Tag Archives: graduation

Schools Out For the Summer!

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“Schools Out for Summer …  Out till fall, We might not go back at all”  - Schools Out by Alice Cooper

Wow, seems like just yesterday we started back and now the year is done.  This was a crazy and busy year and I am very glad to have it over; however, the end also brings students and faculty moving on to better endeavors.

Friday we celebrated our 87 seniors graduating – their last official act as students of Wagener-Salley HS.  May their futures bring them all they dream and desire.   A bright spot of graduation was seeing former students there to see their family and friends graduate.  Two former drama club members, one a founding member, were there to see their sister graduate.  I don’t know how I’m going to deal with no longer having a Parsons with me next year!

Friday also marked the end of our time with the faculty who will not be returning next year.  I will especially miss seeing Ms. Blizzard’s smiling face and our talks of God, art, family and sharing.  I will miss the ladies of Special Ed – it has been a joy to work with you guys and you will be hard to replace!  Kyle, I would have loved to have worked with you more to incorporate our shared interest in technology with your students’ learning.  I hope we continue to learn and share from each other.

The one teacher that is hardest for me to have to say goodbye is, of course, Carrie.  Carrie, are you sure you have to go?  I know, it is time to move on, but I’m loosing too many of my dear friends.  Who am I going to rely on for PowerTeacher backup?  Who’s gonna be my collaboration buddy now?

DON”T LEAVE ME!!!!

But seriously, I wish you and all of the folks heading out that you live your dreams and find happiness where ever you land.  Knowing you all, you’ll have no problems making new friends.  I also believe that those who will have your positions next year, while they can never replace you guys, they will find their place and we’ll build new friendships, too!

On the library side, my End of the Year Report can be found on the library webpage - scroll down the left side and you’ll find a section called Reports.  While the format is the same as last year, I’ve added some sections and lots of photos to make it more visually pleasing.  I’ve also created an iMove from the photos taken in the library and at library events.  Unfortunately, I cannot post it to the public web as I don’t have student permissions.  I will try to load it to my Dropbox account and if you want to view it, let me know and I’ll send you the shared link.

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Summer plans:

If you don’t have plans already, why not come join me at the Upstate Technology Conference June 22nd and 23rd?  I’ll be co-presenting with Cathy Nelson, LMS at Dorman HS and Fran Bullington, LMS at Boiling Springs HS.  Our session, There’s an App for That: Using Web Apps to Organize, Simplify, and Enrich Your Life is Wednesday, June 23rd from 1-2pm.

Well also be presenting the same session at the ETV Technology Workshops July 27th – 29th.  I’ll also be presenting a session titled Web 2.0 Speed Dating. I’d love to see some of you guys there!  (but don’t feel you have to come to my sessions, just come learn and share with us!)

I plan to keep myself very busy this summer – I was really bored last year since I didn’t go anywhere or do anything.  This year I will be at three conference (UTC, ETV, and the High School’s That Works National Conference in Kentucky).  I will be spending a week in Orlando, Florida.  I’m meeting with former teachers and my co-presenters this week.  I’m meeting another fellow librarian in Charleston one weekend.  Then there’s my Grandmother’s 80th Birthday and we’re planning a huge party and it just so happens to be on the SAME day as my 20th High School Reunion (ye-gads!  20 years – where did the time go?)

But most of all, I will be reading, reading, reading.  I have 80+ books still to read from the consideration list for the SC Young Adult Book Award Committee.  The goal is to have them all read before our August meeting, so keep you fingers crossed for me!

Have a Spectacular Summer!

Creative Commons Flickr Photo Credits:  “Summer” by Teo’s Photo  and “Summer Feet” by aussiegall

End of Year Reflections & Summer Plans

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Look How Far We\'ve ComeGraduation/teachers’ last day was Friday and I have to say this was a pretty strange year end for me.  Usually, I’m sad to see the kids go and all keyed up, but instead I was very calm and other than worrying over technical issues, I was just happy to have the whole thing over with. I guess it was because only one of “my” students was graduating, whereas, in the past I’ve had a handful or more graduating.  I did, however, enjoy the get together with some of our faculty at Hartley’s Pond to celebrate the closing of another successful year.   BTW, the image I’ve inserted was the one I wanted to use on the senior tribute video, but while it fit my personality, I didn’t think it would please everyone in the audience – not as dignified as the event should be I guess.  Instead, I used a photo of baby shoes.

This year was a busy one: ERT, HSTW, Five Year Renewal Plan, new administration, new policies and procedures, new faculty members, freshman academy, etc.  I think this year was a successful one – as with past years, it had it’s ups and downs, but overall, I think there were more positives than negatives.  We’ve got a handful of teacher turnover: 2 retireing, 2 moving on, 1 left in 3rd quarter due to her husbands job transfer, shuffling of positions, new teachers coming in, … things should be just as exciting and hectic next year.

But, I still have two more workdays left for me this year – both will be spent in meetings: Aiken County Media Educators on Monday and a TAV (Technical Assistance Visit) Workshop on Wednesday.  Then the summer vacation officially begins.  Hopefully, it will be a good one – time for me to recharge and prepare for next year.  Here is a short list of my plans for the summer:

√ Graduation Video – I have to work on the graduation video this week.  My deadline is June 16th and I don’t want to put it off – I want it to be a great souvenir.  This is only the 2nd year we’ve been selling them since I came to Wagener.  I don’t want anyone to be disappointed with it.  Completed!

√ Upstate Technology Conference, Greenville, SC (June 23-25) – Very much enjoyed my time there last year and looking forward to learning even more this time around.  I’m also looking forward to seeing some old and new friends.  Completed! Notes to follow soon!

2 Read or Not 2 Read Blog (not up and running YET) – I created a blog for my teens and the students from Midland Valley to correspond over the books they are reading for our book club(s) next year.  Unfortunately, I have to submit a proposal to the powers that be for approval before I can open it up.  Wish me luck.

√ Process new books – Our school received a Palmetto Silver Award that came with a monetary award that my principal graciously allowed me part of in order to place my one and only book order for the year.  I received the books ON GRADUATION DAY! *sigh* but at least I’ll have new books for the kids in August. Completed!

Reading!!! - I have a LOT of books to read over the summer.  My goal is to read most, if not all, of the SC Young Adult Book Award Nominees for this year.  I also need to re-read My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult as I’m going to use it as one of our book club selections next year.  There are a bunch of new YA titles I want to get to as well – see my LibraryThing widget/catalog.  I’ll be updating it with the books we just received.  I have a huge backlog of book review magazines (Voya, School Library Journal, Library Media Connection, etc.) that I have to go through and update my “wish list” in case we actually have money next year.  Of course, there are some adult titles/authors I want to finally get to this summer as well.

“Scrapbooking” – I put that in quotation marks as I’m not actually going to do any scrapbooking, but its the only term that comes to mind.  I’ve got 4 years of drama club photos and memorabilia that I need to organize and put in some kind of display.  The photos I want to turn into picture books to keep in the library.  The memorabilia I’m going to try to put in some kind of memory/shadow boxes or something.  Just not sure what since it consists of t-shirts, photos, awards/metals, programs, etc.

Moodle/PowerSchool – Our state is changing over its student records program/system.  I need to learn how to use it before the teachers get back.  I have to train them on how to use the PowerTeacher features (attendance, gradebook) and see what other perks it contains.  I was told it was “moodle-like” but from what I’ve “seen” I’m not so sure.  I have to figure it all out before our Moodle subscription runs out so decisions can be made.  I hope we keep Moodle, but if PowerSchool will do the same thing and is paid by the district, there is no point in paying extra for Moodle.  Anyone out there use PowerSchool who could answer some questions for me?

Ten Minute Tech – I want to offer short introductions to different technology at our faculty meetings next year.  I need to identify, learn to use (if I don’t already know!), and create handouts for the things I want to cover.  Basically, a mini 23 Things kind of overview where teachers can either explore the tools on their own or sign up with me for more indepth workshops.  There will be some software items in there, too, like: Windows Movie Maker, PhotoStory, Inspiration, Library Card Catalog, using/accessing the student drive, etc.

Okay, that’s a start on my “to do list” even though I have a LOT more to do over the summer.  I do plan to spend some time relaxing.  The pool is finally fixed and up and running – and as soon as it’s not green anymore I’ll be spending part of my days out there floating and reading.  Maybe I’ll actually get a tan this summer!

All good things come to an end…

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\Today was graduation day for our seniors. To me, it was a day early as we usually have graduation on Fridays. Because of it being a day earlier than normal, I almost didn’t get our senior tribute video completed. I kept thinking I had an extra day!

During graduation we show a “video” as a look back over the seniors’ high school experience. The first part consists of a baby picture followed by a senior photo for each of the graduates. The second part contains candid shots from around school and at school events. Each section is set to appropriate music. I was up reeeealllyyy late last night going through all of the photos I’d been collecting over the years. It was extremely difficult to narrow them down to a manageable level AND make sure I had one for all of the graduates (which I never do, but oh, well!) From experience I knew to be organized and had been pulling out senior photos all year long. I still spent most of the morning editing the photos and adding the music and effects.

Thankfully, I got all my tears out during the time it took to pull the video together and only teared up once during the ceremony. This is the second graduating class that I’ve taught since the kids were incoming freshman. Five of my actors as well as six of my crew were among the graduates, making if feel as if my own offspring were leaving me! I’ve worked, cried, screamed, laughed, and bonded with these kids for the last four years! I don’t want to see them leave, even though it is time for them to go off to bigger and better things.

Today also marks the end of the school year, even though we have one more day for closing up our rooms. Of course, I’ll not be finished for a few more days, still lots of library books to inventory now that textbooks are (mostly) taken done. I’m soooo looking forward to having a new assistant principal next year and turning over textbooks to him. SC is moving to a statewide textbook circulation system and, lucky us, Aiken County was one of the first ones to convert. Since our current asst. princ. is retiring this year, and he’s not too tech savvy, I agreed to be trained and assist him this year. I know, never volunteer, as they tell me I’ll never get rid of it! But Mr. Mac is the best and I’d do anything to help him out. The school is loosing one of it’s best assets, that’s all I’m saying.

Anyhoo, just needed an outlet to reflect on the closing of another school year. They never tell you in library (or teacher) school how hard it is to let go when you get attached to students, teachers, administrators, and staff. We’re loosing some great folks. I just have to keep in mind that we’re getting new folks, and new folks mean new excitement, enthusiasm, ideas, and more. So, adeu Class of 2008 and here’s looking forward to a new school year….after two months of summer vacation to recharge!