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Great Week in Chicago

    July 24, 2010

Spent last week in Chicago studying architecture, specifically tall buildings. During the day we had lectures, tours. Fantastic week of professional development offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Chicago Architectural foundation. Can't wait to try out some new ideas with Monarch design dtudents this coming school year.

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Shazbots win awards at Colorado Regional!

    March 28, 2010

The Monarch High School FIRST robotics team won two awards at the Colorado FIRST Robotics competition March 25-27 at the University of Denver.

The Shazbots won the Best Website award which can be viewed at shazbots.org.

They also won Gracious Professionalism™ Award sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. This award celebrates outstanding sportsmanship and gracious professionalism in the heat of competition, both on and off the playing field.

Participation has paid off big time for many of the student members. Members of this year's senior class have been accepted at MIT, Case Western Reserve University, Gonzaga and other top ranked schools. Twom members of the team are headed to the Johnson Space Center this summer in Houston where they will serve as paid interns with NASA.

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Education in Trouble

    March 8, 2010

I received an email today from the state of Colorado CTE (career and techinical education) office regarding a new professional development opportunity. I am always looking for opportunities to learn and get graduate credits to advance on the salary schedule.

 

Good PD is hard to find and none of it is local. This latest opportunity doesn't seem to be an exception. In 2003 I traveled to Cambridge, MA for a week at MIT listening to professors and Nobel Laureates discuss their work. Almost all was way over my head, but to be there and to feel the energy with other teachers and to talk later about what we had heard was stimulating and invigorating. It made me a better teacher. We were not talked down to, we were treated like professionals with advanced degrees.

 

There is a lot of money about to reform education, Race to the Top, e.g. and this new stinker. The webpage is unclear, they say they offer resources and training, but it isn't apparent or obvious.

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Blog Design Tweaks

    March 7, 2010

This is a test posting of changes made to my blog setup. I've archived all the old blog settings, still available by clicking on the menu selections in the upper right corner. I've added a header, where in the past there had just been a date and removed the ads on the left. This gives more room for the blog entry and picture. Still having some border issues, but will get them worked out eventually. Plan to start blogging with web design classes in April. Read article in newspaper that blogging is giving way to shorter forms of communication such as facebook and twitter, but then again, print media is on its way out as well. I still like my newspaper in the morning and expect I may be one of the last newspapers readers around at some point in the not too distant future.

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Seven Years of Robotics

    March 3, 2010

Three years of robotics to the right, seven years overall, six weeks to build, twenty-five hours each week, $6000 to register, four mentors, twenty-five students and myself. Three days at the end of March to compete, eleven matches total, four trophies sitting in the trophy case out in the hall. If you're not doing anything March 27-28, 2010 join us at the University of Denver to watch the Shazbots compete for glory once again.

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Surveys, surveys, surveys

    March 2, 2010

I've been asked to fill out two surveys the past couple days. Although I did both, I have grown skeptical that either will be considered. Surveys provide a sense of participation, but I don't have any hard proof that they make any difference. In the past as a giver of surveys I can't say that was surprised by any of the responses I received and have since stopped giving them. Both the surveys I completed had to do with school, one about the upcoming contract negotions and the other about the climate at Monarch High School. Better to just pay attention to what is going on around you than to create more paper waste.

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