I'm actually quite sad and emotional as I sit to write this last post. My time with C-SPAN has been more extraordinary than anything I ever could have imagined. The people I met and the experiences I gained were worth every second spent away from my home. The opportunity to work in a corporate environment where people truly care about each other, their job, and their mission has changed me as a person. Everyone in this organization that I have come across is so dedicated, so kind, and so excited about what they do that one can't help but catch that same spirit. There are not even words to describe the efforts of the Education dept and Brian Lamb's vision for C-SPAN's role in education. The resources and access and support that they provide to teachers - for free - are unparalleled.
Joanne, Craig, Josh, and Pam have provided the best working environment I could have asked for. Amanda, our intern, continued to amaze me with her maturity and preparedness. My fellow fellows (is that a thing? How would you phrase that?) provided inspiration to me in different ways, as each is a unique individual bringing different talents and perspectives to the table. Dan Tulli, an AP Government teacher from Richmond, VA, has a knowledge of his content that I have never seen. He created a phenomenal project using the Supreme Court timeline and I am so excited to get back home and use it with my own students, and proud to have worked on a small part of it with him. Mary Sue Maurer, who teaches Government and Economics at a private special education college-prep school in Calabasas, CA has an enthusiasm and passion for education and for life that I hope to bring back to Iowa.
Brian Lamb, with whom we had the privilege of eating lunch at the Washington Court Hotel yesterday, has created something truly amazing here at C-SPAN. His vision has changed America - they may just not all know it yet. The public access that C-SPAN 1, 2, and 3 provide us with is astounding. It's not often you have truly unbiased presentation in media, and I truly appreciate all that he and C-SPAN offer.
So there's my sappy part. Wait - had to turn in my badge today, so I took a picture so I could share it with all of you (bad photo and all):
Okay. Now THAT was the end of my sappy monologue.
Yesterday we got to have lunch with Brian Lamb, as I mentioned, and I have to say that he has some of the most amazing stories that I have ever heard. Today Joanne took us to lunch as an education department for a final farewell. Our work is wrapped up, our time has ended. Dan is leaving tonight, I leave tomorrow afternoon, and Mary Sue isn't sure what she's doing yet. :)
This will be my last true post, but if I come across anything that I have done for C-SPAN that gets put online, I will be sure to share it here.
Yesterday and today were crazy days, trying to get everything done before we go home. Yesterday I worked on my PBL lessons all day, as well as writing questions for 7-8 of Dan's Supreme Court videos. The Supreme Court timeline is going to be such a great tool for everyone's classroom. The Library of Congress documentary aired last night, and I think Mary Sue finished the study guide to go along with it. I came up with some fun alternative activities that I think are going to be added.
An act of God allowed a shoe that I *really* wanted to fit me in the only size available - 8! I haven't worn an 8 since... I'm not even sure. So it was quite an exciting day solely because I got these shoes (on sale):
Pam posted a few pictures from the conference from her camera, so I have a few of me doing my presentation and working with the educators.
Today was a big day, too. I came in early so that I could record my tutorial for the video library and Google maps for the C-SPAN classroom website. That was really fun, and the guy who set it up, Devo, was super nice. I also had a SUPER publicly embarrassing moment. This morning I fell asleep on the train. That wasn't a problem. What was a problem was that I woke up and there was only one guy left in my entire car - everyone had left. I got up quickly, dropped my phone, hit my head, and proceeded to stumble - twice - in the aisle. It was so crazy. I don't know if my foot fell asleep, or what happened, but the man definitely just sat and stared at me like "Why is this girl drunk at 8am?"
As far as my work today, I took Brian Lamb up on a challenge to teach an entire class using his Booknotes programming as the basis of the curriculum. I had to adapt it, but I was able to find clips for every week but 4 for both my American History classes. I think the interviews will give the kids some different perspectives, which could spark some interesting discussion, and often times I picked clips that showed popular culture or some other aspect that we might not otherwise get into. So I spent a chunk of yesterday and a good part of today sifting through all 811 episodes of Booknotes and applying them to my curriculum. I may not get it every week, but it's nice to have either way for enrichment purposes.
This morning we went to the Newseum. It was fantastic. Quite possibly my favorite museum in DC, but definitely top 3. The exhibits were fascinating. I found this wall display of free press rights throughout the world. Green = free press, Yellow = Partially free, and Red = Not free at all:
The next two pictures I cannot wait to use. The Newseum has 8 real pieces of the Berlin wall. I believe they said it is the largest display outside of Germany. I cannot think of a better way to illustrate the differences between East and West Berlin/Germany than these images:
I also had the opportunity to "sit in" on a Google Doc with the amazing IACoPi educators who met in Des Moines this week to IGNITE and start moving ahead with the project. I have to thank Monte and Erin for all the notes and tweets!
I was supposed to go to the Library of Congress tonight after work, but I got kind of head sick on the walk to/from the Newseum, so I had to miss that. I am feeling better, though, so hopefully tomorrow will be better. It rained tonight, so I'm hoping it cools down a little.
The rest of the week is just as busy, so stay tuned!
Kwout allows you to copy and paste web images in a way that keeps hyperlinks enabled within the picture. Above you can click on any of the "Latest News in Education" links just as if you were on the C-SPAN Classroom website.
It's been quite a while since I've posted. Last week was so crazy with the Educator Conference that I really didn't get a chance to post. Yesterday I woke up at 9:30 and was back in bed by 8:30. But I'll start at the beginning. Or where I left off anyway.
Last Saturday we went to Wolf Trap to see 3 Broadway Divas and the National Symphony Orchestra. First we went to a Japanese steak house with food that was sooooooooo amazing. Sat in the front row, center section. It was phenomenal. After (and before) we got to hang out in the Encore Circle - that's how uncle Mark rolls ;)
On Sunday I took the Metro into the city and met Mary Sue. We went to the Holocaust Museum and the Natural History museum. The Hope Diamond was at the NHM so I waited in a line 10 people deep on all sides of the case to get a couple pictures of that and the other amazing jewels in the exhibit.
Monday I worked on getting ready for the conference, ditto for Tuesday. Monday we were also informed that the Liaison Hotel had made a mistake and they could no longer house our conference. It could have been total chaos, but everyone worked together so well. Wednesday I went to dinner with the fabulous Jen Lawless, who was in town for the conference.
Thursday was crazy. The people who came to the conference were fantastic. Even after having been immersed in C-SPAN for 3 weeks already, I still learned so much from all the presentations that were given.
Thursday afternoon I picked up the most fantastic dress from Ann Taylor.
Then we went to this fabulous dinner at Art & Soul. It was great to get a chance to sit and talk with the other teachers. I got to sit with Karen Rehder (sp?) who is a StudentCam genius. :) Afterwards Jen and I walked to the White House before heading in to watch Dance Moms and go to bed!
Friday we gave our presentations. It was fun, Dan and Mary Sue's presentations were excellent, and even though I knew what they were working on I still learned a lot. The work sessions and small group work time were great.
Hearing the others' ideas was inspiring. After most of the educators left I had the opportunity to sit with Council Bluffs social studies teacher Ryan Loots and discuss Iowa education in particular. It was great to get another perspective on the direction education is heading in our state. I gave him info for the ICSS and demo'd Google Maps.
Now I know you are all dying to find out who my big celebrity is for the day, but you have to read about the rest of my day first. Today was not overly productive in terms of actual work. I did come in early to get my time line done, which you should be able to see in a previous post. I got through the entire history section of the library, so that was great. It felt good to get through that. It was really interesting to look at the frequency of videos on certain events, where the gaps fell, and will be soooo helpful to have the clips organized in chronological order.
The reason today wasn't super productive was because it was tour day. At 9:25 we met the interns in the lobby and went to the Supreme Court. It was a great tour; short and sweet. It was really interesting, and we got to actually sit in the court room while she did her presentation. We then watched a short 24-minute video produced by none other than C-SPAN! The spiral staircase was amazing, the marble is amazing, the whole building is fantastic. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the court room, but here is the one I took from the hallway:
Public shame for the day: Sharing this photo ;)
After the Supreme Court we went back and worked for about an hour before going out again. Instead of doing lunch, we fellows decided to grab a hot dog from a cart out front and eat on the train on the way to the American History Museum! It was great - we only had about 30 minutes, but I was able to see the First Lady exhibit (and Michelle Obama's Jimmy Choos) and the immigrant exhibit before hitting the gift shop and getting a couple of great items there.
From the museum we ran straight back to C-SPAN where we met the fabulous Rick Stoddard, who gave us an amazing tour of the Capitol.
Since I couldn't take a picture in the current Supreme Court room I took one in the old Supreme Court room.
It was at the Capitol where I had my big celebrity (ish) moment. Ready? Really ready? Okay. We're standing in the old House chambers and all of the sudden all these cops come out and split the crowd. We're thinking okay, cool, House leadership. Then a hush falls over the crowd. Out of the hallway comes none other than (I know it's a little blurry)........................................
Yes folks, it was the Dalai Lama. How cool is that? Pretty much the coolest thing ever. I know. Here's his entourage:
So then we got back to C-SPAN and I stayed late with Pam stuffing name tags for the Educator Conference next week. Afterwards Pam, Mary Sue, and I went down to a restaurant on the ground floor of the building for drinks and dinner. I was able to catch a late train home, and here I am. Sharing my awesome story with you. I can't believe today is the half-way point of my trip away from home. Tomorrow is the half-way point at C-SPAN. It is all going by way too quickly. I wish I could stay and work another month! I honestly can't tell you what an amazing environment C-SPAN is to work in. Everyone is so amazing at what they do, and so passionate. It is amazing, I can't wait to see what the next couple of weeks bring!
No, it's not me this time, although I may attempt to embrace the Kate look when I get home... But let me start where I left off.
Yesterday was fairly uneventful. Everyone sounded like they had a great holiday weekend, but I, for one, was ready to get back to work. So after updating my Google Map with the info for Thad McCotter, I embarked upon a new project. I was sorting through some of the C-SPAN history videos and getting a little frustrated. They are in no sort of order whatsoever, as far as I could tell. So, drumroll please....
I am working on compiling all history related C-SPAN videos into a time line with hyperlinks and descriptions. A couple of downfalls, and I am open to suggestions here - 1) it's kind of boring to look at, and 2) I don't think I can actually embed the clips. I was looking at using dipity.com instead, since you can embed videos, but they have to be YouTube videos, and not all of the videos I wanted to include were YouTube videos (although there are many available at www.youtube.com/cspan). There is an option to add photos, so I'm thinking of doing screen shots of each of the videos, but we'll see how much time I have. I can't believe that tomorrow is the halfway point of my trip! I've been gone for 2 weeks already!
Between sitting at a computer during the day and Kay's amazing cooking I have gained about 10lb since I've been gone. So yesterday Mary Sue and I decided to go for a walk over lunch. We went around the Capitol to start with:
and then on to the National Botanical Gardens. If you have never been here, I would say it is a must see. It was absolutely beautiful, and it was completely free. We did it in about 25 minutes over lunch. You could definitely spend longer, but I felt like we saw a lot of what they had to offer. There were a lot of great plants and flowers, but my favorites were by far the orchids (Dear husband: HINT!!)
So today we started off the morning early, meeting at 8:20 for an appointment at the Library of Congress. I had never been before and let me say, it was fantastic. It was much prettier than I thought it would be for some reason, even after watching a C-SPAN special.
We got to see the Bibles, the reading room, a room that people aren't allowed in with millions of dollars worth of musical instruments, etc. Then after the interns left the other fellows and I did a quick loop through the Bob Hope exhibit and the Civil War exhibit (history teachers, I know). I was kind of glad we stayed for those because it ended up pouring while we were in there and it would have been really sad to end up walking back in the rain.
When we returned to C-SPAN I kept working on my time line and then Mary Sue and I decided that today over lunch we would go to the Postal Museum. Now, it's run by the Smithsonian, so you have to give it some level of credit there, but I have to tell you, if she hadn't wanted to go there I never would have gone in a million years. A museum about the post office? Really? HOWEVER, once we got in it was really very neat. I enjoyed it and I am so glad that I didn't miss out on it. They had a really cool display set up about the history of the post office, pony express, crime via mail (think bombs and anthrax), etc. It was really interesting.
After our tour we went back to work for a meeting to take a look at the SmartBoard (which I have never used) and talk about our presentations for the educator conference next week. Mary Sue and I realized today that we really only have four good work days left before the conference and that made me a little nervous. I hope the people like what I've put together. I'm sharing my map project with webquest and also sharing the current events map that my kids did last winter for my application. I like it, but the whole thing has sort of become my baby, so I'm just going to cross my fingers.
The other two fellows, Dan and Mary Sue, have some great projects going on. Mary Sue is working with blogging and the C-SPAN video library, and Dan is working on creating a library of clips about significant Supreme Court cases. I'm really excited about both of their projects. I can't wait to use them in my classes at home.
After our meeting I stayed and met with Pam to brainstorm ideas for how she could use Poll Everywhere as an introduction to her presentation on Congressional Chronicle. I think we came up with a pretty good idea, so I'll be interested to see how that goes.
So now. The moment you've all been waiting for. My celebrity sighting. I am 85% sure that I sat behind Dale Talde (Top Chef) on the train today. Do NOT ask me why he was in DC when his restaurant is in New York, but I swear it looked JUST LIKE HIM. You need proof? Well that's okay, I did a little cell phone stalking. You be the judge:
Dale Talde:
Guy on the train:
Yes, I was that sure that it was him that I had to take a picture to compare. Now I know you can't really judge since it's a profile (I obviously couldn't take a picture with him looking right at me, so trust me on this one).
Okay, and finally:
I am still trying to come up with that one great project for this fellowship. Nothing is really jumping out at me as amazing work. What would you like to see as part of C-SPAN classroom? And if you haven't checked it out yet I will conveniently provide the link here: www.c-spanclassroom.org so you can look.
I'm starting to get pretty frustrated, usually my ideas just come to me, like a lightbulb, and it's not happening this time. Any input would be greatly appreciated (if you made it this far). :)
Friday was the end of a very long, tiring, amazing, productive, life-changing week! I will not be the same educator or person after this experience, I can already tell.
Saturday was pretty uneventful. I slept in, we went to PetCo and the grocery store, watched Black Death, and hung out.
Sunday morning Mark and I went for a run (3.35mi, 38min) and it was great, but soooo humid. I am so out of shape, I haven't been out for a good run in months. Later that afternoon I went out on my own for a while and ran to Wal-Mart and Target. We had tickets for Mamma Mia at Wolf Trap. Wolf Trap is a Performing Arts National Park that used to be private property! First we went to Ovations, which is an outdoor restaurant on the grounds. It was excellent, and the view, as you can see below, was spectacular. The best part of the dinner was that a thunderstorm came rolling in any faster than anyone could have anticipated and all the men (waiters and guests) in the establishment scrambled to close up the tent as it began to completely downpour. It was fantastic. The food was really good and we had a nice time.
After dinner we went to the Encore Circle where they had more food and drinks available to the members (Yep, members only!). Of course we weren't hungry, but it was fun to sit and feel important! ;) The show was at 8:00pm so a little bit before we went down to find out seats. Mark had said he had only been able to get last minute tickets, so while we would be able to see, they weren't great seats. Here's a picture of the Filene Center (the blue area is the stage):
However, he was just kidding, and "not great seats" turned into second row, center! The show was amazing, I could not have asked for anything better. I had never seen it, never seen the movie, was only vaguely aware of even the basic premise, etc. So it was amazing. Afterwards I picked up a present for each of the kids (stuffed "Wolfy" animals) and we went back to the Encore Circle with a Canadian officer and his wife.
We got back home and I sat up until 3am watching The Bachelorette (which I had never really seen before). Super.
No big plans for today (4th) despite being in the DC area. Mark has his own fireworks that I'm really looking forward to and we are going to go to a nursery (plants, not kids) and to Dairy Queen pretty soon. I really need to start getting more school work done after this long weekend. I've taken my break, and now it's time to really focus on not only my C-SPAN work, but my school work. I haven't even started planning my 2 new electives for this year! If anyone has any materials for Ancient World History or a Geography class that is more than just countries and cultures (I really want to look into global issues, instead) let me know!
So yesterday I woke up early and took the early train so that I could be at C-SPAN in time to watch Senator Grassley on the Washington Journal. I TV-stalked him, as soon as they wrapped up on the TV I ran down the hallway so I could say hello. It was great to see him, we talked about home and his visit to NEH and my fellowship. *Celebrity sighting #1* I spent more time yesterday working on my map. For those of you keeping track, I DID have a publicly embarrassing moment, but that is all I am going to say. And I got called on it, for those of you playing the game at home. If you really need to know, contact me privately. I don't need to share EVERY humilation with the world. :)
You will be disappointed to find, though, that today I made it through an entire day without anything embarrassing happening to me! I took the early train again. I decided that since dinner is waiting for me when I get home it really isn't possible for me to stay late most nights, so I go in early to get extra work done instead.
Today we got to meet Craig, who is fantastic. I actually saw a picture of a fish he caught that was literally larger than I am. It was crazy. We presented our presentation ideas to him for some feedback, which was wonderful. I got to show him my map and we talked about what we could do with it. I also got to show it to Jeremy after I tweeted it out this afternoon. It's fun to share a project that you've worked so hard on!
After our morning meeting I wanted to work on some projects outside of my Google map. Today I created a sort of template Mind Map for Supreme Court cases. I shared part of the first one, but that program wasn't doing what I wanted to, so I began a different one with Cacoo. The second one turned out better, but I'm not sure if I'm happy with it yet. It is definitely a tool I would use with my 6th grade civics class over my 12th grade government class - however it is structured in a way that it might be really helpful for some of my special needs kids or kids who need help with focus and organization.
After I finished that I began creating a webquest. I tweeted that out earlier, and if you get a chance to look at it I'd really appreciate some feedback. The idea is the students will explore my Google map, answer some fact based questions about the map to show familiarity, then research candidates and issues to create a poster for the candidate of their choice and the summative piece is a writing assignment. I'm really unhappy with the summative piece, but the formative and feedback pieces are coming together. So we'll see.
I'm also working on a few other ideas with Campaign 2012 and mapping, but I'm not ready to share those yet. The PBL part of my work is temporarily on hold. I'm finding it a little hard to focus on the process because there is so much going on. I'm hoping I can convince some of my amazing IACoPi colleagues to work with me on it!
I wish I could keep this job forever. I am so excited to come in each day and talk to people and share ideas and create and develop materials. I can't believe the first week is over already. I wish I could have this job AND have my family, because then it would truly be perfect. Although I'm definitely ready to get back in the classroom and start using some of these amazing ideas. Earlier my sister said it sounds like I want to have my cake and eat it, too. I told her I want to have my cake, eat it, and have some pie...
I got an email about doing some more CoPi work, which is fantastic, because that's another project that I am insanely passionate about. What we are doing within that group of educators in Iowa is truly amazing. I hope more people will be given the chance to learn about this project. It has shown me how many truly amazing, passionate, innovative educators there are in Iowa. It has also inspired me to step up my game! For each idea I come up twelve other people have come up with something better - putting those minds together is going to mean big things for our state!
When I got home tonight Kayo had made a Hawaiian shrimp and rice dish because Mark was gone and he doesn't eat shrimp so she made me a special dinner. It was fantastic. I had a headache most of the evening, so I've been kind of lazy, but I'm feeling better now. I was talking to Mark about work and mid-way through the conversation he said "I am going to tell you something to horrify you. I was the exact same way at your age."
We then got into a discussion about his Myers-Briggs test results during which he proceeded to print out a description of his results (INTJ). Apparently the people who wrote the article have met me and felt like describing me nearly perfectly. So of course, I went online, found a free test, and yep, there it was. INTJ with highest results (67s) on I and J. So that was how my evening ended. Tomorrow will be a day to relax, and then Sunday we are doing dinner and Mama Mia at Wolftrap. Monday will obviously be the fireworks thing, and then we're off to a short week 2 of my C-SPAN journey!
WAIT!!!!!!!! My second celebrity sighting! Well ladies and gentlemen, that sighting was me. The lady at the shop that I went into over lunch decided I look just like..... drum roll........................ Kate Middleton. I'm not sure on that one, but she insisted that I look just like her and that for fun she was going to tell people that she met Kate Middleton today. I laughed, but I suppose if people are going to compare you to a celebrity she's one of the better ones!
