The Smartboard Has Arrived

On Friday afternoon a Smartboard was installed in my classroom complete with a projector that is mounted on the ceiling.  I was not in the room for the majority of the installation, but I was curious enough to go visit once.  When I walked in, I saw tools all over my room, two men on ladders working in the ceiling, and a Smartboard hanging on the wall.  My heart skipped a beat.  I am truly looking forward to using the new technology for the first time.  I know that my students will love it as well, but they will have to wait a week or two until I am better acquainted.  Hopefully I will remember everything quickly and be able to get it up and running sooner than I expect.  I truly believe that this will be an amazing tool to add to my already growing repertoire of technology.

Persuasive Writing

     Over the past couple of weeks my students have been writing about newspaper articles and literature in their blog posts, but this week I decided to give them a chance to write about something else.  We have been discussing the various techniques of persuasive speeches by looking at famous orators like Jonathan Edwards, Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Franklin.  To change up the blogs I had each student write about their favorite ice cream flavor while emulating several of the rhetorical devices that we have seen in action this week.
     So far, I have seen students compare their ice cream flavors to God, Heaven, and a Leonardo da Vinci painting.  Popular flavors for discussion include the generic flavors of chocolate and vanilla, but on a more interesting level there is coffee, rocky road, gelato, cookie dough, and avocado ice cream.  After reading the blogs, looking at the pictures, watching the videos, and day dreaming a little bit, I feel the need to go to the freezer and look for some ice cream...too bad I do not have any at home and am too lazy to drive to the store at this late hour.

Blogs in the Classroom

This year I have decided to do an experiment with my AP English Literature and Composition class.  I have each student constructing their own blog to use every week as part of the class.  Their blog will be a way for them to discuss the ongoing topics of discussion as well as the different pieces of literature.  I have never done this before, but have heard of other teachers saying that it has been rather successful within their classes.  I am curious to see how this works, but I really believe that my class will utilize is a tool that helps them to enhance their learning.  Throughout the year I will update on how my class is doing with regard to their blog posts.

Tomorrow I actually start helping the students to set up their blogs and I find that that be an interesting challenge for all that are involved.

Graduate School

For the past couple of years I have been thinking about returning to school to get my Master's degree.  Last year I actually applied for a program, got accepted, signed up for classes, ordered books, and then found out that I needed a credential to be a part of the program.  I was very upset because I really wanted to be a part of the program.  The sad part is that throughout the entire process, from the online literature, the school catalog, the application, and the acceptance letter, not once did it say that a credential was required for the program.  This broke my heart.  I have no intention of getting my credential because I teach at a private school that does not require it.  I have taken and passed all of my qualification tests and that is enough for me.  I want to move on to teaching college and in order to do that I need to get my Masters.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been researching new programs and I finally found one that seems to fit.  Today I started the application process, ordered transcripts, and started to contact people to complete letters of recommendation.  The process should take about three to four weeks and if all goes well, I will start school at the end of August.  My degree will be a MA in Education with an emphasis in Information Technology.  I figured that this would be a great fit for me considering not only my love of technology, but also my desire to bring the use of technology into the forefront withing my classroom.

Here is to hoping that this time it all works out.

Just the Beginning

Last summer I spent the majority of the summer building a website for the first time.  I created kirkmanenglish.wikidot.com.  When my creation was done, it felt like I had given birth to something that I knew would grow up to be a great idea.  Throughout the year I used the site to post homework, information on novels and authors, information on AP testing, and a forum discussion.  Each student was required to post two forum posts each week.  This worked out really well and the students enjoyed having a way to digitally contribute to the class.

Now, a year later I find myself wanting more.  I created a second site for my other AP class and am now considering the idea of using a blog with that site.  I would love to have one class learning the importance of blog writing while the class they take the next year learns the importance of forum posting.  I think that giving my students outlets like this will really help them to discover new things about themselves.

The only problem is that I can't decide how to do it.  Some people suggest doing one class blog that all students contribute to as authors and others suggest having each student make their own blog using sites like blogspot.com or wordpress.com and then linking them all to the main class website.  I am experimenting with both of these options over the summer.  In fact, I have recruited a couple of my students to help with the experimentation and so far they are being really helpful.  Hopefully I will figure it all out before we start classes on August 22nd.