Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Where did November go??

As I am sitting at home on what seems to be December 2nd, I am left wondering where the month of November went?

Let us see...

  1. There were four birthdays in my family.
  2. A major holiday.
  3. Some set-backs in the classroom (more later).
  4. Some great conversation.
  5. A football banquet.
  6. All the other stuff that comes with working in a school with high academic standards and students who continue to "blow me away" with what they are capable of.

So, here we are in December and I thought I would let you know what I am working on. By the second week of January, I hope to have some information on this blog and my other blog about making and publishing podcasts. I will have some documents that show what I am using to complete this task and some of the things that I have learned with the help of one of my students (I like to think of him as my technology advisor. However, my goto technology person will always be Karl Fisch.) So look back at the beginning of the year to find information on this topic. As always, feel free to email me about the concept and implementation of the podcasts.

In the spring, I hope to move to "Phase 2" of the classroom podcasts. This is where the students begin to produce their own class content. Perhaps it is just explaining material and problems to other students or maybe it is on the sharing of course content that is gathered by the students. I am not sure at this point and if there is anyone reading this that has tried it please let me know what has worked.

I have got the Wii whiteboard up and running and there seems to be no current issues with the technology. That means I can now write on my regular screen in the classroom with our needed actual whiteboards. The fun is just starting with this and there is one student who really enjoys working on this and has helped me a ton. We even built a pen where the l.e.d. in the pen is aimed out the back and that seems to give a better image for the Wii-mote to locate.

My AP Chemistry students produced "Chemistry Christmas Carols" and I am going to attempt to get these onto a blog (either this one or the one that hosts my podcasts) in the next couple of days.

So, here is to another month where my professional growth continues to be pushed. I cannot wait to see what discussions the students bring and how they grow in their learning.

2 comments:

Kathryn J said...

Thanks for the update and the link to your other blog. That's great that your students are going to be contributing to the podcasts!

Cara S. said...

Very impressive Mr. Hatak...well done.