reflection Archives - Page 3 of 7

04 Jan 2018

Highs & Lows of 2017. Vision for 2018.

Spent a couple days reflecting on the highs and lows of 2017 and what I was looking towards in 2018. Not so much resolutions but more just putting to paper some of the goals I've been developing in the latter half of 2017. The reflection ended up covering a ton of different areas of my life. I'll share a few of them here. SCHOOL Highs Amazing schedule for 17-18 year Got to just teach Pre-Algebra this year (as far as my math classes) Really great advisory group Feeling I have plenty of planning time to help make this years Pre-Algebra…

21 Dec 2017

My Answers to the ‘Tribe of Mentors’ Questions

I've been reading through Tim Ferriss' new book 'Tribe of Mentors' where he 12 or so questions to a ton of folks who are top-performers in their field (business, athletics, writing, science, etc). I really liked the questions and sent them to a friend of mine David, who is doing medical-missionary work in Kenya. He responded and asked what my responses would be so I thought I'd share them below. What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life? Given - not…

20 Aug 2017

Teacher Goals – 2017/2018

We had a goal writing exercise during in-service this last week. We were to come up with at least one pedagogical goal, one professional goal (not necessarily related to content), and one wellness goal. Here's the gist of what I wrote in my journal: PEDAGOGY GOALS ROBOTICS I've been thinking through Robotics mostly lately. I'll be doing stuff with the drone for the first time. Still thinking through how to run the tests outside with one drone; what will others do while they wait their turn? Maybe someone else could bring a DJI if they have one. Perhaps my own…

08 Jun 2017

Entry 33 – School Has Come To An End

Today is the first official day of summer for me! Started out with breakfast for some friends, the first swim in a long while at the lap pool (taking a break for a week from the weight lifting as I've had some shoulder pain), and some good time to get a lot of little tasks done that have been on the back burner for a few weeks. My summer plans include doing some possible videography work (sent out a ton of inquiries this morning) and a trip at the end of summer to China! Sara and I found a Groupon…

22 May 2017

Entry 32 – Statistics & Gender

Well the last week of learning new content has come to a close. We'll be reviewing in all classes next week and then finals week. PRE-ALGEBRA My students are just about done with their statistics project that I talked about last week. Got a lot of positive feedback. It was really one of the best ways to do this content as it really isn't hard to learn mean, median, mode, and range, nor is it too complex to learn how to do a box plot or histogram, just the process of watching a video of someone go through it and…

12 Mar 2017

My Project Week 2017 – Creating ‘My Filmmaking History’ Short Film

Haven't updated in a couple of weeks. Had a half week two weeks ago with student-led conferences in the latter half, then last week was Project Week. While Project Week is primarily for students, I like to take the week to create my own project as well. This year I wanted to create something that was an amalgamation of a few different videos I've seen in the past year. A lot of people do a draw-my-life on YouTube, one YouTuber did a film-my-life, and another YouTuber shared his filmmaking beginnings. My short film ended up being mostly a 'filmmaking history'…

04 Feb 2017

Entry 22 – Six of the Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make

This week's prompt: What do you think is the biggest mistake(s) teachers make? I think the best way to go about answering this would be to reflect on many of the mistakes that I've made in my own practice. 1. Feeling the need to be in control. I know in my first year of teaching, I made such a concentrated effort to make sure everyone was following the rules all the time and that they would definitely know if they fell out of line. If things got too loud, I felt I was losing control. If students starting goofing around,…

22 Jan 2017

Entry 20 – The Biggest Impact on My Teaching

This week's prompt: What/who has had the biggest impact in your teaching approach and why? I've got a few people, quotes, and books that have shaped the way I approach teaching. Rafe Esquith Esquith is best known for his book 'Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire.' He's a retired 30-year, 5th grade teacher and really embodies everything I hope to be as a teacher. It's incredible the things he was able to do in the low-income school he worked in all his years. He held an after school program where students read and performed Shakespeare (once joined by Ian McKellen).…

21 Jan 2017

What I Learned From the Daily Rituals of 161 Inspiring Minds

Recently finished up Daily Rituals by Mason Currey, per Tim Ferriss's recommendation. The book explores the routines and habits of many great novelists, poets, artists, philosophers, scientists, musicians, and mathematicians. When did they work? How did they work? How did they take their coffee? What role did 'inspiration' or 'motivation' play? What did their social lives look like (if they had one)? I have always been fascinated by the process of work, sometimes more so than the final product. I remember when DVD's were first coming out, I was so into the 'behind-the-scenes' and was usually the only one in…

01 Jan 2017

A Look Back at My 2016

This was a project a year in the making. I filmed about 1 second everyday this year and I tried to connect each second to the chosen theme for that month. Full disclosure, I didn’t really settle on this project idea until about mid-January so I conveniently just themed January ‘new year’ as all of those things were happening in…the new year…BUT THE REST OF THE MONTH’S VIDEOS MATCH THE THEMES WELL 😀 This is the third year I’ve done this project (first year with themes). https://youtu.be/Icgzlmty4vw I compiled the video easily using an app called 1 Second Everyday -www.1secondeveryday.com…