The 411
Hi!
I’m kind of far away from the other COMETeers – waaay up here in Santa Cruz. I hope that someday we can have a class get together so that I can meet all the amazing teachers in the program face-to-face.
I teach math in a Community Day school for high school students. Our goal is to get kids off the streets, out of gangs, teach parenting skills, and boost academic skills so that they can successfully transition to a more traditional high school setting.
I’m the mom of a rad 7 year old, and soon-to-be wife of a tattoo artist. We moved here from Florida about 4 years ago. Lately, we spend lots of time just chilling out in our beautiful little town. My graduation present to myself is going to be a camper shell for my truck. I get suggestions of cool stuff to check out from everyone I meet so if you have a favorite get away please share!
Final Project Idea
This summer we have been working on math vocabulary. The students teach me how to say the words in Spanish and I teach them how to restate the English definition in their own words. Maybe it would be fun to do on a Wiki. I’m teaching one section of a tech elective in addition to my math classes in the fall. Might be a good way to integrate content from both classes.
Hi Denise, looking forward to hearing about your project idea.
There are many cool places to visit, such as SAN DIEGO! I hear Legoland is just perfect for 7 year old boys. Come down and visit all of us. As for camping venues, have you ever been to Trinidad? It’s a really cool place that we happened upon one day in Humboldt County. We rented a tiny cabin and had a fabulous time. It’s near trees and not far from the ocean. Check it out!
http://www.humboldt1.com/~popenoe/scenes/Trinidad.htm
Lori
Nice job Denise!
Have a daughter who works in Yellowstone and her roommate manages the campgrounds. If you ever get up there during a summer, be sure to check out the Beartooth Highway, it’s on the spine of the Rocky Mountains, with beautiful campgrounds. But the highway is only open 2-4 months a year because of snow. You can snowboard in July if you have two vehicles or someone willing to drive your truck up and down while you have fun.
Wow, how inspiring to work with such disadvantaged youth!
Please let your future hubby know that it will be definitely worth your while to wait to get married until after your master’s program is done. You have so much more to handle than I do…your child being most important. It really is a great deal to balance.
Get the master’s done so you can just enjoy your wedding when the time comes. =)
Hope all is well up in Santa Cruz, I know it was hazy when I went a few weeks ago due to the fires. Nice job on the blog, the bird fits Santa Cruz (then again so did banana slugs, right). I taught a bilingual class last year and used VoiceThread.com to add voice to PowerPoints and posted it to the class blog. Students can listen to the academic English as they view visuals and they can pause, replay and review as many times as they want. This may hlp with your EL students, just a tip.
First of all, I think it’s rad that you used the word rad!
One of my hobbies is trail running, so I wish I could go up there to Santa Cruz, I hear the trails are awesome!
I think your idea of a wiki for math vocabulary is a winner. Good luck!
Hi Denise,
I love the theme you have for your site, it is one of the ones I was deciding between! My husband and I were in Santa Cruz earlier this summer, very cute town unfortunately it was during the fires so it was hazy and cold. What a great job you have, it is so interesting to me, although I do not think I could do it I admire what you do!
Hey Denise,
I like your idea for your final project. I think the VoiceThread would be so cool too. Have you checked it out
http://voicethread.com
I can’t wait to try it out, just as soon as I get out of school.
Misty