Marymcb’s Weblog

This was a great evening! I learned so much! People are so creative. Everyone had such incredible projects. Tony’s interpretive dance was amazing. I could never put myself out there like she did. And to never have danced before. And what subject matter. She is my hero! I love Jennifer! Her box was perfect. I love how she thought out what to include. How much more interesting would it be for students to see the box and read about Abraham Lincoln than to just read it in a book. I wish I had known about Ada Byron when I was in elementary school. All I ever heard was that I would never be good at math because girls just were not good at math. What brilliance combined with such tragedy. Heather did a great job with sea turtles. I really enjoyed the time I went to the Turtle Hospital on Topsail Beach. I would love to help some time with turtle rescue! Matt the racer. I could be a racing fan! How much fun for students! There are so many possibilities for math and how interesting for boys and girls. Kari’s project was amazing. Those Cure Cottages! I never know. We’ve spent a lot of time on Squam Lake in New Hampshire and those cottages remind me of the cottages in Kari’s project. It is amazing how far we have come with medicine. My favorite thing about Kari’s project was how it is such a meaningful tribute to her father and her entire family. While I have read just about everything Poe has written, studied Poe in college, read Poe to my children, taught Poe to my students, memorized The Raven, there is so much I never knew. We never know the challenges people face. I wonder if they would have realized their genius without out the struggle?  Sonia’s butterflies were so fascinating. All of her presentations were so creative. I especially liked the caterpillar. Her choice of patterns and colors were so beautiful and suited to the topic.  Elvis is in the house! What a fun presentation! The chocolate was the best!

What was amazing about this experience is that other than the race car driver, I thought I had a relative handle on what they were about. Amazingly enough, I didn’t really know as much as I thought I did. I hope I am always a student!

I struggled with the multi-genre project. It took me awhile to commit to the topic. It was a lot more work than I have done for a class in a long time. While it has been extremely worthwhile, it has been very challenging. I still struggle with balancing all my commitments. Most of the time, I can keep it together. I have not pulled close to an all-nighter in years. I haven’t needed to. Let’s just say I only slept an hour or so Tuesday night. It was my own fault because I didn’t realize effort my project would take. My youngest daughter is six and is very insistent I put her to bed. The other night I was working on the computer and she kept asking for me to put her to bed. I kept telling her in a few minutes. After a few minutes turned into a half an hour, she handed me this little note written on scrap paper that read, “Put me to bed now please.” It is difficult for me to work on anything at home. I wish I had committed earlier because I could have better managed my time and done a more thorough project. I keep thinking of ways that I could have improved my project. Kari showed us her photo-story. I would like to get to that point.

I showed some of the teachers the multi-genre project today. They seemed to find it interesting. I’m going to present it to the faculty at the next faculty meeting and just suggest they consider doing a version of the multi-genre project to the faculty- no pressure.