Pandora's Box

The school year is starting in less than two weeks which means lots of time spent at my desk coming up with lesson plans, classroom procedures and student schedules. This type of work usually is pretty tedious and is usually about as fun as helping my father clean rocks in the back yard. To make my day more enjoyable, I normally will listen to CD's. I have two that I rotate, MA$E and Puff Daddy and the Family. These are the last CD's that I bought back in Junior High School. They are getting pretty scratched up and tend to skip during the best parts of the songs. This leads to frustration and I end up getting little work done.

I was telling a friend of mine about my predicament and she directed me to an amazing website. Internet radio is nothing new, but most of the stations that are broadcast online are usually done so from a creepy 35 year old working from his parent's basement.

At last there is a solution. Pandora.com provides music that is selected according to your preferences. Each song that is played can be rated and then similar tracks will be played from obscure artists. Each user creates their own profile with personailized radio stations. If you have access to the internet during the day and would like to listen to something other than Micheal McDonald, check out Pandora.

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Penetrating the Earth!

I had the opportunity today to take a tour of a part of our Earth that most people have never had the chance to see. I am currently in Texas and the local news had a story about the cave systems that dot the subterranean Texas landscape. The story focused on the large amount of rainfall during the last month and the fact that the caves are filling up with water. I knew that there were cowboys, longhorn steer and cacti in Texas but I did not know that there are caves. The story on the news described how most of the caves were now closed to the public and would be so until the water receded. I will only be here for a few more days, so we quickly made plans to head out and explore.

The cave we ended up going to is called "The Inner Space" cavern. It was discovered in 1963 when the Texas highway department was building Interstate 35. The crew was doing some ground core samples and came across a large airpocket. They drilled a larger hole and lowered one of their men down into a 40 foot high chamber.


Since that time the local family that owns the cave has turned it into a tourists attraction complete with a trolley that brings you down into the cavern and a snack bar full of all the best Texas meats. The tour guide was knowledgeable and some of the formations are incredible. The caverns were only partially open, as the rising water levels have made access impossible. The staff is predicting that they will be completely shutting down by the end of the week as the rest of the cave will soon be flooded. If you are ever in Texas, be sure to check out the caves. Just make sure that you avoid the meat at the snack bar.

Airplanes and Cookies

Allow me to drift from my normal education focused posts. Over the course of the summer, I usually try to relax, read and visit my friends and family. During the last few weeks I made some tentative plans to visit a friend in Buffalo, NY and then catch a ride to visit my family in Rochester, NY. My idea was to catch a one way flight into Buffalo and then another one way flight from Rochester back to Florida. While in the process of looking for tickets, I may have stumbled upon one of the airline's biggest secrets.

It all began when I looked up flights home my home computer while enjoying my morning coffee. I found a few relatively inexpensive one-ways into Buffalo and proceeded to call my buddy to see what time would be preferable. Due to his work schedule, I didn't hear back from my buddy until around 7pm. I then went back to my computer and tried to find the same flights. Unfortunately for my credit card, all the flights had somehow tripled in price. I called my friend and we swore about the airline industry for a while and ended the conversation with a "maybe later in the summer will be better."

The next morning I woke up checked up world events while enjoying my coffee and an Eggo Waffle. I decided to try to find tickets one last time. This time, however, I went into my browsers tools and deleted all my cookies. (For more info on cookies click here) I then proceeded to search for flights and to my amazement was able to find an amazingly cheap ticket. This may have been a coincidence; perhaps there was a cancellation and I was just lucky to be the first to get it. There also is the chance that the airlines tracked my flight queries and jacked up the price knowing that i would probably be back to buy my flight. Conspiracy or not, I will now be able to afford to take the flight to Sunny Buffalo, NY.

Timmon's Great Idea

PB Wiki

A teacher I work with had a great idea that i will let everyone know about. She built a Wiki for her class. A Wiki is kind of like a traditional web page, however, it can be edited by anyone who has the password. This helps to foster communication between the teacher, students and their parents. The PB Wiki that Timmon's created is easy to edit, simple to use and contains a wealth of information.

I have heard that imitation is one of the best forms of flattery. Well, I hope that Timmons is flattered because I will absolutely be stealing her idea of using a Wiki for my class as well. I am excited to keep the students of my parents up to date with the happenings of my classroom. This page will also serve as a kind of evolving syllabus for my class, as my students and I work together to shape my curriculum.

For a look at what I am talking about, click HERE

Re-Charging My Batteries

Teaching has been the most rewarding experience of my life. I enjoy working with my students and watching them blossom in the classroom. Unfortunately, by the end of the school year most of my colleagues and I feel pretty drained. The buildup of paperwork and backlogged phone calls all come to a bottleneck at the end of the year resulting in a stressful finish. Thankfully, teachers are entitled to a wonderful two months known as "summer vacation."

I am currently in Washington D.C. doing just that. As a history teacher, there is so much to explore in our Nation's capitol. Every building has a story and I enjoy reading every placard and inscription on the thousands of monuments and statues throughout the city. This afternoon I will tour the Holocaust museum and then stand in line at the National Archives so that I can see the Declaration of Independence.

This time off during the summer has provided me with an opportunity to not only relax and visit family and friends around the country, but also to come up with new ideas for my classroom. I just read The essential 55 and I am currently reading Napoleon's Button's and Chasing Che. I hope to use the ideas in these books for my class in the upcoming year. I hope that all teachers use the time over the summer to charge their batteries and also to prepare themselves for the upcoming year.

I Won the Lottery!

I received the great news yesterday that I was accepted into the ING NYC Marathon! Over 98,000 people applied to run in this marathon from all over the world. Because of the massive number of people who applied, the organizers of the marathon were forced to hold a lottery to decide who would get to participate. I was among the lucky 40,000 who will be allowed to run in this famous race.

This will be my second marathon, and I am looking forward to beginning my training again. Running in the summer in the Florida heat and humidity will certainly be grueling, however, i am excited to get back into shape and lose the fat I gained from my end of the school year in-activeness and also from the many course dinners that I had on the cruise.

I will try to update on my progress. Those of you who live close to NYC had better come out and watch me come as close to death as humanly possible. The race is in November so come out and bring me a refreshing adult beverage for the finish line.

Activboard

Sarasota County has made the decision to install Promethean Activboards throughout classrooms county wide. The Activboard is essentially an interactive whiteboard that has the ability to display images, maps and video. The 78" board is connected to a computer and all images, drawings and notes are saved as individual flip charts. This allows teachers to print off anything that was demonstrated on the board for students with IEP's or those with low English proficiency. It also allows teachers to print off information for students who had been absent.

The controversy that surrounds this decision has primarily focused on the cost of each board versus the impact it will have on education. It goes without saying that simply introducing new educational technology into a classroom will not result in improved assessment results. What has been proven to improve test scores are classrooms full of students engaged in meaningful standards-based lessons. The ability of a teacher to engage his or her classroom can be strengthened through use of educational technology. Therefore, in the hands of properly trained teachers, the Activboard will become another tool to empower Sarasota County teachers to engage their classrooms.

Engaging students is one of the most difficult parts of education. While there are many self- motivated students, there are some who, for a myriad of reasons, do not place school at the top of their list of priorities. Working with these "reluctant learners" can be extremely challenging for teachers. These disengaged students can become disruptive and upset the learning environment that teachers strive to achieve. While the Activboard may not hook every student in the classroom, the interactive lessons that teachers can create with it are certainly more engaging than traditional teacher-centered classrooms.

Overall, the addition of the Activboard to my classroom has been an incredibly positive experience. Students who had been reluctant to participate in class were now practically jumping out of their seat at the chance to demonstrate problems on the Activboard. Although the summer has only just begun, I am already looking forward to the upcoming school year and the chance to work with a new classroom full of engaged students.