March 2007 Archives

The Cupertino Courier just posted a news article about technology use in our district, which has a great edu-speak quote by me. I'm not sure where they'll end up posting the perma-link, so I just made a pdf of it here for future reference. Read the article here.

The summary is that CEEF has a technology program that encourages "innovation, creativity, and partnerships" in our school district. They do this by offering Innovation Awards to teachers (I got one this year, which is why I was interviewed for the article) and they also have an ePic Film Festival of student work. It's super fun to go with all the students and let them view each other's films in a film festival setting. By doing this, CEEF encourages both teachers and students to engage in innovative projects and innovative thinking. Overall, I think what CEEF is doing is awesome and really does a great job getting people in our district to consider creative uses of technology to get curriculum content across to students.

Here is the exerpt of my quote from the article:

Stephanie Lewis, an art teacher at Hyde Middle School, also decided to include the iMovie ePic contest into her curriculum.

"It seemed to be the perfect marriage of technology and cinematography practice," she says. Lewis used the project to help teach one of her instructional units on the entertainment industry that included cinematography. The students were required to use at least five different camera techniques as well as some symbolism in their iMovie films.

"I want my students to do more than learn and regurgitate facts," says Lewis. "To encourage high-order thinking skills that span across subject areas, students need to be given the opportunity to sit in the driver's seat of their learning and actually do something with the facts and techniques that they learn. Involving technology in the curriculum gives students a place in that driver's seat."

Well, I have two months left. Two trecherous, painful months until I can arrive on the other side of my master's degree standing tall with a keen focus on my future. Or, perhaps I will just be weathered from my many trials, curled in the fetal position singing quietly to myself. Not sure of the outcome yet, but I'm hoping for the former.

As of yesterday, my portfolio is officially finished. I got the sucker up and posted at designsplendor.com.

So, there's the proof that I didn't just drop off the planet for the last two years. I've actually been doing something, lots of things actually, and here they are in a tidy little website. If that doesn't depress a person to see her entire life in a few nicely aligned columns, I don't know what will. But, it is good to know that progress is being made and that I am nearing the end of my goal. I still have an insane amount of things to finish up in the next two months (maybe insane is too weak of a word?). But, better two months than ten, right?

I was eating lunch with some people at work the other day and they were all talking about the new episodes of television shows that are supposedly really popular right now, but that I've never heard of. I finally figured out that it's because I have essentially been off of the planet for the last two years -- when these shows came on the air. It's as though I still think Swiss Family Robinson is the popular family hit, when now it's Norbit... er... or whatever the kids are watching these days. Okay, not that bad, but still.

Then it dawned on me. These people, these "normal" people, have time to watch television. And to watch it regularly. I suddenly got really excited (and a little panicked) at the prospect that people actually have gobs and gobs of free time with which they can do whatever they please. GOBS. Actually, I consider having a half hour to watch a television show to be a huge blessing, so you get my point. I currently have no time and certainly no gobs of it.

After this master's degree, I may have a few gobs of free time. And how will I spend it? I'm considering some hobbies. The other day I was at Border's and I actually picked up a book on knitting. KNITTING. (Don't worry though, I put it down after scanning the table of contents, then slowly backed away from the general craftiness section). I also considered golf. GOLF. It's most likely that I will just fall back into the hobbies I knew and loved before my master's degree came and killed them off. Things like volleyball, surfing, cooking, gardening, reading (books I actually want to read), hanging out with other people (gasp!), and perhaps even watching movies.

The prospect of being able to enjoy my free time amazes and boggles my mind. But, I'll have to slowly ease myself back into the waters of real life lest it put my body into some kind of permanent shock.

Well, I just received two of my favorite e-mails from another professional in my district. Our students just did the hearing screening and we were notified of the results.

E-mail #1: "*Student's Name* just failed the hearing test in his left ear. Please make sure that he is seated in the class so that his left ear is facing you."

LOL. I imagined me tying a string to his stool and always turning his stool so his left ear faced me as an educational accommodation.

E-mail #2: "*Student's Name* just failed the vision screening test in both ears. Please seat him at the front of the room."

WHAT?!?!?! Josh imagined them blindfolding a child, then asking him to read the vision poster on the wall by listenting to it. Heh, this'll keep me chuckling for days...

I just read the article Students Are Udderly Amazed by Visiting Dairy Cow and Calf as presented in our local paper, the Cupertino Courier.

While you may not see the humor in it, I pretty much laughed my way through the entire article. I imagined this same scene playing out in my hometown in Minnesota.

"Okay kids, a cow is going to come visit our school. Let's all line-up outside because I know how eager you are to see it." I can already hear the complaints and groans by children who already had to milk their own cows before coming to school.

I also imagined a rural Minnesotan child (or even a North/South Dakotan or Iowan child for that matter), upon seeing the cow, exclaiming, "It's just like we're on a farm!" That kid would immediately get punched and shunned because he is obviously "city folk" and "don't fit in 'round these here parts." Although, he would have already been pegged a city kid before this incident because of the way he wore his boots on the outside of his pants.

The best part of the article was at the end when the educators thought that, because the kids saw a cow, they might be enouraged to major in agriculture and become world leaders in food production. Who knows, maybe some of them will. But, I just imagine them going to college with all the other kids who grew up on a farm. The city kid would probably be instantly frustrated by the insane amounts of grunt work associated with keeping animals, as well as the bizarre problems that occur on a farm like old Bessie going down to the neighbor's house again or 'dem varmits eatin' all 'da veggies from 'da garden. I'm sure they'd learn about it all in a sterile, academic environment. But, quite frankly, I'd rather have the academic child who actually grew up on a farm running the world food production. Not the city kid who saw a cow in elementary school and felt forever inspired.

Why don't schools consider having, I don't know, small farms within the district that the kids help run? Or gardens that they manage? I don't think showing them a cow, watching movies, and reading from textbooks is going to adequately prepare them for any real understanding of agriculture. Then again, I'm a proponent of learning by doing. Oh well, maybe showing them a cow is a good start. It's just hilarious to a former farm girl like me.