Thursday, July 30, 2015

Can't Sleep, Mind is Racing...

It's that time of Summer again that my mind is racing about the new year.  While I have been prepping all summer long for what's in store, the last few nights have been constant thoughts racing and not sleeping.  So I sit here in the dark, with the screen down at about 25% brightness to jot down my ideas and thoughts.  I hope that this will allow me to get some shut eye.

Thought 1:  Robotics.  This year I will be coaching our Robotics team.  I am very much looking forward to it, but it is going to be a lot of work.  I still need to read up on the new App Inventor System, start planning the trips we want to take, and the rubrics for the work.  The course is a graded trimester elective.  I know FTC has lots of resources out there and I have been looking at them leisurely but now it is time to get to business and formalize it. Also I need to get more adults involved.

Thought 2: DET.  In June, I wrote most of the curriculum during the PBL workshop.  The workshop was fantastic and I mapped out the entire trimester in a formalize manner.  I started the rubrics, formative and summative assessments but still have to finish the map.

Thought 3: Integration.  I want to do more. I always want to do more.  I want to make sure I have meetings with every teacher about their technology goals and how I can support them.  I also want to make sure I continue these meetings.  It sounds like lots of work but this is how I can continue to build the relationships to get others using technology, programming and making.  Futureme.org will be used for this one. I learned about it at ISTE in Philly.  In fact, I plan on sharing this with the faculty about making their own goals and sending them back to themselves.  Sending the emails are great ways to remind us of the goal setting.

Thought 4: Tracking last years good stuff.  I am formulating a way keep track of the great projects I collaborated on.  We work so hard on the projects and they get shared within our community but I always forget to blog about them, or reflect on them.  I want my students to continually reflect so it time that I do.  I sometimes hate putting my words and work on display.  However modeling what I want to happen is crucial. It doesn't have to be perfect.  (I know this isn't since it is Midnight).  I talked about doing this all summer long but finally got the courage to write. I missed the great opportunity to blog about each day of our Maker Camp a colleague and I did a few weeks ago.  Stay tuned I may just catch up on that this week.  I guess I just need to make it a habit to write every day.  That's what the English teachers always express.