Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Valentine's Day Freebie

Well... love it or hate, Valentine's Day is just around the corner.  Strange things happen in a high-school on Valentine's Day.... and it seems that at some point in the day I find someone in tears. (Usually a girl... upset with a boy, who has quite likely forgotten or didn't understand that he should have done something to mark the occasion.) 

Teen love is so sweet and so hard to understand sometimes.  Today, I had a student tell me that she and her boyfriend had been together almost two years and were sooooo excited to celebrate their anniversary.  Being polite, I asked when their "anniversary" was.  I'm proud to say that I didn't burst out laughing when she said excitedly "Oh... it's October 18th".   Just goes to show it's all about perspective!

Here's a Valentine's Day Freebie to start off the Valentine's Day Season.  A fun writing prompt, poetry starter, art project or just as classroom decor! 

Thanks!
Addie

Monday, January 30, 2012

A New Classroom Adventure

So I'm very, very excited to have received 20 ipads to use with my senior Geography, Social Studies and English classes... and to say the students are also excited would be an understatement!   I unveiled them last week to the students and decided to just give them some time to "play"... there was no way I was going to be able to get any sort of "work" out of them!  They were positively giddy to get started.

Here are some of the highlights of our ipad adventure to date.

1.  The camera feature is FUN... and taking silly photos of yourself (even if you're 18 and think you're sooooo cool) is SUPER FUN!  I don't think I've heard so much hysterical laughing in ages!

2.  If you don't erase all of the embarassing photos of yourself that you've taken in the ipad Photobooth, the next class will find them and then make fun of you for the rest of the day.

3.  Don't tell your students that the "ipads are so locked down you can't change any of the settings so don't waste time trying!".  Someone will try and someone will be able to change the settings.

4.  The apps are incredible!  More on this in an upcoming post when I'll fill you in on some of our favourites.

5.  Setting up the ipads and having them synch to one itunes account takes MUCH, MUCH longer than I had anticipated... like all day! And I only had to set up 20... so if this is something you're thinking of doing, have some technical support lined up.

More on my ipads to come.  If you've got ipads / ipods or something similar, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks,
Addie

Back on Track

Okay... so I'm really going to do it... jump right into the world of blogging!! I'll be a little rocky to start... so please be patient with me.  I plan on using this blog as a place to share my thoughts on teaching and some cool tips and tricks I've picked up along the way.  So please hop on board as I jump into the world of blogging!  More to come in the next day or two as I get organized!! Thanks so much!