a TROLL, someone who was born below the bridge. Like a troll, I'm proud of the fact that I am a Mantonian however I would never leave the U.P. now. I have lived in Bark River and have taught in the Escanaba School District for over 22 years. I am divorced and have two children. Jenny is 19 and Ciece is 15. We have two dogs, both mutts, Precha and Anna. Presha is short for Precious; can you tell how much Ciece loved him? Anna is named for Little Annie from Where the Red Fern Grows; can you tell how much Jenny loved this book?
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I am...
currently spending June 12-16 at MTU. The Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School has offered a fantastic week of learning called Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum taught by Cindy and Dickie Selfe and Danielle DeVoss. So far it has been incredible! I now know what a MOO is and have successfully used a digital camera. I have actively communicated with Art Young and Donna Reiss via ITV. My first ITV session! How many new experiences can one person absorb in a week?
One of last night's readings, written by Ted Nellen was extremely thought provoking. His idea about a Webfolio was enlightening. I really feel that next year I will be starting with that idea and will continue with it during the year. By the end of the year each of my students will have a wonderful web page from their sophomore year.
I have just returned from a video conference where Lynn Anderson, a former student of mine, was a participant. It is was strange to speak to someone I knew. She is now working at MTU as a media specialist. Wow! Talk about it being a small world!
Meeting Marcy Bauman and learning about the necessity of Plan B was very instructive but not actually amazing. However, after reading her article, "What Grades Do for Us, and How to Do without Them," I could have stood up and cheered! Over the last few years in particular, I have struggled with basing my grades on improvement rather than on traditional abilities. An example of this is the thank you note I have students write after each speaker during our career unit. If the thank you note is worthy of sending, the student recieves an A grade. However, if the thank you note has errors, the best grade is a C. Those are the two only possible grades available other than a 0. I enjoyed reading Marcy's article. I guess just being able to justify my A/C/O grading scale made me feel good.
Being here this week has rejuvenated me. I have several plans for next year. I plan on starting with a web page which the students will continue to add to during the year. Each student will start their webfolio by collaborating on a biography of themself. I know this is not a unique idea but it should work well for an introduction. When we get to my career unit which is a research project, I want to somehow work in e-mail interviews. I would also like to work in using the MOO also but I'm not sure how.