Internship--Entry 5

Just when I take one step forward, I end up taking two steps back. In my last post, I was so happy that I had a potential content provider and collaborative teacher matched up for a videoconference. Now, the content provider says they're booked through the end of the semester (at least until Dec. 15--past the end of this course). I'm back to the drawing board:( I did go to the SCRI Literacy coach in my school as a sounding board (we grew up up living next door to each other and love bouncing ideas off each other). She mentioned that one of the our single gender boys classes was getting ready to start reading the novel Maniac Magee. I LOVE that book, and it's about a boy who's a natural at baseball. His ability to play the sport helps unite a town racially divided. That reminded me of the videoconferences provided by the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Information about it had appeared in one of the articles I read while preparing my Annotated Bibliography. I talked with the teacher during his planning time today, and he was stoked. He's looking at all the possible sessions the Hall of Fame offers, and said he'll let me know which one he likes the best. We're hoping to use the session with his last block of the day--some of them struggle as readers, so this would be a real-world connection to the book! My video conference equipment has also arrived, and the principal has given me a classroom to store it in (I'm not calling it the distance education classroom).

In other news, my supervisor has set me on the district server so I can know upload some of the video tutorials I'm creating about email, echalk, and our online catalog. I've created close seven or eight and have them hosted right now. I don't have a direct link to them yet, though, so I won't post them yet.