Setting up My litacme21 Page

I only found out that we needed to create a page about 1 month ago. I requested accesses to the website and it took about 2 weeks to get a confirmation. I finally got a chance to set up my page. It was hard finding time right now to sit down and work on my page since I have been preparing my students for the up and coming state exams and baseball season has been in full swing. When setting up my page I found it pretty easy. I included some basic background information about my self. The picture I picked was myself holding a rattle snake that I had caught at one of my jobs. I then went into a brief detail on my personal teaching philosophy. I believe that studetns learn best by doing hand on activities that require them to use their problem solving skills. The only way that problems get solved in the real world is through critical thinking and insight. So it is vital to have students practice these skills in a controlled classroom environment. I then added links to most of my work that I handed in through out the year. I still have to complete a few assignments this weekend and then my WoW presentation.

Engrade

I love using engrade. I have actually been using engrade all this year in my classroom. I found that it makes doing grades at the end of each quarter much easier and quicker. Engrade allows you see in real time how a grade affects a students overall performance. Engrade also allows you print out students grade reports. This is a good feature in that it allows students to see what they are missing and if you send it home it allows parents to see where their son or daughter is struggling. Engrade also allows you to give parents access to their students grades. Each student has their own id which can be turned into an account that the student or parent can see from their home computer at anytime. Engrade has a calendar feature in that every assignment you put in is placed onto a calendar. Engrade allows you to post quizzes and wikis online. Parents can also send you messages on your engrade account. This feature acts like an email acount for the teacher. Engrade also allows you to archive your previous classes or quarters. In engrade you can also print out your grade book if you need to have a hard copy for your records. If the teacher wants, they can make flash cards online for students to help them learn vocabulary.  I find only positive things with engrade. It is a great tool to use for the teacher to help keep them organized and to keep the students organized (by giving them a grade print out). It also is a great communication tool for teachers to use with parents. I like engrade and will keep using it in my classroom.

Class on Creativity

Lasts week class was all about creativity. Now many different people had their own opinion on what creativity is. To me creativity is being able to take normal or average information and change it in a way that can better benefit a student. Whether that is with old fashion paper and pencil drawings or with new high tech computer animations. All that matters is that students are able to obtain information and then use the information later on.  Our teacher is hosting an international conference which we were asked to attend. I would like to attend the conference but it is at 10 am and I have a teaching job and can not get off to go to the conference.  Hopefully later on in the semester there will be another conference that is at a better time for me so I can attend. I am now trying to start my digital story. I have been looking through the videos and articles on the digital story telling and do not think it will be to difficult. The hard thing that I am experiencing is finding time to complete this task. I have just taken on another class at my job, my coaching job, and my transition B work have taken up a lot of time. Hopefully I will have time to complete this task by the end of the week.