Day 1 Post Connectedca

What an exciting day!  I was exhausted from connectEd and then had to stay up late to figure out what and how to bring a new "look to the class.

We sat on the grass in the sun(warm not Calgary) and I talked about the conference.  I was interested in hearing why they were becoming disengaged.  What a fantastic discussion - Just give them a voice and those 10 year olds show they know what is going on.  Got a huge then had an awesome game of soccer.  my team lost 2 - 0.

After break we moved onto the SMART board and chose "boredom" to look at closer.  They decided they needed more hands on from me.  I responded well "what are you going to give me?"  They came up with respect (me and equipment, peers), responsibility for learning and staying on task....

In the pm Science class - project the respiratory system
-task-how do we breathe, and 6 words (trachea, alveoli...).
Goal make an animation on ipads (Animation HD) or use Showme and do voice over describing the breathing process.  GO
45 minutes later 1/2 class is done to about 80% missed on putting in the alveoli.  One of them is attached.
All I did was guide and conference and ask questions.

FRIGGING FANTASTIC

ConnectEdca

 What a weekend!  Overwhelmed by the numbers of very intelligent nerdy educators.  For once I fit in with my teaching philosophies and interest in inquiry learning and technology.  A lot of validation for my practice but also a lot of encouragement to do more and go deeper.

The biggest change I can see in my current classroom is to let the reins a little more loose.  I am doing excellent in the lab and on cloud programs and use.  I am not doing well in the classroom with Socials especially.  Somehow I want to slide more fun and intelligent design into my program.  I almost need to go back into some of my old materials and review them for inquiry focus - they were really fun and gave the students lots of latitude for creativity and curiosity.   Funny this has been a thought of mine for 2 or 3 years now.

I was thinking I might have a paradyme shift this weekend but not so.  It is going to be work to figure out how to go about doing what needs to be done.  I was hoping I could just get it from osmosis.  No such luck.