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As of January 1st, my blog posts have moved to Facebook (EnergizeTheClassroom).  I hope you check it out!  Thanks. 

Week Fifteen

Instead of the paper on assign on the First Amendment every year, I decided to have the students create glogs....digital posters (http://www.glogster.com/ ).  I gave them a crtieria sheet and a week to design and create.
Click "here" to view examples of their work.  The nice thing is the animation, audio/video, and links they can embed right into their work.  After Christmas break, they will present them and their classmates can comment online about them!

In Economics, we conitnued planning for our final projects and competing in the smartstocks simulation. 

Week Fourteen

This Tuesday I received the Partners in Education Award from the Chemung County Chamber of Commerce.  The honor is bestowed upon an educator that works to bring "real world" experience and the business world into the classroom.  It truely was an honor to receive the award.  Personally, it feels great to be recognized by the business community.  

Week Thirteen

A full week after a holiday is always a challenge!  I always plan on activities that involve some multimedia and/or computer time.  This encourages participation and focus from the students.  By Wednesday, I was able to settle back in with some new content and notes.  For example, in Economics class we watched a John Stossel video about Entrepreneurs being under attack by government regulation.  Afterwards, when my students were fired up about it, I introduced their final project for the semester, a break even point analysis of a business they need to begin!  In Government class, we watched a video on the suppressive tactics of Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and Che...and then began a unit on the First Amendment!

The clock is ticking until Christmas Beak so I need to stay focused myself!

Week Twelve

Only two days of school this week beause of Thanksgiving Break.  Economics students were busy with Stocksquest simulation (more on this later) and Government students completed a First Amendment newsletter that we titled "The Rabble Rouser".  Each student created their own version of the newsletter by gathering Bill of Rights headlines from three websites;  Freedom Forum, The Bill of Rights Institute, and the ACLU.  They had to choose one main headline with a catchy name or phrase...like the Daily News does.
Besides those basic criteria I let the students shape the project with their creativity.  It worked out very well!

Week Eleven

This past Friday I was Master of Ceremonies at the Career Development Councils 35th Anniversary Breakfast at the Corning Radisson.  I spoke about how schools need to do a better job at keeping up with students and the Web 2.0 world!  I feel teachers want to and in some cases do but there seem to be some barriers that need to be brought down....or should I say some more "paradigm shifting" to accomplish!  More on this in future weeks as I plan to see what can be accomplished in the classroom.  In the meantime, here is a link to our local newspaper article about where I spoke:    Star Gazette Link

Week Ten

End of the first marking period!

This year is flying by.  I have had several students sturggle this first ten weeks.  Call it a combination of laziness, senioritis, futuritis, or anything else that comes to mind!  It will work out.  Now that we have grades in the books, my students ALWAYS come around.  They have too much to look forward to.....in JUNE!  I think everyone in education needs to remember that there are lessons to be learned in not succeeding (failing).  Students, just like the adults that like to judge them, need to learn from their mistakes in order to avoid future repeats. 

I look forward to starting the next marking period on Monday.  As we slowly work toward that graduation day in June, my challenge remains the same.......find ways to encourage my students to tap into their curiosity and passion...so they can continue to learn!