Originally uploaded by msradden

My small but savvy advanced web group is gearing up for their client to come in for the kickoff interview session. We picked a company name (”4 girls, a guy and a laptop”) and each student is completing a layout in Photoshop of their employee profile within the company web site. They will post their resumes and cover letters as well as a complete bio. Next week we will slice them up into HTML, link them and FTP each page! Stay tuned for the launch…

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What matters to you?

Originally uploaded by msradden

Today my first group of media seminar students brainstormed issues they wanted to address in their video PSAs. I actually recorded the discussion taking place on my ipod and yet when I tried to download it off the ipod onto my computer, the recording suddenly disappeared! Bummer. But they did record their initial ideas on the wipey board. Have a look!

There are no wallflowers at this social media gathering!
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A special shout out to “Justin” from Blip.tv support who helped me figure out why I couldn’t cross-post…My blog had no title so it didn’t show up in the list to choose from. Doh. Takes me back to coding…Up all night in the engineering lab and DOH it was that ONE COMMA that screwed up the 50 pages of code!!!! Sigh. I kindof miss those days in a sick way. Literally. We ate swedish fish and drank red bulls to stay up.

Term 1 ended today and although they are not ALL done yet, the few identity “I am” flash projects I have seen so far are awesome! I uploaded one to Blip today just to see if I could post SWFs. Success! Enjoy :

Nobody puts IRISH in the corner.

Originally uploaded by msradden

I proudly display my alma mater in the classroom. Although both the flag and the football team are looking a little deflated these days…especially Notre Dame fans and alumni like me. It’s tough to be one in this Boston College town this season!! Painful.

We are a college prep school so it’s important to speak about your alma mater. The students are often curious what college life is like, what it costs, and what a major is. They are also curious about what their teacher in college was like : “Miss, did you go to parties?”

Woop! Woop!
Originally uploaded by msradden

Today was one of THOSE days…no, no, honestly it was one of those GREAT days! Being an educator is quite a bipolar existence - there are ups and downs, highs and lows, all of which stretch and challenge you to grow or fold at any moment. So what makes a GREAT day? A cheer like this on the board…a scan across the room and realizing that every child is engaged in the project…an Asbergers’s student PSYCHED that you taught him how to email…planning a transatlantic project via chat with a vice principal from England…bouncing ideas off of your headmaster and getting a supportive vibe back…hooking another student into an after school media program…enjoying a 5 minute lunch (OK maybe that’s NOT so great at all)…managing a sophomore on Flickr for the school’s photo gallery…getting a comment on my blog from a 9th grader…discovering that I’m going to Germany AND Paris in April…arranging a meeting with Apple Education…calling a student out in his own words - “You’re forcin it!” - and getting a smile back…finally getting the janitor to sweep UNDER the tables instead of just AROUND them (but I gotta move them myself, man)…coming home bleary-eyed and weary after my research class in Cambridge.

Real Board

Originally uploaded by msradden

This is both impressive AND sad! Found in a teacher’s room.