I really need to go through my files and see what I can upload to the handouts page. I know I’ve come up with some things I haven’t added.
I have now gone to Curriculum Nights for three children and participated in my own, so perhaps my evenings will once again return to some semblance of normal. My middle daughter’s teacher has an interactive white board like I do, and it was interesting to see the parents’ reactions on both nights — so similar. Well, they are pretty cool. My students have been enjoying getting a turn correcting sentences with errors as a warm-up on the SMART Board, and when it gets out of alignment (which is an issue with my projector, not my SMART Board), they think it’s really fun to align it properly.
I’m really glad I started my classroom website a couple of years ago. I think the students and parents really like it, and even though it takes some time to maintain, I think it’s well worth it, especially when students are forgetful or absent, and I can remind them of the resources at their disposal at the website. Last week I made some improvements to it so that it’s even easier to find notes saved from the SMART Board and handouts I’ve uploaded. I have tried to engage students in activities designed to force them to explore the site. Those students who have explored it have told me it’s pretty easy to navigate.
I wrote two Shakespeare units last weekend, so I don’t think I’ll spend any of the remainder of this weekend planning. I am excited, however, at my students’ progress on their Brave New World projects. I am concerned about the progress of one group, but the others are all coming along nicely. I am ready to finish summer reading in all my classes, though. My comma unit went over really well with students, parents, and the faculty members I shared it with, too, so that’s encouraging.
Well, I’m curling up with Rebecca. If you are interested in following my progress with fall books, step on over to my personal blog.
[tags]commas, teaching, education, planning, interactive white board, smart board[/tags]
I read Rebecca this summer and thoroughly enjoyed it. Du Marier does an incredible job of making the reader identify so closely with Rebecca that we see and feel everything she does. The visual aspects of the novel are especially stunning.
Question: On average, how long would you say you spend each day keeping your class blog updated? I am seriously considering starting up a web site for my classes. Our school has an account with Edline, but it's not very accessible to students because it looks nothing like the normal sites and blogs they like to access on their own. Many don't take it seriously. I would probably wait until next year to start one, as my school has some pretty heavy duty filter software, and I want to make sure I build a site that they can access from school. But I'd like to start thinking about it now.