So much has happened since the last time I wrote. Let's take stock:
1. Some fool ran a stop sign without even slowing down and crashed into my car. End result: all passengers and the other driver are perfectly fine and I have a bit of a bum knee. The doctor wants me to get a scope done, but I'm hoping for the less intrusive MRI. Honestly I'm hoping the anti-inflammatory medicine he has me on will do the trick. Hopeful, but not holding my breath.
2. I've had some interesting PD and I've been heading up a team at work regarding feedback in classrooms. It is definitely a different role for me, and not one I am entirely comfortable with. The moment you speak up about something, all of a sudden you are the expert in that area. I certainly don't feel like an expert. The bonus to the whole thing I guess is that now all of my colleagues talk to me about using feedback; their successes and failures and so I am learning a lot through other people's experiences. It helps me in my own teaching, and also gives me more information to help others with.
3. The literacy camp that I attended and talked about at the onset of this blog is of course happening again this summer, and I've been looking forward to it. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to be one of the facilitators for the science break-out sessions as one of last years facilitators cannot make it this year. I tried and tried to come up with reasons to turn the offer down, and aside from a lack of self-confidence and a terrifying feeling that I won't be able to contribute (ever get that feeling like 'who the hell am I to tell people anything?!'), I couldn't come up with anything concrete, and humbly (and worriedly) accepted. I think this ties back into that blog entry LONG ago about our fears of being discovered as frauds. Well, here it is folks. I'm about to lay all of my cards on the table.
4. Things in my classroom are still slow-going, and of course wrapping up for the semester. I worry about some of my students, but in the end, they have to do the work and there is only so much I can do for them. I've done quite a few things this semester, most of which I will repeat and try to incorporate more into the classroom. I have completely fallen in love with Think - (write) - Pair - Share, and of course, I'm digging various forms of feedback. Can I invent a new term here? Let's call it pre-back. I love (and so do my students) giving kids the entire outline of what they are doing, why they are doing it and how it will be evaluated. When they can look up at a chart and have steps to follow, each of them knows exactly what they need to do in order to get a perfect answer all the time, regardless of the type of question. We are having our walk-through visit with a bunch of superintendents and principals etc and we've been told that they will be asking students questions like "What are you doing?", "How will you know when you are done?", "What will you do if you get stuck?", "How do you know if your answer is right?"... things of that nature. On a whim, whilst my class was being video-taped for some presentation on moderation (I had them doing peer-feedback on a literacy piece from an article they read about static electricity in our science class using success criteria), I decided to start asking those questions. Their answers were awesome. I think I am going to post those questions around my room so I remember to ask students them more often, and so hopefully they will think about that stuff and ask themselves those questions also.
5. I still have to start up this year's incarnation of the robotics club (which I am really looking forward to). I figure I can get the advertising going now, and start up right after exams. I received the kit for the Guelph roboticon and my team is looking to build upon their success from last year's competition.
5. On the home front, my wife has booked a Disney trip for us and the kids and that has occupied a lot of our time with planning, but it has been fun. Busy? Yeah, you could say that. Off to mark some mind maps...
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