Identity Day - Let Your Passion Shine

I am excited to announce that we will be holding an Identity Day on Tuesday, May 17 in Classroom 222. This will be our last big project of the school year. Think about these questions: Who are you? What matters to you? What interests you the most? What are you passionate about? Watch the video below to get some more ideas.


(video from Moorseville, North Carolina)

Also I have included a couple of links to give you more information. Click here, here, and here to read more.

Now go gather your things for your display. It can be a physical display or a digital display like a PowerPoint, a video, or Glogster. Remember to let your passion shine. Please feel free to get help from your parents. You will also write a post for your blog explaining what you are sharing and why you are sharing it. Let's find the passion in each one of us.

I'd like to thank my friend, Principal George Couros, for inspiring me to try this project.

A Teachable Moment - Pay It Forward

Last weekend I saw a tweet mentioning a "teachable moment" blog post. Well I was curious and wanted to see what the teachable moment was so I checked it out. What I discovered was a post by a new online friend of mine, Nancy Carroll, who teaches 4th grade in Massachusetts. Much of the rest of my weekend was spent viewing the webcam she wrote about.

I carried my laptop into my school's office on Monday morning and shared the site with my principal and the wonderful ladies who work in our office. They all were as fascinated as I was. My principal asked me to share the link with her so she could email it to the rest of the teachers in our building. During the week there were lots of conversations around what was happening in various classrooms thanks to this wonderful site. We just recently had a 42" flat screen TV mounted in the office and when you walk in you are now greeted with what is happening in the eagle's nest. I had a guest speaker come to my class on Wednesday, and the first thing he was asked when he went to the office to sign in was, "Have you seen the eagles?"

I keep the site open much of the day on my Promethean board and let my 4th graders view it as they are doing independent work. We all were anxious about the third egg and wondered whether it would hatch or whether it was a dud. One student asked what would happen to the egg if it didn't hatch and another student answered, "Maybe a rat like Templeton (from Charlotte's Web) will come to the nest and carry it away." That really made me laugh.

We have been lucky enough to see various meals carried to the nest. We have witnessed the difference between how the mom and dad eagle feed their young. And we were totally amazed when the mom eagle tossed the more aggressive youngster to the side of the nest during one feeding session, so that she could feed the other baby. Thursday morning the buzz around school was about the fact that the third egg had hatched! Everyone at school was thrilled that all the eggs had now hatched.

Yes, the eagle cam has lead to many teachable moments at Bissonet Plaza and I am so glad that I learned about it from Nancy's "Teachable Moment" post. And I'm glad that I chose to pay it forward with everyone at school. my PLN on Twitter, and with anyone I talk to.