Dear Paul: Are You Still Alive?

Hi.

Sorry I haven't blogged in a long time. It isn't that I forgot. It's just that I have been really busy. And tired.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been teaching four classes with three preparations. In the other two classes, I have been team teaching with Mr. Jewett. In my 7th Period, which is a planning period, I have been staying in the North Fork Computer Lab to help Ms. Kimball with her Computer I class, as I am better at the Flash movie stuff that the kids are currently working on than she is.

Any free time that I have had at school has recently been taken up grading projects. I try very hard to stay on top of the grading, because I really don't want it to pile up, but it is tough. I usually have a complete rubric created for each graded assignment. I do this using Microsoft Excel, so that the sheet automatically figures the grades for me. I also put comments on each rubric, indicating where the student did well or might have been able to improve. Then, I send an email to each student with an attachment of the rubric, so that they can see their grade information if they wish. This takes a lot of time, but it is a routine that I would like to get into, as I think that it will serve me well in the long run.

The 2nd Period and 3rd Period Graphic Arts and Web Design classes have completed their Computer Graphic Arts Projects that I mentioned awhile back. I graded them yesterday and today. Most kids did very well. Almost all of the students were very enthusiastic about the project and almost everyone that put in solid work got at least a B on the project.

The 7th Grade Computer I class during 1st Period has been working on creation of their own websites with links to their projects. Things continue to go very slowly in that class. There is a group of about four boys that take up much of my time and effort. Even when things are going well in that class, I spend about half of my time monitoring and redirecting them. I was almost a little relieved when I saw that in Ms. Kimball's Computer I class, she also has a group of three boys that get up and wander around the lab whenever they wish, being disruptive. At least I know that it isn't just me.

5th and 6th Period Computer Productions Classes have mostly been doing Flash animations over the last two weeks. Mr. Jewett and I have developed a good team teaching technique, he does the application lecturing and I do the on screen demonstrations for the class. It works well.

Some other interesting things have been going on. I will post blog enteries backdated to the appropriate time, so that this reads chronologically.

Best to all!