Treasure Chest of Thoughts

Over a three-day span, I went on two extra-curricular trips and was kindly reminded that while what I do in the classroom is important so is what I do outside the classroom.

On Saturday, I tagged along with the drama department to see a play at The Orpheum; then last night my co-sponsor and I traveled with our Student Council to the district meeting where our student leaders met and mingled with several other schools ’ leader as they visited one of our state parks in this beautiful state of ours and participated in leadership building activities.

In my technology-minded school, we daily seek to promote responsible social networking online.  Through such trips as the above mentioned, though, we are actively promoting social networking…this time face-to-face.  Both are powerful avenues.  Both essential.

What do I remember the most about these trips?  The smiles.  The jokes.  The respect.  The appreciation.

I gave of my time and in return greatly increased my social network with my students.  Definitely a win-win situation.

Throughout the month of October, I am going to place the spotlight on Edgar Allen Poe.  For the past several years, my concern has been that we (as teachers) are not featuring enough of the classical writers, for the current young adults reads are, of course,more popular and, well, just a lot easier to read.

Last week, a student commented that he was enjoying reading H.G. Well’s The Time Machine but that it was a slower read, that it was taking him longer to read than the novels he had most recently enjoyed.   Ah, yes, a blend of the two, that is the perfect solution.

With the season being what it is and maybe because I am inspired by the R.I.P. Challenge and the novels I have read for it, bringing Poe into the classroom seems quite timely.

Practically a blank slate at the moment, here is where I will gather and link my resources.  Yes, please utilize whatever you desire!

What is your favorite Poe poem?  Do you prefer another poet’s reads throughout the month of October?

I am starting with “The Raven” and am stopping by The Dollar Tree to purchase some ravens for effect (well, the box says crows, but maybe, just maybe, I can sneak that black bird in without their noticing the difference!).

Please share your favorite; then I, in turn, will share them with my students.  Going to attempt to pull a “sneaky” on them and also teach sound devices…shhhhh!

In honor of our drama department’s performing Twelfth Night in December, I am going to read this literary work, one that I cannot remember reading and after removing my Shakespeare anthology from the shelf and finding no annotations from Dr. Tebbetts’ most awesome class (and performances…he is a one-man show!), this lack of notations does affirm this.  How did I not read this one?

The probable reason is the same one I used to give my husband when he questioned why, as an English teacher, did I not know the definition of a particular word:  Just because I have an English degree does not guarantee that I know everything about the English language…or in this case, have read every Shakespearean play. Maybe we should not share this revelation with my current students?

Am very excited, though, that drama teacher Jay Williams has chosen a Shakespearean play.  Can hardly keep from wanting to be a part of such an undertaking.  Marvelous.

But be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
Twelfth Night, 2. 5

Yes, this is definitely great! 

I have several topics flitting in and out of my thought processes that I hope to have the time on which to post in the near future.

Unfortunately…or maybe fortunately…my other blogs are keeping me busy!  If interested, please check out the other areas of my life via the following blogs:

Classes:

• Pioneers Write:  my voice  to my two English 11 classes.
• Writing Right:  this is where Pre-AP English 10 and I begin each class.
• The Spirit of the Pioneer:  the springboard for newspaper; very proud of these six reporters.
• A New Creation:  this blog is not used as much as the other as yearbook is always busy creating…and creating!

Technology Integration:

• Mrs. Gillmore’s 21 CLC Journey:  here I am recording my digital tracks with my high school PLN.
• Cafe Gillmore:  along with five other teachers, we are experiencing life 1:1.

College Class:

• Connecting the Dots:  here my two Secondary English Method students and I record our journey through their first semester of student interning.

Other Personal Blogs:

• Mrs. G’s Book Reviews:  my attempts to review the books as I read them; unfortunately, I am a bit behind on this one!
• E-Portfolios in Cafe Gillmore:  a new one!  This one I created to be a part of the action research project for Dr. Helen Barrett.

Then, there are my wikis and other Web 2.0 tools…yes, life is busy!  Treasures, though, holds a special place within my digitalized heart, for it was my first blog and remains the one where I can post on topics about which I feel strongly. 

Yes, much like this very post.

Tonight I sat down to read through my Google Reader and noted that this once-pleasurable read has now become a task.

Granted, I have probably subscribed to too many blogs, but to delete is really not an option, for to unscribe would hurt the author’s feelings (not that he/she would ever know about this).

I could skim/scan…but what if I miss reading that one particular post that is going to assist in helping my students and myself have an even more interesting week?

I could read each and every one.  I could.  Unfortunately, life is real.  Lessons to plan.  House to clean.  Family to visit.  Birthday party to plan.

I could read each and every one.  No, I cannot accomplish this.  This is just another instance in which I am ever realizing that the more I read the more I know I need to read!

Under the directorship of Lisa Huff, our 21 CLC teams are completing 21 Things.  Below is the blog post for Thing 2, which was previously posted on my 21 CLC blog, on which I am recording my experiences with my high school peers.

_____________________________

Lisa Huff’s introducing me to more of Web 2.0 has revolutionized my teaching. With her assistance, I created my first blog in April 2008, and I now maintain over ten blogs, several wikis, and over three pages of logins/passwords to many Web 2.0 tools (had to put them on paper…little ironic, maybe?…to be able to remember them!)

From those three pages of accounts, I have learned one important lesson: one cannot “master” all of them. Last year, I chose to utilize blogs and wikis; this year, I am adding three, maybe five, more. Yes, therein lies my advice to you: select those tools that work for you and dedicate your yourself to really using your selected honorees.

Daily, these tools go with me into the classroom, often becoming the teacher, at the very least, resulting in a motivating factor for many of my students. As we concluded in Pre-AP English 10 this week, life would be very difficult if one were to loose one’s mini-laptop privilege, for we are so dependent upon them for every facet of class. Great to able to play (Habit 7 1/2 was my favorite!) in class every day.

If a downfall exists to this situation, time is it, for I have to be more prepared for class than ever. At this point, “winging” it is a near impossibility, for I must complete my work outside of class or too much time is wasted (and having now spent this day in a workshop for the End-of-Level 11th Grade Reading Stat Review, I am even more convinced that we have no time to waste to prepare our students to achieve that still attainable goal of “proficiency.”)

Why do I want to use digital tools to engage our digital learners? The answer is simple: to prepare them for their futures, whether that future is scoring proficient on the EOL Literacy Exam, making money by scoring high on the ACT, or preparing them for life after BHS (college or work…or should I say outsourcing?). To not do all that we can do to prepare these momma and daddy’s babies for their futures is to set them up for failure. Thus, if I cannot make that commitment, then, I need to get out of education. Yesterday.

Just glad I have tomorrow. Better get busy planning, for tomorrow our information data base will have grown, and my babies need to know how to access that new data.

Because my students challenged me (without even realizing it), I have once again visited with my friend the Internet to research why they would have been told one should not begin a sentence with the word because.  To my surprise, my research resulted in several links on this topic, some supporting the claim that a sentence should not begin with the word because.

My favorite site, though, on this topic?  Yes, my favorite was definitely the one that quoted Emily Dickinson:

Sometimes, however, because is perfectly appropriate as the opening word of a sentence, as in the beginning of one of Emily Dickinson’s best-known poems: “Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me.” In fact, sentences beginning with because are quite common in written English. (English Forums, 2009)

The main argument on most sites for not starting a sentence with because is that they contend (and rightfully so) that because is a conjunction….but so is every other subordinating conjunction (see here for a list of these conjunctions).  Subordinating conjunctions introduce adverb clauses; they do not serve the same function as a coordinating (better known as the FAN BOYS in my classroom) or correlative conjunction.

This discussion arose yesterday when I began a sentence about my new duck friend Olivia Noel with because.  Several students noted they “had been taught” this.  Well, I did not ask who taught them this; I just corrected the mistake.

I am hoping that they were taught the correct use of because…but that all they remembered from that lesson is number one (listed below).

1. Because I like you = a fragment; therefore, this clause is dependent/subordinate and should not “stand” alone.
2. Because I like you, I want you to understand why starting a sentence with because is perfectly okay…as long as you have an independent clause attached for it to modify.

Now, I am wondering…will my students know why I sometimes italicized because and did not at other times?  Another mini-lesson…yes, that will take care of that explanation also.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing my family and myself to live in such a country as ours.

Please watch over our servicemen, their families, and those families and friends who lost loved ones on this date just a few short years ago.

Please grant a special blessing to my friend Frank Vaughn who posted this comment on Facebook this morning from his post in Iraq:

Frank Vaughn Sept. 11 is why I do what I do. Never, EVER forget. Please.

Oh, what a gentle reminder.  May I never forget.  Amen.

Over the last couple of days, I introduced the Ducks Galore project to my students, and, honestly, one would have thought Christmas had arrived when watching the excitement with which the kiddos searched through that box of little yellow duckies in their endeavors to find their very own new friend!  Truly fun to watch!

Tomorrow, the students begin introducing their peers and myself to their newly created duck personas.  Let’s just see what paths their imaginations take us down!

You may recall my introducing you to my duck:  her name is Olivia Noel (yes, she is pictured at right); she has transforming powers.  By day she “saves” fifth grade girls from the advances of fifth grade boys who want a girlfriend when her true powers are manifested in the form of Hollywood (a character I created last fall based on the antics of my then fourth grade daughter and for the sci-fi multi-genre project that my Pre-AP students create).  Her powers lie within the  red “holly” beams aimed at said boys, thus, ensuring their need for friendship only, thereby, relieving this mother of the necessity of literally personifying the acronym for MOM (Mean Ol’ Mom) when I seriously (okay, only with just a tad of seriousness embedded) tell my daughter upon her asking for the umpteenth time,  “You may have a boyfriend when you turn forty!”

I am fairly certain that my students are literally laughing at my “shocked and appalled” attitude regarding my…could it be?…old-fashioned ideas about “going out.”    It certainly makes for a few moments of comic relief within the classroom!

Let’s not tell them that I received my first kiss (on the forehead, of course, and quite to my surprise, I might add!) in the sixth grade by a peer while working our Haunted House during the annual Fall Festival…yes, that should just remain our little secret!

Here’s the assignment:  link your created masthead for our online newspaper to Cafe Newspaper (our class Wikispace).  After several failed attempts, though, by one student to get her links to post and after another student’s link kept duplicating a peer’s link, I had to choose an alternative route.  I switched to Google.

The students were great, realizing their role as “guinea pigs,” as we work together to engage in online collaboration. 

My frustration?  I did not have this problem with my pbworks student Think Tank.  Since I did not have a such an account for this class (ah, but we do now!), I steered us to Google and created and shared a Presentation with the students to which they pasted a copy of their .jpeg’s…and immediately heard this comment, “This is cool how we can see each other’s masthead so quickly.”  Okay, now we are are collaborating.

Next step:  I emailed each a Google form on which to submit their vote for The Spirit of the Pioneer’s masthead for 2009-2010.  Within minutes, I announced the winner:  Carol’s Creation!

Now the beauty of this lesson described herein is that this process in Google took us less than twenty minutes.  The delay?  I typed in an email or two incorrectly! Now that I have them entered, even that process should move more quickly.

Now in all fairness to WikiSpaces, some of this might be that I am just much more familiar with pbworks.  I would not go so far as to say that I have mastered (not even close!) pbworks, but while some features may be more pleasing to the eye (yes, I like their themes!) in WikiSpaces, having frustrated students is not my goal.  Yes, at this point in a 1:1 classroom, student success is of much more importance.

I am not sure what I could have done up front to prevent the problems we had, for it took several students linking to encounter this problem. Maybe it really was not a problem.  Maybe it was a good lesson in problem-solving for myself and my students?

If I could go back to that class, I would slow down the clock (for it was a Friday afternoon with only about 25 minutes of class left) and have them help me brainstorm what to do, but due to time, their lack of use of the tech tools at this point in the school year, and my frustration with this not working like I really thought it would, that climb up Bloom’s Ladder did not occur.  The good news, though?  Such an incident (how weird is calling a frustrating moment ”good news”!) will occur again, and next time, we will simply take the time.  We will climb that ladder.

Yes, we will take the time to collaborate.