Another one of my ADD posts...

So, I have come to the conclusion that, given my incredible time constraints, I need to just start accepting the fact that my reflective blogging posts will be disjointed, spastic, and somewhat unorganized.  Since I am an English teacher (you know, we're supposed to care about fluency, organization, order of ideas, etc..), you can see why this is a challenge for me.  None-the-less, I will allow myself to "slip" once in a while....

First topic of reflection: Pebble Creek training and writing piece that resulted.
So, this past Wednesday, I went to a training session for the a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y a-m-a-z-i-n-g curriculum that I teach my 9th graders: Pebble Creek.  Now, all jokes aside, I have to admit that the training session was more beneficial than I was expecting it to be, but I'm starting to think that I am just so in love with professional development that I begin to feel euphoric any time I am surrounded by teachers who are discussing teaching... Anyway, during this training, we were involved in a demonstration of different "reading activities."  One of the activities had us reading a passage about the contradictory nature of New Orleans--the celebrated choas of the community.  After reading the passage, the presentor asked us to think of a place that we enjoy, but a place that is not widely glorified by the general public.  My result of this assignment:

“My Home-Away-From-Home"

Okay, so maybe Tech isn’t a five star resort, but it is most definitely one of my favorite places.  Although the cement floors, the lack of walls, and the screaming whistles during passing time warm my heart, these traits fall far from warming the hearts of the general public.  You see, to the outside world, Tech is simply a “terrible school,” or a place that “has a long way to go.”  These types of descriptions cut deep into my soul—after all, this school represents everything that I am passionate about, and everything that I have worked by butt off for: education.  It really is a shame that the media attention our school usually gets tends to focus more on the “punch” rather than on the family of students and staff who work hard to prevent that punch, or stop it after it has been thrown.  The struggles that occur within the walls of our building are real—they are dramatic, authentic, and fundamental, and they help us develop as a tightly knit family.  It really is a shame that most of the outside world never has the chance to witness the laughter, joy, support and growth that occurs everyday inside our home.  So, instead of rejoicing at the reporting of serious successes, we have developed a bond over our own secret: we are great!

After sharing this with the group, I was encouraged by a few of my peers to send this into JSOnline for submition.  My immediate thought was, "Why bother?" but after some further consideration, my thoughts changed to, "Why not?" So, I emailed the editor.  HE EMAILED ME BACK.  Turns out, he forwarded my email to the editor of the "opinions" section of the paper, and she is going to use it as a letter for the opinion section on Monday!  I'm totally pumped!  Not only am I pleasently surprised by the quick response from JSOnline, but I am so excited to have my writing, and my school positively displayed in a local publication! :)

Second order of business: My To Kill a Mockingbird Webquest
So, we had final exams this week, and Monday is the offical start of "Term 2" (which, in block scheduling, is like a new semester).  I decided that instead of starting my tenth graders with Julius Ceasar, I am going to begin the semester with To Kill a Mockingbird instead (I DEEPLY love this novel!).  So, I decided to make a webquest as an introduction to the unit, and as a way of providing my students with some context and historical background information.  I'd love it if you checked out my site and offered me feedback! Also, please feel free to borrow any of its contents!

My WebQuest: http://web.me.com/stevesampson/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_WebQuest/Home.html

And finally, I want to reflect a bit on the awesome banking day I had today!  We had an opportunity to engage in different workshops within the academies in our school today.  I began the day in Mr. Sinclair's workshop.  Mr. Sinclair is in my academy (construction) and I wanted to spend time learning about the different projects that my students create in his class, so I made sure to sign up for his workshop.  Well, I left his classroom (90 minutes later!) with a fully soldered pipe!  Now, this is not just any pipe, this pipe is a 90 degree, copper plumbing pipe!  It was so fun to create something (and to use torches and melted metal).  After the soldering, I moved on to the manufacturing academy to make an aluminum key chain with a laser and computer program.  As soon as I walked into that classroom, I immediately wished I would have discovered it earlier!  Our school is so blessed to have all of the amazing resources that we have!  I mean, I got to operate a moveable robot with a computer!  It was so fun!  Then, I used the computer software to create a logo for a license plate border and a key chain.  After I created the images, I uploaded them onto the appropriate computers, and cued a special machine to imprint the images onto the appropriate materials (it used a laser... talk about high tech!).  Moral of the story: we have some pretty amazing things going on at our school!  Also, I have a new found respect for the construction teachers... especially the ones who teach soldering and welding... I don't know if I could spend everyday around a room full of teenagers with flames and torches!