Reflection of the Year 2011

I started this blog as a way for me to document what I do as a dedicated educator. I love working with students in FBLA and in the classroom. I do what I can to help them succeed. Unfortunately many people in my community and even my family do not seem to respect the work that I do and feel it is appropriate to bash educators. I am not looking to change anyone's mind on the role of education in today's society but this is a way for me to see that "yes, I am making a difference". It has been stated that teachers don't work that much and get paid too much. Since the end of last school year (June 2011) I have been keeping track of the hours that I have put into my job. At the end of December I have documented over 1,000 hours towards my job. The school that I work with I got my first pay check on September 15 of 2011 for this school year. I had put in many hours prior to the start of the school year and I will continue to do this because that is what is in the best interest of education and my students. How many hours have you put in? Do you feel respected? I hope to continue to keep up on documenting hours and putting in blog entries. Happy New Year.

Google Ninja 1st Meeting

I meet with 4 great co-workers today who are going to help me pilot and rollout Google Apps at the high school.  I can not even express how excited I am about working with them.  I have a great mix of content areas (modern language, science, english and of course business).  I had use first start using a google doc and collaborativly writing what some of our goals are for using Google Apps for the school.  Then we went through and tried to categorieze them as immediate, intermediate and long range goals.

We did not have a lot of time on this but we got a start on it.  I also tried to give a couple Google tips that I have learned to help them hone their Ninja skills.  I do believe everyone did learn something with my tips.  I have been going through the Google Apps Certification test to make sure that I have the skills needed to lead our school down the Google Path.  So I took our goals and put it into a Word Cloud using a Spreadsheet Google Gadget.  Here is what our word cloud looks like.

I hope this document continues to grow and evolve as we look for ways to engage students in more of a digital lifestyle in school.

Tech Tuesday Training - Skype

My school has "Tech Tuesday's".  This is where teachers offer to do trainings on a variety of technology topics.  I have done one already on Animoto this year and this week I offered a session on Skype.  I got new computers in my lab at the end of last year.  One of my requirements for the computers were that the monitors have built in webcams (for Skyping and other technologies that may come up).  I also had Skype installed on all the computers so if students have Skype accounts they can contact anyone they need.

I have used Skype with my classes when I have been home with a sick child and students have Skyped with me for help on a problem or for me to give directions.  I set up a couple of colleagues to assist me with Skype (so I knew someone would be online to chat with).  Jessica Brogley a former teacher at Seymour and Sandy Heiden (Library Media Specialist for high school).  I had one teacher from the district attend that had never used Skype before, and other great friend who came for moral support (thanks CeCe).

I think the session went fine, got new an account on Skype and she called someone.  We did end up demonstrating how to have a conference call via Skype and had 6 people talking.  I also showed the people how to sign up for Skype in the classroom.  One other great tip I like about Skype is the ability to share computer monitors to see what the other person is doing on the computer.

Here is my question.  Out of the 50 teachers in the high school only 1 came (the other for moral support too).  Was the topic not relevant to them?  Do they not see the need to learn technology?  Do they not like my presentation style?  Did they already know the content?  These are all questions I have but don't have answers for.  It is easy for me to say well I won't do that again, or should I?

Google Apps Certified Test #2 - Doc

Whew!  I just took my second test and it was harder.  I already new I would struggle more because I had to read the content over 3 days (non-sequential).  The site said it would take 4 hours to go through and it did.  I read the last 2.5 sections tonight and told myself I need to take it now, before I forget I what I read earlier this week.

I passed the section but I was not happy with a couple of the questions.  There were specific questions on the Doc List view (which I could find some information on the search bar of the site, but it was not directly linked to the table of contents of the section).  Also it gave directions for the old view of Google Docs and I have been using the new version for well over a month.  So did I get information wrong because it is presented wrong??

I also had questions on drawings.  I did not find an specific trainings on Drawings from the table of contents, but when I searched I did find some specifics relating it to Chapter 7 in Module 4 (but again not in table of contents).

But I passed.  Now I have to schedule to get through: mail, calendar, sites and other tools.  The are all estimating 3 hours to go over materials (other tools is only 2).  So I have 11 hours of studying to do and 6 hours of tests to complete.

Google Apps Module 4 - Docs

So I started my 2nd section of Google Apps.  It is the longest section in the training material but the one I will get hit the hardest with questions.  I have made it through the general sharing explaination (did you know you can share a document with up to 200 people, but only 50 can edit it at a time) and docs.  I am saving spreadsheets, presentation, and forms for later.

I will say I learned some really cool time savers that if I had not decided to go through this training I would have never know.  I love learning this stuff.

Did you know that there is a addon to work with Microsoft Office and Google  Docs that you can download.  You can work in office and in docs at the same time.  I have downloaded it but have not tested it out yet.  You can bet I will do that Thursday!  It is called Google Cloud Connect.



Also a nice time saver I learned is that in using Google Chrome or current Firefox you can drag from your desktop to google documents.  You don't have to click upload.  WAY BIG TIME SAVER.  That is a two thumbs up for me.

This module does say it will take 4 hours to go through and I don't have that much time at night to devote to it.  So I will be chunking it to get through it all.  I hope to take the test within a week, so I don't forget it all.

Tools - Mathematical equations

Tools - Mathematical equations

Looking for a way to use Google Docs when you are writing equations?  This site will help you use it.

Accounting II Independent Study

I know I can say I am a teacher because of my high school accounting teacher Mrs. Nancy Nelson.  I had never been in a class where what ever was explained I "just got it".  When I went to college it took me a long time to decide upon a major.  Accounting or be a teacher (my mom was elementary ed).  Half way through my sophomore year it hit me, I SHOULD TEACH ACCOUNTING!  What a ride it has been.

I tell me classes every year that I am a teacher because of accounting.  But I also remember my senior year of high school I could not take accounting II because it was only offered the same hour as band.  How could I choose between the two.  I had been in Band since 5th grade but I LOVED accounting.  Mrs. Nelson talked to me and said I could take it independent study.  Work on my own reading the book and complete the assignments.  She gave me a general calendar (but I went ahead a little) and I took tests when I got to them.  I was in such appreciation of Mrs. Nelson making this accommodation for me that I do the same thing for my accounting II students. But now I offer accounting II as an independent study during the hour that I am teaching Accounting I.  I know they have a lot more questions than I did and that  is OK.  As a teacher I go through and record every section of the book for students to watch to learn how to complete the assignments.
I know not all students watch it, but I make it there available for them.  I do the same thing in Accounting I, when I teach a section I record it and publish it to the web for students to watch when they are absent or to review prior to the test.

This does take me time, but I hope it is empowering students to take command of their learning and use the tools available to them.

Thank You Mrs. Nelson for inspiring me to be the person that I am today!  Your confidence in me has taken me many places !

Here is one of my videos for Accounting II;

Sick Days

So I am reflecting back on the month of November.  I was not in school on any Friday in November.  I know that sounds bad.  Let's recap where I was.

November 4, Midwest Google Summit (PS greatest conference ever)
November 11, FBLA National Fall Leadership Conference - where I had to present
November 18, Home with a sick kid who was puking.

Now my post deals with Sick Days.  I had to take two the week of November 15.  My oldest son puked Sunday, so we stayed home on Monday, then again on Thursday night.  This was right after I got home at 9 p.m. because of parent teacher conference.

It is hard to prep and plan to be gone two days in one week.  I had to communicate with people in the building about "stuff".  I had a meeting schedule with student services on Monday to set up a online scheduling option for parents.  I know how hard it is to get them to both have a cleared calendar.  So my solution was I Skyped in.  Even thought I had a sick kid and I took the day off, I spend over 5 hours online that day with various people in the building.  I even Skyped in to my 1st and 2nd hour classes to give them directions and answer their questions.

Now on Friday I had the simialr problem.  I didn't have a meeting scheduled with anyone, but I knew students need to talk with me to answer their questions on their work.  I had to talk with my concession store manager about what to order for the upcoming Wrestling tournament.  We can't run out of hot dogs or buns.  I also had students Skype with me to answer their accounting questions.  I would say on Friday I only spent about 3 hour on Skype.  But still two days off of work and I still worked 8 hours.

My son was not feeling well but he was resting and watching TV and reading books so he didn't need a lot of attention from me.  Do all people put this dedication into what they do?  Why do people think I (meaning all teachers) don't work hard?

Working Hours

I had a great opportunity today to sell concessions at a wrestling match.  FBLA had plenty of workers for the event, but it makes for a long day.  I have several helpers talking about how they didn't eat dinner, tired, had to do school work.  I completely understand because I was in the same boat, I was at school for 13.5 hours.  But to me, I don't complain because this is what I choose to do.  I love teaching, I love working with kids.  I know that the activities and trips I do more outside of the classroom are the memorable experiences for them.  I would love to think that they get the same from my classroom, but some are disengaged or distracted because of "other things".

In the current climate Teacher are being blamed for the economic woes of the state.  I started this blog because I wanted people to see the amount of time and effort I put into my career.  I don't expect to receive anything special except the respect of you work hard at your job and you do deserve the money you are receiving and maybe even more.

The average american in 1 year works 2,000 hours.  I have been documenting the amount of hours I have been putting into everything for my career.  This includes: FBLA, Professional Organizations, meetings, and professional development.  I started keeping track in June of 2011.  Since June of 2011 I have worked at least 872 hours.  On average in one month people will work 160 hours, I got paid in September and my work contract started in the end of August.  So I have been working this school year for 3 months but I already have almost double the hours for a typical work period.

I am not complaining, again I love my job.  I don't like how people think I don't work hard.  Please respect me and my fellow hard working teachers.