https://www.blendspace.com/lessons/AYZQqDU8xOIs8w/key-assignments

Here is the link to my blendedspace.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8O33otLMwwAVG9BVnM1RnYxZmhnT2Z1MEQ1STlGT1VCdjRF/view?usp=sharing

 Created a flyer also.

 Yvonne

Here is my prototype for week 5.
Thinglink

http://www.thinglink.com/scene/641007508189609986

All About Me

    Hello, I am from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This is my fourth year teaching at St. James Middle School. I currently teach a Math Enrichment class but prior to this year, I taught a Personal Finance class to middle school students.

     I am married with two beautiful daughters, who are currently in 6th and 8th grade. We love to travel to a different place every summer. This summer we are going to the Grand Canyon. I am so excited I can't wait.  I love to read but not had much time. I have one more elective class after this and I will receive my Masters in Educational Technology.

No Collaboration for Elective/Exploratlory Teachers

My current problem is that there is not any collaboration among exploratory/elective teachers. We are all alone in creating from scratch content, lessons, and implementing technology into those lessons. We have no one to share ideas with in creating these engaging lessons. Academic teachers know their content and share and create lessons together.

My first year teaching, I taught Personal Finance. I was told research whatever I thought I needed to teach the students. I spent every weekend for 5 months planning and researching content for the class. After school I drove to the high school to connect  with the high school teacher for ideas, but not extremely help because they had the funding for virtual lessons. I also realized after all that work I put in to the class, I had to change it. I had students repeating this exploratory class and I needed to change my content for each grade level. I had to research new lessons for the other grade levels and ideas, no one explained that I needed to have  different lessons for each grade level. I was exhausted. I spent my second year doing the same thing as the first year. I felt like I only lived for doing lesson plans. Then a professional development course was being offered on teaching Personal Finance in middle schools. I begged for them to let me go so I could find out different ways to teach the content.

I only get  45 minutes to plan, make copies if needed, go the bathroom, grade papers/projects, etc. The next planning is 20 minutes. We never have a enough time for our professional development trainings with our school iPad technology sessions  Thanks to taking my masters in technology I was able to start integrating technology. I have attached two links that are blogs, one from a principal admitting to what goes on at his school with elective teachers and the other is an elective teacher in a middle school in Dallas.  These scenarios happen often.

I would just love the opportunity to collaborate with someone else besides my self about the content I am teaching.

http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/4773

http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2008/07/i-want-to-collaborate-too.html/