I'm so excited, I just had to write it!

So, it's 1:30 in the morning and I can't sleep because I am so excited to hear my students' This I Believe essays tomorrow. I know this is off topic but I had to let my excitement out somewhere, and, well, everyone else is sleeping. Not only are my students doing amazing things for their 20% Time projects, they are writing stellar essays about their beliefs and convictions in life by sharing their life experiences and philosophies. Yes, I'm getting more energy just writing this and thinking about it. Looks like sleep is a long way off. #teacherprobs #mystudentsarekeepingmeupatnight #foralltherightreasons

Check out the This I Believe project at www.thisibelieve.org. 

And yes, our 20% Time speeches are coming along nicely. I think I'll have a few "I'm so excited I feel like a kid before Christmas morning" sleepless nights next week too! #can'twait 

#writingatnightmakesmehashtageverything

#gotobed

Get Ready, Get Set, Find that Motivation!!

Welp! I haven't written in a few weeks, and it's because we're in high-gear right now preparing for our speeches on May 8. Boy I am excited for these students to share what they've been doing and learning about their own journey with the project with our community. Today, we watched an awesome, super inspirational (yes, I got a little choked up, even though it's totally not typical "choke-up" material) and just incredibly interesting TED talk by Dan Pink. Check it out here:

Speech Time!

Today, we've started working on our speeches. We'll be giving TED Talk style speeches and inviting teachers, parents, and other community folks to see what our passion projects are on May 8.

I've given students outline organizers to help organize the important talking points in their speeches (credit goes to Mrs. Raville, who gave these bad boys to her 20-timers last year). Students will highlight their successes for the year, and talk about how they met or didn't meet goals, what they struggled with and what they liked or didn't like about the project as a whole.

On another note, I'm so impressed not only by how quickly our tech staff have been clearing student blogs and websites so they are open on our school network, but also by how flexible my students have been when they try a site that's been blocked. It's been a good learning experience to hit this road-block and learn how to continue our projects despite this change.

Refreshed and Restricted?

Two things to mention today. First, we just got back from spring break week. Such a nice break for all of us. And guess what? That means we only have 8 weeks of school left! Whoo hoo! It's certainly bittersweet though, because I have THE BEST students ever who are doing THE COOLEST projects ever! Here's to you classes of 2015-2016 "step up your game!"

Second thing that we're running into is a bit of a hurdle for all of us. The internet is always a moving thing, and we've pushed a much needed update across the school system to continue to ensure online security and clear our bandwidth up (a.k.a. too many people streaming videos and using various sites at the same time clogs up the pipes!) On the unfortunate side of things, this means a lot of us are reaching 'virtual' brick walls with our 20% time projects - some sites we've been using have now been blocked. So please, don't judge us too harshly these last few weeks aren't as visibly productive as you've seen leading up to today. We'll be working over the kinks of having some of our resource sites blocked, like Gmail, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.

Our new mantra for the year: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... just keep surfing (the internet)"