Ms. Lewis' Weblog

Film Clip for Science Lesson

kelliepug — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:01:12 +0000

http://www.naturefootage.com/video_clips/BF11_183

New York Times: Remade is America

kelliepug — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:44:13 +0000

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/03/14/us/1194838593642/a-high-school-on-the-front-line.html

Randy Pausch

kelliepug — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:08:53 +0000

By now I’m sure you have watched Professor Pausch’s famous lecture, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” or read his book “The Last Lecture”

Professor Pausch made a surprise return to Carnegie Mellon University to deliver an inspirational speech to the Class of 2008 at the Commencement ceremony on May 18, 2008, a few months before he passed away.

This speech is worth taking the time to watch!

Picnik

kelliepug — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:57:27 +0000

I am not a big fan of Lightroom or Photoshop. Both are overly complicated. This weekend I discovered a FREE program that you can edit pictures in, called Picnik. It is so simple and the program can directly import pictures from Facebook, Myspace, and Flickr.

Here are a few photos I edited at www.picnik.com .

This Time Last Year…

kelliepug — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:28:22 +0000

…I was teaching in Kingston Upon Thames, England, at King Athelstan Primary School and Nursery. It was quite a learning experience to say the least. English schools didn’t live up to my expectations. The experience made me realize that schools in the United States are very good; we are just are our own worst critics.

Other than the schools, I loved England. For anyone planning to go to England, here are some must sees:

Before you leave reserve a tour for Parliament. The tour takes you through the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
Bath, England- Roman Baths, Jane Austen, and the European Fashion Museum…what else could a girl ask for? Round trip tickets from London (King’s Cross) to Bath are relatively cheap.
Cambridge, England- The ultimate college town. Visit King’s College, the oldest college in Cambridge University. Admission is 3 pounds.
Cabinet War Rooms and Winston Churchill Museum-Overall, my favorite museum in London. Very interactive.
Covent Garden-Good shopping and food in the heart of London. The street performers are very entertaining.
Pret a Mange-They are in every big city in the world now, but still to die for food! Try the chocolate mousse.
West End- Shows are just as good as shows on Broadway. Go see Wicked!!!
Tate Modern-Amazing, to say the least…here you will see work from all the big wigs like Pollock, Adams, and Warhol.

Ron Clark…Again

kelliepug — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:03:02 +0000

As you can tell by now, I really admire Ron Clark. I recommend that every reads Ron Clark’s Essential 55. In his book, Ron explains 55 rules that anyone should live by. He integrates these rules into his classroom management and instruction. Here is just a glimpse at some of his rules:

Make eye contact
Respect others; ideas and opinions
Do not save seats
Say thank you within three seconds of receiving something
When you win, do not brag; when you lose, do not show anger
Do your homework each and every night without fail
Do not talk in a movie theater
Be the best person you can be
Always be honest
If you are asked a question in conversation, ask a question in return
Perform random acts of kindness
Learn the names of all the teachers in the school and greet them
If someone bumps into you, even if it was not your fault , say excuse me
Stand up for what you believe in

Here is a link to the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Award-Winning-Educators-Discovering-Successful/dp/0786888164

Ron Clark Academy

kelliepug — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:27:17 +0000

I think I am Ron Clark’s biggest fan. He is an awesome teacher. His students recently wrote a rap about the election. It is amazing…great job kiddos!

This is a follow-up video post election with the students that aired on CNN. The interviews are remarkable.

Micorosoft Publisher

kelliepug — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:35:18 +0000

While working on my newsletter, I have found Microsoft Publisher to be amazing.

First off, the program is so easy to use. I had no problem choosing and formatting a template. Secondly, the process of making the newsletter was relatively quick. As a teacher, the faster a program is to use the better.

In the future, I plan to use Microsoft Publisher when making newsletters for my classroom

Database…What’s That?

kelliepug — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:40:09 +0000

Databses are interesting, but really confusing! I really like the student information template, but I wish we learned how to password protect a database for security reasons. I am very thankful that I was not assigned a database project.

Tonight we are learning about Excel, which I am hoping will be much more useful for classroom puposes. I know the basics of Excel, but it will be nice to learn some adavanced features.

John McCain Really Can’t Answer the Hard Questions

kelliepug — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:40:32 +0000

So yesterday I decided to make my way to JohnMcCain.com. I was just looking around the website and I decided to read his plan for education again. Now I have read his plan before. Something had changed or I didn’t read it cleary the first few times around. Anyways, this statement really stuck out at me.

“Head Start centers have fallen prey to the same institutional flaws that have undermined the larger public education system. They lack quality instructors; they lack accountability to parents; and they are focused on process, not outcomes.”

Wait, what? Shouldn’t it be the other way around. Doesn’t meaningful learning occur during the learning process? Inquiry? Discovery learning? Problem solving? What are these outcomes you speak of John McCain? He never gave any specifics.

So I emailed the website asking for clarification. I was very polite…I must have misunderstood, right? Well, JohnMcCain.com emailed me back and said they could not answer my question.

Congratulations Barack Obama, you have officially won my support.