Thursday. Skateboarding, Cute Guys and The Simpsons.

I had my second class period today. It was fun. I had a couple of exercises for the kids to work on, developed last night at around 11:00 p.m.

First, the kids had to log on to a "Mind reading" website and figure out how the trick worked, then send me an email outlining their theories. The catch was that the kids were not allowed to talk or make any noise. This was *extremely* difficult for 7th graders, who exist to make noise. It was alot of fun, though, watching them work their way through the exercise. They soon learned that they could, in fact, communicate with each other, but just couldn't talk. The ones that had it figured out organized and brought the other kids over, then walked them through the site, writing out their theory as they went. The kids all got it and emailed me their answers. I got to watch how the kids problem solved and worked with handicaps, as well as getting all (most) of their email addresses for my address book.

Want to try it? This is the link:

http://www.readyourmind.net

When you figure out how the site "reads your mind," send me your explanation in an email: pburkhar@psdschools.org. This is my School District email address, not my personal one.

We then went over my Course Outline sheet, which the kids need to take home and have signed and return a signature tear-off sheet. This assignment is worth 15 points and is due on Monday.

We also talked about Rubrics, which I will try to use for each assignment.

Then we got to work on our "Scavenger Hunt." Instead of the same old boring scavenger hunts that we have been doing forever, I put together three different scavenger hunts in areas of interest for the kids: Skateboarding, Cute Guys and "The Simpsons." The kids seemed very excited about this. They will continue to work on this next week. It is due next Thursday.

The rest of the day, I helped Mr. Jewett get kids finishing up their various projects. I have been having a number of kids ask specifically for my help, which is nice.

All in all, I having a great day.

Tomorrow will be different. Mr. Jewett is taking the day off and I will be in charge of all of the classes. I hope it goes well, but I am expecting the worst. I will let you know more then.