Well, I hope nobody was too confused by the sudden addition of an early day to our Pre-Thanksgiving week. It seemed to go fairly smoothly from my perspective, although I did spend most of the afternoon huddled in front of my computer in the back of the building. Today Ms. Looney and I were able to give the students an extended amount of time to work on their Egypt projects. I'm happy to see that a few of the students have selected Egyptian geography as a component of their project, as it will assuredly aid them when we start learning about plate tectonics, exothermic and endothermic processes and erosion after Winter Break.
You'll all be happy to know I've enrolled myself in an online mentorship program with UC Santa Cruz and have been asked to undertake a lesson related to data collection and plate tectonic movement as my first assignment. We should get started on it as soon as we find the time. With my Master's classes at SDSU taking up their own share of my time, I wasn't terribly anxious to undertake further self-education courses, but I took the chance that such an opportunity might be doubly effective in giving me some insight into my own teaching methods and the students an effective lesson to boot. I suppose we'll all see soon enough.
Be sure to check in with your student this Thanksgiving break about their Egypt projects, I know a fair amount are planning on using at least a small portion of their time off to get work done. Critique Week begins the Tuesday after we get back, so there will only be a small amount of time for the students to assemble the work they've already completed before presenting it to the class. Every student has also clearly stated exactly what they expected to have accomplished by Critique Week, and a failure to reach the stated goals will be reflected in their final grades. More importantly, Critique Week serves as an opportunity to receive both positive and negative feedback about the work each student has completed before the work is actually turned in. This gives them a chance to make adjustments where necessary and realize successes early on in the project process.
Finally, Mrs. Blair (mother to the latest addition to the Hartooney Team) came in this morning and volunteered a couple hours of her time to help out students with their projects and just be of general assistance in the classroom. If there are any other parents who have the time to come in and help out at all, the second half of the day (12:30 - 3:30) would be an ideal time to show up. No need to RSVP or phone ahead, just check in with Toni at the Front Desk and start doing some students some good. Have a happy holiday break! -Mr. H