One of my best days yet!

Today was a special day for me. I've been ill with the flu and had to find a substitute for my classes.  How excited it was to turn to my own daughter, Shelly, who has a Master's Degree in English, to take over my classes!

So, she did what she does best - she taught them a bit about Shakespeare. Next, she had them act out a portion of Star Wars in Shakespearean English. Finally, she had them write Get Well notes for me using what they learned. How much fun I had reading these notes! Here's two samples (some of them were pages long!):

"Hello thither, Mrs. Downes, I hearth thou hath fallen ill. Thou not weepeth, Maddam, for we be not shrewd in your absence. Thy daughter hath best us to learn greatly. Hark, we hath, and fain too. Cowish we hath obeyed thy spawn beautifully. I hopeth thou lurch over your illness and thou returneth soon. Alex"

"Harken unto me thither instructor. Word through the grapevine is that thou hast been bent by a cowish disease. Fie! To this abomination! Castest it out and returneth post haste. Joshiah"

Shelly had to give me a Shakespeare dictionary so I could interpret the letters! I sure am proud today of both my daughter for taking on all six of my classes and doing such a good job, and also of my students for being the best students in the state of Oklahoma! 

More Adventures in Tutoring

TUTORING! 

I've been so busy tutoring that I haven't kept up with my blogs and websites. This past month, I've learned more about Biology than I ever did in school. I'm using Apologia's high school biology with a class of 9-12th graders. There are 12 students in the class - all fabulous kids, by the way! We've examined fungus, grown micro-organisms in pond water, and learned a bit of chemistry. This week, we're going to do the edible cell project just for fun!

I have 19 students in Beginning Composition and 12 students in Intermediate Composition. Again, all fabulous students! There are some excellent writers in the class, and it will be fun watching them get even better. I expect a few of them will be authors one day!

The other two classes I have are younger students. The first semester, I taught a Kids Can Write class for 3rd-6th graders. We've had fun scrapbooking and writing. We've learned about alliteration, metaphors, similes, and personification. This week, we will be writing letters and then scrapbooking Christmas cards and envelopes to send them in. The second half of the year will be Oklahoma History.

The other class is a CSI class for 3-6th. Besides having a Broken Arrow CSI come to the class and tell them that I was telling them all the wrong stuff, it's been fun! We've learned about fingerprinting, blood spatters, blood typing, forensic anthropology, bite marks, and handwriting analysis. This week, we're going to study evidence in soil. The second half of this class will be in electronics.

I never thought that after I graduated my own two kids from homeschool, I would be teaching others. But, I am so enjoying it. The kids keep me young and ON MY TOES!

Update on School

I just found out I have 53 signups for classes this year! This is going to be a very busy year! I start teaching next week, so I'm working hard to get ahead a bit so it won't be so bad. Keeping ahead will be a must! I ended my summer tutoring two weeks ago to give myself some time to prepare for fall.

One of the things I'm doing this year for my elementary students is having them do some scrap-lap booking. They will create notebooks using some elementary scrapbooking techniques. I hope they enjoy it. I had a hard time find clip art to use for my CSI class but I finally found a scrapbooking company that sold a police set. It worked perfectly!

I also have 29 composition students, so there will be a lot of reading and grading papers this year! I'm not complaining. I love these teens and enjoy helping them learn to write.

Update on Tutoring

I have 34 students signed up for classes this fall so far. We have another registration in August, so I will probably get a few more.

Now, it's time for me to get to work. I am teaching a few fun classes for elementary students this year: a class about electronics and another one on Crime Scene Investigations. In addition to those, I will be tutoring elementary writing and Oklahoma history, as well as my usual middle and high school composition and Biology.

My daughter, Shelly, will be tutoring with me this year at Cornerstone. That will be fun! She is just about finished her Master's Degree in English and has been an Adjunct professor at Tulsa Community College for the last year as well. She will continue that, tutor a few classes with me at Cornerstone, and also tutor for another local co-op. This is such a joy for me to get to work with my own daughter at the same school!

So this summer, I will be working on lesson plans and tutoring students in math and English. I also have several magazine articles to finish up before school starts. It will be a busy Summer!

Open House Today

Today was Open House for parents interested in sending their kids to Cornerstone Tutorial Center next school year. I don't know how many came as we were all in different rooms, but I was pretty busy all morning meeting new parents and students. 

I'm pretty excited about this coming year as I'm adding some new classes for grades 3-6: Crime Scene Investigation, Electronics, Kids Can Write and Oklahoma History. These will be fun classes that will also sneak in a little math, science, government, composition, history, etc. 

The other wonderful thing that happened today is that my daughter, Shelly Downes, joined us at CTC. She is currently working on her Master's thesis and finishing up her Master's Degree in English from Northeastern State University, and she is also an adjunct professor at Tulsa Community College teaching Freshman Composition. In her spare time (ha!), she is going to teach a college prep composition class at CTC, as well as a creative writing class. It was really fun, today, introducing her to my students from last year. Shelly was homeschooled from K-12th grade, and I'm very proud of her. I know the kids will love her. 

Adding two new classes!

I'm really excited about two new classes I'm going to teach next year for elementary kids: 

Crime Scene Investigators / Electronics for Kids
This will be a two-semester class for kids in 3rd-6th grade. 

Semester I will introduce kids to the world of forensic science and law enforcement. Using fun, hands-on activities students will learn how police investigate crimes, collect evidence, and catch those crooks! Students will "solve" crimes by comparing fingerprints to catch a thief, unscrambling a coded message to stop a spy, analyzing handwriting to check for forgery, investigating soil samples to help a farmer, and identifying leaves to find a truck involved in a car accident. And that’s just the beginning. Each week, there will be a new crime to solve! 

Semester II will introduce kids to the world of electricity. Using hands-on projects, students will learn how electricity works, how it's made, how it travels, and how it's used in communications. Students will build circuits, a Morse code transmitter, a steady-hand game, and other fun projects that explore electronics. (NO one will get shocked!)

I'm already getting my ham radio friends pumped about holding a NET in class! This is going to be a fun, but extremely busy year !

Update on Tutoring

This has been a great year so far at Cornerstone Tutorial Center. I have so much enjoyed my students that range from 13-17 years of age. At the beginning of the year, I wasn't sure how I would like teaching teenagers as I haven't taught teens ever, except my own. I always taught the little guys and gals. Well, I have to say it's been most enjoyable, and I have definitely NOT been bored! These teens keep me on my toes trying to come up with ways to keep them interested. It's hard to compete with technology.

In Biology, I put together PowerPoint presentations on every chapter. As we work through the chapter, I have them fill in a worksheet, watch videos, view photos and diagrams, conduct labs, and answer questions about the lesson; trying to use all their senses. I even throw in something totally irrelevant and sometimes outrageous just to "shock" them back to life now and then! Once I started doing using all the senses, their grades started improving.

In Composition class, I thought I would be lucky to have the kids write a 5 paragraph paper. Instead, most of them went far beyond. Some of them are even writing mini-novels and I am encouraging them to enter writing contests. I'm so happy to see these guys and gals enjoying writing even if it means staying up late to grade their papers!

I wasn't going to teach Marketing again because I didn't think we were having much fun. But things got better after we decided to do a class project on marketing our school. The kids interviewed staff, conducted surveys, and started creating videos, business cards, and flyers to advertise the school's services. They really got into the project. So, I guess I'll try it again next year with a few more tweaks and using a local nonprofit for our subject organization.

All in all, it's been a great year. We only have a few weeks left, but I can honestly say, I'm going to miss it over the summer. However,  it won't be long before I have a brand new set of kids! Next year, I'm teaching Biology, three Composition classes, Marketing and Oklahoma History. I'll have students in grades 3-6, 7-8, and 9-12. I'll be pretty busy over the summer preparing!

Biology Class - Cells

We are just about finished our unit on cells and cell function. It's been a tough one! I don't remember half this stuff from high school - maybe because we hadn't discovered it yet - after all, it's been a few years! LOL!

To help them learn the parts of the cell, I had the students create cell models using icing and candy. We used tootsie rolls for mitochondrion, gummy worms for ER, and icing for for cytoplasm. Here's a photo of our end product:

Cell model made of candy.

I gave the kids a zip bag to carry their "cells" home, but most of them ate them while we were in class. Ooooh - tummy ache!

The vocabulary words for this unit were difficult, so I divided the kids up in teams and had them match the word with the definition using paper strips. That was fun!

Vocabulary matching game.

Today, we're going to review using a jeopardy game; then have our test on the unit. Next up: DNA

Life Changes Things

Life changes. Every year that I get older, it seems as if I have a new adjustment to make. Now that I'm working and being Bill's chauffeur, it seems I am having to adjust my writing schedule to accommodate it. For the past two years, I've enjoyed writing for Oklahoma Living Magazine, but, unfortunately, this type of writing requires me to travel and interview people. I don't have the time to do that now that I'm tutoring, except for in the summer. Because of that, I was forced to give up some of the assignments that I had for the upcoming year - a big disappointment.

However, as I sat thinking about it and feeling sorry for myself, I said, "Self, what other kind of writing could you do at home in the middle of the night and in between your other responsibilities?" I realized that I could write on spec about topics that I can research at home - no travel or interviewing. I could also work on my mystery and/or children's books that have been sitting in my files. So, that's what I've decided to do.

First, I sent off some queries for magazine articles I could write at home in the middle of the night. I got four assignments!

Next, I pitched an idea to the kids in my writing class about an extra assignment - writing the novel. If any of them take me up on it, we'll form an online critique group and work on our stories together. We're going to use the book, "Seize the Story: A Handbook for Teens Who Like to Write" by Victoria Hanley. We'll work through this chapter by chapter throughout the school year. We'll critique each other and I'll help them learn about the publishing business (as much as I know) and maybe even take them to some writer's workshops.

So, the bottom line is this:

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” -Maria Robinson

Manda Panda helps me tutor!

Panda Bear

This week, for my tutoring lesson, I decided to create something special for my student to read. I bought some panda-themed paper and wrote her a letter from "Manda Panda" using words she knew or was learning. I put the letter in an envelope, addressed it to the young lady and placed a pretend stamp on it. She was so amazed that Manda Panda knew her address and couldn't wait to read the letter! This is a fun way to get your reluctant reader to practice reading.


One warning - don't give your child the letter until after the lesson! Once she read the letter, she lost her motivation!

Tutoring

I started tutoring in the month of June and LOVE IT! I've been working with a woman who is re-entering the workforce and needs to learn how to run a computer. We set up her new computer, got her email running, got her on the Internet and Facebook, and now we’re learning about Windows 7.

I’m also working with a young lady on her algebra skills. She needs to pass the EOI test to graduate high school. I’ve had to brush up on algebra, as I haven’t had it for five years, but it’s coming back!

I’m also working with a very young girl who is learning to read. It was so exciting to see her read her very first book! That was special, indeed!

I am so excited that I’m getting to use my interests and skills to teach instead of working in an office!