Life is Good!

This is not just an endorsement for a company - it's an endorsement for a deliberate choice I have made to look for the good, the encouraging, and the quirky in my life.

Loons on a Lake

Loons on a Lake

Friday, September 21, 2012

More STS 11

I forgot the pop pop boat!
http://youtu.be/p-M9KUbxxfk
This is not the video my student showed - but it is similar. He also stayed up late last night to build one, and says it works but not as well as he would like. I think we should let students build them during the FCA football tournament and have races!

Science and Technology in Society 11

This class is a series of challenges for me to teach, and I'm having a great time learning what works to inspire this particular group.
I really want each student to understand that STEM matters - that is - these are topics which effect their every day lives.
So today was a "show-and-tell day. Students brought examples of Science/ Technology which they thought was cool and told us why.
See if you agree.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-08/armys-new-weapon-against-soldier-suicides-anti-depressive-nasal-spray





http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443779404577643981045121516.html

Next week I hope that other students in class also bring news or ideas to share.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Happy New Year!

I have been a student or a teacher (or both) most of my life. This means that tomorrow is the New Year's Day which most resonates. New classes, new students, new teachers, new routines. Some years there are new books, new lockers, new clothes. Always there are new promises.
I relish the opportunity to make new promises to myself and the people around me. Last school year was so overwhelming that the promises were more survival techniques than anything else. Not so this year. This year I will have a planning period every day. EVERY DAY! I will have time to find the wonderful video clips, the interactive software, the free downloads I like to use to illustrate my lectures. I might even have time to learn to use the Smartboard more productively. There is a hope that my classroom wiki will actually function efficiently this year.
This year I can make promises to myself, not just to my students.
 

I promise to search for beauty on my drives between school and home.
I promise to NOT spend so much time at school that I'm too tired to enjoy the rest of my life.
I promise to find ways to contribute to my neighborhood.

Three new promises are plenty. If I made 10 I would have no hope of keeping them all, and if I only made one I would not really feel the challenge.