Attached is the link for the Life and Family of Henry VIII Timeline of Wives document to help with The Life and Family of Henry VIII timeline. Please be sure to correctly label each empty box, and to label each picture with the correct name. THIS WILL BE A GREAT HELP FOR YOUR TEST ON 9/23!!!
New Year 2014-2015
Hello All!
I’m looking forward to another great year at Chaloner and I am going to make every concerted effort to make sure that it is even easier for students and their parents to be in contact with me over the course of the school year by utilizing this website. I have been working on figuring out how to upload study guides/homework copies/videos to this site and I encourage parents to stop in and check out what we are working on. Parental support is one of the strongest links to a successful educational career and I embrace the opportunity to work hand in hand with you to ensure your child’s success. Please contact me at 252-519-7635 or at quastp.cm@rrgsd.org with any questions or concerns!
Attached is a copy of my Student/Parent Info sheet, which your child will be coming home with during the first week of school. This paper needs to be filled out and returned the day after it is handed out for an easy 100 to start the year.
Thank you!
Patrick Quast
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Start of a New Year
Hello all!
I am anxiously awaiting the start of a new school year here at Chaloner Middle School. Today, we were able to get started by meeting some of our new Seahorse team members and their parents. I will be using this space to showcase student work, provide copies of homework, and to let parents know when important tests and quizzes are right around the corner.
Excited to see everyone on Monday and can’t wait for a great year!
GO YELLOW JACKETS!
Mr. Q
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Final Thought
When I signed up to take this course, I had significant apprehensions. I had never taken an online class in my graduate work and had very limited experience with online education during my undergraduate career. However, as I worked through this course, I found it to be one of the most rewarding that I have taken during my tenure at SUNY Oswego.
I really liked the free time element that this course can provided, with the extremely limited travel time required. When taking classes through Oswego, I have been all over Central New York to attend typical graduate classes, spending time at Oswego, Phoenix, Baldwinsville, Downtown Syracuse, and Fayetteville. I liked that I only needed a computer, an internet connection, a few hours each week to dedicate to the coursework. I also liked that we were a project and discussion based class. By utilizing both aspects of the typical classroom, we were still available to have a community type feel to the class.
During the course of the class, I felt that the discussions became more personal, which was extremely beneficial to me. I was able to mention past discussions in current ones, without having to explain myself repeatedly. That increased sense of togetherness, blended with a dedicated focus on enhancing everyone’s level of knowledge on a subject field, created some intellectual discussions that I greatly benefited from.
During our discussions, I felt that I was able to air my opinions, on any subject being discussed without any fear of reproach. Even if you were disagreeing with what someone said, as long as opinions were backed with facts and you were able to be non combative, everyone benefited from the different point of view.
Being familiar with the ANGEL software was extremely important to my success within this program. Due to the fact that SUNY Oswego dedicates many hours to having undergraduate students be familiar with the program, I was able to navigate through this course with very little difficulty. I think that if I was asked to use a different program such as ChalkBoard or EChalk, I would have some serious technical issues. Also, if I was a new student to this program, I might not have been able to navigate through ANGEL as someone who has had standard style classrooms, where the teacher walks you through the program and how to navigate to your desired destination.
The only true difficulty/pet peeve I had with this course was the lack of graphics/images that were present. I know that is extremely nit picky, and can seem a bit childish, but as a visual learner, I think that some insertion of images could have helped me. I had to stretch to think about a difficulty that I encountered, as it was a very beneficial course to me and I learned a great deal with very little confusion on how the course was structured. I think that having the previous student’s works as a database to go back and compare to was invaluable and I look forward to offering my weblog as a reference for future classes.
In regards to the assessments that this course offered, I feel that they offer the most transferable elements to the classroom out of any assessments that I have taken so far. With my concentration in literacy, many of the assessments that I have completed will strictly benefit my literacy coach career (as well it should!). With this class however, I felt that both myself and my students will benefit from my creation of my webliography and my weblog.
Many of my colleagues in North Carolina have a webmaster that can set up a page for them through the district website, but getting updates and assignments to the page in a timely manner is nearly an act of God. With my own weblog set up, I can feel free to post whatever and whenever to my blog, allow the students to access it on their own time, and it will greatly enhance my teaching technique. In addition, it is a great asset to my educational portfolio and brings another level of value to my any potential interviewers.
The instructor feedback brought a higher level of understanding to what exactly was expected in this course. Professor Yang made sure to get all of our assessment grades back in a timely manner, which constructive and useful feedback on all of our projects. I always like to ask a million questions to my professors about their expectations on a project, but Professor Yang was very clear and concise in his directions, so my fervent questioning was not needed.
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Transplanted Northerner
I always have to remind my students just how crazy the Buffalonians are about their hockey, especially when their teacher and his sister are both named after former Buffalo Sabres. Can’t wait for next year!
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American Civil War Pioneer WebQuest
Students will work through a web quest which will break down some background information from the Civil War, as well as allow them the chance to research the local hero, Dr. Mary Walker. Students will be able to discover the heroics of Dr. Mary Walker, as well as how she continued her activism after the war ended.
Students will finish the web quest by developing a PowerPoint project in which they will compare the effects on society that a modern day female role model that they have researched has had on the era that they live in, to the effect that Dr. Mary Walker had on her era of history. Students will be able to research on their own, as well as create the PowerPoint and all artistic effects within.
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Webliography!
Ten Websites for Webliography
National History Education Clearinghouse
1. National History Education Clearinghouse
2. http://teachinghistory.org/
3. Summary- A wide range of topics and information, presented in an easy to search format. Students are able to research by grade level, either at elementary, middle, or high school level.
4. I would rate this site a solid 7/10. Factual information, utilizes a “.org” website, and the students will be able to use many primary sources in their research, as the site is chocked full of them.
Smithsonian Education
1. Smithsonian Education
2. http://smithsonianeducation.org/index.html
3. Summary: one of my favorite resources, especially as a first year teacher. The search engine feature, which allows you to type in keywords and whole lesson plans come back, is invaluable when facing a difficult concept to teach.
4. Commentary: I would rate this site as a 9/10, and the only reason it is not a perfect website, is that I don’t think it is as helpful for students as it is for teachers. It is clearly a website for teachers, and while that is not a bad thing, I do wish that there was a facet of the site better suited for students.
National Endowment for the Humanities
1. EdSitement!- The best of the humanities on the web.
2. http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans
3. Summary: Great resource, also makes cross curricular information available if you are looking to do some integration with your English teacher. It has one of the best primary source photograph and picture selections that I have come across. It is a great alternative to just going to Google Images and picking one at random.
4. Commentary: A great site, very easy to research. It has a wide variety of information, it has the “.gov” distinction, and for photographs, is invaluable.
PBS Learning Media
1. Public Broadcasting Station’s Educational Foundation
2. http://www.pbslearningmedia.org
3. Summary: Wonderful site, capable of being searched by any grade level educator. Carries with it the distinction of being a PBS subsidiary, which certainly carries weight of being an education and professional organization. (Years of NOVA watching has certainly instilled that in me).
4. Commentary: One of my “go to” sites, I love the videos that are this site as well. My school frequently bans all access to YouTube, and this is great alternative if I want to show a piece of film that would enhance the lesson.
Outreach World
1. Outreach World – International Education Resources for K-12 Teachers
2. http://www.outreachworld.org/
3. Summary: easy to navigate, made by teachers for teachers. The website has over 147 different universities contributing to it, as well as various teachers from schools all around the world.
4. Commentary: I love this website when teaching global, because it takes some of the American bias that exists in all facets of education. It is also great for accessing primary resources on a global topic, as people who were actually involved in that event can post here.
Teaching American History
1. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and Media
3. Summary: A website that focuses primarily on Southern history, particularly Virginia and Alexandria County Public Schools. It is funded through a grant through the Department of Education and is conjunction with George Mason University and the Office of Historic Alexandria.
4. Commentary: A website that has a very narrow focus, so it is limited in the scope of information that it can use, but as a teacher who will be teaching in Virginia next year, I anticipate using this website quite frequently. It has all of its collaborators listed, information is very easy to access, and I love the fact that it is grant funded, meaning everyone who is involved with this project wants to be here.
National Public Radio
1. National Public Radio- NPR
2. www.npr.org
3. Summary- the website for a highly respected and decorated National Public Radio. It has video, audio files, and excellently penned pieces on all sorts of present day issues, from America and around the world.
4. Commentary- I am a self confessed NPR addict and I am constantly using the site when showing students hot button topics and current events. I find that NPR does a fairly decent job of staying unbias, and that is critical for students so that they can develop their own opinions of a subject. I find that the website is also extremely cultured, showing students that even in today’s society, works of art and literacy are being created at a constant pace.
Kidpede
1. Kidpede- online encyclopedia for children and young adults
2. http://www.historyforkids.org/
3. Summary- a website developed and maintained by a college professor since 1995. The site is heavily centered on ancient civilizations and origins of religions, but it puts information in a student centered format.
4. Commentary- While this site does have a narrowed focus, it is such a great website for student created web quests and research project jump off on ancient cultures, I had to put it on this list. I love how its been around for almost 20 years and due the fact that it has been created later, it is extremely user friendly.
Mr. Donn’s Social Studies Site
1. Mr. Donn’s Social Studies Site
3. Summary- the dirty little secret, especially among beginning teachers for great lesson plans, PowerPoints, for ClipArt on almost any subject related to social studies. It includes a plethora of resources and information in an easy to use format for teachers and students alike.
4. Commentary- A great website that I use frequently when looking to expand upon a topic, or to get an idea on a format for a PowerPoint. I have often downloaded a PowerPoint and tweaked it to my needs in order to be more effective for my students.
Documentary Heaven
1. Documentary Heaven- an online collection of documentaries
2. http://documentaryheaven.com/
3. Summary- an online collection of documentaries that are searchable by a collection of topics including “activist”, “archaeologist”, and “biographies”.
4. Commentary- With a recent addition of NetFlix to my educational repertoire, I thought for sure that this resource would be taking a backseat. However, I still find myself utilizing this option, as the amount of content is extremely varied and MUCH easier to search than Netflix. I will caution anyone that uses this collection of films to ALWAYS preview the movies, to prevent any unwanted language or content from accidentally being aired.
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quastblog 