A Bit About Me

Students have completed this short project for my class over the last couple of years., This year they asked me to complete a copy.  Here it is:

I think it is important to build connections and let the students see “behind the curtain” if you will.  We as teachers are not perfect, we make mistakes, and we enjoy life outside of the classroom.  Students need to see those characteristics in us.

StickTogether II

Well, my first attempt at a StickTogether for my Honors class can be considered a success.  It was completed quickly…by one student.  I am rolling out another StickTogether, however this time I am limiting the number of attempts per day to give others a chance to participate.

Here is the image from the first StickTogeher.

Chaos of Choice

This past week in class I had my students begin preparing for a Discussion Board assignment: straightforward, direct, rather basic discussion board assignment: they were going to respond to a classmates’ initial discussion board post.

There was one catch…they had to get approval from me as to whose post they would be responding to. As I suspected, they all wanted to respond to their best friend’s initial post. I shot that idea down and made them choose another student’s post to respond to. That is when CHAOS reared it’s mischievous head. Students asked for the same friend a couple of times, others asked for their “other BFF” from class, several tried to argue/debate the reasons why they should be allowed to respond to their friend, others inquired repeatedly as to why they could not respond to their friend, and other students went back to their seats and sulked.

The purpose for my not letting them respond to their “BFF’s” initial discussion board post was to get them out of their comfort zone and to have the interact with other students. Being able to comfortably, confidently, and appropriately interact and respond to others is a necessary skill. And in my not so humble opinion, it is becoming a lost art. I attempted to explain this to the classes, unfortunately my message was not making much headway.

A number of students then wanted me to pick the post they were to respond to. That was also something I did not want to do. The students were encouraged to read over the initial posts again and choose a post that they connected with. Just not a connection based upon being friends with the student. They were to focus on the message, not the author. It took some coaxing, but eventually they came around and chose another post to respond to, even if it was only grudgingly.

In the end the students overcame their angst and the CHAOS settled down. Students used this GUIDELINE to form their responses and overall did a great job for their first attempt at responding to others in a discussion board format.

Wednesday April 1 Assignment and Class Update

Day Three Assignment. ALL SUBJECTS. The video directions are embedded below the written directions.

For today’s assignment,, we are going to try and have a little fun.  We have a multi-part assignment:

First, how confident are you in moving forward with content in the course?   Give me a detailed answer and explain why you feel the way you do. Your answer should be several sentences to a paragraph in length.  By content we will move forward with readings.  I will give you reading guides along with Google Docs and the online text.  I can add video notes/short descriptions to explain topics to go along with the readings. 

Second, what has been your favorite (school appropriate) song over our most recent break?   Go to YouTube and grab the share link from your favorite song. Once again, please make sure it is school appropriate.  I want to create playlists from your submissions.

As with Day One please submit your reply to this assignment via email or in Edmodo by noon Friday.You may reply to this email, or send me a separate email, or respond in Edmodo.

Type:  DAY TWO ASSIGNMENT across the top of your email.

In the spirit of the assignment, Here is my favorite tune from break…https://youtu.be/HUobIqf3tdk

It is a throwback to the 1980s, but the overall playlist is from the 1980s through the mid 2000s.

I will share other links randomly with posts just to help break up the monotony of the stay at home order.