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In the Beginning

I started planning out the coming school year – as soon as I saw the Staples back to school flier, I knew it was time.

After spending an hour on the English Companion Ning, I found a pretty good technology skill survey to hand out to my classes. Juniors and Seniors produce fairly large research papers, so getting a jump on their technology skills will be helpful. Most of the survey was pretty basic, but it’s surprising how many of my students still do not know how to save a document as an appropriate file type, imbed graphics or tell the difference between G*00*gle and a content website. If I had a nickel for every student who told me that they found the photo on  g*00gle, I’d be planning a round-the-world cruise.

Every year on the first day, I do a “info. bingo” activity. I’ve done it for the past six years and it’s become quite popular amongst other teachers. A lot of my students will be returners from the 09-10 year, so I need a new idea. Something fun, but informational. There is a thread about this on the Ning as well. So far the ideas which appealed to me are:

  • 3 true/3 false introduction poem
  • introduction/year preview slide show (need good music for this!)
  • Intro. letter to me/use mine to them as a model
  • Use “where I’m from” poem and create some sort of activity

Next week is the AP conference!

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