Ok. I know. It is summer vacation, but I can't help myself.  My teacher brain is getting pumped up and I am already looking at new ideas and resources for the next school year.  I promise, I am finding some time for myself as a person.  I did break our my sewing machine yesterday and update a t-shirt.  My family and I are heading to the beach soon for some r and r.  I am not spending all of my time "working" this summer. 

That being said, the other night I participated in a Social Studies teacher chat on twitter.  #SSTLAP .  The conversation took many different directions, but one topic of interest for many people was a flipped classroom.  One person in the chat put a link up to a website called thinglink.com. Of course being the curious person that I am I decided to investigate it.  So today I played with the website.

I signed up for a free, basic teacher account. I uploaded a jpeg of the signing of the Mayflower Compact and I was able to annotate the picture.  Check this out.

I love it! I see so much potential for classroom use.  I could make some and put then on my class website for students to explore on their own,  use them as a lesson launch or even assign students to complete one.   It was not difficult to do at all.  The website offers tutorials to get you started.

What should I thinglink next?

Yesterday was the last day of school.  After the high school survival kits were assembled, the class trip to Canobie Lake Park, the dinner dance and academic awards night went off without a hitch I said good bye to my homeroom students, my "little historians".  It was a bittersweet day.  After all, I have spent the last two years as their homeroom teacher.  I have watched them change and blossom into strong, quirky, capable young ladies and gentleman.  Spending two full school years together we have become very close.  One student described us as family.

The day began as most days do with homeroom attendance and morning routines, but this time there was a different kind of energy.  There was a feeling of excitement.  I spent the morning with them.  We wiped down desks, put books away and completed other random things to tidy up the classroom.  They were all easily distracted and many things did not get done.  I sent them on their merry way to their final art, music and or gym classes for the year.  With no lessons to prep for, papers to correct or parents to contact I intended to use my prep time to finish cleaning and packing up.  However, I too was easily distracted and chatted away with colleagues instead of completing the tasks I wanted to get done.

The three other academic teachers and I had organized a party for the students.( I will admit that most of this was planned by the math teacher on my team.)  Many students brought in cultural dishes and a variety of desserts and chips for a team lunch.  When our students returned from their various allied arts classes we broke bread together.  What was nice about this was that our seventh and eighth graders sat together, ate lunch and chatted with their peers and us teachers.  In my room several students from all four homerooms came in.  There was an impromptu Journey sing along, as one student went to youtube and found a video of the  "Don't Stop Believing" lyrics and projected them on the screen.  A serious game of Monopoly started in one corner and a game of Apples to Apples in another.  Kids bounced back and forth between the four homerooms.  There was laughter and excitement throughout.

A little bit later in the day, we went outside for some r and r.  We were not outside for a long time, about 20 minutes or so, just long enough.  During that time, a football was tossed around, hula hoop races happened and frisbee was played.  Some students stood in the shade and laughed and talked, others were just running around, a few lounged in the green grass.  It was very enjoyable.

As the end of the day was approaching we gathered our group in the auditorium to view an iMovie made by the science teacher.  All of the teachers on my team submitted pictures for the movie.  For the next 15 minutes we laughed and cried as we recollected the many lessons, activities, field trips and events over our two years.

And then it began.  The waterworks started.  The kids finally realized the finality of the day.  They were no longer middle school students.  They were no longer going to be in the safe comfortable school they have spent the last four years.  They were going out into the unknown.  They will be venturing off to their prospective high schools going their separate ways. 

As tears welled up in the eyes of boys and girls alike, they all came around and hugged and thanked us teachers. I do have to say that I was a bit misty eyed myself.  One boy in particular, you know the one..funny but not very motivated ..some might say lazy, came over to me.  He gave me a big hug and said, "Thank you for pushing me and putting up with me for two years."  I almost lost it, but somehow I managed to keep my composure.

We said our final goodbyes as a group and returned to our respective homerooms.  Report cards were handed out and a few last minutes "selfies" were taken.  Tears were still flowing when dismissal started.  I am going to miss these quirky "little historians" whom I have grown to love, but I know that they are going to be ok.

One of my favorite projects to do with my students is make mini documentaries.  This is one I have been doing for the past five or six years.  It is a great project to engage students, especially at the end of the year.  I book the computer cart for as many consecutive days as I can.  This year I was all set.  Cart booked for three consecutive days...check.  Rubrics copied...check.  Excited kids ...check.  Technology troubles..oh no.

This project was doomed from the start.  There were all kinds of tech problems that I did not anticipate.  What was supposed to be a fun few days of class making documentaries turned into a nightmare for the students and a giant headache for me.  Instead of giving up, we plugged away.

For starters, some students had trouble logging on to the computers.  The internet was another issue.  As kids were gathering resources they got bounced off the internet.  We also struggled with using the movie program as well this year.  Movies did not save from day to day on the students computers (insert frustrated grunts and groans here).  Of the students that could successful complete a movie in the allotted time frame (because they did not have to start over three times ...more groans here) several had difficulty sharing their movies with me.

I ended up contacting the tech department at the school department.  I was surprised with a quick response, unfortunately they were no help.  The tech who came to help me did not know why I was having so much difficulty.  I was promised that he would be back the next day to help me again, however he never returned.  Like I said, doomed from the start.

I offered to stay after school for a few days to help students with their projects.  A few groups took me up on it.  I finagled the computer cart again for another day.  Some how despite all of the obstacles that the technology gods threw our way we completed our documentaries.  Middle Schoolers can be persistent when they want to be.

On May 19, 2014 I rolled out the red carpet, well actually the red butcher paper, and we had our movie premiere.  I gave out "Clarkie" awards for best picture, most informational, funniest and most creative.  I can't take all the credit for that idea.  I saw this on Kara Wilkins' blog, a neighbor and fellow Social Studies teacher.  She gave out the "Wilkies" for her movies.
 toengagethemall.blogspot.com

Despite all of our difficulties we had a great time. Students had fun walking the red carpet. Who knew they were such hams.  Below are some pictures of our successful film festival that we had in class even though I forgot the popcorn.