Well, here goes a ramble...
The school year just ended and I finally have a moment to sit a reflect. And the first thing I realize is that I am not a blogger by nature. I do really enjoy the experience when I force myself to sit and type...but...oh, yes, that is the issue for me...typing...yikes, no wonder I sympathize with some of my students as they shudder when I say it is time for the lab...
This spring I team taught with Yvonne Mason from South Carolina, using a ning to reach 124 students from Alberta and S.C. while covering the Orwell novel 1984, a move that infused so much passion into my teaching as to leave me totally exhausted, yet so fulfilled...I am very thankful that I had this opportunity to grow as an educator as well as a person. I am also grateful for the very supportive PLN that surrounds me daily - Thank you all!!!
My good friend John and I were asked to deliver a 5 week 'What tech can do for you in the classroom' session for CARC this fall, using Moodle as an instructional platform...exhilarating yet terrifying too. We both despise the sit and be talked to type presentation, the kind that throws a hundred buzz words at the audience, leaving those still awake wondering what they are doing wrong, feeling left behind and out of the loop...we are really trying to infuse hands-on learning into the sessions. We are hoping to use Moodle to give the participants a forum to guide their experience, from pre-reading, to posting questions during the mini-course, to a forum for continuing the learning after the cohort has finished. New experience for me, but really looking forward to it.
John and I were also asked to host a session at our district PD day,as well as one at the Leading and Learning conference this fall in Red Deer. This one really makes me excited, as the great Dr. Alec Couros will be there. I hope that by then John and I will have enough experience to make this one session engaging and sustainable!
So many wonderful events this past year, it seems hard to believe that it has only been 180 teaching days since fall began. My eldest daughter has turned 18, graduated, and has been accepted to a performing arts program this fall...last time I will have her in my classroom, very bittersweet indeed. Hard to think that time can move so slowly some days yet so quickly in terms of years...
I was humbled this spring when I made Vice-Principal. Again, one of those terrifying yet thrilling chapters of my life. I am looking forward to the challenges this new role will bring, and am counting on my friends to keep me grounded and focused. I really hope to bring about some consistency for the staff, and feel that my biggest role will be one of getting a routine in place, one that both the staff and the students know and understand.
As I sit here watching the young white-tail buck in my front yard, I think that the summer is just what I needed to get some energy back. I do have a tons of projects to take up my time, including writing an article for the NCTE English journal with my dear friend Yvonne, to planning out the fall sessions with John, but somehow, just sitting here with a coffee looking at the velvet antlers of the young buck makes everything alright...peace it seems has come home again...this is after all what summer is to teachers I think...
