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;
Monday, December 5, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
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?
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.
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.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Google Apps Test 1!
I have had a hard time coming up with what to write on my blog now that the school year is in full swing. I am doing a lot of different activities and projects, but I truly believe that all educators do the same amount of work that I do, so why am I special. A couple of items I do have on my burn to blog about would be the Google Midwest Summit (so awesome), so keep your eyes open for that.
That conference did inspire me to take a step to become a Google Apps Certified Teacher. There are 6 parts to becoming certified and today I took part 1, Admin. I have been using this the past couple of months to get our school ready to go Google. I read through the training materials (on the site it said 45 minutes), of course I thought I would be able to breeze through it because I have been using it already. It did take me that long to go through the materials. No shortcut to get the information. I also knew that I wanted to study the materials and then take the test in the same setting. Since part 1 only said 45 minutes, I figured that would be the easiest of the 6 to get under my belt.
The exam is 60 question and they give you 90 minutes to take it. I did use a full hour, because I didn't want to get tricked by all/none questions. I reviewed 8 questions before I submitted my results. I did change a couple of those answers so having the ability to mark questions I want to go over was VERY nice.
I clicked the submit button and waited to see if I passed. I paid the testing fee of $15 out of my own pocket, because I believe it need to have this training to lead the staff in my building. Maybe I will see if I can get reimbursed (probably not), but maybe. They also stated that you can take the test over again only once if you did not pass it (and you have to pay for it too).
The results came and AHHHHH! I passed with a 95% so I got 3 wrong out of 60. Pretty good, now I have to carve out time to do the other 5 sections: Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Sites, Other Tools. We will see when that fits into my schedule. But it will get done. I will keep you updated!
That conference did inspire me to take a step to become a Google Apps Certified Teacher. There are 6 parts to becoming certified and today I took part 1, Admin. I have been using this the past couple of months to get our school ready to go Google. I read through the training materials (on the site it said 45 minutes), of course I thought I would be able to breeze through it because I have been using it already. It did take me that long to go through the materials. No shortcut to get the information. I also knew that I wanted to study the materials and then take the test in the same setting. Since part 1 only said 45 minutes, I figured that would be the easiest of the 6 to get under my belt.
The exam is 60 question and they give you 90 minutes to take it. I did use a full hour, because I didn't want to get tricked by all/none questions. I reviewed 8 questions before I submitted my results. I did change a couple of those answers so having the ability to mark questions I want to go over was VERY nice.
I clicked the submit button and waited to see if I passed. I paid the testing fee of $15 out of my own pocket, because I believe it need to have this training to lead the staff in my building. Maybe I will see if I can get reimbursed (probably not), but maybe. They also stated that you can take the test over again only once if you did not pass it (and you have to pay for it too).
The results came and AHHHHH! I passed with a 95% so I got 3 wrong out of 60. Pretty good, now I have to carve out time to do the other 5 sections: Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Sites, Other Tools. We will see when that fits into my schedule. But it will get done. I will keep you updated!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Fel 2.0: 100 Take-Aways From the Midwest Google Summit
Fel 2.0: 100 Take-Aways From the Midwest Google Summit: We all hope to leave a conference with a few things to tuck into our repertoire. I usually hope for at least one but hardly expect mor...
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Tech Tuesday's - Animoto
Our district is having technology training on Tuesday's. It is voluntary for people to participate. So far I have attended a session on Google Search by Sara Berceau, very useful tool to assist students in using sites that have the type of information required for the activity.
I facilitated a session on PowerGrade Book, this was a required session for high faculty. All faculty for 1 faculty meeting had to pick from 3 options for staff development. I had almost 10 teachers in the room and I was glad to know that John Steltz was able to learn at least 1 helpful tip on putting in grades easier. I know that I was covering materials too fast and did allow for discussion, but I just so much to share. So next time I will pair down what I will cover.
Today I gave a session on how to create an Animoto video and to apply for a teacher account. The teacher account give you access for 6 months to make full length videos. Otherwise with the free account you can only make 30 second videos. I had three teachers attend the session and they said they liked it. I hope so.
I facilitated a session on PowerGrade Book, this was a required session for high faculty. All faculty for 1 faculty meeting had to pick from 3 options for staff development. I had almost 10 teachers in the room and I was glad to know that John Steltz was able to learn at least 1 helpful tip on putting in grades easier. I know that I was covering materials too fast and did allow for discussion, but I just so much to share. So next time I will pair down what I will cover.
Today I gave a session on how to create an Animoto video and to apply for a teacher account. The teacher account give you access for 6 months to make full length videos. Otherwise with the free account you can only make 30 second videos. I had three teachers attend the session and they said they liked it. I hope so.
School Board Meeting
In order for organizations at my school to fundraiser it needs to be approved at the September school board meeting, so tonight myself and other FBLA (Future Business Leader of America) adviser asked the board's permission to do a fundraiser.
This is the first time we have had to ask permission. Prior to this year the school board has supported financial my students advancements to national FBLA level competition, but with dwindling budgets this is coming to an end (but amazingly sport kids don't have to pay - another topic). My co-adivser Cindy did the leg work and filled out the paperwork for this to be approved and tonight we just shared with the board what we would like to do.
It is always good to be visible with the board so they know what the department is doing to help students succeed. It will be more work for us this year to keep track of the fundraising packets from our students but it should cause less work in the spring for going to our National conference.
This is the first time we have had to ask permission. Prior to this year the school board has supported financial my students advancements to national FBLA level competition, but with dwindling budgets this is coming to an end (but amazingly sport kids don't have to pay - another topic). My co-adivser Cindy did the leg work and filled out the paperwork for this to be approved and tonight we just shared with the board what we would like to do.
It is always good to be visible with the board so they know what the department is doing to help students succeed. It will be more work for us this year to keep track of the fundraising packets from our students but it should cause less work in the spring for going to our National conference.
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