Overwhelmed--but the good kind of overwhelmed

Three days ago I finished my fourth AP Summer Institute and I have spent all free moments of the past days reading, planning, plotting, and revamping my course syllabus. I have an incredible amount of resource material that I am enjoying going through. My husband went fishing and playing golf on this holiday weekend--hobbies he loves. And rather than shopping or knitting or playing tennis, I love to read and plan. The challenge of attempting to ensure ALL students will learn everything they need to know about reading and writing and speaking and listening is one I love to take on. I want all of my students to love to read as I do and to embrace the challenge of analyzing texts with confidence. Not much to ask, right?

Finally Finished My Dissertation!

Well, it has been a long process, but I've finally finished my doctoral dissertation! Since teaching reading (and writing) to high school students is my passion, I can say it was a labor of love! Click on the link below to view my dissertation: 

MOTIVATION FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO READ:

DIFFERENCES AMONG STUDENT PERCEPTIONS AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STUDENT AND TEACHER PERCEPTIONS

Students learn from students: Teachers learn from teachers

I have just returned from one of the best learning experiences I've had in a while. The Kentucky Council of Teachers of English is an excellent venue for teachers to learn from other teachers.

The many lessons and the practical advice available at conference such as this one are what keep me on my toes. I have a million ideas floating around in my head thanks to the conference. I CANNOT WAIT to put them into practice! Through experiences such as this conference, I am reminded how valuable students learning from other students can be.

A Digital Immigrant Teaching Digital Natives

Once again it was a great day in English class. Today I introduced a new presentation program to the students. I showed them an example and told them to Google the name. They jumped right in! They created presentations in which they embedded text, pictures, and video, and then they embedded those presentations into the class Wiki. This whole process took less than 90 minutes. The presentations are admittedly brief, but I can say that it took me WAY more than 90 minutes to create a comparable presentation the first time I used the program.

These kids are immersed in technology and familiar with the apps and processes—a definite advantage! All I do is tell the students what I’d like for them to create, and they just find a way to do it. Quite an amount of critical thinking is involved.

So, I’m attempting to leave my immigrant status behind. Wish me luck!

"Neither rain, nor snow, nor EARTHQUAKE..."

I've seen my share of dedicated students, but Friday's events displayed a dedication I did not think I would ever witness.

We had our mandatory routine earthquake drill Friday. I knew it was coming and expected the announcement at precisely 10:00. Then I would give the students their vocabulary quizzes and we could get on with all our important learning for the day. As the minutes ticked by, I was helping them review--I could not stand that students were being cheated out of their educational time. After about six minutes, I could no longer stand it, and I passed out the tests. A few minutes later, the announcement came, and the students dutifully climbed under their desks to await fake destruction. After the initial excitement of the new seating arrangement wore off, students became bored, and I noticed a few of them reaching above them to their desk tops and pulling their tests to the floor. They were so motivated to learn that they could wait no longer! I commented on their dedication, and upon hearing my amazement, all the students followed suit and were taking their quizzes on the floor.

Some more cynical readers may comment that students were in a hurry to finish their quizzes before they forgot the information; however, I choose to believe they were prepared to work, even through a natural disaster, because they know how important their education is :).

Wow! This is going to be an INCREDIBLE semester!

The beginning of a new semester is generally an exciting time--at least for me. I am the type of person who LOVES the first day of school. Shopping for supplies makes me happy :)  I also like meeting new groups of students and outlining all the books we're going to read, the projects we're going to do, and the writing we're going to tackle. The best part is the sigh of relief I hear from the students when I tell them that is all doable and that we are going to get through this semester together.

On the first day of school I told the students about our blogging project. I provided very general information about the purpose--composing a thematic, purposeful, and creative set of postings that would interest readers and last throughout the semester. I asked them to begin thinking about what their themes might be and intended to provide specific directions next week so they could begin.

But guess what happened.

On the next day, I had one student show me her blog. She had already decided on her topic and could not wait to begin. I found that another student had already begun posting to the blog on our Ning site--without threats (ha ha). Could any gift be any better than that one for an English teacher? Students who could not wait to begin writing! I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

So, with this much enthusiasm, I am anticipating some great blogs and hope you enjoy experiencing this group's writing exploits.