Tag: Baltimore County Public Schools

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Remote Education

Wow. Yesterday was tiring.

Between doing my own work, and getting Landyn and Element to do their work…. whoa. Element was more interested in the magic she found from dangling her pen from a strand of hair, then creating a word math problem. We took a few breaks, made rice crispy treats! Their work is to complete online packets, sent by their teachers through Google classroom. They go to school in SYCSD in Pennsylvania. It’s interesting to see the different between the two school systems approaches. I had to stop and take some deep breaths a few times.

Overall, the professional development BCPS created for us was easy enough. There were a few things I had to figure out on my own that could’ve been described better, however it wasn’t that difficult just a little time consuming.

The county has created a streamlined remote learning template for all BCPS teachers to use on their class pages. We were asked to put all of our previous materials in a folder labeled “Previous Q1 Q2 Q3”, and then create a few new pages and folders to reflect the BCPS default layout. Once those folders and pages were created in one class, I was able to easily copy each of them to my 9 other courses. There’s a weird glitch in Schoology when I try to copy folders to all of my other courses at once, some of the courses don’t receive the folder so I have to go in and copy it again individually.

All of my classes have been set up to the default template, and I am awaiting our art teacher meeting on Wednesday so I can see what lessons we have available to upload. The Visual Arts office and a team of awesome art educators have created lessons for us to use, so if we do not have the ability to create our own we do not have to. What’s nice is that we have the ability to alter or create our own if we want to!

I just finished setting up and creating my first Google Meet so that I can meet with my students!! I am so excited to see them, I’m going to send out an email to all of them to see if they want to meet up to say hi!!

I have to say this morning was a lot smoother than yesterday.

At 1pm today we had our first virtual faculty meeting! We used Microsoft teams. It was a good meeting, learned a lot about the expectations we have as teachers…

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  • Upload 2 mini-lessons by 8am on Monday morning, with a due date set for that Friday by midnight. Each lesson should be about 20-25 mins in length,
  • Have a live virtual meetup for 30 mins with each class… I will only be teaching my students on Thursday and Friday mornings between 9-11:30.
  • Maintain 2 hrs per day of office hours for student and parent questions and concerns.
  • Provide students with feedback at least once a week.

This all feels a little better now that I know the expectations!

Happy day 2!

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Processing

Today went well…

I could tell students were really in shock and didn’t know what to do. They were quieter.

Today I spoke to them about what was happening, and shared where the online art resources were located for them to do over the next two weeks. These digital resource folders were uploaded to each class, and they are for practice only. If students want to use them over the 2 weeks they can, but they are not mandatory.

We discussed how things might be longer than 2 weeks, and we might have to go to online learning if that happens. They’re responses were, “That would not be good. I can’t focus at home. I won’t ever do any work! I need accountability. I’ll get distracted by Minecraft!” Its funny to me because when everything is normal they don’t want to be in school… but when presented with the opportunity to not being school, they realize they might not have the self control to keep learning up to their potential!

Well then shared with them again that the best thing for them to do right now is to take care of themselves mentally and physically. To take time to rest and breath, not allowing themselves to be overwhelmed with stress or fear.  Using art to help you express how you’re feeling and how your processing this new experience. I encouraged them to keep a journal about it all, and to spend some time creating art that represents this experience for them. 

Also I mentioned they should eat less processed sugar if they can help it, since it does not help their immune system. You should’ve heard how almost every class responded to my sugar comment! It was amazing how defensive they became. So many students said, “What?! Oh No! I dont think I could do that. I love sugar.”    If they only knew how much better they would feel if they had less sugar in their diet!

After school was over I realized I needed to take my plants home with me, because there would be no one there to water them for 2 weeks. So many things I had to consider and contemplate today. Even before going to the grocery store at 4pm.

When I parked at Shoprite, I knew what I was getting myself into.  There wasn’t too much missing when I arrived. The bananas were gone, and so was all the rubbing alcohol, peroxide, toilet paper, and bread. The rest of the store was pretty much stocked. It was so weird.

And then I went to stand in line… and I had to go pretty much halfway down the aisle to get to the end of the line. I waited in line for about 40 mins at least. Everyone was very friendly and polite. Helping each other find what they needed and waiting line while having small talk. It was nice to see people being kind.

Today went well, but was also very overwhelming.

The amount of information, what ifs and questions I had to process today put my mind on overload, and being around all of those people in the grocery store added a level of emotions that were tough to balance.

When I got home from the store all I wanted to do was sit by myself alone, and cry. Releasing all of that tension and energy back into a neutral space of love and balance.

Being alone to process what we experience and feel is a very important part of learning and growing… of knowing thy self.

The energy of this experience is quite new… so slow and steady is the only way to navigate.

Keep breathing, in and out.

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COVID-19 FRI-13

The fog was really heavy as I drove in to work today.

With the message from the governor last night, everything seems a little more surreal.

While driving into work, my mind bounced around between many different thoughts: what was today going to be like? Will there be a lot of students out? Can we even get anything done? Should we even worry about school work? How can I make today a less stressful day for myself and my students.

Coming into work, the halls are less crowded… the teachers are all in shock… so surreal.

What do we even do?  Just keep moving forward… steady.

I found out this morning that I will have to upload and share teaching resources with my students while we are on this 2 week break.  I am not sure what the looks like exactly… will I have to teach all day? Will I just have to grade work? Will I have to be available if they need me for something? Are students simply going to complete the work at their own pace?

So many questions, not much answers at the moment. It seems that things are slowly dripping down to us.

The students cleaned their lockers out this morning. Our morning art meeting was canceled due to an emergency leadership team meeting. The visual arts office of BCPS uploaded files to our resource page labeled COVID 19 remote learning, at home resources. I am not sure yet what I am supposed to do with them.

With class about to start… I am sitting here deciding… do I have the student continue to work on their projects as normal? Or do I do something “special” for these special times?

I think we will explore our emotions through a group project I did once, where students received cards with emotions on them and they had to work in groups to create a piece of art that represented that emotion.  Groups would guess one another’s emotions based off the artwork!

I’ll let you know later how it goes today!

<3

 

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For the First time…

All Maryland public schools will be closed from Monday March 16th until March 27th because of the coronavirus.

As of this moment, we will not have to teach for those two weeks. However they mentioned that we will have to use our spring break time to make it up.

This is the first time something like this has happened to me, as I am sure its a first for many. We are history in the making.

So to keep track of my experience with this virus, I thought I would write about it.

Students are aware of a lot of information about the virus. They have researched, watched and listened to information about it. A lot of students mention to me that they didn’t understand the hysteria around it. While there were a few who voiced their anxiety about it.  Most students were excited by the idea of getting out of school, and being apart of something so… historical.  They even shared information that in every decade in the 20th year, there was some type of pandemic! The black plague, spanish flu, and now the coronavirus.

Most of my friends online have expressed concern for the elderly and the sick, however they also do not understand the hype. Why are people purchasing all of the toilet paper? We went to the grocery store and the toilet paper was all gone, as were all of the cleaning supplies!  Those were the only two things missing on the shelves.

I also want to mention that the stock market is crashing, and people are promoting using digital platforms to help eliminate spread of the virus. There could be a correlation between the idea of money spreading the virus and the use of digital platforms as a financial solution.  Though cryptocurrency is also tanking… at this moment, it is down to $5k.

So as I prepare for my last day of school tomorrow before our 2 week closure, I want to remind you, change is inevitable… so just breathe.

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Hampton Art Experience

For the past 6 years the Historic Hampton Inc. non-profit has hosted an art show for any Maryland students and teachers to submit work inspired by Hampton National Historic Park.  It was always a wonderful show, however this year we decided to work with BCPS Visual Arts office to create our first Hampton Art Experience at the historic site.  I took my 8th grade GT students!

Teachers in Baltimore County signed up to bring 20 of their students to the Hampton mansion for a full day art experience.  Students rotated between 2 of the 3 art stations which included:

  • Gardens & Light where students learned about the history of horticulture at Hampton Mansion, and about the properties of light as they created cyanotypes using natural objects located on site.
  • Understanding Architecture where students learned about the history of the architecture and engineering at Hampton Mansion, and were able to work on creating their own mansion, or recreating the Hampton Mansion in a drawing like an architect.
  • Fibers on the Farm where students learned about life on the Farm at Hampton Mansion and used fibers to create artworks that were inspired by Hampton.

My students attended the Understanding Architecture station, lead by architect Anne Boyce and Gretchen Maneval.

and Gardens & Light station, lead by Carroll Cook.

On Saturday, the student work was on display in the orangery for a reception.  Families were able to come and see their students work, as well as take a tour of the Mansion!

This was by far the best art experience and we are looking forward to hosting our second experience next year.

<3

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BCPS Green Summit

The 2019 BCPS Green Summit was a wonderful learning experience! The Office of Science always puts together informative sessions.

I learned about what Lutherville Lab, one of our schools feeder elementary schools, has done with their green club and how they were able to turn an area of their school into an outdoor classroom environment! A fellow BCPS art teacher taught us how to make bug hotels from paper straws and recycled plastic bottles. I also received pet poop bags to hand out to our local community members who bring their dogs to play in the fields behind out school, reminding them to SCOOP THE POOP every stinkin’ time!

I am so grateful to be apart of such an amazing county that offers so many opportunities to continue to learn.

Migwetch

Raine Dawn

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Cromwell Valley Park

Yesterday and today I had the pleasure of attending another Baltimore County public schools Art teacher workshop, Plein Air Painting at Cromwell Valley park.

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This park is BEAUTIFUL! A hidden gem for sure. There are beautiful old structures, meadows, many different trees, and a beautiful creek! We found beautiful rocks, river glass, and a mulberry tree!

It was supposed to rain both days, but it held out for us to get two beautiful days to paint plein air.

En plein air (French pronunciation: ​[ɑ̃ plɛn ɛːʁ], French for outdoors, or plein air painting) is the act of painting outdoors.

My friend Eli and I chose a beautiful spot at the creek that faced lovely rocks!

Normally I paint with acrylics and with an more abstract flair, but these past two days I decided to paint with watercolors. I used Jack Richeson Watercolor palette and I love to results. 

One problem I found in the beginning was that I needed to retrain my brain to see the landscape lightest to darkest. I didn’t leave any of the white from the paper in my first painting. So that is something that I really worked on during the second day.

For my second painting I started out very light.  It took more time, but I felt less frustrated with trying to get the right values where the light was reflecting.

Overall this workshop has given me an opportunity to hone my skills with using watercolor.

Thanks for another awesome professional development, BCPS!

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Clean Green 15 Challenge

As green school coordinator, I took up the Clean Green 15 Challenge to pick up trash for atleast 15 minutes as many times as possible. After picking up the trash, I would go to the website and enter the data. This data was accumulated throughout the year from students and teachers in the school, as well as community members and organizations, coming together to keep their local watershed clean.

Our green club picked up trash around our school yard, almost every Wednesday, for atleast 15 minutes.

I also spread the word via social media and local businesses. If anyone was going to be cleaning up they should input the data for their local school.

Today was the award ceremony for Baltimore County’s Clean Green 15 Challenge, at Chesapeake Terrace Elementary School.

The kindergarteners sang a song called “Going Green”, which was super cute.

After all the data was calculated, 17 schools were awarded for their efforts. Schools that won honorable mention received Samsung galaxy tablets. The other schools won prizes in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for elementary, middle and high school.

I am excited to share that Ridgely won 2nd place in middle school category! We won a $1,500 grant from the Education Foundation of Baltimore County, that we can use for some awesome green school projects!

It was a very nice ceremony! Thank you Debbie Phelps, County Executive Johnny Olszewski and Baltimore County Public Schoool system doe developing such impactful partnerships!

Check out the news story below!

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Family Haikus

A few of my students participated in the Team BCPS Haiku Contest! We sent in a few haikus that were also illustrated! There were a total of  over 2,000 entries!

A haiku is a Japanese poem that consists of three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, and the third line has five syllables.

Family matters The people you love the most Ones who love you back
Family is great My brother is annoying But I still love him
Families support Families are always there I love family
Caring, loving, chill Family is always here Through all the tough times
Joyful, caring embraces Smiling faces Love fills the spaces
I love my family my sister is annoying I love my parents
They make life brighter They are my ray of sunshine They make me happy
Loving, caring, fun Together we grow Family is forever
Love your family Interact with family Befriend family
Refrigerator Full of yummy food to eat Refrigerator

“We are thrilled that our students and teachers have embraced this contest because it celebrates literacy, creativity, and the power of student voice,” said Baltimore County Public Schools Interim Superintendent Verletta White. “This year’s entries are especially moving because the theme is family, and our students’ families are integral members of Team BCPS.”

1,494 entries were received from elementary school students, 383 from middle school students, 343 from high school students

-BCPS News

Students have the opportunity to win four tickets from the Baltimore Orioles to the game on Tuesday, June 25; a gift certificate from The Ivy Bookshop to participate in a writing workshop; and a gift card from Ukazoo Books.

A winning haiku will be chosen at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Winners will be announced by press release on Wednesday, April 17, which is International Haiku Poetry Day.

Additional haikus will be selected for a book, which will also feature student artwork.  Students featured in the book will be announced by press release in May 2019.

 

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Ridgely Gardeners

Yesterday we had a master gardener come to green club! She presented on pollinators, and pollinator gardens. We learned a lot of information about the different types of pollinators there are… did you know the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly was the Maryland insect?

We have a pollinator butterfly garden which was created about 5 years ago. Over the past few years, the garden had been neglected due to a transfer of responsibility. Taking on this new role as green school coordinator, the transfer of information from the last coordinator was not easy. After experiencing this, I have decided its best to keep very well organized records. I plan to remain the green school coordinator for a while… but if I were to move on from the position, I want to be able to give the next teacher all they need to be successful in the endeavour of keeping the green school climate going. If my goal is to assist in a climate and culture shift in perspective in terms of reducing the amount of pollution and waste…then it only makes sense I keep in my the future of what I am creating and not only thinking of the future of the earth. Micro/Macro. I’ll talk more about this in an upcoming blog.

Back to the garden…

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Here is the before:

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and after:

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Big thank you the PTA who sent out a signup genus to find some parent volunteers. There were 3 parent volunteers who were a HUGE help.

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Our garden turned out completely transformed, and we now can start to think about planting some more pollinators, and adding some type of art installation! It was such a wonderful time, being in nature and helping the pollinators!

<3

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