I am exhausted, and it's a good exhaustion. Because my brain isn't working, and because I'm excited but overwhelmed. I'm going to go the lazy blogger route, and make a list of the top five things that I'm really excited about right now.
Podcasting! We got a yeti Blue USB microphone in the mail yesterday, and I love it. I had a little time without students today to test it out, and it worked beautifully. My class is going to be going blog to pod starting next week with the Awesome ClassCast (working title, I'm hoping...). Being that we have less than a month left of school, this is kind of a pilot season, but we're going to record some stories each week for a 15-20 minute episode. I'm thinking something like a short, kid-made version of This American Life. Of course we'll link it here when we get an episode online.
#YouMatter - Our class is working on a poster book based on the You Matter Manifesto by Angela Maiers. We've made posters to go with each line of the poem, and we'll be photographing them to make a PDF ebook of them tomorrow and Friday. The kids' artwork is so creative, and so many of them have gorgeous ideas that are different than their classmates. I can't wait to post the book online. I'll also be looking for an affordable way to print up a nice classroom copy.
Here's a page, Your Actions Define Your Impact:
Here's a page, Your Actions Define Your Impact:
Cray Cray May - In what I thought was an effort to keep anticipation up through this last full month of school, I'm finding that my brain cells die each time I utter or type the phrase. For the whole of this month, we'll be doing things that don't normally fly in an elementary. This week, Monday was Bring Your Favorite Toy Day, Tuesday was Outdoor Day, Today was Doughnut Day, tomorrow is Ice Cream Day, and Friday is Board Game Day. Next week, there's even more! I'm loving it.
Teachers are Superheroes - For Teacher Appreciation Week, our PTO suggested to students that they make cards and pictures sharing how their teacher is a superhero. Holy smokes, the cards I got today were cute and creative. I have to say, the kids and the PTO are rocking it this week. I've been awash in amazing snacks, and PTO got us a burrito bar from Tijuana Flats yesterday. Excellent!
And finally, number one...
EdCamp St. Augustine! - This Saturday is EdCamp St. Augustine, an event that has been on my plate since Kristin Harrington and I went to EdCamp Citrus last fall. Initially, we got our pal, Katrina Worthington on board, but until we put together an incredible team (I'll be writing a lengthy blog post about them next week!), it wasn't ever gonna happen. Now we've got more than 100 people registered, and we're incredibly excited. My room is a shambles now, and there are so many things to be done, but we'll get to that tomorrow and Friday because I - am - exhausted! If you are anywhere in Florida or Georgia, register and come hang out with us!
In today's #edblogaday, Meredith Towne writes about taking high school students to TechCrunch Disrupt NYC 2015, which she describes as, "hackathon, expo, competition, speakers..." and I am so jealous. I'm both wishing I was one of her students, and inspired to find opportunities to take my elementary kids to events. Check out Towne Hall.