These are also linked from the wiki in my previous post, but here are direct links to my class playlists. The first playlist is photo essays my 9th graders did. The second playlist is music videos my 8th graders created. Enjoy!
9th Grade Photo Essays
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=639EC0658863D21B
8th Grade Music Videos
The books are shelved, the computers off, the files are…filed, and another school year is officially over. It was a fun year, and I’m really enjoying my classes. I did a lot of experimenting this year with software and technology I hadn’t used before in the classroom. As you can imagine some of these experiments turned out better than others, but even the experiments that didn’t go as well as I’d hoped laid the foundation for future classes. I tried out several Web 2.0 features such as blogs and wikis, and worked in some cross curricular assignments using Audacity and Movie Maker.
I am really excited about fine-tuning some of the projects for next year and implementing some different teaching and learning tools next year. If you’d like a sampling of some of the projects we did this year, here is a link to my class wiki.
In Austria all schools get a week’s vacation in February for something they like to call Energy Break. Usually I just chill out at home for most of this break, but this year I got a cheap flight to Italy and traveled down to an area called Cinque Terre with 3 other teachers. Cinque Terre is a series of 5 old fishing villages connected by scenic trails and a train if you’re not up to walking.We were traveling during an off-peak time, so there weren’t a lot of people around, and at times it felt like we had the place to ourselves. I suppose the downside to being there off-peak is that most of the locals were on vacation and we had a lot of trouble finding even places to eat.
The scenery was amazing and it was nice to have a break from city life, if only for a few days. I had a great time, though I may hesitate to travel with three women again. 🙂 One thing I do know is I would not make a good Mormon. I mean, seriously. I can’t even keep one woman happy. What would I do with three?
For more photos from the trip click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kleinwelt/sets/72157600277903331/
Originally uploaded by kleinmat4103.
Last Friday, May 25, I turned the ripe old age of 29 for the first time. It was a festive evening filled with good food and good friends. One of the highlights of the night was a homemade pinata with the Mets’ logo on one side and Tim McCarver on the other. It was hard to know which I wanted to hit more. You can see some action shots on my Flickr site in the “My Birthday” set. If you forgot to buy me a present, don’t worry, I do accept late gifts.
All week at school the staff(well some of us) has been celebrating Pleated Pants/Short Sleeve Button-Down Shirt Appreciation Week. Yeah we’re a little weird, but it works.
Today we capped off the week with Win Win Win Day. Why Win Win Win day, you ask?
Let’s start off with a lesson in fashion. Whenever you’re wearing a tie, you always have to ask, “What wins?” Does your shirt win or your tie win? Which one is more dominant? One needs to win. Win Win Win Day is about everyone winning: The shirt, the tie, and you. Win win win.
Pictured are just a few of us demonstrating how to win win win.
After being shown our picture the 3rd grade class was instructed to tell us, “Heiße Beine”(“Hot legs” auf Deutsch), whenever they encountered any of us in the hall. This accounted for several hilarious incidents involving the entire 3rd grade class.
Also, the quote of the day was, “You guys put the schön in fashion.” Yes. Yes, we do.
For those of you still a little hazy on the origins of Win Win Win Day, the below video should help.