I'm going to FAIL this year!

The cliche goal setting post is upon me. You know the one, where we all become optimistic, SMART goal setting educators. Come June we look back and realize that we probably dropped the ball some time in October and then reset our goals around New Years' and dropped the ball again around February break and then said eh, there's always next year. Since I'm a whopping 7 days until school begins, let's take a look at my goals from last year as I remember them now and see how I did.

1. Flip my Civics course and have it ready (all lesson/all units) to go by day 1.

• Well, I flipped. Flipped out is more like it. There were times I felt I couldn't get it done, but I did. While I'm not sure you'd call what I do truly flipping (well, I suppose there is no "definition), I love how I'm teaching the course, I love the changes I'm making, and I love the feedback I get from the students.
• For this year I'd like to continue on this path, continue listening to the students, and add in more personal reflection (see #4 below). I think where I'm moving too is a place of problem and project based learning with writing infused into the course. I like it. 

2. Take 4 graduate courses (2 in the fall and 2 in the spring).

• Why do I always do this to myself? I took 2 in the fall. Stopped going to the second (I had already taken the course topic twice before) class after the midterm. Spring I only took one.
• This year I'm again attempting 4, but with a better plan. Since I'm doing my practicum in the fall, I'm only "teaching" 3 classes (instead of 6) and then Guidance 9 on Tuesdays and Thursdays so fall won't be trying, but there's always the spring!

3. Replan as I go my Honors World History course to include more discussion, more groups, more projects, and try a flipped lesson/unit in the spring.

• Ummm what was I thinking? With teaching 6 classes, taking 4 graduate courses, and already replanning a course, what made me think I could replan a second course? Seriously, optimism in the summer is more like delusion!

4. Continue blogging throughout the year.

• See #3 above! Although I wish I had kept blogging. I think it would have helped to flesh out ideas I had and implement new ones. But most of all just served as a sounding board for myself, even if I never actually posted it!

5. Stay engaged with like minded individuals online.

• Like #4 above, it would have helped with the "self-care" aspect I always forget about!

I'm sure there were more, but this is what I can think of and BOY DID I FAIL! My umbrella goal for this year is simple I want to FAIL. Yes I am setting out to intentionally FAIL. I know sounds negative and quite the opposite of what I should be doing, but hear me out!

Step 1 in FAIL is FOCUSING. 

• I need to focus on what is important. I need to take time and assess what needs to be done now, what can wait to be done, and what can just plain never be done!

Step 2 in FAIL is APPRECIATE 

• I need to learn to appreciate what I have. That means my support systems around me, my family, my colleagues, my friends, my students, and my PLN!

Step 3 in FAIL is INTERESTS

• I can no longer afford to say yes to everything that everyone asks me to do. I must learn to cull my interests to those that truly excite me and that I have a passion for. Rather than wanting to be helpful to everyone in every situation, I can be most useful to people when my skill set and interests match up.

Step 4 in FAIL is LAUGHTER

• Laughter is the best medicine of all. I want to laugh more, I want to laugher harder, and I want to laugh wholeheartedly this year. I want to enjoy life, after all you're only 29.1 once right!

So who else wants to FAIL with me this year?

All that for this?

I know flipping isn't about the videos, but lately that has been what is on my mind. Yesterday my goal was to get a few scripts done and then play around with a screen casting to get it all figured out.

Boy were there a lot of logistics! First off, I am definitely a penny pincher, even though I'm not buying any of the tech myself, and neither is my school (Thank you Stanton Foundation!) I still want to use my money wisely - so if I could find a way to use what is existing on my computer and put the $75 somewhere else, like iPod touches for the classroom, speaker fees, and professional development. Yes, I know $75 wouldn't cover ALL of that!

I facebooked with a college friend who is a tech guru (I thought I knew a lot, geez I am out of the loop) and he said well QuickTime will screen capture and record your face at the same time. AWESOME! Don't have to buy Camtasia! Then I sat down to do it with a Keynote presentation. When you're in fullscreen the record your face goes away, wha wha - back to buying Camtasia.

Then I found they have a free trial - WOOT WOOT! So this morning I sat down and downloaded it. Purposes of Government - Take 1: Had my script (just words) and went to town, that is until the lawn boys started cutting the lawn outside my condo!

Purposes of Government - Take 2: Started back up from the beginning because I didn't know how to work the editing capabilities. Got through a few of my Keynote slides until I realized I had no idea when I wanted to click or advance slides. So I annotated my script.

Purposes of Government - Take 3: LET'S GO! I recorded about 3 minutes so I could see what was going on. I had my script to the right of the computer and it totally showed. So I spent about 45 minutes coming up with a contraption of old yearbooks (5) and a shoebox to tape my script to.

Purposes of Government - Take 4: Again went for 3 minutes to check things out, now I look like I have some sort of eye disorder where I'm constantly rolling my eyes. I'm going to have students thinking "Great this teacher is a loon!". So I cut my script into half sheets held them in front of my screen so I couldn't see a darn thing on it!

Purposes of Government - Take 5: FINALLY, it all fell into place! After the editing (I had to respeak a few slides) I had a project I was willing to upload to YouTube.

6 takes and editing took about an hour and a half - hopefully it goes quicker next time!