Promoting Business Education

I find that quite often high school students are not aware of what business education is all about and do not know what they can learn in the courses. To help solve this problem a fellow business educator and I created a video about the courses we currently offer. The video was shown to students during the week of their course selections. We also made QR code posters that students could scan using their mobile device and then watch the video. The response from students was very positive and we hope that now students are aware of the courses and opportunities that are available to them. Check out the poster and scan the QR code or click the link to view the video and let me know what you think.

By scanning the QR Code you will be taken to this video…
Campbell Business Education [click to watch]

Life as a First Year Teacher

Tonight I presented to a group of pre-serivce teachers at the University of Regina about “Life as a first year teacher.” It was great to share my experiences and advice while also learning from the other presenters (post-internship students and cooperating teachers). Here are the slides I used for my presentation. I tried to keep a simplistic design and focus more on what I was actually saying while using the slides to enhance my presentation. Let me know what you think and feel free to comment with any suggestions, comments or stories regarding your first year of teaching.

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,900 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 13 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 45 posts. There were 16 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 14mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was February 23rd with 78 views. The most popular post that day was New inspiration and ways of learning.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, digg.com, facebook.com, jordanmcfarlen.com, and thephysicaleducator.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for jordan mcfarlen, mcfarljo, jordanmcfarlen, wordpress blogfolio with vimeo, and karie shiels.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

New inspiration and ways of learning February 2010
4 comments

2

About Me May 2008
1 comment

3

Images & Videos June 2008
1 comment

4

My Work April 2009

5

Resume/CV March 2010

Fitnesscaching – Geocaching in PE (Exploring Alternative Environments)

One of the outcomes of the grade 9 Physical Education Curriculum in Saskatchewan involves alternative environment activities. For this outcome I chose to do geocaching with my students. I wanted them to experience something different that involved teamwork, problem solving, and physical activity. That is how I came up with the idea for “fitnesscaching”. Fitnesscaching is basically geocaching with fitness tasks at each cache. I had multiple caches set up for my students and at each cache they had to complete a fitness task along with a trivial question which was to be answered on their answer sheet. The caches were all set up on school grounds and the fitnesscaching activity was done during 1 class period. We went over geocaching basics and did a few practice activities beforehand to get the students familiar with the GPS devices and the ways of geocaching.

On the day of the activity I had the students split up into pre-determined teams and they all started from the same location which was not too close to any of the caches. They all started with the coordinates to a different cache and would get the next coordinates once they found the cache. While the activity went over very well despite the snow, there are some things I would change for next time…

I would try to make more time for the activity. Possibly by doing more pre-activity work the day before and then beginning right at the bell on the day of.

I would like to do something like this on a bigger scale or in a more diverse area. I think it would be great to do this in a place with more diverse terrain and scenery than our school grounds.

Check out the map below which shows the location of the caches that I planted for the activity. Let me know what you think and feel free to share your stories of geocaching. I am always looking for new ideas and would appreciate any suggestions on how to make this even better for my students!

The world of substitute teaching

Having now completed my B.Ed at the University of Regina and having recently obtained my teaching certificate, this past week I started substitute teaching with Regina Public Schools. While I do have a full-time teaching position with Regina Public starting in the fall, I wanted to gain some teaching experience on the sub-list and work at different schools during May and June. This week I had great experiences subbing at both Sheldon and Scott Collegiate. At both schools I was subbing in the physical education department but they were very different experiences and that is what I enjoy about subbing. The opportunity to see what is being done at various schools and how certain programs are run is a great opportunity.

As a newcomer to the world of substitute teaching I have been wondering about a few things like the expectations for substitute teachers and ways to ensure a successful subbing experience. I’m looking for advice on how I can make the most of my time as a substitute teacher…

I realize there are the basic duties such as teaching what the teacher has stated, ensuring the class is on task, leaving notes stating what you did and also informing the teacher of any behavioral issues. But I would like to know what teachers consider to be a good substitute teacher… I would greatly appreciate comments regarding the following questions.

What are your expectations for a substitute teacher?

What steps can a substitute teacher take to make sure things go smoothly?

What type of feedback do you like to receive from substitute teachers?

What is your advice for substitute teachers?

Here’s a fairly basic but useful link about substitute teaching – click here