Teacher of the Year Stop #2 Digging Into Education

For the past 5 summers, I have participated in the Archaeology Field School through the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. It has given me an opportunity to do field based science. I have had the chance to work on a village site on Sandusky Bay that has 3 settlement periods spanning a time frame of more than 4000 years. This summer, I am working on the Burrell Orchard site in Sheffield Village. We are finding evidence of occupation that dates to the middle archaic period, which means that people were occupying this site more than 4,000 years ago. I have learned to identify different lithic (stone ) artifacts and different pottery styles by analyzing the style, material and form of the artifact. I have had a chance to excavate burials and study human remains to learn more about their life including their diet and diseases that may have had an effect on them. Soil is important to archaeologists too. It is changes in soil color and texture which can give an archaeologist a clue that there may have been a midden (garbage pit), fire pit or structure at that location in the past. I have learned how to classify soil and map features and unit profiles. Archaeology is also a lot of hard work. It is not for someone who wants quick results. I have spent an entire work day scraping down the floor of a two meter by two meter unit 5 cm with a trowel and hours working around a bone or important artifact with a bamboo pick removing tiny fragments of soil one piece at a time.

So, how does this have an impact on being Teacher of the Year? I believe that all teachers need to be patient. Sometimes it takes a student a lot longer to grasp a concept than we have allotted for grasping that concept. That is OK. I also believe that all teachers should be life long learners. In order to have fresh ideas in your classroom, you have to be open to experiences that will help you grow outside the boundaries of that classroom space. I didn't know anything about how to be a field archaeologist when I started. But, I did have a strong science background in biology and geology and that has certainly helped. While working with the field school, I have had the chance to meet someone who has had 3 new organisms named in his honor and who has helped to investigate shipwrecks in Lake Erie and the Atlantic, including the USS Central America, the richest wreck found in the United States. I have never been to the North or South Poles, but at the dig site, I had the chance to work with someone who had, 5 times! I have worked with teachers, postal workers, historical researchers, professors, college students, engineers and printers and I have learned something from all of them that has helped me to grow as a teacher and a person. Take the opportunity to try something new when it is presented to you. Don't hesitate to try a class that is outside your subject area or your comfort zone. Go to the workshop that looks interesting. Read, explore, ask questions, take risks and you will become a stronger teacher who has more to offer your students.

Would you like to learn more about my dig site: http://www.cmnh.org/site/ResearchandCollections/Archaeology/BloggingArchaeology.aspx

Would you like more information on professional development ideas:

• Online Professional Development Videos http://www.learner.org/
• Ohio Teachers Continuing Education http://www.ohioteacherscontinuingeducation.com/
• eTech Professional Development http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/plan/2004/site/stories/edlite-Columbus.html

Teacher of the Year Stop #1 The Winking Lizard

For the next year, I will officially hold the title of Teacher of the Year for the Fairview Park Schools. It comes with a primo parking space, much closer to the door so I don't have to drag all my bags so far each morning. In addition, I received a $100 gift certificate to a fancy restaurant, so my husband and I can actually go on a date, which is good because I spent so many hours doing school work after school that I think he forgot what I looked like sometimes. One of my colleagues told me that since I have won the award, I have to live up to it this coming year too. So I have decided to take the award on a year long tour and with each stop, share with my blog readers ideas and information that will help them in their classrooms and in their professional lives.



Stop 1 The Winking Lizard Tavern in Avon,Ohio

After winning the award, I celebrated with my family at the Winking Lizard. We had fun at dinner. Everyone wanted their picture taken with me and my plaque. My family made a lot of sacrifices this year because of the hours I was putting in on the job. I really appreciated all of their support!

In education it is important to celebrate success, whether it is in your classroom, with an individual student, a professional accomplishment or a school accomplishment. I have found that it is so easy to got caught up in the daily tide of activity that I often forget to stop and focus on what went right that day. This coming year I am going to keep a professional journal to help me keep track of what was good about a lesson, a unit, interaction with my peers or with my students, some new idea I had or something new I learned. On those days when I am wondering if I have accomplished anything at all, I can pull out my journal and remember all the good things about being a teacher. On those days when I am sitting at home working on a new lesson or unit, I can open my journal and look back through my brainstorming ideas. Journals can be kept electronically by creating a blog or using Google Docs or in a notebook. If you want to find out more about journaling, try the following links:

http://www.infed.org/research/keeping_a_journal.htm

http://journaling-portal.com/journaling-your-work.php

http://teacher-mentorship.suite101.com/article.cfm/five_minute_activity_for_teachers

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/509381/journal_writing_for_the_new_and_experienced.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/37655/journal_writing.html?cat=4

An Apple a Day for Teachers In the 21st Century Classroom

Forget about giving a teacher a shiny red apple on the first day of school. This coming school year, teachers at Lewis F. Mayer Middle School and Fairview High School will be receiving a shiny new Apple laptop. Funds from the second phase of the district technology plan have been used to buy each teacher a laptop and provide a two day inservice to the staff in September. For teachers who would like to take a bite out of their Apple before the first day of school, a voluntary inservice will be held at the Middle School on August 1st, 4th or 5th. The building principals will be sending out more information on this inservice. If they attend, they will get to take their laptop home with them and get a headstart on learning how to use this new equipment in their classroom. In addition to the teacher laptops, the Middle School will also be receiving two new laptops for student use in each classroom, an upgraded lab which will be for Middle School use only and a rolling laptop lab that will be available for Middle School Teachers to use. This should free up some lab space in the existing High School labs, which for next year will remain PC labs. The High School is scheduled to receive classroom computer updates for the 2009-2010 school year.



The laptops will come loaded with Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint, Word and Excel. There are some differences in how these programs look in Apple but not on how they perform. Files teachers create on a PC should open on the Mac and vice versa. The laptops will also have wireless capabilities, so they can be used in most locations in the HS/MS complex. There may be deadspots in the HS music wing and in the back of the HS phys. ed. wing. Teachers will also be able to use the built in camera to make video blogs, movies with their students and have visual and audio conferences with other staff members.



For those teachers who are not familiar with Apple or the Apple tools like Apple Mail, Garage Band, I-Movie and other I-Life Tools and Jabber Chat that will be used next year, there are easy to use Apple Tutorials online at Mac101. These are step by step visual guides to using a Mac written for PC users who are transitioning to the Mac Platform.



Teachers who are familiar with Google Tools (see the April Posting "What's Up Docs") will be able to access Google Tools from their new Mac. They may also want to install the Google Toolbar on their new laptop, keeping in mind that the laptops will be using Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer as the web browser. One of the nice features of the Google Tool Bar is the Bookmarks option. This allows you to save web "favorites", label and sort them and even share them with others. Just like any of the other Google Tools, the Bookmark feature will travel with you on any computer that you are using, as long as you login to your Google Account. You can also do a Google Search directly from the toolbar without opening the Google homepage.

The technology changes that are being made over the next two years are a part of our district's plan to integrate the national education technology movement called The Twenty First Century Classroom into our curriculum and into the learning environment we are providing to our students.

Keep in mind that even the shiniest apples can have a worm hiding inside. There will be some challenges for all of us in making the transition at the HS/MS from a mostly PC environment to a Mac environment. But, I know that the staff of Fairview High School and Lewis F. Mayer Middle school are certainly up to the challenge. We will be learning together how to live the I-Life in our classrooms. Teachers across the world are using these tools in their classroom lesson plans. Apple also recognizes teachers who are using their technology in new and innovative ways. To read more about this, go to their Distinguished Educator Showcase.