For most teachers and students it is summer break already. Unfortunately (maybe) for my two youngest they are still in school. My son will be graduating 8th grade one week from today. That means - next Thursday I will officially have two in high school and a 7th grader.
Now - I am supposed to be on summer break, too. However, I am continuing to work on many projects. (I have two conferences to prepare for.) The most rewarding project of all is my son's 8th grade graduation video. The parents of our class have trusted me to make this video. Most of these kids have been together since kindergarten. My son and his three best friends have been together much longer. Ryan met these three boys when he was 3 years old. This is quite an emotional time for me and for them because they will be going in different directions; two to one high school, two to another (each together though). These boys have been through alot. When they were 5 one of the boys lost their mother to breast cancer. Although sad it does put a special bond between the four of them that I think we last a lifetime; even though they are highly competitive and have definitely had their arguments.
I'm so thankful I am able to put my technology training to work for these special kids - using iMovie! Trust me, I have hundreds and hundreds of pictures of them to put in. The hardest part is making two movies. One has to be a shorten version to be viewed during graduation Mass - the other, well, it may take us all night to watch. Like I said - the class has been together a long time; but these four boys have been together even longer. They have played every sport together with their dads coaching most.
Not only has my son made lifelong friends but I have to with their parents. I'm going to share the movie I made for their graduation Mass (none of the parents know about my blog so I know they won't see this! haha). I hope you will see their bond through this video! I can't wait to finish the extended version because I have some amazing pictures. The four boys that have been together the longest - well, three of them have 2 sisters and one has 1 sister - and all the sisters dance or did dance! Talk about some good pictures!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Beginner Blogger
It is probably obvious that I am new to this blogging thing. I have read others' blogs and learned alot of valuable information. When I read other blogs I think to myself how I would love to be able to share such insight on important topics and how awesome it would be to get a huge following. So, that is the challenge I set for myself. How can I inspire other people through my writing? How can I gather a group of followers? Let's see if I can do it!
A few years ago I went back to school to become a teacher. I have always been passionate about technology. After all, I originally wanted to be a computer programmer! Any programmers out there? You know we are a special group of people! The countless hours of writing programs - you definitely have to love what you are doing to do the job. That is quite similar to teaching. At least IT jobs have a nice pay scale, unlike teaching.
Anyway, I already had my B.S. degree so I basically just took additional courses (which should have given me an additional B.S. degree but I won't complain) that enabled me to take the licensing test and receive my Indiana teaching license. Shortly after that I was hired to teach none other than technology! What a perfect classroom for an old computer geek (I quickly was labeled this after taking this job) I love to take apart computers and work on them but I also love to find ways to inspire the students to put the technology to use to help them in an academic setting.
It is apparent that I have a love for both technology and teaching. While reading a coworker's blog this morning I realized that because of my passion the roadblocks of our standardized testing didn't frazzle me. I look at it as a challenge, not a problem. I agree with my colleague, Jeff Tron, that standardized tests are for the birds. I have always despised them personally. I have been lucky enough to have 2 our of my 3 children not inherit my strong dislike for these tests. They don't seem to have the test anxiety that I and my youngest child have. However, since there are those individuals that suffer from severe test anxiety this week has been even harder. The state of Indiana requires all students in grades 3-8 to take a state level standardized test each year (ISTEP). This test is supposed to tell us how much a student knows and how well their teacher taught! What a strange way to gauge these things. Some schools began the online testing on Monday of this week, only to be told by the state superintendent to suspend testing. Then, we gave it a try on Tuesday - a little better but the same outcome, suspend testing. Today we were given the green light to begin testing again. Great, right? No - we could test but it was suggested that we reduce the number of testing subjects by 1/2 - 50%!! Do they not realize the stress this puts on the students, teachers, and techs? What about schools that are K-8, how are they supposed to get all the testing done in their allotted time?
I am finding myself fielding complaints from non tech people of how they knew this would happen because technology is not reliable. This from people that can't live without their iPhones, iPads and other devices. They like it when it works but when it doesn't it is a see, I told you so.
Testing has concluded for today in our district for most. All went well. Obviously it went well, only 1/2 of the population that should be testing were actually participating. So, CTB did not fix any issue. They just found a band aid for the problem, a temporary fix. I guess tomorrow another group will get to test and hopefully that will go well. The state has paid CTB a very large amount of money for uninterrupted service during testing - don't you think we are entitled to a refund?
Happy testing - as happy as testing can be. Instead of everyone complaining, the people that aren't even taking or administering the test, let's think about the students that have had their week turned upside down by this series of events. How do you think they are feeling? Frazzled & confused.
A few years ago I went back to school to become a teacher. I have always been passionate about technology. After all, I originally wanted to be a computer programmer! Any programmers out there? You know we are a special group of people! The countless hours of writing programs - you definitely have to love what you are doing to do the job. That is quite similar to teaching. At least IT jobs have a nice pay scale, unlike teaching.
Anyway, I already had my B.S. degree so I basically just took additional courses (which should have given me an additional B.S. degree but I won't complain) that enabled me to take the licensing test and receive my Indiana teaching license. Shortly after that I was hired to teach none other than technology! What a perfect classroom for an old computer geek (I quickly was labeled this after taking this job) I love to take apart computers and work on them but I also love to find ways to inspire the students to put the technology to use to help them in an academic setting.
It is apparent that I have a love for both technology and teaching. While reading a coworker's blog this morning I realized that because of my passion the roadblocks of our standardized testing didn't frazzle me. I look at it as a challenge, not a problem. I agree with my colleague, Jeff Tron, that standardized tests are for the birds. I have always despised them personally. I have been lucky enough to have 2 our of my 3 children not inherit my strong dislike for these tests. They don't seem to have the test anxiety that I and my youngest child have. However, since there are those individuals that suffer from severe test anxiety this week has been even harder. The state of Indiana requires all students in grades 3-8 to take a state level standardized test each year (ISTEP). This test is supposed to tell us how much a student knows and how well their teacher taught! What a strange way to gauge these things. Some schools began the online testing on Monday of this week, only to be told by the state superintendent to suspend testing. Then, we gave it a try on Tuesday - a little better but the same outcome, suspend testing. Today we were given the green light to begin testing again. Great, right? No - we could test but it was suggested that we reduce the number of testing subjects by 1/2 - 50%!! Do they not realize the stress this puts on the students, teachers, and techs? What about schools that are K-8, how are they supposed to get all the testing done in their allotted time?
I am finding myself fielding complaints from non tech people of how they knew this would happen because technology is not reliable. This from people that can't live without their iPhones, iPads and other devices. They like it when it works but when it doesn't it is a see, I told you so.
Testing has concluded for today in our district for most. All went well. Obviously it went well, only 1/2 of the population that should be testing were actually participating. So, CTB did not fix any issue. They just found a band aid for the problem, a temporary fix. I guess tomorrow another group will get to test and hopefully that will go well. The state has paid CTB a very large amount of money for uninterrupted service during testing - don't you think we are entitled to a refund?
Happy testing - as happy as testing can be. Instead of everyone complaining, the people that aren't even taking or administering the test, let's think about the students that have had their week turned upside down by this series of events. How do you think they are feeling? Frazzled & confused.
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