Wow, what a trip. Tessa Jordan, Cyril Kesten and myself went to San Antonio, TX for the annual National Business Education Association meetings. This being Tessa’s first trip on a plane, I was going to enjoy this one! Sorry Tessa! Our first flight went uneventful, except for the fact I got “special treatment” while at the airport here in Regina. I got the frisk, AH! It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. However, the last flight, poor Tessa was not very comfortable. We had heard rumor that a tornado or two had been seen in SA and the pilot even made mention the seat belt signs were staying on. He was planning on flying around the storm, but we would still have some turbulence. All I can say is poor Tessa, not having a strong stomach, she felt quite queasy. To me, it felt like we were flying over Lake Superior. Just a little bumpy. Once we landed and got settled into the hotel, I went to hook up my computer. I couldn’t believe it; the hotel charged for internet. AND it wasn’t even wireless. Ok, so this place was the Marriott. Why would they charge for internet when many of their guests are business/professionals. I just couldn’t comprehend this. But being the inquisitive type, I called the front desk to ask them about this. They were generous enough to let us have internet for free for two days. Thanks Marriott

On my first full day, I went to the AT&T Center for a tour of the facilities and to listen to one of the staff for the Spurs Sports And Entertainment speak on sports marketing. This is not a new idea; as long as teams having be paying big bucks for athletes, executives have been coming up with more creative ways to market their products to the public. It was really interesting to listen to the history behind the AT&T Center, the NBA Spurs and the AHL Rampage. The behind the scenes look at the workings of this building and the number of people it takes to make this organization run efficiently is enough to make anyone awestruck. On the way to the Center, I sat with Linda Robinson from Florida. Being able to share these few moments with an experienced business educator was great. Discussing the interesting things she was working gave me ideas for my own classroom. Excited to see her speak the following morning, I made plans to go to a session she was presenting on Google Page Creator. Unfortunately, I had not preregistered for this class and was not able to attend, but Linda was kind enough to forward me her presentation so I could make use of her material just the same.

Later Wednesday, I went to a session on Photoshop. What a neat program. The session was developed in such a way to intrigue those students who would like to solve a mystery. Using the tools and unique features in Photoshop, students are able to solve the mystery of “Who Done It”.

Thursday morning, I was able to take part in the session “Creative Teaching Strategies: What We Have for You and What You Can Give to Others”. It wasn’t bad, but I felt it was more like an advertisement for an upcoming book. I did, however, take some really interesting ideas of which I can use in the classroom as possible fundraising activities. The idea behind this session was to have teachers come together and give there unique ideas of which can then be published in a book. This book will be made available through NBEA next year.

On Thursday afternoon, I took part in the InDesign CS3 workshop. This is another cool product from Adobe. I love it. Never having the opportunity to play around with this program, it was just like Christmas. For those of you who are wondering what this great program is, it is just like Microsoft Publisher, but better. Sorry Bill Gates. There are limitations to every program, but I find this companies products are easy to navigate once you have had the opportunity to learn the tools and the layout. I hope to someday use InDesign in the classroom to teach and for students to use to create unique and interesting documents, posters, flyers… to make extra cash for the school. Why not combine Entrepreneurship and Information Processing!?

One final group of sessions I was able to attend had been put on by the National Council on Economic Education. This organization has developed a program which can assist any business educator on teaching basic business, economics and entrepreneurship. They have prepared a disk with so many wonderful tools and ideas to assist any classroom teacher. And guess what else is on this disk? LESSON PLANS. Ok fellow business education students, this is a gold mine for us. We all know how much time can be wasted (sorry profs.) writing these up. These lesson plans are organized in such a way that you can search the database, select the lesson plans that seem to focus on the outcomes you need to teach and then can be manipulated so you can add your own details. WOW, I am excited to sit down and play with this program. If anyone is interested in finding out more about this, drop my a comment and I can get in touch with you.

During the conference, there were three keynote speakers who addressed the entire group; John Kasich, William C. Bosher and LaDonna Gatlin. These professional speakers were a great touch to the conference. It can sometimes be nice to hear form people who are not directly involved in the conference. I feel it gives the delegates an outsiders view of the conference and helps us to bring their viewpoints into context and make them applicable to us. The final speaker LaDonna Gatlin impacted me the most. Gatlin, who was part of the famous Gatlin Brothers in the 70’s, decided to leave the group and “sing her own song”. For so many of us, we are focused on doing “what is right”. If anyone has ever met me, they know I never do “what is right”, I don’t know what it means to “colour within the lines”. But listening to LaDonna speak on this encouraged me to keep doing what I feel is right for my children, my husband and most importantly for me. As a mother, it is so natural for me to do what I think my family want me to do, not realizing that I end up not doing anything for myself. Well, fellow moms, you have to do what is right for you. It is ok, no one is going to tell you at the end of the day, “You didn’t spend every waking moment pleasing your kids, your husband and the school administration”. If you take time for yourself once in awhile, you are better able to do things for all the other people who are important to you. As a teacher, this means you can be better rested and therefore more focused on your students and their needs. I know some of you may be saying “Ah, Michelle, what do you know? You haven’t been in the classroom, dealt with parents, had to run to all your children’s activities and then coach the soccer team. Well, guess what, I have. As a mature student, who has two boys in hockey and soccer, married to the football coach, coached volleyball (during football season), worked at the school as a teaching assistant, volunteered for numerous organizations within our small town and still maintained my house, I can say, I have done it. You know what I learned? The more activities I get involved in, the more wound-up I get and the less time I have for myself. Because I have less time for myself, I never reflect and therefore do not produce high quality products. You know what else? All these groups and activities will get done without me, BUT my children only have one mother and I only have eighteen years with them at my house before they leave the house for future prospects. Sure, I am five hours away from them right now, while I am studying. But I know this is to also help them. It goes back to what LaDonna said, you must take time to do the things that are important to you. Going back to school is something I had wanted to do, I love teaching and helping students find those “a-ha” moments. Going back to school has helped me see who I am, what kind of person I am and what kind of a mother I want to be. I want to be that mother whose boys say “Mom, I want to be just like you. I want to do the things that make me happy, so I can share this with others”.

All in all, the NBEA conference was awesome. I am excited to go again next year. I know what it is like to get in a rut, like you are doing the same things over and over and getting no where. For this exact reason, you as fellow teachers must take advantage of the professional development seminars available to you. We spend the entire you having our cup drained and before you know it, the cup is empty and we are expected to still produce more. But you know what? No one is filling our cup. You have to get that cup filled in order to keep sharing with others. Take advantage of the local professional developments available to you. They may not be directly applicable to you, but if you learn to take a genuine interest in it, you might find something. When national conferences become available, try to get involved or at least attend. If this isn’t possible, find someone who is. Once they get back, they can share with you. There were only two of us from our class that were able to go to the NBEA, but by the time we got back, most of our classmates were excited to get involved for next years.

As a final wrap up to this great semester, my pre-internship and my final university classes (for the moment), I can’t think of a better way for me to have spent it than with fellow professionals sharing the ideas they have a passion for. I am already preparing to go to Chicago next year and have warned my husband of my intent. So for those of you who are planning on going next April, see you in the Windy City. For those of you who are not sure, seriously consider it. And for those who are just not able to, find someone who is going and stay in contact with them. Education is a profession that involves the sharing of ideas, supporting fellow colleagues and learning new and exciting things. Take advantage of the wealth of knowledge available to us!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I am part Irish, but have not been part of the festivities since I have been out west. Oh well, maybe another year.

On another note, this was my last day at the Regina Huda School. I really enjoyed my time there. The staff are fabulous, the kids are great and the stories I can take with me will remind me of the great time I had while there.

For my last math class, I returned my student’s math tests. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from them. For the most part, they all did fairly well, with a few stragglers that could have used a little more assistance on my part. After correcting the tests, I can see how to structure my tests in order to make it easier for marking and reading the marks to tally up on the total mark of the test. I have decided I will put the amount a question is worth in the left column in a box, this way the students can easily see what it is worth and I can easily see if I have added all the parts in a question. I made some errors correcting the tests as I didn’t have a specific spot I could write the marks on. I had used the right side of the page, making it difficult to see the numbers when student wrote over top of that section. Once again, lesson learned.

For IP, the group was working away on their assignment. I am hoping they will have them completed by Wednesday and can e-mail them back so I can mark them.

At the end of each pre-internship, the cooperating teacher is to fill out a short assessment report. I was very pleased with the her report. She gave me some great encouragement, as well as suggestions for next time. This is meant to be a learning process, so having her critique my skills as a teacher is welcoming. I need to have that guidance in order to better myself as a teacher. Her suggestion to me is to remember to keep tighter control of the students at the beginning which can allow me to “loosen” the atmosphere later in the year. Keeping this in mind as I prepare for my internship, I hope to take the many ideas and tools that have been given to me over the past three weeks and use them in my next placement.

Good day everyone!  I have just completed my second week of my pre-internship and enjoyed every moment of it.  And, needless to say, I am learning something new everyday.  Whether this is ideas on how to make my teaching better, corrections to those lesson plans or just awesome suggestions to make my life easier as a teacher.  On Friday I administered a math test for the grade 9 students.  My cooperating teacher suggested the length to be based on 1 point per minute of test time.  This worked out well on paper.  I actually had the test out of 60.  Great!  Until, I got to school.  I forgot the test on my printer.  Can you imagine that.  So I ended up driving like a mad woman back to the house to get the test.  I normally take my computer with me; not today though.  So I had to drive back to get it.  I had just enough time.  Lessons learned here:

1.  print the test off and put directly in your books going to school.

2.  always back up important documents going to school on your zip drive.

3.  always double check, before you head out the door, that you have ALL  your stuff.

Well, all I can say is I am glad it was now and not when I had a final exam and living in a huge city.

During the IP, the class were to work quietly on their assignment.  I am afraid they will not get it all finished by Tuesday.  They are having too much fun planning their trip.  I think on Monday I will have to do a lecture and step by step process of purchasing an online plane ticket and finding the accommodations.  Most of them know how to do this, it is just they are taking way to long.  I am hoping if I do the process with them, they will get it done at the same time.  Lesson learned, once again.

The rest of the day went pretty well, except one thing!  My math test was too long for them to complete in one class.  My cooperating teacher says it could be in the wording.  It took her a few tests for them to get the idea of what she was asking in her tests.  Since English is a second language to some of these students, they may not know the many possible ways sentences can be worded and still mean the same thing.  I found I was explaining the questions to the group.  I guess, if I was giving a test again for this group, I would make it shorter and spend 10 minutes at the beginning reading every question out to them and answering any questions they might have.

For next week, I will only be in the class for two days.  Monday I plan to go over the test results with the kids in Math and continue working on IP.  If the students are still no wheres near finishing up their IP assignment, it can be arranged for them to email me their assignment on Wednesday and I can return it to them via email with their assessment.

In a nut shell, if I could title this week with one phrase that describes it, I would say it was “Lesson’s Learned”.  But for some reason, I think that title can be used every week when you are a teacher, whether you are a seasoned teacher who has been doing a great job or a pre-intern who barely has their feet wet.

I can’t believe how often I forget to do this blog. I get home from school, plan my supper and off to the computer I go. Searching for ideas, suggestions and new lesson plans. Lets face it, we are all guilty of searching for a lesson plan that is already complete. The only thing you have to add is the professional targets. Well guess what, you never find the whole lesson plan, but you do find the outline and ideas of what you can use in class. This is the great part about education, we are not in the schools for pre-internship to reinvent the wheel. We are there to get use to preparing lesson plans, organizing our time, being there for students and most importantly to expand our horizons. We all have come from unique backgrounds and we are most likely in a school that has some characteristics that are similar to the one we came from, with a few differences. At the Huda school, the atmosphere is so different than your typical high school, the classes are structured in a different way and the teachers are dressed in uniform, as are the students. But at the end of the day, these kids are just like all other students; they have friendships, they like music, they like new clothes and they love to talk, AND they all get bored in class. This is the part that is the most ironic. In education, we have been taught all these cool suggestions for keeping the class somewhat entertained. But you know what? At the end of the day, we are not there to entertain the students, we are there to educate the students. This can be done in a cool and exciting way, but guess what, it can be done in the traditional format as well. I get excited when I am teaching math with these students, they actually seem engaged. Seems ironic, I know, but they truly seem to be interested in what is being taught. You know what it all comes down to? I do not know for sure, but I think a lot of it has to do with being organized. When you are not completely organized, you have to struggle to find the next thing to do on the list. When you are ready and have everything laid out, there is less time for the students to get bored. Cool, eh!

This morning, we had the opportunity to go to Memories with the girls in our school. One of the leaders in the school takes the senior girls out once in a while to find out what they like about the school, what they don’t like and what suggestions they might have. They did this with the boys a few weeks ago. This is a great opportunity for the school suporvisors to hear, first hand, what is going well and what isn’t. The school is in a time of growing pains. They have outgrown their facilities and the resources are not as readily available for these students, like they are at many other schools in this city. But one thing these students do have is a voice. People here truly care about what they like and want for their school, a true sense of ownership.

Tomorrow, I will be giving a math test and having students work on a project in IP. It seems so crazy we should develop a lesson plan for this, but I will so I can keep specific things in mind when I am delivery the test and when I am letting the students work on their assignment.

Talk to you all in a few days, have a great weekend,

Mrs. M.

All I can say is AGH!!! At least that is what I feel. In math today, not all the students had completed their homework. I must admit I was quite disappointed. You see, we have a test on Friday and we must finish the rest of the unit by Tuesday. Wednesday our school is having a clay workshop and all the senior students will be participating in this event. This means we lose math class. That leaves Thursday for the review. I sure hope we get it done. The kids are hardworking, so it kind of surprised me when they had not completed the task. For tomorrows class, I will be focusing on time management for a professional target. Maybe this way I can stay on track and then be available again at lunch and study hall to help them out if they have questions. I guess the difficult thing to do is to just keep going. If I hold back to wait for the ones who have not completed the work, we may never get the test done. This is why it is soooo important for teachers to have those unit development plans and outlines of how the course will work. It keeps you on track. I have learned my lesson, thankfully before it is too late.

For IP, the class worked on a quick exercise to have them practice their chart making skills. They were to research the breakdown of calories and fat of a fastfood meal, record the data on an excel sheet and create data chart that could represent the actual levels. I was hoping they could reflect during the process on the amount of fat that can be found in these foods and the importance of selecting healthy choices when eating out. I know eating habits is not part of the IP curriculum, but I strongly believe in making an exercise applicable to the students life. Another example of what a teacher could do for this exercise to have students record their income for a given period of time and prepare a budget, spending habits and breakdown of where their money went during that month.
Tomorrow will be an interesting day. Math will be a whirlwind of activity as the students work on independent events through assigned questions, while in IP the students will begin their final assignment on excel. I am looking forward to marking the IP exercise when it is completed. For this final exercise, students will be developing an itinerary of a dream trip, calculating the costs and then organizing it in a document that is appealing and accurate. I hope the kids enjoy this exercise. Since many of these students are from places all over the world, it might be quite interesting to hear about their “trips”.

What a day!  It became apparent we had to get a move on with our Math lessons.  Our co-op decided to set Friday of next week as the day to have the unit test.  Will we be ready?  Yesterday, I would have said no, but today, I think we will be.  Many of the students were having a difficult time grasping the concept of scatterplots.  Thankfully, the set I chose for yesterdays class assisted in getting them to better understand what were had been working on.  Unfortunatley, I have only two classes available for the rest of the unit.  This means, I will have to be creative with my teaching strategies and strict with the time management.  I am sure it will work out.

For IP, I was getting sort of frustrated with how some of the students were working.  One in particular has a hard time focusing on his task.  He sure can focus on everyone elses.  So the target I chose for the next lesson was doing a time check every 5 minutes to ensure they are staying on task.  Unfortuantely, some are still behind.  Over lunch and during a spare, I have made myself available in the lab so students can work on the assignments, otherwise it will have to be done as homework.

Looking back, I think today was  successful day as a pre-intern.  Realizing the time constraints, unforseen circumstances and the result of students missing a class can sometimes put a damper in your lesson plans or at least your unit plan schedule.  I guess this means, you must always keep a back up plan in mind, as well as realize that must be flexible.  And of course remember, sometimes it isn’t the students fault things are not completed on time.

Wow, what a day.  First class was math.  I wasn’t sure how the students were going to do with their homework assignment from last night, but I thought I have to give them a chance.  Sure enough, there were questions.  Needless to say, out the window goes the lesson plan for the day.  We did, however, get to join in on the World Math Day.  Unfortunately, this is where technology is not always good.  The site was jammed with people all over the world trying to access it AND it was jammed with all the students in my class trying to log on.  This backed us up a few minutes.  However, we persisted.  The students were told, in order to participate in this online game, they were to be calculator free.  With slight hesitation, they began to work on the problems that were coming their way on the screen while competing against students from all over the world.  It was great.  The class did not want to leave, in fact, they asked if they could do this again in computer class. I didn’t assign any homework for tonight, so I could spend a little more time with the students on last nights assignment.  I understand how important it is to get the students to understand the material in order to move on.  Hopefully after tomorrows lesson, things will be back on track.

For IP today, the students worked on the exercises on introduction to excel.  Most of the class are close in completing the activities, but one student in particular has a more difficult time staying on track.  I think tomorrow, I might have to move him to a new seat, just to get his work done.  Hopefully this will work.

During study hall, I was suppose to tutor a student in math, but he had to complete a task for another teacher.  Instead, I took the time to talk to the boys about their religion and practices.  It was really exciting to see young men interested in the history of their religion.  I knew some of the history, but they were able to fill me in on a lot more of it.  I was able to spend some time during prayer time with the ladies.  Since prayer time is to be avoided when you are “unclean”, the females who could not participate stayed in the class with us.  One thing I wanted to know was how dedicated they were to their religion.  I was very pleased to hear they followed it quite strictly and observed most of the practices.   I can’t wait until I get the chance to chill with them again.  I learn so much about their culture and religion from speaking to them one on one.

Now, like most teachers, I have a goal for tomorrow.  Simply put, I want to get the kids all caught up on tasks.  I hope this works out since I don’t want to hold back on material that has to be taught on time.

First class today, I was able to teach the grade 9 math class. We just started the unit on data analysis and probability. The students are a bright group who are a pleasure to teach. Trying to keep the students interested isn’t too difficult, they are an inquisitive bunch. Tomorrow is World Math Day, so we will spend the class competing against students from around the world. I sure hope they enjoy this friendly competition.

Second class we worked on Information Processing 10. I continued where my co-op left of, with excel. Not much happened here, except the one student is falling behind as he missed yesterdays work. It will be interesting to see if I am able to get him caught up before the students begin working on their large assignment.

As I continue to work with the students, I am beginning to learn their names. That was my target today, to remember their names. With names such that are traditional to the Arabic countries, I have a more difficult time remembering them. I am sure I will get them all soon, it just takes a lot of focus and practice. Thank goodness for seating plans.

Tomorrow should be uneventful. I would like to spend some time in other classes to see how other teachers manage their class and see if there are any more ideas I can pick up from them.

In first class this morning, the students were quietly writing a math test. This gave my co-op and my partner the time to review what was going to take place over the next few days. It also gave us the chance to ask any questions about the school and students, as well as the teachers practices in the class. As I began recording things, I couldn’t come up with a logical way for me to format my data so I can find it quickly and efficiently. This is something I will have to work on for tomorrow; a way to organize my jot notes.For second class the two students in accounting were completing a test. This gave my partner and I the opportunity to walk around the school a bit. We went into the library and had a nice talk with the librarian. She explained that most of their books were donated items from libraries throughout the city. When asked about content, she explained it is mandatory that no books contain boy/girl relationships except for non-fiction material and that it be culturally appropriate. The biggest challenge for this library is how to attain the books to fill it and still encourage the students to read. Just like all kids, the books that are popular to modern society are popular amongst these students as well.

Third class was in the computer lab; Computer Literature 9 and Information Processing 10. The grade 9 students were beginning a unit on powerpoint. There job was to create a project using powerpoint about themselves. For the grade 10 students, they were beginning a unit on Excel. Given a handout on spreadsheets, the students were to follow the directions listed in order to become more familiar with the general tasks and layout of excel.

During the prep periods, we were able to do some marking for our co-op. Marking these tests gave me the chance to see what items she included on her test layout which may be beneficial to me in my own class. She said something she had started some time ago was a test template. On this template it contained a space for the students name, a text box were the teacher can record the mark and a tally spot at the bottom of the page for quick marking. I will definitely make use of this idea in my class.

Psychology 20, after lunch, was pretty straight forward. The two students in attendance were working on their action plan which would take place this week.

For the final class, students went to the computer lab to work on a webquest. Being able to walk around the classroom and speak to the students casually gave me the opportunity to get to know a little bit more about the students I will be teaching. One student in particular stuck out for me. He seemed engaged in a conversation I was having with the co-op about a cool program. He seemed eager to learn about technology and the use of the interesting tools “out there” if you just look for them. I will have to remember to “pick his brain” on programs he uses on a regular basis.

All in all, today was great. I am not sure if I will be able to remember all of the students names or not, but this will be my professional target for tomorrow. I struggle with remembering names generally, so I must be focused and get to know the students in order to help me remember their names.

Today was a great day! I left a half hour early, hoping to avoid the early morning Regina traffic on Ring Road. Luckily, it only took me 15 minutes to drive to the Regina Huda School, the location for my pre-internship. I was filled with excitement at what today would bring. Not knowing much about RHS, or Islam, I couldn’t wait to see the inside of the school, meet the staff and students. Knowing the students come from diverse backgrounds; some born in Canada and others who have immigrated, I knew the culture within the school was going to be unique.After arriving and meeting our cooperating teacher, my partner and I were given a black robe we could wear while in the school. Our co-op proceeded to introduce us to the staff as we met them in the hallway. Before I knew it, we were in class, greeting students for first class.

First class of the day was math, during this time, our co-op was preparing students for an Exemplars Exam. Having some experience with this from Math, I was able to assist students by probing them for important questions they can ask while reading the questions and preparing to answer them.

Second class was accounting, in which the 2 students present were writing and exam. During this time, we discussed with our co-op which classes we would be able to teach. It had been decided I would teach the next unit in Math 9 and work on the excel unit with the IP 10’s. Eventually I will do accounting when my partner has finished up with her unit.

During the prep, our co-op was driving her career and work student to his work location. There was a presentation in the library by the Canadian Blood Services, which was interrupted by a fire alarm. Needless to say, out the door we all went.

Not long after lunch, the students prepared for the afternoon wudu and prayer. This takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. During this time, we observed the procedure.

For psychology, the two students present were reviewing an action plan they were developing. It was really interesting to hear some of the terms used in my Ed. Psych class, here in the classroom.

For the final class of the day, Food Studies, the students were working on a test. During this time, we observed our co-ops interaction with the students. Since she was leaving for an appointment early, I asked if I could help any of the students with the exam. Don’t worry, I don’t mean give them the answers. I walked around the classroom to make sure students didn’t need any clarification with the test questions. Once all students were finished, one student came up to me and asked me what 1 +1 was. I simply answer “2, last time I checked”. He then proceeded to explain his theory on what the answer could otherwise be. Finding it intriguing the students seemed to enjoy some deeper thinking, I did some geometry work on the board with them, explaining some fundamental theorems in Euclidean Math, trying not to go “over their head” with the explanations. This ended up bringing up some other questions from students. Our co-op said they were a bright bunch, but to actually see how bright they could be was really neat.

Over the weekend, I plan on preparing for my math and IP unit. It is kind of neat to actually be taking the information that our teachers have been giving us for the past two years and actually using them in the classes we have been trained to teach in.