It is a scary world out there

Part of my summer to-do list is revise my journalism curriculum.  Instead of being a standard face-to-face classroom structure.  I am turning it digital; well, a digital blend. We will still meet daily for face-to-face time, but I plan to use this time for complete application based learning. This time will be devoted to me teaching them how to use programs like Adobe Photoshop, Indesign, or new website. Unfortunately, many of my students have never used these programs, and it takes an abundant about of time to instruct and even more to practice.

The actual instruction of the fundamentals of reporting will be solely online approach, where students use moodle to receive instruction, take tests, participate in discussions, etc.

This is exciting for me to create. I just spent 5 hours preparing one lesson, a typical day will have 2 lessons and either a quiz or discussion. Doing the math, I am 1/3 of the way done with day one. The exciting part is all the hyperlinks I included to give definitions, illustrate models, or provide further information. I am excited because I am preparing students for college.  They will experience blended courses in college, so they will be prepared. I am excited because not many other Oakland County schools are offering blended courses, making my high school more marketable.  I am expanding my own teaching experiences, making myself marketable.

The scary part: is it going to work? Blended classes are not a new concept in teaching, but it is new to me and my students. No other teacher in my building, possibly district, has taught a blended course. I have this grand vision in my mind that students are going to love it.  Their fingers are eagerly click on all hyperlinks, reading word for word. They are actively checking our discussion board more often then they check their cell phones or their Facebook pages. (Aside: when will Facebook be accepted as a word? I am tried of seeing the red squiggly line underneath it. Really? It is globally accepted as a social networking source.)

Yet, I know I am setting myself up for disappointment, just like Jay Gatsby did in The Great Gatsby.

“There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams–not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion.” F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I have a colossal vitality of my own illusion. Research shows any reader does not read word-for-word, which is why I gave special attention to key points through the use of hyperlinks, bolded items, graphs and infographics. My students will not be eagerly clicking away, or constantly checking for updates.

Then, I question my creative passion. Have I thrown myself in too far? I warned my kids that I would be working, and I needed them to be self-sufficient. My eight year old son said, “What does self-sufficient mean again?” He got it. Yet, my six year old daughter was not as easy to convince.  Can I have a friend over? Can you call dad at work? Can I have a snack? Shouldn’t I be spending time with them? It’s almost 90 degrees. Shouldn’t we be in some pool?

So, with 1/3 of my day one complete, I am signing out. Given most corporate workers put in an average of 5 hours of work per day. I figure after five hours, I can clock out too.

Traveling in a foreign country

First, since this is maiden post, let me explain why I created this blog.

At a recent  union meeting, we voted on a contract that is going to save our district 2 million dollars. Many teachers were heated about all the concessions we must make. I am too. I will receive a $7000 pay cut. This is on top of not receiving a pay raise since 2007. Yet, I get more upset when I hear someone say, “Well, at least you get summers off.”  Or, “You only work 7 to 2; you have a cush schedule.”

For my own piece of mind, I decided to share what a typical teacher’s day, summers and all, looks like. I will try to be entertaining. However, I promise to be honest; and sometimes, the dirty secrets that are hidden behind the white picket fences are not very entertaining. Most importantly, I am in no way looking to get into any political debates.

Can I get a Woo-Hoo? It is summer vacation:

I started my summer vacation taking a 10 day online class to teach me how to create and manage an online newspaper.  I teach journalism. Online journalism is the future for my students, so we are going online, live they say in web world,  in September.

Creating a website is like traveling in a foreign country.  HTML is a foreign language. However, this online class has been my tour guide, a mighty lovable tour guide, I might add.

About nine other teachers, mostly from the south, were also taking this class with me. Daily, we were given readings, which directed us to a lot of research about online journalistic writing, adding audio, editing video, etc. Daily, we were given discussion questions that we explored in an online forum. Our director was Jim, a professor at the University of Tennessee. Jim reminded me of my grandpa, not because he is well able to retire. (Jim defies the notion that the older generation does not understand or use technology. He has kept up and ran past the race to stay in tune with the technological world.) Jim has a story to share. For every question posted, frustration vented, thought pondered, Jim responded with a story, an anecdote. With his cute, low, southern drawl, he walked you through to a solution. And if he did not have a solution, well that was fine, you got an entertaining story.

Last night, I had to say good-bye to Jim and my other colleagues. I was now off on my own in this foreign country. I decided to travel to the world of Facebook. Now, I am sure most of my readers out there think that Facebook is a well known, safe place to explore. It is. I use it daily. But, last night, trying to connect a “Like” button and “Post to Facebook” button onto my pages, really sent me into the hood of this foreign land. I had more corners open on my desktop than a Detroit hooker visits in a month. Google, WordPress support, guidebooks, tutorials, more Google. Every tutorial had several hyperlinks that sent me to yet another strip of uncharted waters.

When my husband leaned in to kiss me good night, he asked how it was going. I didn’t freak out, which surprised me. I merely replied, “I am trying to figure out this FB connection.” He, like everyone I talked to about building my site, said, “Hey, so-in-so is really good at that stuff; you should talk to him.”  Like I said, I know there is a network of personal tour guides out there. I don’t know if I am just stubborn?  But, I need to figure it out on my own.  When my site crashes or doesn’t upload pictures or stories, my students are going to come to me to troubleshot. I need to learn this language, travel this land, so I can become the tour guide.

In the end, after 4 hours of traveling blind, I hit that red little bubble to close all 11 tabs. I didn’t make my connection; but after sleeping on it, I will go back into this foreign land of FB. Wish me luck because trust me when I say, FB html is not lined with white sandy beaches.