Week 8 Staff Developement

Two successful things happened this week. We have a conference day coming up, there was a lot of individualized grade level learning offered, and I was at a loss for something to do with staff I generally don't come into contact with. My final project, Famous Americans with our 5th graders (my Seniors!) is just in the beginning stages. This class is challenging (reading well below grade level) and I have made some slight modifications to the project ,adding some Web 2.0 items. I brought my principal in on the topic and is solidly behind it. So I invited all the reading teachers, blended aides and computer/library aide to work on the project for half a day. Our proposal includes, giving time for the Reading teachers to see each facet of the multi-layered project, creating better rubrics for each section that increase writing parameters, and practising with my new Blue Snowball USB microphone with Audacity. (finally got Audacity on each computer) This will be exciting (and new)for the reading teachers so they can each try it out. I thought their rooms would be great for the recording as they are small and isolated in the school. I have added a PP this year and it will be after they have finished their typed report so I don't get a PP lengthened into a paper. The last slide will be each student recording their thoughts on "why is this person important to the world? and why are they important to me individually?" New this year will be handing in a word cloud, (sadly everytime I go to Wordle someone has posted some trash talk) and I will be showing them Obama's innaugural speach and Lincoln's done this way. Finally they will debate one other student via a blog on why their person has contributed more to the world. I'm hoping for collaboration this day and not me taking the teaching role as I usually do.
Secondly, the blended teachers came down to the SLMC to tell me that every spare moment the 5th graders are asking to take out their biographies (all new, right on target for their reading levels) to read and take notes..YEAH