Progress!

The students have accomplished many things Moodle wise:

Learned to upload a document for submitting an assignment on Moodle.

Learned how to insert images in for an assignment submission to Moodle.

Watched video resources listed in the Moodle course.

Complete over 15 assignments in Moodle.

Created an online portfolio or “googlio” to document and share and reflect about their learning. 

https://sites.google.com/a/edenpr.k12.mn.us/ehsi-english-department/grade-6-upper-campus/student-website-links

(This “googlio” is being used by the homeroom teachers too.)

Social Studies Focus:

Learned how to use Google Earth and created a collaborative map showing their favorite places.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205084868224221448839.0004cb8d01f0fc47b800c&msa=0

Created a PowerPoint double bubble map.

Converted the PowerPoint to a picture file and uploaded it to their websites and Moodle.

https://sites.google.com/a/ep-student.org/bobby/minnesota-studies/minnesota-geography

Created Animoto videos about Minnesota Studies.

https://sites.google.com/a/ep-student.org/lauren-del-rio/minnesota-studies

Taken two online “anticipation guide” quizzes about life pre-1800.

https://docs.google.com/a/edenpr.k12.mn.us/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dG9STmFIMlZHS1ZHQW04V2h4OUk4UFE6MQ#gid=0

In their language arts class:

Published their writing on a Poetry webpage.

https://sites.google.com/a/ep-student.org/grace-lapp/english-language-arts/poetry

Used a visual thesaurus to complete their vocabulary expansion (http://visuwords.com).

We also had our speaker come and present her “racial autobiography” from the “Why Treaties Matter Exhibit.”  We had another speaker come and speak about stereotypes and bias in the media. 

On the docket:

A collaborative writing multimedia project about the Fur Trade in Minnesota.

More vocabulary expansion projects. 

This has been FUN. 

It Started with Fear

When I was a young fresh faced college grad, I applied to do two years of Peace Corps service.  I figured this would be a way to really use my language skills, have a grand adventure and get some work/life experience before I got a job heading up the United Nations.  :)

After being rejected for the first time, reapplying and finally getting an assignment to Mali, I did begin the adventure part of that story.  I did a three month training program where we learned cross cultural communication, sustainable development theory and local language classes. 

Apparently, I caught on to the local language they taught us in training called Bambara.  I caught on so well, that I could be assigned to a village where the local language was Malinke.  These languages were supposedly similar.  Well, to a native speaker, the languages might be similar.  But to a "Tubaboo" (white person) like me, the languages were completely different.  Thus, I could only use French to communicate with people.  In my village, there were three people with whom I could converse. 

I was dropped off in my remote village that was not accessible by any road, into my hut made of mud and a thatched roof.  I was there without a single piece of emergency medical equipment since it had fallen out of the back of the car delivering me to the village.  I had a bike to get me to the nearest town for mail or bread or a market, 25 miles away. 

I was supposed to "work" with the people of the village on "projects" that we developed together.

I was 23 years old.

Now, I am a teacher working with a group of sixth grade students known for their spice of life (read: rowdy behavior).  We are going to go through a social studies curriculum developed with new social studies standards.  The technology projects for the students have not been yet created in the entire course.  The assessments are inconsistent. 

Starting this Moodle project with the new curriculum that had been collaboratively developed by a group of teachers terrified me only slightly less than starting my Peace Corps service.

The adventure begins.....

Being Laid Off

So, it has been awhile since I logged into this site.  Because, after I found out our project was a "go," it wasn't.

A link to my interview on NPR Marketplace. 
Being Laid Off

The interview mash up of our conversation:
This spring was my second time being laid off. Our district had to lay off 25 tenured teachers and I was told, "You basically have no chance of coming back to our school district in the fall."

I was really devastated for a couple of weeks. I just kind of wandered around in a fog, like "How am I going to have a career without teaching?" I didn't really know what that would look like. And then, it kind of opened up the door for me, really, to start looking around.

I just started sending my new revamped resume around to people and signing up for conferences, and networking.

So the last week of school, my principal said, "There's been a position allotted to us, and we are going to hire you back." I was grateful, and then I thought, "Well all that drama just to be called back into the same position."

But I am going to go back for this at least one more year I have. And then it looks like next spring, there will be more budget cuts on horizon. Of course, it's not a guarantee that I'm going to be laid off again next spring, but it's looking pretty good.

I've got a little notebook I'm keeping all my new adventure options in and I've got a different page for all my brainstorming activities. I had a page of, "Here's going to be my new tutoring business, here's going to be my Ph.D program, then here is my other options, like "Oh, what if I worked for Apple and I trained teachers on how to use iPads?" I could do that.

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