Summer vacation is finally here... kind of?

I spend all year keeping my head above water with my classes while trying to incorporate all the new things I am learning and think would benefit my students. Any teacher who is like this know how exhausting this is (but very worth it). This year I was the senior class advisor and that means putting on Class Night and helping with Graduation (again, exhausting). It ended at 12:30 for me and at 4:34, I am already wondering how I will spend my summer.

And, buried deep inside me, I already know. I am going to work on both personal and professional development. I am going to focus on writing and how I can help my students write more and better. I am going to read as many books as I possibly can so that I can suggest and converse with my students. I am going to plan new lessons that hopefully will "ooh" and "ah" my students and administration. I am going to go to several workshops to see what everyone else is doing because I feel that is the number one way to improve, plus I will surf the net to see as well.

Summer vacation is another way to say get ready for next school year. It is a good thing, I know and it will only make me better (right?).

So, the first thing, finish the edits Marie sent me on my book. Second thing expand and condense the book. I imagine something like an accordion when I say that. :)

Scrivener

For all the new writers (or even experienced writers) this program looks like it would be great for visual people, like myself. As soon as school is out, I am going to test out the 30 day trial and help with the novel that I am currently working on. I am hoping that will help me "fix" the problems Marie, Nadine, and I are finding.

And on the teacher side, what a great program for a Creative Writing class or for the English classroom in general. It looks like it could really help develop student writing (and mine) and it would be great for students who need the visual map to help them (like me).

http://literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html

Technology in the classroom

For a school grant my colleagues and I have decided to read five mentor texts over the next two months. The first one I have read is "Best Ideas for Teaching with Technology: A Practical Guide for Teachers, by Teachers," by Justin Reich and Thomas Daccord.

My introduction to this text first came from a colleague who works at a college in Erie, PA. She uses it in one of her classes as a way to prep future teachers to use technology. She gave the book rave reviews and with the importance of technology in the classroom, thinks it is a wonderful mentor text.

There were several sections that were the basics in the text, like PowerPoints and the uses, also commands to use in word and identifying plagiarism. I am a high school English teacher and feel that these are fundamentals in a classroom.

A topic that I have been intrigued with for some time is WebQuests. I think the idea of researching, navigating through the web, and having target goals is an innovative way to keep students engaged. The book pointed out education WebQuest sites to help get my barring with the topic. Some of the sites are: www.webquest.org, www.thwt.org/webqueststhinkquest.org and bestwebquests.com

Wikis was another section in the book I found I would be able to use in my classroom. I had minimal experience during a conference but thought the idea of being able to work together in whole class and small group would be wonderful. I thought students would be able to create stories together, edit one another's works, and a chance for all students to "speak" on any given topic. The authors suggested PBwiki.com as a free site to use for teachers.

Another side to the book that I thought was great was a smaller part of the book. It was when the authors would use examples of how to use Wikis, WebQuests, Online research, note taking, PowerPoints, etc. These examples gave me wonderful ideas of what to do and my mind has been working overtime on how to use those smaller suggestions in my classroom.

The text overall is easy to understand and filled with great ideas and concepts.