Ready or not?!!!...Here comes Juno!!

As I sit in my warm and cozy house, writing lesson plans for the week, I, like most of you, am struggling to stay focused and fear my planning will be futile.  Okay, go ahead and say it, "SNOW DAY!!"  I know so many of my students are thinking it, but "be careful what you wish for," as the saying goes.  I just finished watching the latest weather report.  Meteorologists are using terms like, "historic blizzard," "hurricane force winds", and "snowfall rates of 2-4 inches per hour."  YIKES!  This latest (really first) storm of the season has been named, "Juno."  Okay my grade 7 history students; who is Juno?  Do you think this is really a fitting name for a blizzard?  Check out the latest from the Weather Channel.
On to those lesson plans, just in case the forecast is wrong.....You will be receiving the feedback on your assessment from last week.  If you did not take it yet, I will need you to do so during class one.  I have tweaked the organizers for your GH projects based on student feedback.  You will need to complete either a map or two-column note formatted organizer with your final decision on your project.  Once you have this complete, you will scan it and upload it to your book in Book Creator.  You will have some time to finish getting your book template ready if you were not able to do this earlier.   You will also need to finish creating and publish your initial post on your Genius Hour Projects page on your blogs.  If you should get all of this done, you should finish tweaking your blog designs, widgets, posts, etc....
I am afraid we will need to wait until next week to begin the research for your projects.

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This may not be "Juno", but I feel like she is saying "good bye" to this crazy winter storm for us all.  Maybe she can chase it away.   Whatever happens, please be safe and be smart!!
      ~Mrs. White :)

Review and New

We have a shortened week of school due to our extra day off or long weekend.  This extra day was given to us so we could honor an American hero, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  What did you do to remember this great man?  ABC News shared 5 Ways to Honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  You may want to check them out.

As for the rest of this short week, it will be jam packed!  We will start off where we ended last week.  For some of you that will mean finishing up your second part of the Genius Hour Brainstorming Guide.  For most of you it will mean setting up your book for this project.  I have given created the first assignment in Google Classroom to share the details for the Book Creator set up of this resource for your projects.  Please go to my class in Google Classroom and find this assignment.  If you were have not yet "joined" our ILT classes, you will have the chance to do so today.

You will also be creating a second page on your blogs this week.  This "Genius Hour" page of your blog will be the space for your to record your progress.  I will ask you to create your first "post" on this page; sharing your initial thoughts about Genius Hour.

And of course, you will be taking your Blogging and Commenting Assessment this week.  Have not worries, you will have an opportunity to review with Kahoot It before taking the assessment.
                  ~Mrs. White :)

A New Journey

This week we will begin a new journey together.  We will be going down the road of exploring passions, identifying problems, and creating solutions as we begin exploring Genius Hour.  Step one will be brainstorming.  This will probably be a different type of brainstorming for many of you.  We aren't thinking of topics or projects.  Instead you will be doing some self-reflection and identifying things you would like to try and ways you could possibly help others.  Are you intrigued?  I hope so.  This is a new journey for me and I am excited to be taking you along with me.  There are many "experts" out there who will be able to help us if we take a wrong turn, but they will not give us answers. This will be frustrating at times, but I am sure the rewards will far out weigh the difficulties.  We will climb the hurdles together.............

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Plans for Friday...Keep On Blogging and Clean Up

I am very excited to have an opportunity to work with all of your teachers today and Mr. Greg Kulowiec from Ed Tech Teacher.  We will be exploring some new apps and get new ideas for using iPads in our classes.  It should be a great day!  There will also be some grade 8 teachers in our building as well.   You will be meeting in the lab downstairs, room 114, with Mr. Migliorini.  I am sure you will do a great job for him.  He observed this lesson on Tuesday, so he is very familiar with my expectations.  Please do the following.

1. Locate your blogging resources (they should be paper clipped together on top of your workstations.)
2. Launch Google Chrome and log in to your Google Drives
3. Open the doc you created for your new blog post; if you haven't created it yet, do so now.
4. You will be writing the first post for this new year.  You may use some of the suggestions on the top of the resource (purple one) or choose one of your own.  A couple of additional suggestions:  The upcoming Patriot's playoff game on Saturday
   The record cold temperature
   Describing your holiday celebrations and vacation
5. New Year's Resolutions
6.  Once you have finished your post (in Google docs) you will have a classmate edit it.
7.   You will make the corrections to your post and then get ready to upload it to Blogger.
8. Open a new window and go to your Blogger dashboard.
9. Drop down the options arrow, select "posts", and select "create" new post.
10. Copy and paste your text using your keyboard shortcuts.
11. Then upload your images and add links.
12. Before you click, "publish" be sure to add a Post Title and Label for this post.
13. You will then use the January Clean Up resource to clean up your digital life.
14. If there is any time left in class, please tweak your blog design and work on adding                             widgets/gadgets.

Have fun and help one another.  I am sure you will do a great job and can't wait to read your posts!!

Have a super weekend!!

     ~Mrs. White :)

Welcome Back and Hello 2015!

Welcome back and Happy New Year to you all!  I hope you had a great break and are back ready to go!  I'm sure it will take a couple of days to get back in to the swing of things, but I must say I'm not ready to wait!  If you read my New Year's Day blog post, you will know I am very excited to get started on your Genius Hour projects.  I guess I am getting a little bit ahead of myself.  Before we go there, we need to do a little reviewing, reiterating, and cleaning up!
We will start off our first class back in 2015 with a Kahoot to review our blogging and commenting guidelines.  So get your iPads out and find your Qrafter app.  The QR code for Kahoot is at your workstations.  I will have the PIN code up on the board for you to join.
Next I will need you to find the resources for creating blog posts and using Google's advanced image search.  They are in your Workstation Resource Folders and in my post, and in my old post, Blog Post Two for Some.  You can use the search widget at the top of my blog to find it.  After you have reviewed these resources, I would like you to create your first post of 2015.  Remember to have a classmate edit your work before publishing.  Don't forget a post title and labels as well.
If you should finish publishing before class is done, work on your template and adding those widgets and gadgets.
During class two this week you will do some cleaning and organizing.  Please be sure to use the "Clean It Up" resource I have created for you.  It is important to stop and organize your digital life periodically, just as you need to clean out your lockers in school or bedrooms at home.  Please don't just stuff everything under your bed or in your closet!!!  You will want to be sure you have created and shared folders with all of your teachers.  I know we have done this earlier, but I also know there are still some of you who have not completed this task.  Our iPad workflow will depend on your organization!!!  There are resources for this in your Workstation Resource Folders as well.

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My New Year's Resolution

2015 will be a year of creativity, exploration, and new beginnings in my lab.  Over the past couple of years  I have attended and participated in numerous workshops and courses, read books, articles, and blog posts recommended by colleagues, and many which I have just “stumbled upon.”  In my mind I was expanding my PLC and being a life long learner; qualities found in many educators.  As I was sitting listening to a keynote at ETT Boston it happened; my mind was blown!  Suddenly the final piece of the puzzle fell into place as the picture became evident and I knew what I had to do. I needed to put the learning in the hands of my students; allow them to determine what they want to learn about and how they plan on sharing their knowledge.   In 2015 students will be following their passions, using technology as a means to the end, choosing the tools, conducting the research, creating the end products, and sharing them with an authentic audience; creating solutions to real world problems, or finding answers to their questions (not mine), and making mistakes along the way.   It is both exciting and terrifying; as I am letting go of the weight and the control that has been holding me and them back.  My role will be to provide an environment conducive to nurturing innovators; allowing my students to move from consumers to contributors. This infographic sums it all up!  So ready the sails, the course is changing and my students will be at the helm!

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