GRADUATION

We celebrated a milestone this w/e - Chris graduated and is ready to attend CSUSM! Bravo.

GOLD!

I witness and was humbled by the glistening eyes and the soft quivering voice that revealed a depth of love for her students, her disciples, her charges, and her life. She will miss them terribly – that much was clear. After 46 years in the profession – here is a teacher kept young by her students! What an honor to talk to her… Thank you Lynda for sharing a little of your journey!  Wow!

I found this picture in her web site. Congratulations to an awesome French teacher!

EDUC 622

The framework has been drafted and Chapters 1, 2, and 3 completed. I look forward to 1) my grade, 2) my chair's direction, 3) working on the project this summer.

HISTORY

Necochea-isms

The "mechanics" of teaching...vs. The "heart" of teaching.

80% of communication is done bodily!

"M'hijito" = my son

"M'hijita" = my daughter

Words have power!

Now - what is the standard for inspiring kids? or What is the standard for motivating kids?

CST

The CSTs are coming - we have one week of instruction left before the exams start. Having over two months of schooling left - the tyranny of the schedule dictates that the students will be tested two months short of academic subject instruction - this is one of the profession's most frustrating moments as a teacher.

EASTER VACATION

Spring break in Kansas... here are two of  the grandkids - wonderful munch-kins :)

INTESOL

A bit of reminiscence and nostalgia. I came across an article done on us by the Fort Worth Star Telegram circa '94. when Brad and I were three years into our company InteSol. The experience was invaluable in many levels - hopefully the experience and learning can be shared in many levels with my students.

KU Pedology Lab

It was back to old familiar grounds in Daniel's lab - he has added new equipment for his work and research. Below is a nice Inductive Coupled Plasma Spectrometer (ICP) IRIS instrument he was able to obtain from the FDA. Here is a picture of a similar unit:

In addition, he has a uPrint by Dimension - a three dimensional printer - you ask what is this about? An incredible machine that prints any three dimensional object by layering into plastic 1/2 millimeter at a time giving researches the ability to work with exact copies of real-life samples that are too delicate to handle - or else to duplicate for student samples, etc. What an incredible device.

Pepper

We have a new family member: Pepper. This one is supposed to be my cat - but you know how it goes... cats have their own minds - she is so beautiful! :)

2010

A new decade starts... Two weeks to wrap up the semester with the "Forces Within" unit. An Earthquake project having the students create a earthquake safety plan based on the SDGE pamphlet (Kudos to the organization(s) that created this resource). It allowed students to investigate: "Why should I care?" " What should I do?" and "What should I know?"

Here is the link to the resource if you are interested in it. You can get beautiful hard copies for your classes as well - which is what I did last year but got them too late for the unit. I used them this year and the students kept it for a family reference. Excellent resource.

With the Haiti earthquake (7.0) - the timing was uncanny... but not surprising in that we have daily earthquakes throughout the world. We need to lift Haiti in prayer - here is one of the key links that you can also use to alleviate some of the suffering:

Final Exam for Academic Earth Science:

Their final exam is project # 2 using the Mayon Volcano as a real life laboratory in the Philippines. Students have to demonstrate the six facets of understanding:

Explanation

Interpretation

Application

Perspective

Empathy

Self-Knowledge

UbD at its finest!

HOTEL DEL CORONADO

Christmas break started Friday 12/18. Our gift to the family was what is becoming a tradition, a trip to the "Del" in Coronado. The event is a live performance by the Lamb's Player's Theater cast in a turn-of-the-century five-course dinner setting at the Grand Ball room.

Superb!

Our follow-up was Sunday at our home group Christmas dinner at the best Chinese restaurant in San Diego: Hunan in Rancho Bernardo... Yumm...

It has been a very nice week-end to start the Holiday. Tomorrow is the sad task of attending the funeral of a beloved teacher. May she rest in peace.

What follows...student grading - the typical teacher tasks during the break plus neglected "honey-do" tasks.

If you are reading this blog may you have a blessed and wonderful Christmas.

THE SEASON IS UPON US

A little over one week and we are at our Christmas break - time indeed goes by fast! Tonight we had a blast taking pictures! Merry Christmas from the west-coast gang:

LUNCH

From a few drop-ins at the beginning of the semester to a pretty crowed lunch classroom the kids keep coming. Here is a snap back in September. They love having the technology open to them... so far all the students have been very well behaved and awesome. Laughter, music, videos, movies, etc - a nice mix in a safe environment.

Crazy to "give up" my lunch - well... maybe.

In looking at my pics I came accross this beauty... nothing to do with lunch - maybe.

November already?

Wow... first unit wrapped up, so is mapping, oceanography, and energy in the earth systems onward to rocks and minerals!

Nothing more precious than the Hope diamond... ahhh except our students!

Photo courtesy of Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

FIVE WEEKS INTO THE SEMESTER

Wow - time just goes by so fast!

Next week is Week # 6 and the six-week grading period looms very close. It has been an incredible journey as we move forward wrapping up our intro unit in science. Well well worth pursuing the agenda of building foundations before running - I am hoping that the literacy component + math components will help smooth all the student's performance in the upcoming units. Time will tell.

Overall excellent connections with the students - they are great kids...

The shadow lab - Mr. B's creation - great touch to the unit - thank you Jack for your work!

WEEK 2 GONE! START OF WEEK 3

Moving along!

A pregnant female Pachygrapsus crasipes

Great observations!

FIRST WEEK...

Wow what a week - time goes by so fast! Students are awesome.. from introductions to assessments to lectures to homework to spcorpions...don't ask. In any case - great week.

SCHOOL STARTS

Time has slipped by and the summer is but a dream... I am starting my fourth year of teaching and looking forward to a good year. BTSA is completed as well as all my SIOP training. This summer I also read Freeman and Freeman's book: Academic Language for English Language Learners and Struggling Readers (a decent and practical book) plus completed the in-services on advanced SDAIE and A Framework for Understanding Poverty - two VUSD sponsored events - excellent resources. Thanks to the team that put this together.

I have picked the theme from Oracle's Thinkquest regarding teamwork: think, connect, create, and share.

40th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

We "ran-away" to nearby Carlsbad and discovered a nearby paradise! :) Here is one sequence of the view from our room - stitched using Windows Live Photo Gallery - very easy to use...nice job Microsoft.

High School sweethearts to now...what a journey!