Have you ever had one of those months weeks days that has gone by in a blur? Here I am, in a computer lab full of kids who are slightly hyper but doing remarkably well considering that today is the first dance day of the year, and I just realized that the first quarter of the year is ending next week!
OK, I really did know that the quarter was coming to a close (just ask the students how many times I’ve reminded them about that very fact). It just seems like time is flying by. This week we have started our first novel – Chernowitz by Fran Arrick. So far we’ve read a quarter of the book (the first 10 chapters), with the plan being to read at least another quarter (if not more) next week.
Students will be having their first vocabulary quiz on Wedesday, October 31st (Happy Halloween) and will receive a study guide on Monday. We’ve been working in the computer lab this week for a few days trying to explore the wonderful world of wikis (pronounced “wickies”). I’ll admit that it went……well, it was pretty rough. First, we had to contend with a finicky computer lab, then a s-l-o-w wiki site and by today I think kids were just plain tired of the tech trouble. *sigh*
Next week we’re going back to some good ol’ paper and pencil, throwing in the occasional marker or colored pencil too. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t scrapped the whole high-tech possibility for collaborative learning, we just won’t be focused on wikis for a while.
How about you? What have you tried recently that turned out differently that you’d expected? Was there something valuable that you learned even though the outcome didn’t meet your expectations?
Funny that today I read your blog that askes if something I have tried didn’t turn out the way I expected. Yesterday Erica and I are out doing some girls shopping and we decide that we will try dying our hair. Erica picks brown, just a little darker than her natural color and I pick a light brown with just a hint of red. Well, Erica hair turns out great. I wait until this morning to try my hair. Oh! By the way, I have NEVER dyed my hair before, few highlights (to cover the gray) but never dye. Anyway, I am soooo excited about my new color. I rinse out the dye and dry my hair with a towel, look in the mirror and… RED, not a nice auburn red, BRIGHT CRAYON RED!!!!! It was awful! I had to find an open salon to fix my bright red hair. You know its bad when the other customers are trying, unsucessfully, not to laugh out loud! Well my hair is still red but not a crayon red. I have learned to leave some things to those who know what they are doing!