The Real Deal

Howdy Stranger,
I am not really suffering from the winter blahs I am just knee deep in school and university work.  We celebrate the 100th day of school on Tuesday so I am coordinating this event for 88 students, I had to present PD on Friday and I have a group assignment due on Wednesday which is taking a lot of time.  You know how it goes once you get busy, you just seem to get busier!

Thank you for your detailed post.  You always explain things in such a clear and concise way and I am pleased to hear that you are finding this course fun.  I too am appreciating the learning curve I am on and continually try to make the link between the theory to my practice.  I participated in a webinar on Friday afternoon and my ears perked up every time the word research was mentioned - which seemed to be rather often.  I find I am paying closer attention when this word is tossed into discussions.

I did my action research post on a real action research project that was initiated last year by the VP of one of my schools.  She is part of the NB Leadership academy and she wanted to do an action research project related to technology use and automaticity of basic facts.  Essentially, she is conducting a 2 year study with 12 students and 6 iPads.  Her goal is to determine whether 10 minutes daily of interactive math games online will help to improve timed fact results.  Last year it seemed as though the tech time was working.  This year the results have not been staggering and I think the variable that the school moved into another school is playing a negative part in the results - this is mere speculation on my part though.

My group continues to offer some very interesting research topics.  I find my interest in learning more about ASD students has been heightened by taking this course so I am looking for articles and asking questions to the RTA that visits the school.  I also sneak a chat with Guidance when I get the chance:)

I am making a promise that I will try to get back to more frequent posting so we can keep our dialogue rolling.  I think that our jobs are becoming so demanding that finding those extra moments are becoming less and less.  I often wonder if teachers in other parts of the world seem as busy and harried as I do?  Maybe this is something I should research!  Maybe Dr. Cranton could give us a little insight into what teaching is like in the US...or any other locations where she may have worked...

Happy Sunday Buddy,
Sheila