawback is that once I start reading these forums time seems to escape me...

Picnik addiction...

For months I have seen on my cousin's facebook that she has a "picnik addiction" and most of the pictures that she has loaded have been altered on picnik, therefore I wanted to experiment. 

Julia's pictures always look so great and I am always editing my photos, whether it's for red eye or to simply "funk" them up a bit. I've used a lot of programs to do so, but after playing with this one for about 45 minutes, I can honestly say that I think it may be easiest one I've ever used. There is just so much that you can do that can make your photos look professionally edited in so little time. Some of the other programs that I use take forever to get things the way that I want them to look. Although the user is limited unless they pay for the premium package, I think overall that I have found a gem of a program that I will be using more and more...