Mr. Grega’s Daily Blog

As I lay in my bed last night watching one of my favorite news shows 20/20 with John Stossel, I had one of my typical “Hey this is a teachable topic!” moments. The show was entitled “Scared Stiff: Worry in America”, and the premise of the show was how we, as Americans, have been bombarded with “scary news stories” to the point where we’re afraid of almost everything. Pretty powerful stuff, especially with the way that Mr. Stossel delivers it to his audience, and the taking into consideration of my own audience: The Pre-Teen 6th Grader. What a great topic to incorporate into both my Writing and Math classes! So I decided, as I turned off the television to go to sleep, that I would record the show and check out the internet the first thing in the morning for “stuff” to supplement my new brainchild.

My first stop on my internet quest was obviously at 20/20’s website. Where I looked at the different links regarding the show from the night before. I was especially interested in some of the “odds” facts that had been presented. For example, a doctor stated that a person in the United States has a better chance of getting hit by an asteroid than being killed by a terrorist. From all of the horror stories that we’ve seen in the news since the 9/11 tragedy, I’m sure that not too many people realized that. (I know I didn’t.) So, to do some searches on different odds, I went to Google and typed in “odds” and found the following 3 sites that I added to my “del.icio.us” account:

(1) http://www.funny2.com/odds.htm (This site is a virtual treasure trove of cool stuff, not just odds info. The “Etch-a-Sketch” instruction manual is hilarious!)

(2) http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm (The National Safety council’s odds of dying page…. Pleasant thought, huh? )

(3) http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050106_odds_of_dying.html (Live Science’s odds of dying page)

I figured that I could put together quite an interesting list of different odds to share with my students using those websites, and the program that I’d Tivo’d the night before. But, just to see if good ‘ol John Stossel had anything else that might add to my collected content, I headed back to the 20/20 page and ended up going to John’s own webpage. When I got there, I noticed that he had free lesson guides and DVD’s for his shows available to teachers.

I knew about these, but had never visited this site to check them out. Well, since I was already there, it couldn’t hurt to sign up for them… afterall, they were free (my all-time favorite word! ).

Upon completing all of the obligatory form filling, I noticed a different link that also offered free educational material and DVD’s:

Here I found another free DVD (one per year actually) and interesting ideas for lessons including: A daily Current Event article with discussion questions, and the following interesting games:

and

What had started out as watching a television show while winding down on a Friday night, turned into: (1) Tivoing a show for use in 2 classes…… which lead to: (2) Going online to find supplemental ideas for those plans…..which lead to: (3) Finding 3 pages of varying “odds” facts……. which lead to: (4) Finding free educational DVDs and guides…… which lead to: (5) Finding another free educational DVD site that also had current event articles and discussion questions…… which lead to: (6) Finding two fantastic interactive web-based educational games that I can use for other topics that I teach.

This whole series of events is quite typical of what happens when I get an idea in my head. I start out by searching for content that is specific to what I want to teach, but along the way, I find all kinds of little gems that I can use at a later time. Now, I’m not the most organized person (if you don’t believe me, ask my wife), but I am smart enough to know how important it is to have organized bookmarks and a del.icio.us account. Because, as I have just explained, web surfing is not a job, it’s a treasure hunting adventure and you never know when you’re going to find the next “X” that marks the spot to some powerful learning tool!

     Haven’t had time to post the last couple of days due to the holiday and Black Friday shopping (Boy, it was a zoo out there!).  I did, however, have time last night (Friday) to make an online version of Hands-On Equations so that my students can actually use a “kit” from any internet ready computer.  Hands-On Equations is a math program that we use that introduces students to simple algebra concepts.  It involves using a kit of cubes and pawns, which inevitably results in several students building “towers” or other creations not related to the task at hand.  I have wanted to make an online version of the kit since I learned how to make items draggable on my page.  I’m planning on using this online kit for demonstration purposes with the projector, and for use in the computer lab for individual purposes.  This also will allow the students to work on it at home (if they have the internet).   You can find a link to Hands-On Equations on my homepage or in my math toolbox page.  Check it out:  http://www.troyareasd.org/tms/wgrega/homepage/index.html

Last night I added “Funny Face Kelly” to our class web page.  Kelly’s a great kid with a terrific sense of humor and I absolutely love to pick on her…. The nice thing about my class is that they know how to laugh at themselves and others without hurting feelings.   This, in my opinion, is one of the most important things anyone can learn.  I’m blessed to have the class that I have and I adore them.  Going into Thanksgiving break, I realize that I have a whole lot to be thankful for. 
     Yesterday we did our first Blended Schools assignment at the computer lab and the students sent their papers through the site to me.  It worked great!  I definitely have to learn more about that, because in just the little amount that I’ve used it, it’s easy to see how powerful it is.  The assignment we did was to write a creative finish to “Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving…..”  When we were done we came back to the classroom and pulled up the papers, read them, corrected some of them, and had a good laugh at the creative energy that went into them..  A terrific way to learn!  I think that I’m accomplishing my goal.  My students say that they like me because I “don’t give them work”……  Little do they know that I’ve disguised “learning” as “fun”! 

I’m already using some of the tools that we learned about on Friday.  My kids each have their own BLOG now and are “playing” around with them quite a bit.  I’m being quite liberal with them right now because the BLOG is a “new toy”.  However, I am noticing that a lot of them are just posting “youtube” or “google” videos and not journaling enough.  I told them that I expected more writing/journaling and less video stuff in the future.  They seem to understand and agree….. Oh, the 11/12 year old adolescent… ya gotta love ‘em.

Today is the first day that my students will be using their new “Blogs”.  I’m excited to see how they will use them and if they find them valuable.  I’d like for them to start using them as a daily journal instead of using the “old fashioned” paper and pencil method.  We shall soon see!

Today I was lucky enough to spend some time with Mr. Radcliffe learning a little bit more about technology that I can use with my students.  I’m anxious to try these newly learned things out with my kids.  Maybe even starting some of their own BLOGS.