“Life is a Journey, Not a Destination.”

“Life is a Journey, not a destination.”  I have been hearing these words since I was in middle school.  I don’t think I ever realized how amazing my journey was going to be. In my 8th grade year of middle school, when it came time to plan for high school, the teachers sat my parents and me down and told us that the technical track in high school would be best for me. They didn’t think that I would make it to college. Thank goodness my parents knew I was strong enough for the journey through high school. After successfully completing high school with a 3.1 GPA, I moved on to be triumphant at Brenau University and graduated with honors. It wasn’t an easy part of journey but I am a Rioux and we don’t look down to a challenge. Then I realized teaching was going to be the toughest part of my journey. Every day I am challenged by my students, like trying to find nanocrystaline titanium oxide anatase for a science fair project, but every minute with these students I realize just how amazing they are and how much I can impact their futures. While they might not remember me in 5 years, hopefully they will remember some of the projects we work on in class.  I have to keep challenging myself and my students on this journey….

I have applied for my very first grant for my classroom. YAY!!! I feel like I am finally going after all that “free” money I hear about for classrooms. I never thought I would have a project worth going after a grant. My EL project has really pulled me out of my shell as far as the way I think about teaching in my classroom. I want more than just myself in the classroom working with these students. I want to facilitate working with adult in the school and the business world that can help me bring the curriculum to life.  I am really hoping my business partner, General Electric, turns out to be a winning combination.  The people I have talked with there are so excited to get started. They have already invited us on a tour of the power plant! How cool it that!?!?!  I can’t believe what started as a “school project” might actually become a reality. Everything I have learned in grad school so far I am trying to start using in some way in my classroom. 

My students’ journeys through life will always contain technology. I know that I am loving being in the classroom more than ever is because I am learning right along with my students. This year we have worked on projects and had to figure things out together. Technology doesn’t always work exactly the way we want it to but every moment is learning and figuring something out. Problem solving right along with my students just brings smiles to everyone’s faces. I want to help create a plan to improve the technology education at my school, so that someday maybe every classroom can have moments like I have had this year.  So even though my plate is very full right now, I am going to represent science and technology on VASIP. Helping to create the school improvement plan is the best way I can ensure that the journey students have through RTMS will include technology. Without a plan and a shared vision of what is going on at the school, how can we as teachers be expected to use technology? After completing a survey from all the academic teachers at my school, I realized the teachers at my school are willing to learn about all the technology I am so excited about. They needed someone to be excited about sharing new technologies, someone they can relate and understands where they were coming from.  I am excited to be that person. I love that I get to share what I am learning through my grad school journey with the teachers that I work with.

If only my middle school teachers could see where I am now…

Staying Safe

Last week I took a quick poll in my classroom. I asked several questions about internet safety and they answered by a show of hands. I asked if they used their full name on the internet, none raised their hands. So I followed that up with do you put your address on the internet, none raised their hands. My last question was if they put photos on the internet, again…no one raised a hand. Surprised by the answers, I asked them “why you are lying to me?” They looked at me like I was crazy. A few started to make comments like, “Miss Rioux, why would we share that on the internet? That’s how bad stuff happened to kids.” It was clear to me they knew they weren’t supposed to share private information on the internet, which lead me to my last question….Do you not consider facebook the internet? The looks my students had on their faces were priceless.  Students began to realize how much information is truly on facebook and how easily piece of their life could be put together.  Most of them use their full names in profiles…it was interesting to find that some students did use their middle names instead of a last name. While none of them post a physical mailing a dress, most of them use the “check in” section for place they were at in real time. And all of them had many photos on their page. As we discussed how quickly all of those pieces could come together, I believe my student became much more aware of what they should and shouldn’t (and how often) post on the internet. I also explained to them how to set security setting in facebook because so many of them didn’t know how! However I did remind them that no matter the setting someone could always hack their page! Facebook is a great tool for communication that these students are going to use no matter what, it’s our job to teach them how to be safe about it!

I truly enjoyed the safety discussion we had in my classroom because it became an open forum to discuss ways to be safe, going beyond just telling them what not to do.  As we were starting our own social network, I wanted to make sure how important their safety was to me and their parents.

With our PeriodicNetwork, students are personifying an element. Every student has a different element. I am asking student to compile information for their “profile.” Trying to get students understand that you can’t just take something from the internet and paste it in to your profile wasn’t easy. Luckily pbworks has a button on every page check for plagiarism really helped them understand that cutting and pasting wouldn’t work. What this generation seems to be struggling with is motivation to do their own work, after all there is plenty out there now for them to just copy.