6th graders and their future career ideas....from the wacky to the realistic

What do 6^th graders want to be when they grow up?

With only 11 days of school left, I always try to end the year with some sort of project.

So, in my STEM class we have two different projects going on at once.

One project involves the kids building mechanisms and working in teams to solve a survival challenge.

The other project is part of their warm-up. All year they have been working on an E-Portfolio. They take their best work, pictures,  writing reflections and add them to their E-Portfolio. For the next week, they will be answering questions and adding the topics of their choosing (based on my parameters) to their E-Portfolios.

What has been very interesting to me has been the “Future Career” topic. I love walking around my room to see what they want to be when they grow up.

I have several who want to be comedians, one very quiet girl who wants to be a Rock Star, a bartender, a few teachers, quite a few who want to be professional athletes, and then the rest want to go into STEM fields.

Sure, I teach a STEM class—but I was pretty impressed with the ranges of STEM careers that these 6^th graders want to be. From Biomedical Scientists, Chemists, Petroleum Engineers, Marine Biologists and Neonatologists—I have to say I am pretty impressed with their thoughts.

I really have only covered a few of those STEM fields, so I can’t take credit for anything.

It makes me think—if only we exposed more kids to STEM fields in 6^th grade (or younger)—could we solve the STEM shortage?

Obviously, these students have some time to change their minds, but, it is my hope that they won’t.

But, maybe I can try to convince those wanna-be comedians and athletes to have a backup plan? Just in case....

First Mother's Day with my almost 7 month old

It's my first official Mother's Day Weekend. 

I say weekend because today my sister and I took my Mom out for pedicures. Then we had lunch and did a little shopping. It was a wonderful day. 

But, I missed my girl. 

She is the whole reason why I get to celebrate my first mother's day. 

I can't believe she will be 7 months old this week. 

I imagine every mother feels this way, but I just think she is the most amazing little person in the world. 

She has brought me so much joy in the last 7 months. 

Her little smile absolutely melts my heart. 

And those times when I can get her to laugh, not just chuckle--but a gut busting laugh--that is the greatest moment. 

I know there will be days when she hates me. There will be days when I will really dislike her, but right now, she is my whole world. 

She makes me so happy. 

I am so blessed to be her mother. 

Happy Mother's Day to all my mama friends. I hope your family treats you right. 

Sheep brains are cool and so is being part of a pilot program

In the fall, I applied to be part of a pilot program for a new program that Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is rolling out. It is their “Medical Detectives Unit.” It is geared around Biomedical Science/CSI-ish stuff.

My application was selected. This was pretty cool on various levels. One, I really enjoy teaching my other Gateway to Technology classes and this could be an exciting addition. Two, there are about 30 other teachers who are piloting this unit.

When you are selected to be part of the pilot that means PLTW will pay for your flight and hotel. You get to go through some of the curriculum and give feedback to the curriculum writer.

It is really cool. I added some details to a PowerPoint and some lessons today and learned a lot of things about DNA. I also got to dissect a sheep brain—which is much cleaner and less gross than you would think.

But, I have this nagging feeling of guilt.

One of my friends made a comment to me about how she has never left her two year old son overnight. If she did, she said she would “sob uncontrollably.”

My daughter is only 6 months old.

When my hubby dropped me off at the airport—I did not want to look in the back seat and see my precious baby girl. I didn’t want to say goodbye to her. I knew if I did, I would cry. She is very, very awesome.

But, I also have a very, very awesome husband. He is extremely capable and is a fantastic dad. He knows more about babies than I do.

Plus, my mom and sister are less than ten miles away.

Yes, I feel guilty about leaving my little angel. But, it has been really cool to learn some new stuff and meet some new people.

I get to go home tomorrow.

Oh, and only 31 more days of school left.

Then, I get to hang out with my girl every day.

Twitter for PD/Collaboration: #wmsplc

Ok, I am giving myself ten minutes to write this.

I presented to my PLC today. Since I am an elective teacher, I have the luxury of not having to worry too much about data and testing. So, our PLC is a little more exciting than the core teachers. (Or so I think.) In our PLC each week, a different teacher selects an article to share out to our group.

This week, I chose an article entitled, “Using Twitter for Professional Development.”

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/using-twitter-for-professional-development.shtml

I was a little nervous because I am relatively new to Twitter. I started really using it at SWSWedu, and now I am trying to get as much out of it as I can.

So, I “moderated” a #wmsplc chat this morning. I had my questions prepared ahead of time.

We have a variety of ages of teachers from different subject areas: art, music, and technology in our PLC.

Most people in our group were also new to Twitter, and having them set up an account proved to be a bit of a challenge.

But, we were able to get there.

We “live chatted” from the same classroom.

We talked and shared some ideas face to face, too.

Many were taken out of their comfort zone.

Some sat back, as I figured they would. They didn’t have a smart phone/tablet and Twitter is not really their thing.

That is ok, too.

I think it got some people thinking.

Even the gentleman who works across the hall from me--he asked me a few hours later if “I got any new tweets?”

My ten minutes are up. It is time for me to go pick up my daughter.

Hope you learned something new today. J

Changes at the "W"-Missing my old friends during testing week

This week was STAAR testing--Texas's version of standardized testing.

Lucky for me--I did not have to proctor a test, but I had hallway duty. It was a little crazy and my knees are reminding me of how old I really am.

I was responsible for the 7th grade hallway. Every time a teacher had a question, had to use the restroom, or needed to turn in their tests, they put their "I need a break" sign on their door. I had a counterpart, but, she was pulled both days to read a test to a late arrival.

Anyway, my time in the hallway/as a reliever made me a little sad.

I went into classrooms of some of my old friends who have moved on to bigger and better places.

I miss their pink, their futons, their motivational posters, pictures of their adorable puppies, etc. I miss their smiling faces and their team meetings.

I went into my old science classroom (I have moved to a computer lab in the 6th grade hallway) and it made me think of my old kids who I taught as 7th graders. They are now 11th graders. But, I could see them dissecting their frogs, complaining about their test scores, asking me questions to get off topic.

I looked around my old room to see if there was anything of mine still there.

Nope. It was all gone. Even the dilapidated bookshelf had found a new home.

I know change is a good thing, but sometimes it can make you feel lonely.

I think it might be time for a happy hour with my old peeps from the "W."

My happy shopper: Don't YOU touch my baby

As I took my five month old to HEB (our Texas grocery store), I was stunned at the number of people who stopped us as we were shopping.

Mind you, Kedzie is a VERY happy girl. She smiles at everyone, sings and just seems to be loving life. I don’t know if this will end, but her personality (right now) is simply precious.  

An older couple told me they would be happy to babysit her.

Another lady told me she saw her and was seriously contemplating having another baby--because our daughter was so cute. Her youngest is now two and a half. (I got half of her life story.)

There were a few others, everyone wanted to touch her feet.

I always have socks on her, I am kinda freaked out about bare feet in public…maybe it’s the old, “no shirt, no shoes, no service thing. I am sure it doesn’t apply to babies, but I would hate to get kicked out of somewhere. I guess I would have gone into “mama bear” mode if they would have tried to get any closer.  

Maybe I need to look meaner? Teacher looks for anyone who approaches?

What is it about babies that make people talk to you? And why do they want to touch her feet?  So weird.

Will it end? When?

And why didn’t any of my “mama” friends give me a heads up on this?

That would have been helpful.

I guess I will take the compliments and run.

But, I will NOT let a strange, old, couple babysit her. No matter how desperate I get.

Spring Break = New Niece, rolling, twitter and a time change

This spring break has been quite eventful. Sadly, it has gone by way too fast.

My mother-in-law and brother-in-law came in from Michigan to see our baby. They stayed in San Antonio, so we had a nice family trip to the Riverwalk on Saturday.

My sister had her baby. Leila Marie on Sunday. She is pretty cute. She has more hair than Kedzie will probably ever have.

I made several trips to the hospital to see my sister and her baby and then they came home on Tuesday. Everyone is healthy and happy.

In the meantime, Kedzie is a rolling machine. She is rolling all around as I write this. I have a feeling teething and crawling are in our near future.

I am thankful the time change occurred while we were off on spring break. It sure does throw off an almost 5 month old.

Then, today we took a road trip to nearby Wimberly, TX. We had a delicious breakfast at the Wimberly  Cafe and then we walked around and did a little bit of window shopping. Our trip made me want to buy some land and move to there, however, they don't have a grocery store in the town (or at least I didn't see one) and I can't see myself driving 15 minutes to a grocery store. No bueno.

I also have become addicted to twitter. My time at SXSWedu really opened my eyes to all the good things I can do with twitter, and while I really don't have many followers (you can follow me @kteachcampbell, by the way), I have really enjoyed finding scholarly/news articles to tweet.

Anyway, I am glad I have a few more days off. Summer will be here before we know it--and that means at least 8-10 weeks I can spend with my rolling girl. I can't wait.