Holy Calluses and Tech Tuesday with My Big Campus!

Holy Calluses

Yep!  That's right.  I'm talking calluses on my feet.  Disgusting!  My feet are officially getting back into running shape.  I say that with excitement and disdain at the same time.  I have said before that I'm working on my speed so I've chosen to do the "advanced" version for my half marathon training.  With this, the distances havent' been killing me, but I've been trying to ramp up my speed.  My legs have definitely been more tight and a bit more sore, but I forgot about those sweet calluses!  

I'm going to chalk up this week to some holy calluses.  Once they are there, it'll be no big deal (except to the nail lady who asks if she can shave them off and I have to regretfully say no), but for now my feet are not feeling 100%. 

I typically wear heals, but I think this week I'll have to shift to some of my flats for the comfort level.  I'm pretty short at 5'4", so I try to wear taller shoes since many of the 5th graders in my building are taller than me!  I'm just going to chalk this week up to making all of them feel tall, and treating my feet to some no-heeled luxury! My flats will be ready to get dressed up this week rather than my typical jeans/weekend look!

**I also thought you'd rather see a picture of shoes than my callused feet! :)

Tech Tuesday

My Big Campus: A Social Learning Network

My Big Campus is a great resource for students and teachers to share information with each other.  Teachers and administrators can restrict viewing and sharing for safety reasons, but students can create documents, comment, share, upload videos, look at links you've shared with them, etc.  MBC also has what they call "bundles" which are resources that teachers have already created that you can tap into as well.  

This week, I am supporting some of my EL students with their core instruction on social injustice, slavery, and the Underground Railroad.  Since I will be out one day during my time with them, I wanted to make sure they still had meaningful work to do.  As I started on MBC, I found a teacher who had already posted information on MBC that I could use!  

Here are 2 of the screen shots for what came up.  Remember...another teacher created all of this and I can use it too!  Woohoo!!  

Photos, videos, links, and documents can easily be added to these pages. What I like most is that it's all in one place.  Students can research, find great resources, talk with their peers via comment areas, and type and share their work for others to see all in ONE place!!  

Click here to view a short 2 1/2 minute YouTube video on the features of My Big Campus.  I'll keep you updated on how I use it with my small groups and with my staff during professional development!  

Gotta run...Smash will be on in about 15 minutes!