End of Year 2 + Beginning of Summer (teaching + life)

My blog has recently been neglected. Beside the obvious sleeping copious amounts issue, I have not had the need to avoid graduate school work through slightly productive methods (i.e. blogging) for a few months and I have been caught up in all of the end of year things that go into being a teacher. My blog has suffered.

Now that the curriculums have been completed, I have had the chance to do some things I love with my students. In the past few days, we have written free verse about why something is important and then painted big murals. This was so easy for my class; it was probably the easiest writing project of the year. They produced amazing work about scissors, whales, ice, milk, and apples. It was all creative and unique. They were inspired by the writing and the painting. They were excited to see one another's' work. The children who are typically developing and the children who have some delays were all motivated and engaged. It was a true literacy moment.

Another highlight of the past few weeks has been (finally) recording some reading into Garage Band. [I also got to do my very first Bluetooth file exchange and am completely smitten]. I had wanted to use voice recording as a method for increasing reading fluency and addressing speech goals with my students all year. But, this year was not the year. It has been so disappointing to me that my coteacher and I could never quite work our a larger list of shared priorities to do some of the exciting things I had planned for my second year of teaching.

Finally, having the children listen to themselves read was as exciting as I thought it would be (for all of us). Big smiles came across their faces when we listened to the playback. They were so excited and they loved the idea of using a computer. Most of their families do not have computers and our computer teacher has taught them to use the mouse after two years of instruction. It was amazing how quickly they caught on to the finer points of Garage Band. Students noticed when I had not hit record. They understood talking loudly so they could make the lines move up and down.

Next year, I can't wait to do this right. My class will read their own writing, read their just right books. We will use the SmartBoards to edit work together. We will figure out a way to write email rather then friendly letters. They will be in charge of running the programs (and doing the Bluetooth file exchanges) rather than me. I dream about the day my class will be able to have a blog with all the bells and whistles (podcasting, posting their photos of their work, linking to interesting research they have done and primary source documents they have seen, reflections about the video conferencing they took part in, etc. etc. etc). My technological dreams will probably will have to wait for me to gain a little know-how and administrative support. But, a girl can dream.

Now, it's time for me to get ready for a trip to India. I will be leaving in 12 days. I have to go get monsoon shoes, antifungal lotion, and my prescription for typhoid pills today. I'm glad I can bring a little more peace about teaching with me to India--not feel the horrid feelings of wanting to do more. Right now, I just have excitement for the future.