Home sweet home

2017 is looking like it is going to be an even better year than I first realized!

Back in April or May of 2016 I found out that there were plans to move my teaching position to a new school about 15 miles away from my hometown for Fall of 2017. I don’t have anything against the town or the new school. It will undoubtedly be a really good thing for everyone... Except for me.

Now, I realize that the good of one should not outweigh the good of all. But I am also selfish. I love what I do (most of the time). I love where I teach. I went to school here. I grew up here. My daddy still teaches here. I am home.

This is my HOME.

When I came back to JHS after working in industry, I didn’t feel like I was starting something new. I felt like I was going home.

Now, yesterday I got a phone call from my principal. He told me that I will not be able to be moved to the new school because it will not be finished by the projected date.

Home sweet home.

It may only be one more year, but I will take whatever I can get J

Artificial Intelligence

Source:LiveScience

Getting ready for school

People keep asking me if I am ready for school to start. My reply is usually, "I might as well be, it's going to start of I am ready or not."

I can't say that I am ready. But I can say that I am excited :-)  this will be my 2nd year as the Information Technology teacher at JHS and my 1st year as the Computer Science teacher :-)

I haven't turned in my project for the class I am taking. I asked for an extension because Si seems to think he is supposed to be in my lap whenever I am working on the computer. I hope to finish it tomorrow and submit it.

Si starts back to daycare tomorrow. Janie will go to work with me (and we will go by the doctors office for her 6th grade shots -- shhh... She doesn't know that just yet). I hope we can get her some t-shirts from the high school and that will pretty much finish up her school shopping except for a mesh backpack.

I hope this year is going to be as good as I am feeling :-)

CS4HS Day 1

First day of class! I'm excited and nervous as heck! Here are some examples of the posts we have had so far...

What is Computer Science?

Well here we are at the very beginning of the CS4HS MOOC.  One of the reasons for this course is to help prepare teachers to teach Computer Science in high school classrooms across the country.  It will be very interesting to see what your understanding of Computer Science is at this point in the course and your thoughts on how important you feel the subject is to our high school students.  So our question is: How would you define Computer Science and how do you feel it should it be presented in the high school curriculum?

Computer Science to me is an understanding of how computers work. Not just the binary code, not just the networking cables, but all of it. Too many people know how to use a computer but have no understanding of the terms data or application program.

 

 Why am I Here?

One of the most important things we must understand in order to be successful in any task we do is to have a grasp of why we are doing it.  We also would like to know a little bit about our students and their motivation for taking the course so let me pose a question to you.  Please answer the following question: Why I am taking this course and what is it I hope to achieve from successfully completing the course?

I have a background as a COBOL programmer and my degree is in MIS. I have been teaching Business Education for the past 10 years and just recently changed my program in Career Tech to be Information Technology. Finally after 10 years I am teaching what I love! 

I have seen that there is a need for this type of program in my high school. The interest that has been shown so far has been very high and students have sought me out to ask about the new classes. I look forward to working with these students because of their passion and love for everything IT.

Test day!

I love test days :) it gives me the chance to see how much of an impact my teaching is really doing with my students. And since I  have started teaching IT, it has been awesome!!

I am finally doing what I have always wanted to do. I am teaching Information Technology and these kids are actually getting it! It is amazing how well some of them are doing.

Right now we are working on the Microsoft Technical Associate Networking Fundamentals modules. It is test 98-366 and it is much harder than anything I had to do in high school.  When I was in college, I became a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (it took me over $1000 to get that certification, btw) and no one has ever paid much attention to it.

Until now.

To be certified to teach Information Technology, one must have a technical certification. There is a list of the certifications that the teacher can hold to teach certain courses. This list has changed over time (because they have realized how important some of these certifications are). There is also a list of the certifications that we are supposed to offer to our students. That is why my Information Technology Fundamentals classes are studying for the MTA 98-366 exam. I hope that some of them will be able to pass the exam in a few weeks. I am pretty sure a couple of them will.

There is another teacher in this county teaching this class also. But, bless her heart, she is not an IT person.  I have given her all the help I can think to give her -- including all of the presentations, study guides, lecture notes and videos that I have for my students. 

This has been my favorite year teaching so far :) 

Next week is Fire Prevention Week, and midterm exams. I have a JWL meeting on Tuesday night. We get out early on Wednesday (for the parade) and Thursday (for in-service). On Friday, I am working the football game and Janie is going to spend the night with Isabel for her birthday slumber party.

It's going to be a busy week!

And just for fun, here's a picture of Si's big hair-do from yesterday :) hilarious!!!!