I will be retiring from the Blue Valley School District at the end of this school year. While I am excited each year to see what our future educators might develop, this year I am especially proud.
The students dealt with many challenges and obstacles as they drifted from virtual to hybrid to in-person learning and teaching platforms. This year's CAPS Teacher Ed students have acquired skills very revised from those of our normal program protocol, and they have handled it with class, with poise, and with a great attitude. Long gone is my fear that I would have a difficult time "personalizing" activities this year and getting to know my students. I feel close to them all and am so very proud of everything they have attempted, dreamed, and accomplished!
As a highlight, it is with a bittersweet feeling in my heart that I share some of the things the students have encountered and accomplished this year, and with it, bid goodbye to this portion of my life and look forward to another personal and professional chapter in my life.
www.capsteach.org |
- Simschool-an online simulation in which students could "teach" avatars and receive a culminating report giving them information about their strategies used and their effectiveness. Simschool is a program well-researched and normally used by university programs. We were the first high school program included. Now...they have other high school programs wanting to become subscribers. www.simschool.org
- Virtual Teacher Academy-our students completed units of study in educational history and philosophies. All work was submitted, and students received certifications from the Mary Lou Fulton School of Education at Arizona State University
- Kids' Konference-our students created and executed an entire conference for elementary students. Our students did this all virtually, over Zoom, from their homes, while they were remote https://capsteachered.wixsite.com/kidskonference Video from the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKVLNeAUVi8&t=1s
- Virtual Teaching-during the school year, we had a group of students who met twice weekly with the virtual classes of Ms. Catherine Healy. Our CAPS Teacher Ed students conducted tutoring sessions and breakout room study sessions and presentation sessions
- Students have spent 3-6 weeks in virtual and f2f classrooms. During this time, students blogged regularly on their experiences and completed other assignments such as "what would you do" scenarios in which they discussed strategies they would use in classroom situations
- Portfolios--students again completed portfolios. Those can be viewed in the link below or by going to our website and clicking on "portfolios"
- Twitter-students reached out to Will Richardson and others after watching their TED Talks and created real-world network connections to take their learning beyond the typical classroom
This video is about KIDS’ KONFERENCE 2021 www.youtube.com |