Waiting for the train

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at market street east station then we will hike up midvale ave to school in time for our 2pm finish. It has been a great day exploring the city.

Mascot st reading terminal market

30th st station

From here it is back on the subway to the reading terminal market for lunch

Tamend statute at penns landing

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Riding the subway

We are on our way to penns landing then back on the subway to 30th street station

Bollywood movie

At independence library

Love park

The amazing race has begun

Waiting for the 32 bus to town

Knitting project done

After months of meeting in my office during lunch and flex the project we began in October is finally done. It was quite challenging trying to put the squares together so they fit. Crocheting is not my favorite. The girls are now working on a finger knitting project that they will use to yarn bomb a chair or bench in the building

April assessment time

6th grade has been a challenge having only one class every other week. But they came through with flying colors on their documentary projects. They have even been engaged in discussing their "media lives". Today they are taking the first of three online assessments that will let me know how well I did with them. It will also let me know where the gaps are so I can tailor their 7th grade tech curriculum.

Is it really November?

OMG I can't believe it is only two week to Thanksgiving.  I have been so focused on my new 6th grade class that I didn't realize the time.  With tennis season over and my two online graduate classes I teach finished there is actually time to breathe.

My new 6th grade educational technology (edtech) class is both exhilarating and frustrating at the same time.  I spent the summer working on bringing some cool tools to the classroom only to find, upon my return that I only had 30 minutes a week to work with the students.  THIRTY MINUTES - you can't do tech projects in 30 minutes.  Just taking out the computers takes up 5.  Another 3-5 to settle the kids down, 5 minutes to log off and return the laptops to the cart.  That's half the class time.

So the teacher and I who share the one hour block have shifted to every other week for each of us to have the hour.  My plan was to have the week I don't meet with the students in class to do their assignments online via Edmodo.

Who knew the 6th graders would be so resistant to doing the assignments.  Is it because the class is not graded?  Is it because this particular class of 6th graders is so young and immature that they don't get the homework piece?  Apparently they are not doing their homework for the other teachers either.  They are however chatting away on Edmodo about everything except homework.

Of course there are those students who are embracing the technology and are using it well and doing all of the assignments.

No matter what carrot I hold out to encourage their participation it just isn't working.

We have been working on a digital storytelling unit since the second week in October.  I have been trying to engage them in conversation on how to put together a digital story. Ideas, storyboard, appropriate images and video, text, fonts, colors and video editing.  A lot to accomplish before winter break in December meeting only every other week.  Not to mention one of my three groups I only get to see once in November because of days off and other school related activities.  They have a documentary project coming up in Jan/Feb that I am afraid they will not be ready for.

I am FRUSTRATED.  For the group I am only seeing once this month I created a video podcast of the lesson and sent it off to them.  Let's hope they come back to class ready to move on with videotapping.

It seems when I am at  my most frustrated point in school I am at my most focused with my knitting.  The summer is when I am free to knit to my hearts content and spend all of my free time with my knitting friends.  But once back at school my knitting comes to a grinding halt until tennis season is over.

With 5 projects on needle I have been working a bit of each at one time.  Finally I have settled on one project to focus my frustration upon.  After making my first lace scarflette this summer I was certain I was ready for a more challenging yarn over project.  It may be that I bit off more than I can chew with Knit One Crochet Two's Athena Tank but I am determined to complete it and give it to my daughter by the December holidays. 

How many times have I ripped out the lace panel until I got it right?  I needed a lifeline to salvage at least some of the work.  My thought process kept telling me there was an error in the lace pattern but did I look online to see if there were any corrections?  Of course not.  Not until at the end of last weekend I had an epiphany and checked.  Okay so the error was one I guessed at but did I lose a stitch along the way?  I was certain the panel needed 28 stitches not 27.  So when no one was looking I kf&b on a stitch and the panel finally got completed.

Along the way I found JKnitHD and KnitEvenly apps to make my life a bit easier.  I just love my iPad.  With JKnit you input the pattern into the app and then the app spits it back to you one line at a time.  Charts are supposed to make life easier but this one was driving me crazy.  The extra time I spent inputting the pattern was worth it.  The KnitEvenly app was a gimme I found while on Jknit's website.  Trying to figure out how to evenly space increases on either a flat or round piece made my head spin.  The app does the work for you and then line by line feeds you the info.  Maybe I will rip out the sleeve I did for Jessie's sweater and redo it using this app as my guide.

The front of this piece is going to be just as challening as the back.  Not only do you have to do 20 rows of the lace pattern but you have to decrease for the arm hole and neck edge at the same time.  I had to write that one on paper and then input it into JKnit.

With all of my frustrations being focused on this project I returned to school today much calmer about my 6th grade class.  I just need to make corrections to my lessons, just like I made corrections to the pattern, to get the results I need.

Comment writing time

While the kids went to lunch three of my colleagues went to their favorite coffee shop to write their mid trimester comments.

Williamsburg day 2

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Weather is still humid but it seems to be clearing. The sun actually showed itself around 11 am.

Today we divided into 4 groups and had a guided tour of the town. In and out of various buildings including the capitol, the print shop and the builder. The docents are great with the kids and really bring the flavor of the 18th century to life.

I especially liked it when the kids took turns bringing up a bucket of water from the well. It took 3 students and the guide to pull up one bucket. During colonial times it tool one person numerous times a day to bring up the water.

Lunchtime then it's on to Jamestown.

Williamsburg day 1

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It was a long ride on the bus in the rain. Fortunately the were tired, having had to get up before dawn to come to school to catch the bus. Watched a couple of movies on the way

We finally arrived around 12:30 at the hotel. For some of these kids it's their first time in a hotel without their parents. After unpacking and eating the brown bag lunches they brought we were off to the colonial city. It was still raining.

As one would suspect of young teens raincoats and umbrellas were an afterthought.

But inspire of it all the students walked the colonial city and presenting the information they researched for a particular building.

PreK graduates

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I'm a proud grandparent. And now the kindergarten grads

Physics 500

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Cardboard race cars here is one of the heats

Physics 500

Cardboard race cars here is one of the heats

Summer Vacation...

is almost here. I can't wait to head down to the house in Florida and settle in for some daily workouts, swimming and uninterrupted knitting. Throw in some golf and a few parties and summer vacation is perfect.

However this year we are taking a short detour before heading south and going east to central Europe. We will start with 4 days in Prague then head to Nuremburg and A riverboat cruise down the Danube ending in Budapest. To help with keeping track of our travels I have created a Google map I have included some information on each of the pin markers so you can learn a bit about each city we are visiting. Along the way I will do daily blogs with pictures to keep you updated on our travels.

We leave on the 21st of June. Need to call the airline to see if I can take my knitting on the plane. Quantas had a fit when they saw them on our trip to Austrailia.

The end is near....

one more day of classes and we are essentially finished for the 2010-2011 school year. It has been a whirlwind experience and so much fun with Charlie as our interim head. But alas his heart is in the classroom and not in the administrative side of school life. Jay arrives July 1 to take over. I know the faculty is welcoming but after our last experience we are understandably gun shy of someone new.

I spent a lot of time working with my colleagues in PLP and expanding my social networking knowledge. After many, many years I am being given a chance to have my own tech class. What an incredible opportunity to start a fresh class. There are so many topics I want to cover with the 6 graders. But are they up for the challenge? Of course we need to cover all of the Google apps, move them along with searching strategies using tools like Google Wheel, Quizlet comes to mind when thinking about study aids. Prezi is a must - they have got to be tired of powerpoint. DIgital Citizenship is a biggy. I will use Edmodo to work on their social networking skills. No Facebook in school. Of course there is the big documentary project the have so iMovie will take up a chunk of time. I have many more things on my list but I may try to bite off more than I can chew if I am not careful.

The summer will be spent sorting out all of the materials I gathered and sit down and write some concrete lesson plans. They will at least be a guide to follow once the students are in their seats. After that I punt.

It has been sometime that I can honestly say I will miss being in school.

Thank you Ms Jang

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As a thank you to Ms Jang the 6th grade sang a song they learned in their mandarin class.