Burst of Steam

Since my last posting I have had a burst of steam ...

 a burst to get me moving to finish up lots of things that will lead me to success.

The unexpected (or maybe UNWANTED) snow storm on St. Patrick's day led to a day off from school.  Of course, I had chosen not to listen to the weather forecast, so I did not bring home school work to complete in case of a day off.  So much time to use... What should I do?

I chose to use the time to complete Chapter 5, the final chapter of my Capstone project.  Amy promised I would enjoy writing the chapter.  I will not go as far as to say I "enjoyed" the writing, but having the opportunity to use an unexpected day off for the completion of the paper certainly took some of the stress off me.  After submitting the paper, I now just have some tweeking of the abstract and some editing of my favorite - APA style.

One of the best parts of getting this project done was that I could use it as an example for my FCCLA students who spent last weekend scrambling to get their projects completed for the Spring Leadership Conference.  I don't know how they did it, but all projects were completed, made it to conference and they were presented in professional manner.  Our students did well, with five students qualifying for National Competition this summer in San Antonio.  I am so proud of them, and I know that I will be able to help them edit and tweek their projects for national competition.  

They Powered Up with FCCLA so they can SOAR to nationals!

Not since the steam engine has any invention disrupted business models like the Internet. Whole industries including music distribution, yellow-pages directories, landline telephones, and fax machines have been radically reordered by the digital revolution.

— John Sununu

In keeping with my theme of steam, this quote certainly is one that related directly to my past week.  What caught my attention was the term "disrupted business".

As I continue to work diligently on this capstone project, I keep seem to run up against a variety of "disruptions".  In relating this to my data collection, I ran into the issue of one entire class not taking the post assessment survey due to the snow storm and the shortened day.  Off they went to their next elective, even though I pleaded for their participation.  Now the numbers may be somewhat distorted, so I am looking to percentages.  This will certainly be noted in the analysis of the data.

This week gave me quite an education in Excel.  I feel like I have some grasp of the charting capabilities.  Thank goodness my daughter could give me some pointers.  Now hopefully this is something I can continue to remember, at least until it has another update that will DISRUPT my knowledge base.

Talk about disruptions; I lost the land line about 3 years ago and have been happily using my "dumb" phone for any telephone based communication - calls and texts.  Unfortunately this past week my communication mode was "disrupted" when the phone refused to cooperate and work at all.  I didn't even drop it!  So off I went to Sprint to get a replacement... but since I have a "grand-fathered" old plan, the store can do nothing to help me.  So back home I go to ponder how "customer service" has been disrupted by the fast growth of technology. 

Is there a reason the the word "CAN'T" is so prevalent in the interactions I seem to have when I am trying to spend money?

So after two days with no communication (the good news is there is no bad news received) I broke down and bought a new phone - still a dumb one, as it will continue to be until I feel the monthly price is right!  Now on to re-creating my contact list.  I certainly should have written down all those family & friends numbers.

Will... to complete

“There is a force more powerful than steam and electricity: the will.” 

― Fernán Caballero

This week was an interesting one.  I realized on Friday morning that I was a week ahead of myself, but never really completed my submission of the intervention.  Thanks Julie for being there for my one and only melt down this semester!  I think the stress of the project, getting to know new students, and having a husband at home recuperating from surgery pushed me to the point where STEAM was literally coming out my ears.  My goal to work entirely on the Capstone project for the weekend was derailed again when daughter #2 appeared on my door step with dog and suitcase in hand.  Time for family!

 I have completed my intervention, in fact I've been using it for the first two marking periods, and continue to use it this marking period.  When I look at the intervention, I realize that the tweeking I did to the curriculum has made the course more manageable for both my students and myself.  I am pleased with the Google site and the students this marking period seem pleased to have a place to go for additional help with their projects.  I can say that so far (2 days into the toy project) that the creativity and enthusiasm for creating is very high. During class they are going to the site and reviewing videos as needed; which is freeing up time for the entire class to move at their own pace, without being burdened by in class demonstrations that they do not need.  The test will be if they have gone onto the site during the snow day.  Lots of projects went home over the weekend so Tuesday will be telling.

I think having this extra day to shovel snow and reflect on the journey I am taking is helping get me back on track.  So I will STEAM ahead, work on the numbers and get to my destination on time!

.

Keeping it going...physically and mentally

This long drawn out winter has certainly taken its toll of me mentally and physically.  Trying to keep focused on school and family has been tough; but with enough tea and steam I am getting through it all.

One of the great issues during the winter is the lack of Vitamin D
 - not enough sunshine to keep us up to speed.

So when the sun shines - get outside and enjoy!
I sure did enjoy the past weekend, but as I write this can you believe they are saying more snow...

Give me some tea; steaming with some Lemon Balm or Lemon Grass - sure to keep my spirits up!

If you are looking for some great holistic remedies to help fight this seasonal depression that seems to affect so many of us, check out this blog.

So my FACS to STEAM research and paper are coming along.

I have added additional tabs to my GoogleSite for Skills for Life.  By consolidating my curriculum I am beginning to feel quite accomplished... Now does anybody have any hints for getting students to view and practice?

I am pulling together all the data for the two marking periods of students who have done pre and post assessments concerning STEAM education and Family & Consumer Science.  I can definitely see how students perceive the class; but it is not so clear that a 48 day class is enough time for students to make the connection as to the relationship of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics within Family & Consumer Science.  I think there may need to be some studies that take a longer range course, and maybe follow some of these students as they take more FACS courses through High School.

Another issue might be:  We silo other subjects, with the connections not very clear, that when we do connect the content there is resistance.  It may be perceived as forced connections.  Is this why so many times I hear; "But this isn't math class?  Why are we experimenting?  But this is cooking, not Science?"
So much to ponder...

I think I will get some STEAMING Tea, put my feet up and...

STEAMED and Delicious!

Since this past weekend ended the Lunar New Year, I celebrated with Chinese.

Steaming is a centuries old method of cooking, that integrates water and heat to cook food to perfection.  The use of bamboo to create a steamer is an ingenious way to utilize the plentiful natural resource of bamboo.  Ask anyone who has planted a stand of bamboo how quickly it grows and takes over.  Technology that still works perfectly today!

How does this possibly relate to my capstone project?

This week I worked diligently to pull the intervention elements of my curriculum into one easy to navigate site.  I choose using a Google site as we are becoming a very Google centric school; offering an easy way for my class to share the information.  There will be a link to this site on my teacher webpage.

The basics; like the method of cooking demonstrated above, are focused on the elements of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) within the field of Family & Consumer Science.  Using some very basic tools, I feel that I can introduce the students to the connection their core subjects have to life.  The basic site offers the opportunity to add more content; as it becomes more relevant to the curriculum and the needs of the students.

A benefit of this site; it is very much like the steamer, it can be multi-layered, offering lots of product in one very easy to handle container.  As I completed the site, I immediately thought of additional tabs and pages that could be added, increasing the amount of material available to the students.

I must say, I have managed to get out of my fog of the previous week, and am moving forward towards a delicious end product.

STEAM or is it just FOG?

As I was driving to school one morning last fall I had to stop and photograph the moon with the early morning fog.  I remembered this sight as I feel I am in a fog with the end of this capstone project.  Although the fog seemed to overwhelm me this past weekend, there is the glimmer of clearing in a light blue sky.
I will try to remember this as I gather all of the tools that I am using as intervention in the teaching of Family & Consumer Science from the perspective of STEAM.

Last week saw me try to organize the variety of projects that my students have experienced this school year. The biggest frustration came as I committed such a rookie mistake as not SAVING the document after spending hours organizing as well as attaching documents incorrectly. I guess I really took too much down time during the break!  The silver lining is that after re-writing, I can claim a better understanding of what I am really accomplishing in my classroom.  The next goal is to finish creating the Google Site for a depository of the project assignments, tutorials, videos and informational text that can easily be accessed by my students.

I must say I was slightly depressed after the end of this past marking period.  It seemed so disjointed with the holidays and snow disturbances, that I am not sure if the students truly gained as much as they could.  My goal is with my new group of students to focus on the positives, searching for the one or two students who truly find the connections of all things STEAM into the world of Family & Consumer Science.

It's a New Year!

  

On January 31 millions of people around the world will be celebrating the Lunar New Year - the year of the Horse.  Since my new year on January 1 started out like a blur, I think I will take a "do over" and begin the new year this weekend.

My first start of the New Year began with a resolution to limit my "sarcasm" - needless to say it was a true, unmitigated failure!  Maybe it lasted 24 hours! Sad, but True :(

So my new, New Years Resolution is to complete this Capstone project with a positive attitude, believing that my students truly get the intersections of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics within the curriculum of Family and Consumer Science.

It has been a difficult marking period, with many breaks in learning as snow days, half days and holidays have broken up any real flow.  A few more days, and a formative evaluation will show me if my students truly grasped the concepts.  I must say their sewing projects were well designed; most figured out the relationship of engineering, planning and the process.  So tomorrow we begin the evaluation - I know they will show their understanding (this is not sarcasm!)  Thursday we will create our New Years meal - Fried Rice; a blending of Asian - American Cuisine.

So speaking of Fried Rice - FCCLA is selling Seasoned Rice Packets to benefit Share Our Strength:No Child Hungry campaign.  $5 donation and you to can make Fried Rice with my "famous" recipe.  I deliver to my followers as Southern Regional and South Jersey.

This is a shameless plug!

Happy New Year - The Year of the Horse!  
Let the work begin... or at least continue.