School Spirit Banter

I am SO impressed by the creativity of two local area high schools and their students’ videos. As quoted in this Get Schooled post, these ARE examples of what the best “spirit cheers” look like today. You can check out the original video in this “battle” here and the response here.

For me, these videos show just how multiliterate our students are and all of the neat ways in which they are reading, writing, and engaging with the world around them. These videos use rhetorical strategies, rhymes, video angles, music — and this list only continues — all to help show their school spirit. And, I love the fact that they pull in lots of different members from their respective student bodies to be a part of the banter.

No matter which school wins the game, the main point is that these two videos have just under 400,000 hits (combined) in two weeks. Where these students’ voices heard? [I think so!]

ISTE Young Educator Video

Here is the video I created for my entry to the ISTE Outstanding Young Educator Award. I had so much fun creating it and it really got me thinking about how important it is to think critically about the technology we use in our classrooms. We have so many opportunities today to engage, challenge, and motivate our students through the use of technology — the possibilities are endless!

The BIG Project

I promised the details of my seniors’ final eportfolios and here they are! I titled this “The BIG Project” (for lack of better words). Essentially, the goal of this project was to have students writing in multiple forms while also reflecting on the reader/writer they are today and how they have become that way. Though at first, I’ll be honest, introducing an end of the year project to seniors did not go over too well. Seniors + end of the year projects = are you crazy? However, I told them that this was their opportunity to truly dig deep and show what they had learned as well as what they had learned about themselves too.

Another thing that came about with this project is the ability to pick tools that 1) get your point across the way you want it and that 2) you find convenient to use. I wanted my students to be able to pick and choose what they felt would work best, try new “things,” etc. I’m not going to be there next year to tell them, “Hey, go to this website…” They’ve got to be able to find resources that work for each of them based on their need and purpose.

And the end results? Despite the complaining, last minute preps, and frustrations their projects overall were awesome! I am adding some of their work to our gallery for the National Day on Writing, and I really am very proud of all of their hard work!