Many Edventures

I've been thinking for a couple weeks now that I needed to write another post, but I was waiting for a little inspiration. I kept putting off writing because nothing was coming to me. However, this week at Neuqua has been our "Serenity Week" and I found my motivation. A few weeks ago, this article was shared with me: "Students in high-achieving schools are now named an 'at-risk' group, study says".  The article goes into detail of how students at "high achieving schools" have been put into the same at-risk category of kids living in poverty and foster care, recent immigrants, or kids with incarcerated parents. At Neuqua we pride ourselves on how talented and high achieving many of our students are, but we often fail to think about the pressures that these same students deal with every day. A few quotes really stuck out to me... "The unrelenting pressure on students in high-achieving schools comes from every direction, from overly i...

As it's been a couple weeks now, I feel like I'm settling into my new role. I've been stopped by numerous colleagues who ask "How are you liking the new gig?" The easy answer is "It's great! Yeah, I love it." And don't get me wrong, I do. But a change is still a change, and I'd be lying if I said it hasn't been an adjustment. So, as I'm reflecting on these first few weeks, I thought I'd share some thoughts... One: Spending more time out of the classroom is weird. This is my 8th year teaching. Every year up to this point I've had 5 or 6 sections, each with 30ish students. So being used to 150+ students, teaching only 42 is weird. I try to think of a different word to use each time, but weird is what seems to fit best. There are the obvious perks - less grading, etc -  and I'm hopeful with less students I'll be able to build stronger relationships. But if I'm being honest, I sort of miss those extra 100 kids. In a...

Towards the end of last year, I was approached by my department chair about applying for a new opening at our school: Instructional Technology Coordinator. At first, I waved off the idea. I've spent the last 7 years in a mathematics classroom. You know the ones where you still use a textbook, paper, and even pencil to show your work? Teaching mathematics is what I know, it's what (I think) I'm good at, and it's where I feel comfortable. Thankfully, my department chair was persistent and encouraged me to think on it. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought, why not? Although my knowledge of Instructional Technology was, in my opinion, limited, I've always been interested in finding more ways to bring technology into the classroom. I've gone to various conferences, gotten REALLY excited about an idea, and then struggled to find ways to actually use them. I'd never been afraid to experiment with technology in the classroom, but I'd stick wi...