News from the preschoolers

We have been learning about Noah's ark this week in Hope, BC. I can't decide if all the children lined up on stage singing about rainbows, or 60 little fingers wagging while little voices sing "Don't mess up God's world" is my favorite. I should try introducing our BC forests theme next year with the "Don't mess it up" song. All this is a preamble to my intro to ecology powerpoint.
Ecology
The slideshare tools we have explored this week have added a whole new level of frustration to my life. Anything which takes six attempts and still gives a "Oops, you found an error" message is not worth using. I won't willingly use these tools for several summers. I'll try again after the creators have a chance to work out the bugs. I'm glad that I had a chance to play with the ideas, and am glad that I will know what people are talking about when they mention screencasting, but I'm also very, very glad that I won't have to try to navigate them again any time soon.

Introduction to Ecology Powerpoint

This posting is under construction.
I wish I could post my powerpoint presentation here, but I can't figure out how to do so.

Week 6 from Camp Hope

This week has been busy, almost unbelievably so. Shannon, Caitlin, and I have been setting up the program for three and four year olds which we will be running for the next ten days. This means cleaning, chasing away spiders, sorting, moving furniture, setting up props, and trying to convince administration that we can not run programming for 60+ children while someone else uses the same space to run a women's health seminar for 100 people.
Clearly I need my PLN to ride in to my rescue! Maybe Susan Berrend (Connectivities Lab) could let me watch her children while I'm doing my program, and then we would both have time to do the work for this class.
I've been able to adapt my word document notes for my intro to ecology lecture into powerpoint, but that is as far as I have gotten this week. I'll continue to try over the weekend and into the next week.
Camp Hope has no internet access right now - and, unfortunately, no hope (pun intended) of getting very much bandwidth until after August 2. So, in the interest of working hard on the Webtools course, I am making a real sacrifice - I will drink frozen lemonade in the Blue Moose Cafe so I can access my virtual network of friends.

Thoughts from my PLN

This weekend a couple of things happened which helped me appreciate my virtual learning network. First, as part of the webtools course requirements, I participated in a live elluminate seminar. The topic was clip art for use in interactive online courses. Now, I don't teach any online courses, but I do teach students who occasionally get bored or distracted (rather like me). I did not walk away from this course with ideas I will use as presented, but I did come away with ideas to help make my presentations more learner-friendly.

I learned something else from attending this seminar: I don't multi-task well. I could either listen to the audio presentation, or read the chat, but there was no way I could concentrate on both at once. I know that research shows that students do much less well when trying to study and listen to music, but I watched this in action as I participated. I learned that I need to give my students time to first listen and then look, or the other way around, but to expect both at once is irresponsible.

The other learning event was the outbreak of several fires in the West Kelowna area. Yesterday afternoon a major forest fire broke out near Gorman Brothers Mill. People were evacuated almost right away, and as the fire spread I found myself following AM 1150 on Twitter. I also followed my facebook friends and the radio for news. Telus asked people to refrain from using cell phones except in emergency, so tweets sent by reporters from the front lines were really appreciated. When my son was called up to fight the fire I was able to let all my friends and relatives know. When one of my co-workers feared being evacuated I could see his facebook status; when another told us that her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter were safe, if not allowed home, we all rejoiced; we all knew when two more fires broke out during the evening and night and we all knew to stay away when another fire broke out this morning on this side of the lake. My PLN of virtual friends is almost identical to my PLN I see and work with, but online tools certainly help me keep up with changes.

I'm not sure how helpful this is with shaping how I teach, but it is certainly helpful as I build relationships with the people around me.

I think I can

Mission Creek, the riparian habitat most of my students researched and presented.

The Marine biology station about which I thought they would make their presentation.

Sea kayaking from Friday Harbor. This was another chance to research about intertidal zones.


The desert center in Osoyoos. Two students made presentations about this habitat.


Snowshoeing at Crystal mountain. None of my students made presentations about this habitat either.

I decided this week that I really can use online data in my grade 11 classes. I have been meaning to include stream ecology as part of my grade 11 biology class, but knew that the provincially mandated curriculum really does not include water quality in any of the courses I teach. The concept of making room for something I really enjoy has been germinating for two years - since I took Streamside Science in the summer of 2007. Last summer I took Teaching Ecology, and renewed my conviction to include a more hands-on ecology unit, so I made plans to include a student-generated habitat presentation this spring as a culminating activity. Since I take my grade 11 students to Rosario beach each year, I rather expected that several students would choose to present information about the inter-tidal zone. No one did. Two looked at the desert habitat near Osoyoos which we toured, but most explored the riparian habitat surrounding the river near our school.

Each year I try to improve each of my courses, so this upcoming year I'm going to make a few changes to the major field trip I plan with the class. First, I will tell them about their presentation, complete with the grading rubric, at the beginning of the course. Second, I will remind them as we snowshoe through the alpine habitat that they could use pictures they take, and information both from their textbooks and from other sources to make a presentation on the alpine habitat near our school.

Third, I will add one day (a Sunday) to our four day ecology field trip. This will allow us to continue to include the Osoyoos desert center in our trip, to include a stop in the alpine portion of the north Cascades highway, and to include a little more down time at Rosario marine biology station.


Then, since students are already interested in the riparian habitat, I will include short trips to the water (less than a 5 minute walk from school) during our Terry Fox run in September and during PE training runs once in the winter and once in the spring (assuming that teacher does not object too strenuously). I will be able to have my students work on this project over the course of a year since I teach chemistry as well as math to this same group of students.

Luckily for me I found that the province has a water monitoring station approximately 1km downstream from our collection point, so we should be able to compare our data to the data from the ministry of environment's. I've also found a water monitoring site (World Water Monitoring Day) where my students can share their data with others.

I have been uncomfortable making major changes to a successful program (which our former principal taught for years), but I think a series of small improvements is well within my capabilities. This project will allow me to integrate things I've learned in several of my own classes, and will be a way to help my students make cross-curricular connections as well. I'll adapt and improve my ideas next summer, but this seems like a good start to me.

Musings on Personal Learning Networks

This evening my family and I headed out for a walk to the creek and back. Part of our motivation was the birthday cake we had just eaten,and part of it was the beautiful summer evening. My daughter and I are both taking education courses, and needed the opportunity to talk about the course work as well as the teachers with whom we spend time. My husband and son provided perspective. The musings below are a synthesis of our conversation and my own thoughts.

My PLN does not include very many other teachers. I usually need more help with the academic advising and grad planning than I do with the teaching part of my job. I spend a lot of time finding out what exactly the entrance requirements are for some course that one of my students thinks would be fun. That sort of information changes on a yearly basis, and the career opportunities and educational institutions multiply. I need to have frequent updates to help me learn how to best help my students.

On the other hand, I find that, as an experienced teacher, I am less likely to be impressed by the latest gadget, or newest simulation, or new curricula presented by the Ministry of Education than I was several years ago. I have a pretty good idea of what will fit into my personal teaching style, and am quite selective when incorporating new ideas. This is not to say that I teach the same subject the same way each year, because I definitely do not. My PLN reflects this bias. I have a few people I can rely on for new ideas which will work, one or two people who are good sounding boards, and a few sources which I check regularly. NSTA and NCTM are two sites I check almost every day.

I do need to see the enthusiasm of new teachers, as well as the wisdom of more experienced teachers, but mostly I need to connect on a personal level with the people who form my PLN. For me, that means limiting the number of people I try to follow, but following those people for an extended period of time. My emphasis will continue to be on a Personal, not a Public network.

What have I learned from my network this week? I've learned that the color yellow is perceived differently by different people, that great conversations take place during the summer in our almost empty school building, and that networking for online courses sometimes takes place over paint cans. I've learned the tricks I need to set up tours complete with pictures in Google Earth, and I'm in the process of learning how to use those tours for classroom use. One of my PLN friends suggested that I make a great tour, complete with lots of pictures of my students, to show at parent night to encourage support for my Biology 11 multi-day ecology field trip. It seems like a great idea to me, especially since I'm assured that pictures with people in them won't be posted publically!

simulations and google earth

I've been looking forward to this week since before the course started, and had high hopes for finding math simulations - specifically transformations and translations of quadratics to use with my Math 11 course. I found some, but most seem to be of the "free trial" variety. Since our school budget for these sorts of things is zero, I don't want to try something, decide it would be really useful, and then not be able to use it. I was also hopeful of finding Hardy-Weinberg simulations to use with my Biology 11 students, but so far the biology simulations I've found are cell biology and anatomy and physiology (which are not in my curriculum - they are in Biology 12). I've also looked at several chemistry simulations, and the most helpful of these are also of the "free trial" kind. Clearly I will have to keep looking, and probably sort through a lot of stuff which might be useful to someone else, but not to me.
I know that part of the benefit of taking this class is the time and freedom to explore what is available, but I find that I'm still in "teacher" mode - I feel like I need to find useful simulations quickly.
Google earth will probably wait until my son, Ryan, is home tomorrow. I discovered that I can do some things on my own, but I need a tutor right beside me for other applications. I can find home, and my running route, but I can't make the ocean level rise. I think my real problem with the simulations and maps is that I get stressed so quickly when I don't understand what I am supposed to be doing. I clearly still need to work on patience and confidence!

Musings on week three

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-harvard20-2009jun20,0,1598291,full.story

This is the article I tried to post last week - I learned this week to listen to Caitlin when she tells me how to interpret the instructions Sandy so kindly gave me.

I've learned that my PLN is a lot bigger than I initially thought. By the time I include Glenda, who sends me pictures she takes, Betty, who wants me to give her the "Reader's Digest version" of the Web Tools course and then comments on it, Randy and Caitlin, who surf youtube looking for cool stuff, Ryan who provides technical help, and Shaun , who listens to me vent . . . Clearly I am more connected than I gave myself credit for being. I knew all these people in real life before I connected with them on the net. I seem to be most comfortable web-talking to people I already know.

I've learned that uploading and sharing photos is a lot of fun, and that, should I ever not be teaching full time, this is a hobby I would like to explore. Caitlin and I have had great fun finding pictures from all over and then choosing the best ones to play with. I've also had to stop and make a few real scrapbook pages, simply because I enjoy the textures of real pictures, papers, and textiles.

I've thought about the webtools which I want to use, and have decided that the web for me is simply a way to make my life flow a little more smoothly. I enjoy hiking, running, lazing on the porch with a good book, and visiting with family and friends too much to want to stay tied to a computer the way I have the past three weeks. I'm looking forward to being done this course so I don't feel so obligated to spend so much time online. Mind you, when I finish summer classes I have to finish paining the house, so maybe I'm not really looking forward to being done!

Picnik fun

These pictures show the after and before versions of a picture I took at Waterfront park on Canada Day. I had a great time investigating all the activities, and then I had fun playing with the pictures I took. Jordie Bowen runs an outdoor adventure guiding company here in the Okanagan Valley. I have taken my students on several tours -snowshoeing, canoeing, hiking, orienteering, and building fires. Both of my sons work for him part-time, and I know he appreciates the romance of old-time explorer's journals. I wanted my version of this picture of him teaching to look like it could (almost) have come from a dog-eared, leather-covered notebook.

Thoughts as my children move away from home

Shannon, Caitlin (and Ryan) at Storey's beach, near Shannon's school.












Shaun and Randy at Shaun's graduation from firefighting school.

Ryan and me just as he headed out to his first posting as a professional paramedic.



There's a beauty in being a sweet young child. There's beauty in being a young single woman, and a new wife, and a young mother - and also incredible beauty to watch your family grow. There's also beauty in growing older.

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Today I will be joyful, and I will look for beauty. I will acknowledge the pain of loneliness as our children move away, but I will also rejoice that they are adults, off on new adventures. The world is a better place because of Shannon, primary teacher extraordinaire; Ryan, amazing paramedic/firefighter/guide; and Shaun, firefighter/lifeguard/ day camp organizer. I also praise God for Caitlin, third year nursing major, who chose to stay at home a little longer.

More Canada Day videos

Please note: I do not drink beer (unpatriotic of me). However these commercials (like many beer commercials) are very well done. These particular Molson's ads epitomize Canadian identity. We do not define ourselves by who we are, but by who we are not. For those of us with dual citizenship this makes who we are a little harder to understand. We are Canadian, but we are also American. Our family, friends, and neighbors define "Canadian" as "not American". Who I am depends on who I am with, but today I say with Joe "I am Canadian!"

CBC's old signoff video

Today is Canada Day, so in light of that I chose to embed a video which makes me think of all things good about this, my adopted land. I notice that even though I grew up as an expatriot , I still felt distinctly American. However, after 23 years here, I am more Canadian than American - even though I say "zee" not "zed", spell "color" not "colour", and have never been to Manitoba or Saskatchewan.