Summer learning, had me a blast!

Summer is hot and so is my personal growth. Corny I know, but accurate. I am having an amazing summer of learning. Check out some of the things I've been doing.

@Professional
June 16 and 17th, I attended the Georgia Virtual School Summer 2011 Professional Learning Symposium. I learned to use some great tools and about some great practices. Check out my live binder of sites and tools:
http://livebinders.com/play/present?id=123636

I also presented on using Screenr in the virtual classroom to leave feedback and personalize communication with students.

Using screenr in the virtual classroom

View more presentations from Abigail Jackson

@Learning
I started my first class at Valdosta for my EdS in Instructional Technology. I'm taking a course entitle "Atomic Learning". Essentially, I get to pick three software packages or online services that I will study and learn to use. For my first lesson, I selected GarageBand which is a phenomenally easy to use product. Read my reflection for more information.

AAJ Workshop 1 Reflection

I do plan to complete another lesson which is not required. Because GarageBand is a MAC specific product, and I have PC, I will need to learn to use Audacity to make pod casts. I'm also exploring using my I-pad to produce pod casts for use my classroom.


@Home
We finished our back patio. It is beautiful. I hung my hammock swing that I have stored since Davin John got married in Mexico, six years ago. It is so worth it!

Trey's new playground (http://www.target.com/Adventure-Playsets-Patriot-Wooden-Swing/dp/B003XECGQG/ref=huc_ic_2_pn) arrived yesterday. We'll be hiring someone to assemble it, because I want to stay married. Trey and I are both so excited and are planning a "break in the playground" soiree!

I also finished working on the front porch. I bought some really pretty wicker furniture for the front porch, two fabulous 4 foot high urns, and an outdoor rug. It's lovely. I feel like I am in the islands.

For father's day, I bought two wireless speakers. I plan to make a marvelous diner for my family, sit on my patio, and listen to my favorite music.

@Athletics
My women's 3.0 USTA team finished 2nd in the state championship last month. It was an awesome weekend with good friends and amazing tennis.

We have started the summer 3.5 season. We lost our first match 2-3, but our opponents lost the following week and we took five lines. We are now in second place in the division. We are still in it and I am looking for another fence sign!

Spring forward

The days are getting longer and brighter.   This Spring Break has been a nice taste of the summer to come.  Longer days mean more opportunities to make things happen.   I’ve got big plans!

@Professional

I’ve been using a contact management web tool , www.verticalresponse.com, to contact parents, students and facilitators via e-mail.  Amongst its many great features, I particularly like the data on how many recipients not only opened the e-mail, but how many clicked on any of the embedded links.  On average, only 4 out of 40 students are even opening up the e-mail.  I would venture that this might have some correlation to the dismal grades this semester.

In my most recent e-mail, I used live binder (www.livebinders.com) to create a collection of websites as a resource for improving French students’ pronunciation.  I provided details about how to use each site to listen to native speakers.  To make things even easier and convenient, I create a QR.  Students can take a picture of the QR with their phones.  The phones will automatically take them to the livebinder (http://livebinders.com/play/present?id=88228) of pronunciation resources.  They can then book mark the folder or send the URL to their e-mail address for later use.

Within the course itself, I used Google maps to help student make a virtual, street view of Notre Dame.  As differentiation for the “My Visit to Paris Unit”, I invited student to tour Notre Dame using Google maps and poised several questions.  Student can choose from three of the five following questions and post their thoughts in our discussion forum.   I tried to create thought provoking, higher order questions and discussions.

1. What three facts can you compile about the church just from your Google map tour?
2. How would you change the design of this historic church?
3. What judgments would you make about how and when this church was built?
4. How would you prioritize your tour of the church?  What would you look at and why?
5. How would you evaluate the construction of this church from an artistic and architectural point of view?

On Tuesday 4/14, I attended a Google sponsored webinar on using Google maps for education purposes.  They demonstrated how to create personal maps and to customize those maps.  You can add points to the map and insert new descriptions, video, pictures, and maybe even audio.  You can also create a virtual, street level walk.  I was thinking of using this as an option and sample for the student's Paris blog project in Chapter 9 of my French 2 class at GAVS.

@Home

I am enjoying time with Trey.  I am planning a back yard make over with patio, fire pit and play area for Trey.  He needs to be able to go out back and play in the sunshine on slides and swings.

We are expecting dad in town this weekend.  We are going to Braves-Phillies game.  I love visits with Dad to renew bonds, but am sure to be the butt of much teasing.

I am going in for minor outpatient surgery in a few weeks so trying to make lots of freezer meals for the boys.  While I love the warm weather, most of my freezer meals are cold weather food.  I hope that we get one more cold blast.

@Athletics

I am playing way too much tennis.  I should make other things, like housework, a priority.  However, I get outside and burn some calories.  I am definitely in good shape and loving it.

Ground strokes are coming along nicely.  I am getting more pace, spin, and depth on both forehand and backhand.  First serve is going long a lot.  My second serve is a disaster.  No one wants to play doubles with me because they are getting pegged at the net. I am working on the kick serve for the second.  I hope it come along a little more quickly.

Davin and I are talking about doing the rock and roll marathon in Savannah on November 5.  That means I’m going to have to start running again.  It’s been almost a year since I was following a regular training plan.  Think I can get Trey to ride his bike on the greenway while I run on most mornings this summer.  We’ll need to get into a good pattern.  I am going to be sore.

Want to play with me?

An interesting and busy week.  The wheels have been set in motion for many life changes.  I will keep things moving along with a vision of the good things to come.

@Work

I found a fabulous website that allows me to make extremely polished weekly e-mail blast to parents.  The site, Vertical Response, has a ton of templates and features the ability to personalize e-mails.  I sent out my first this morning.  It included great graphics, links, and video information for parents and students.  I hope that it helps improve their grades by virtue of having more informed parents.  We have only 5 weeks left in the course and the majority of my students are not doing as well as I would hope.

I took the GACE in Economics this past Saturday.  I over-prepared.  It was much easier than the test preparation materials.  I suppose it's best to be over prepared.  I should hear about my results in a few weeks.  I believe that an additional area of certification will make more more marketable to high schools.  Perhaps it will open another avenue at GAVS for a full time position.

I attended a fabulous Softchalk webinar.  The presenter spoke about theme-ing training for teachers as games.  She had created a "mission impossible" type theme.  I may borrow this idea in the French 1 development.  It helps to make the measurement outcomes very practical and performance based.  I thought I could produce "Mission possible:  I want to be an exchange student."  Some of the assessment could include completing an application with essential personal information in French, reading a letter from your host family, and writing a letter to your host family.  I'm spending a lot of time working on the idea (see Popplet)

 

@Home

I'm getting back into the swing of things.  I don't like house work.  I have a hard time tearing myself away from the computer/work to get anything done around the house.  I LOVE my new i-pad and am using it to help.  I downloaded a fabulous day-timer application and am budgeting my time down to the hour.  I hope that it will keep me on track.  I need to balance my life a little better.

I'm back in Trey's class room.  I volunteer once a week to make copies and work with a reading group.  I love eating lunch with him on Friday's and seeing him in action at school.  He really is very smart and has made great progress in reading and math.  I can't wait until he takes the CRCTs so that we can see what grade level he is now.  He counted to 100 by 4 just for fun in the car yesterday.  I can't help but be impressed.

His 6th birthday is this Thursday.  I'm bringing in a cookie cake to class.  We have a bowling party scheduled for April 16.  I've hired someone to make a Lego Star Wars cake.  She is a phenomenal cake designer and I'm very excited to see what she produced.

@Sports
I played three matches this past week.  I went 1-2.  Not so great...but I am learning and growing.  The A7 ALTA match was an education.  I am certain that playing at this level will help me to improve my footwork and resetting.  I just need to relax and breathe.

Making Things Happen

Sometimes things just all come together for me....and sometimes they don't. This week was a particularly good one. I have set off on some journeys that are bound to be challenging and offer fantastic opportunities.

@Work
Now that I've completed my long term sub assignment at WFHS, I am re-focusing me efforts at GAVS. A sad majority of my students online are struggling to be successful, so I am starting several campaigns to improve their grades. Conversations, verbal assessments, weigh heavily in their grade. Students seem to put off completing these assignments. I believe it's because they are intimidated. In order to ease the pressure, I've tried to offer a number of means to satisfy this requirement:
Elluminate: Students can log on to my online office hours and complete their conversations live and in person. This is the method that I prefer as I can provide coaching and live feedback. Students also have the opportunity to remediate if they are unsuccessful. Some students find Elluminate difficult to use or don't have convenient internet access during these hours.
Audacity (www.audacity.com) is free downloadable software that can create mp3s. Students can use their computers and this free software to crate mp3s and upload them to the GAVS drop boxes. Audacity is an amazing tool, but exporting mp3s requires using a plugin and some students do not understand how to install software.
Voicethread (www.voicethread.com) is an phenomenal online story telling mechanism. You simple upload photos or videos to the site and then comment on them. I have uploaded images with the conversation questions and discussion pictures. This is an easy method. Several students are using this web 2.0 application.
Google Voice (www.google.com/voice) is a free web application. Students can call my Google Voice account. When they call,they can leave a voicemail recording of their conversation. This message can be downloaded as an mp3 from Google. I then download the recording and attach it to my feedback in the conversation dropbox at GAVS.

I am desperately trying to make this a easy and accessible as possible for students. I'm even making a series of "How to" videos for each of these methods. I plan to send one video each day, every day this week.

I am taking the GACE, the Georgia state teacher certification exam, in Economics this week. While I'm confident that I can pass the test, I still feel the need to prepare. Professionally, my efforts this week will be on reviewing the body of knowledge tested in the GACE. I'll be spending 2-3 hours per day. The test is on Saturday.

@Home
This week is "Get Your Act Together Week". Since I've been working two jobs, the house has suffered. I have piles of laundry to fold and need to vacuum. I just need to come up with a way to consistently do three or four home management tasks each day so that, by the end of the week, the entire house has been cleaned and organized. More to follow on this strategy.

Trey's birthday is next week. We are preparing for a bowling shin-dig. I've ordered a Lego Starwars cake that I can not wait to see. Pictures to follow. Little man is about to turn six. It hardly seems possible. He grows taller, smarter, and cuter everyday.

@Sports
I started in five tennis leagues this week. Love the tennis madness. I am really starting to develop a swing and some power. I am focused on mastering a second kick serve this season.

So far, I'm 1-2. Davin and I won our first mixed match in the Ultimate Tennis League, but lost in a three setter on Friday night in the USTA 7.0 league. Both were great matches. I also lost at line 2 of my Thursday women's ALTA day league. Didn't play my best, but had some nerves starting off the season. I hope to improve my record this week.

The deadline to register for the USTA 3.0 state championships is Monday at 3 pm. I am hand delivering my team's registration tomorrow. Hopefully all of this league play will equate to an awesome showing at States.

Good...better......great

What a fabulous week!  I love when all my planing and efforts comes together in an exciting and wonderful way.  This week was the culmination of much of my professional work.  Good things have happened!
WFHS

Student Work Sample

This was my last week at WFHS.  I had so much fun and have grown so much by being back in the classroom.  I ended my eight weeks at WFHS with a belated Mardi Gras celebration in my French classes.  It was very rewarding to see the students passionately seek out learning independently.  I gave them very little direction and few requirements.  I only told them that they had to present some aspect of Mardi Gras or Francophone carnival celebrations.  I also asked them to include references and gave them a few examples of possible lines of research.  Most students produced excellent PowerPoints.  Students presented research on music, dance, food, symbols, and historical figures.  I was particularly impressed by a group of three students who presented the history of the Mardi Gras theme song and then, with a clarinet and key board, performed it for us live.  I am working on uploading a video of their performance.  It was deeply fulfilling to observe their enthusiasm.

The best part of my week was a phone call from one of my student's parents.  She called to thank me for helping her son.  He had failed Spanish 1 and had a failing grade when I arrived in Spanish 2.  When I left this week, he had a low B.  He had told her that I, ".... just made him understand things."  I honestly attribute the progress that "my" students made to the use of graphic organizers.  I presented the information in many different ways, and then reviewed and summarized the information in a graphic organizer.  This practice works and I am so fulfilled knowing that I was able to help my students grow and learn.  Given that I don't know Spanish all that well, I feel very accomplished.

GAVS

The Writing Process

I'm really benefiting from reading BLOGS.  I found a great one (The Rapid E-learner) and have been learning a tremendous number of graphic tricks that I am using in my class.  I created two news announcements that I think will really catch my student's eye.  This might sound a rather superficial effort to help, but I've tried many other avenues to convey these messages.  I'm hoping that these graphics will catch their attention long enough that the message gets through.

How to Succeed in Class

I made this graphic using PowerPoint and using some of the tricks presented by the a fore mentioned blog.  I can not know why, but my students seem to "forget" the writing process.  They either skip the steps or begin the process and then stop.  I need to examine the possible reasons for this.  I do think that the directions can be presented more clearly, maybe using a graphic like this with hot spot links to the documents and D2L tools required to complete the process.

Personal

At home, things continue to be busy and productive.  Trey had a jump rope fund raiser at school.  He practiced jumping all week.  Davin went in to school and surprised Trey by jump roping with him.  I am so grateful to have such a loving husband and good father like Davin.  Trey absolutely giggled with delight telling me about the experience.

The big tennis Mardi Gras party is tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to some team tennis.  I managed to get everything prepared and will take lots of pictures.  The weather looks good and we should have a great day!

I have also been busy getting all the paperwork and other preparations for the USTA state 3.0 tournament in May 5-9 in Rome, GA.  Looks like most of the team will be going.  Should be fabulous fun!

Next week is the start of the ALTA women's tennis season.  I'm playing line 2 on my Thursday women's team.  I'm looking forward to getting back in shape and enjoying my days.  I think my days as a stay-at-home mom/tennis player are numbered!

I submitted my admissions essay to Valdsota State University.  I am applying for admission to the EdS in Instructional Technology program.  Wednesday is the deadline for all admission's materials.  Hopefully I will hear quickly about my application.  Think good thoughts on my behalf!