OOpps

The last 3 weeks of my 7th grade classes have been consumed with learning how to create a Keynote presentation (yes I am that much of a MAC snob I make my students use Keynote instead of Powerpoint blah!), learning how to find key information from a web page, then taking that information and presenting it to the class.

Once the students found out that they were going to have to present their information and slides to the class, one of them yelled out, "But Ms. V! I'll die!". I looked at him for a second and responded. "That's okay. I know CPR. I'll bring you back to life, stand you up, then have you finish your presentation." He didn't like that response. I've said it so much though that my students can now finish my sentence for me. It helps to break the ice about presenting to the class. I don't make them stand up in the front, they get to hide in the middle of the room by my teacher station. All of the lights are off so we can see the projected images. And they get to use my fun little clicker remote. So it's not the most threatening environment at all.

I purposely gave the students a choice of 10 semi-exotic animals to choose from. I didn't want 100+ presentations on "dogs" or "cats", let's learn something new please. That might have been a tiny bit selfish on my part, but for goodness sake, I'm the one that has to sit through and grade all of these!

The last 2 days have been spent trying to calm antsy, scared, and wiggly 7th graders down just enough to present a 5-7 slide presentation and speak loud enough for the entire class to hear. I'll entertain you with some of the highlights that I learned:

- Pandas are big bears, they can be up to 75 cm long.
- Seahorses live in the ocean so it doesn't really matter how much they weigh, the water keeps them up straight.
- Snow leopards are endemic to Asia (pronounced enemeenenc, pretty much mumbled) I could tell this student did not put their research into their own words.
- Snow leopards have yellow underpants. Yes, that is exactly what was said, yellow underpants.

The best part, all of this was happening while I was being formally observed by my assistant principal. I'm just trying to keep a straight face hoping that he's not judging my teaching skills based on the incredibly factual information my students are presenting.

I did have a kid who was so wiggly while she was presenting that tripped herself and fell over down to the ground. It took all I had not to laugh, but to instead keep a straight face, help her stand up, then tell her to continue. I think we need to discuss "proper presenting postures" or something to that accord. I just want to say, "Don't wiggle so much, it's distracting!"

My Friday did end on a good note though. After my AP stuck around in my clas for the ENTIRE hour. Normally he just pops in looks around, listens for about 10 minutes then leaves again. This time he stuck around longer. Either he was enjoying listening to kids present, or he was trying to hide from other people. (My room is located down an empty hallway with no other classes in it). After he left my 8th graders were coming in and being rowdy as usual. As I was giving the instructions for the day's assignment, my AP comes back into my room dragging the principal with him. What? He wanted to show "the boss" something that I had created for my students to learn different programs. It's something called ScreenFlow which allows you to record what is happening on the computer screen along with a video of yourself talking. I use it for students who were absent, or who need extra reminders of how to do the program. They both were really impressed. Yahoo!

It's great to be acknowledged for what you are doing correctly. No one really bothers me in my room. My administration trusts that I'm going to teach what I need to, and they pretty much leave me alone. But when they do come in, it's nice for them to be excited about what I am doing and how I am trying to reach all of my students.

Yay.