So school is officially over!!  Man it has been an incredible year.  There have been so many positive things that happened this year for me and my class.  I can’t even begin to start thinking about them now!  But man did this last week really test me.  Due to many unforeseen circustances I had to be extremely flexible this last week and take on way more responsibilities and jobs then i’m used to!  Let’s just say I slept really well at the end of this week!

I’m also excited to announce that next year I’ll be a teacher for the Classroom Champions program that partners classes with Olympic Athletes.  I can’t wait to see what’s going to come of that!!

So here goes…

Monday

Monday was a blast.  Jean Marki (@jmmarki) had the brilliant idea of ending the year with a “Passion Day”. The week before the students signed up to present (for 20 minutes at a time) about things they were passionate about.  It was so cool to see them share their passions with their classmates.  Some of the sessions I sat through were about box turtles, Star Wars, building card towers, drawing, ballet, hunting, and playing the piano.  And that doesn’t even begin to describe the plethora of choices students had.  They really did such a great job.

Tuesday

Then on Tuesday we had Teacher Passion Day.  Our sessions were about 45 mintues in length and as teachers we just did things we enjoyed and the kids could choose who they wanted to go to.  Each teacher led two different kinds of sessions to offer more choices for students and we got some of the Title teachers involved as well.  The kids had the choices of Art, Coding, Crochet, Kick Ball, Duck Dynasty, Stepping Stones creation, and more!  The kids really had a blast having choice of where they wanted to go and just have fun with their teachers.

Wednesday

Wednesday was our last day of school.  We started the morning off with our annual Auction.  All year long the kids can earn “cash” for doing different things and at the end of the year they can use that “cash” to buy donated items.  It’s a blast to see how much money kids will spend on the craziest things.  For example we had a package of lip balms that went for $800 while this awesome bean bag type chair went for $2,100 (the highest costing item).

After the auction we just spent time eating and talking with our students.  To say I’m going to miss these students is a huge understatement.  Every great thing that has happened to me this year has been because of the hard work of my students.

Finally in closing I thought I’d share a video I made.  I worked with 9 students to record an interview of their year in the Flipped PBL Classroom.  After getting all the right permission forms back, and finally finishing editing it, I’m happy to share that video with you guys here!

http://youtu.be/_s6q4rb9FTU

My blog during the summer will probably change more into a reflection blog as I present at many different school districts and attend lots of conferences as part of The 3 Tech Ninjas (www.the3techninjas.org).

Thank you for following this blog all these months!  I look forward to lots of great things ahead especially as I enter Year 2 of a Flipped PBL Classroom and try some more crazy ideas!