The first artifact from this course is the Unit Plan. Students are examining the reasons for the amount of plastic in our oceans, how our consumption is guided by advertisers, and how to change the public's perception of using plastics in the future. I am actually able to integrate (at least some of) the topic for some of my students for our PSA unit. Students are to choose a relevant topic and create a public service announcement about it. The overarching theme goes along with our "Lights, Camera, Action" unit about theater and screenplays. One of the groups was leaning towards an environmental issue so I steered them towards the bottled water topic and they were definitely interested. Some of the challenges creating this PBL include some aspects of "reinventing the wheel." With all of the prescribed units that come from our district, I found myself having the time to see where I could fit this all in. The PBL unit led me to create a grant request for a field trip that tied into the unit, but I decided not to have a copy sent to my principal for the grant because at the present moment I'm not sure where exactly it ties into the curriculum, however. It probably ties very well into it, but with all the changes in our building this year, it's best not to try to "reinvent the wheel." I am looking forward to using the unit at some point, possibly next year. The second artifact is the experience with the Genius Hour posted below. I want to focus here about how I would move forward using the project tied a bit more closely to my curriculum. Towards the end of the school year, we explore a unit on graphic novels. In brainstorming the idea of Genius Hour and graphic novels, I think that students can use the elements of the genre to show what they are passionate about. For example, if students are interested in improving their swimming skills, they can share what their weekly experience was by explaining it in frames or stages with dialogue to accompany their illustrations. The unit that we are about to begin is about research and informational writing. Students could explain the history or evolution of something they are interested in exploring and do research about its beginnings. Students can produce an informational writing piece to explain elements present in their Genius Hour.
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Here is a link to my video clip of a short part of "Dinero" by J.Lo. I'm finding that when I practice at home, it isn't as fun as going to Danitra's class. I'm not sure if I'm feeling the desire to do much else with my certification. For right now, I'm just happy to go to her class and escape reality for two hours a week. And I think I'm okay with that. There's always the future that is certainly uncertain. I am going to the "Get Lifted" conference for a day in February in Chicago to dance for the day with other dance cardio enthusiasts and spend the evening with Danitra and girls from class. For now, I'm just having fun. And that's all it needs to be.
Reflecting on my Genius Hour, I think I would've chosen a different project. I was really inspired by Megan's project about spending one on one time with her girls. I explored her blog at the tail end of the class. My boys really love when they have one on one time with me and looking ahead to the weekend, I am going to a mother/son dance with my oldest. I am really looking forward to that.
We all try to fit so much in a day and it's really important to keep perspective on what is important. Working out for me is a huge stress reliever but if the act of doing it becomes stressful I need to find ways to incorporate things so that it doesn't become additional stress. I fractured my foot in August and didn't really do much to investigate the severity beyond a quick care diagnosis. I never followed up with an orthopedist and I'm finding that as it has healed everything feels off balance. Things hurt that didn't hurt and as a result my motivation is seriously lacking. I am going to get it checked out over winter break to make sure that it has healed correctly and see if I need to take a minute to regroup. I am really glad that this is my last class for my endorsement. I've learned a lot and definitely appreciate the value in pursuing interests/activities that we wouldn't normally carve out the time to do. While becoming a Werq instructor may be something I do in the future, right now I just don't have the time to commit to something else. In fact, I want to streamline things so that I am well taken care of. In turn, my own kids will get the best of me and so will my students. I'm not sure that if I had additional courses to complete if I would change things in the future but I know that the end is on the horizon (less than 3 hours to go) and I am happy. I am going to echo some of the sentiments I read about from my classmates' blogs this week. I am feeling really burnt out. My youngest son was sick all week, work is just as stressful as always, and the holidays are approaching. At work, there seems to be an endless amount of events we are expected to attend after school that also require us to spend our own money on prizes, items to be raffled, etc. It is getting really expensive to work in my building.
I am definitely experiencing "the dip" where my efforts are less and I am experiencing less than stellar results. Danitra canceled class on Sunday because her son was sick. I've been feeling sluggish and heavy lately which is making my workouts really challenging. No doubt I am not taking very good care of myself lately. My diet has been awful and I am not getting more than 5 hours a night of sleep. With my youngest being sick this week, it has been really challenging. I did make it to her Monday class though and as always had a blast. Also, I've been secretly waiting for choreography to come out to Drake's song "Nonstop." Lo and behold, I checked the website yesterday for the latest releases and there it was! I got a head start on learning the choreography last night so that is something new that I am working on. At some point here I will post a video of class or a picture of me actually doing any of this. But for now, I'm still chicken and very self conscious! In true fashion, this initial post is late. This seems to be the theme of the semester. As someone who prides themselves on punctuality, I'm not happy about this. So, a couple of months ago, I signed up for a pop up class with Lorrie West, the instructor who taught my certification class and who is often featured weekly on the new choreography releases on the Werq website. After my oldest son threw a tantrum this morning of epic proportions, I was finally able to excuse myself from my mom's house (she was watching the boys for me) to head over to where I thought I was going for the class. Turns out the location had changed as well as the time. Needless to say I made it to only the last 40 minutes or so of Lorrie's class. When I walked in, the studio was tiny so I tried to squeeze into probably a few too many people's dance space. But after a couple of minutes I had my space carved out. It took a couple of songs to get comfortable and warmed up, but eventually it all clicked and I got into the groove. By the end, the mirrors in the front were all fogged up and the floor was super slippery. I had a really good time but wished that I hadn't been late. But tomorrow is my favorite class followed by Monday evening as well. Also, I am looking forward to Monday because I get the entire day to myself. Parenthood has been stressful and dance class is a healthy respite from that. So what have I learned this week that I didn't learn before? I need to fake the confidence in class that I see others have (maybe they're faking it too?). I need to spice up the moves, have a face to match, and an attitude that's contagious. I'm not feeling as confident as I did before, I'm feeling the winter weight creeping on with this cold weather and I'm NOT happy about that. So that impacts how I'm feeling in other aspects of life. I know it will fall off come April but it's really irritating right now. I don't have a picture to share from the pop up class today because I'm waiting to get into the Werq Facebook group. After every event someone takes the "Sweaty Picture" but unless I'm in the group, I can't see it. Yet. I'm pending. I don't do social media so I'm dipping a toe back in to Facebook just to be a part of the Facebook group. If I would have been in the group already I would've known that the time and location of today's class was changed and wouldn't have had the mix up. So in true fashion of the semester, it's going to be late. PS-On a side note, I did not yet get the tarantula. I am going to get it though for sure. I may wait until after winter break because I don't think I should leave it alone in my classroom for the entire break as they shut the heat off and it would likely die. I don't want to keep it at home because I may likely die from having to be its sole provider if I needed to do anything that requires opening the lid. And I don't want to send it home so fast with a student's family until we're all well acquainted with the idea. "For my Genius Hour project, I am focusing on doing more with the certification I earned over the summer to be a Werq dance fitness instructor. It is my favorite class at my gym, and I'd like to eventually teach it. It is the only thing I do where I experience "flow." Also, I would get a free gym membership ($100 saved) and get paid to instruct if I work at Lifetime. I take Danitra's class twice a week and can honestly say that I have the most fun during those two hours every week. My instructor works full time as a school counselor and runs a dance group at her school. I'd eventually like to do the same. " So this week, I'm not sure if there's anything formally that I can do now that I couldn't do before. But I think I have some new awareness about why I'm choosing this project and why I took an interest in it in the first place. I think it has to do with fear. I'm definitely not comfortable performing in front of others, I'm way too self-conscious. I love that Danitra's class has the lights turned off. Of course, natural light still comes through the wall of windows, but at least it doesn't feel so bright! So I've been thinking a lot about fear lately. How fear keeps us from being who we want to be. I think fear motivates us positively and negatively all day long. But facing our fears head on I think is really important. Once I had passed the tipping point of just having enough confidence to over come my fear of being "on stage," I was able to lead routines and be up front with the instructor. Somehow I wanted to bring this idea into my classroom, about facing fears and somehow being able to demystify them. And this led me to the picture below and all these thoughts of fears and something that I know most people fear...tarantulas. Myself included. But I've been wanting to get a class pet for about the last 6 months, but I had no idea what to get. It would need to be something low maintenance and could survive with noise. Also, it would have minimal smell and minimal cleaning required of its habitat. So all of the above led me to Chicago Reptile House in Orland Park. I walked in and dismissed offers to help me find something. I wanted to find it first. After walking around the store for about 15 minutes and not finding what I was looking for, I finally asked. A young employee walked around a corner and brought this box out and took off the lid. Here were my options... It's hard to see from the pictures but there are definitely some tarantulas in those little plastic containers. My heart rate was 125 as I took the picture. The store employee answered some of my questions. They live 8-10 years, and I'm thinking I might start with a baby tarantula. It's the size of a house spider and we can ease into things that way perhaps? I'm never touching it, that's not going to happen. If it needs to be moved to have it's enclosure cleaned, I'll have a student help with that. I'm still tossing around the idea, it'd be about $100 investment up front. Which is fine. I think the students would really remember it. What I'm sharing below does have relevance, just bear with me for a bit.
Our school community experienced a devastating tragedy when my teaching partner for the last 10 years killed his wife this summer. His wife was also a teacher in our district and they have three young boys. My heart has been broken ever since for those boys and how they will move forward after what they've been through. His classroom is right across the hall from mine, we all shared students, and his oldest son was supposed to be in my classroom this year. I don't know how other people are processing it but we did have grief counselors present when school started this year. But then the swing of things began where there wasn't time to do anything but work. I feel like we've all been running around doing our jobs with a black cloud over us. Or maybe it's just over me, I'm not sure. So the tarantula. How does any of this relate to fear, to dancing, to my coworker's actions that I think I should've seen the signs of. I'm not exactly sure. I feel like it has become a part of our identity at my school. It's one of those things that you just can't wrap your head around. I will never understand or be able to make sense of it. And the grief counselors said that we have to accept the fact that we'll never understand. I know they are right but I just haven't been able to not think about it when I pull off of the highway to go to school or walk by his old classroom. Maybe the spider will be a distraction or something exciting or just create some new feeling that is different from the way I've been feeling about working at Washington. Does any of this connect or make sense, maybe it does? I love dance class because it takes my mind off everything. When I was standing there looking at the spiders, my mind was completely focused. I wasn't thinking about anything but what was right in front of me. How terrified we all are of tarantulas and they are just like any other creature that exists in nature. I think all of this is a journey somewhere, I just don't know where exactly. Good Evening, I had some time one night this week to practice a song called Motiv8 that I knew the instructor would be featuring this week. It was a new routine that came out on the website last week that she said she was going to learn. I ran through it 3-4 times and felt pretty confident that I could follow her seamlessly. So I guess what I couldn't do last week that I could do this week was the choreography for that song. And during today's class it went pretty well. There was another girl in class today who went through the certification during the same day that I did. She teaches a class two times a week at a gym near UIC. I love taking classes with her because she has a great energy and loves to dance like I do! For some reason I found the class to be a lot more physically demanding than it had in the past. I had the sneezing issue today and I am still feeling really drained as I write this. Tomorrow is another class so I'll see how I feel. Entry 1 Engaging E-Learning is my last class to complete this endorsement. I am taking two courses at the same time to save $175 instead of taking them separately. This blog post is most likely late, and I'm up late doing it. Genius Hour...sounds a bit "touchy feely." Sounds a bit outside of the pressure cooker I feel like I work in on a daily basis. But sure, let's give it a try. I watched a youtube video for more clarity on the topic and learned that it came from Google. The rationale was that if people were allowed to work on something that they were passionate about 20% of their "at work" time, and something that would contribute to the company, their productivity and enthusiasm for what the company expects would increase as well. When I looked at the overview document, I noticed the word "flow." The document states that in a state of “flow” you’ll lose all sense of time, because you are so focused on the task at hand. I immediately thought of when I take yoga classes because they all "flow" but I don't lose sense of time. In fact, I'm counting the minutes until it's over. Yoga will not be a part of my genius project. What do I do where I lose all sense of time? What do I do when my focus is so acute where the outside world just fades away? Well, that's easy. It's cardio. More specifically, cardio dance fitness at my gym. I started taking Danitra's Werq dance fitness class back in January of 2018. I was in the next studio at Lifetime taking a cycling class when I heard the music of Danitra's class begin. It was loud, it was hip hop, it was raunchy, and it sounded way more interesting than the music and format of a cycling class. Well namely, that instructor's cycling class. So I quietly gathered my things and went next door. Her class was loud, empowering, and challenging. It made me want to come back to learn the moves to all the dances and to be able to keep up with the girls in the front row who clearly were regulars. They made it look so easy. The Werq dance format is similar to Zumba but spans all types of popular music. Instructors can choose routines from a monthly subscription service where every Friday 2-3 new dances are pushed out through the Werq website. All the choreography is based off Billboard charts and what you'd hear on pop radio. Rap/hip hop is really big right now so most of the routines are that genre. It's so much fun and yes, I am in the front row. Always. I kept going back for Sunday morning class followed by Monday evening class. I usually work out 5-6 times a week and incorporated Werq into my routine. Those first few weeks I felt like I got hit by a bus. The level of intensity superseded the intensity of all my other workouts combined. Running 5 miles? Easy. Werq? Not so much. For the first couple of months, immediately after finishing and letting my heart rate go back to normal, I would sneeze about 20 times in a row. Literally 20 times. I guess when you exert yourself to a certain level physically it puts your body into a temporary state of being highly allergic to toxins around you that you usually are not allergic to. Hence, the sneezing. Fast forward to today. I still take Danitra's class religiously and we are friends. I don't sneeze either! I took the certification class over the summer and am certified to teach it. I subscribe to the website and anxiously await Friday's new choreography. I ended a bad relationship after I started taking her classes and am loving all the changes both physically and mentally dance class has provided me. I've led class routines several times and have attended some live Werqshops by instructors that push out the weekly routines. My goal was to teach full classes and get hired by my gym so that my membership would be free (that would save me about $100 a month) and get paid to teach (about $50 a class). So here's what my Genius Hour project will be about. I don't practice that much outside of class. I know the routines pretty well but not well enough to lead them. My focus for this project will be to spend my two hours learning the routines so well that I can lead them without my instructor present. This will give me the confidence to ask Danitra to lead more routines in class (which she will gladly let me do) and ultimately get my group fitness certification and get hired by my gym. I just need to put more time into practicing so that the choreography is seamless. At my school, my principal asked teachers to start some clubs that involve our interests outside of school to share with students. Danitra works as a school counselor and started a Werq group with some of her students after school. I want to do the same. On the Werq website there is choreography for different musical genres including songs/choreography that is age appropriate, empowering, and fun. Here is my list of three: A list of everything that has to be true for this to be a good project: 1. Enthusiasm for the task 2. Time 3. More time A list of all the skills you don’t have that would be important for this project to work (things you can learn, or hire). 1. Muscle memory for the routines to flow And a list of everything you’re afraid of, or things that are essential and that are out of your control…. 1. My schedule 2. Getting hired by my gym and no one wants to take my class 3. Keeping all the plates spinning |
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