tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322Thu, 24 Oct 2024 20:57:07 +0000Comments on life, technology and a career in education.http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)Blogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-463055531831268632Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:56:00 +00002007-08-23T09:59:00.871-05:00I've succumbed to the Wordpress revolution and moved my blog. If you're getting my feeds, jump over to my new blogsite and set up feeds from there. The only thing that's changed is ".blogspot." to ".wordpress."....http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2007/08/ive-moved.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-4720038367234394861Thu, 23 Aug 2007 01:07:00 +00002007-08-22T20:13:17.810-05:00Today we began our teacher "in service" training to get prepared for the upcoming school year. What a fantastic start! The training is outstanding this year, as it usually is. I'm excited to see us continuing our push forward with technology integration and I'm thrilled to see the refocusing on our students learning styles, creating relationships and the core competencies they need in order to http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2007/08/academy-teacher-training.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-7829825064322742882Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:01:00 +00002007-08-14T16:10:34.561-05:00My Engineering students are in for a fantastic treat! We're starting the new year out with a field trip on Thursday, August 30th, to see the Star Wars exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum of Science. This exhibit promises to show them how the visionaries behind Star Wars technology are really engineers at heart and how engineering technology mimics some of the fantastic inventions of the movie. I'm http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2007/08/star-wars-field-trip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-6983494180497599073Sat, 04 Aug 2007 01:42:00 +00002007-08-03T20:46:45.295-05:00I've been working on a new design for a little bit and finally published it today. My plan for the upcoming school year is to make it a true source of information for my students and parents. Hopefully, the site has an interesting design and tells you a little bit about my personality. The "About" page has links to some of my dive trip pictures. I opted to leave them on the Kodak easy share http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2007/08/web-site-redesign-is-done.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-4046207692619416350Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:04:00 +00002007-08-02T15:09:43.810-05:00In an effort to teach my students better ways of staying on top of their assignments, I plan to use my blogspot to post information about what we'll be doing in class. Then students can immediately receive posting information via RSS feed and will hopefully find it a way to stay current. Another great benefit is that parents can learn what their kids are doing in school.Let's give it a shot and http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2007/08/something-new-this-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-1007235040317087099Wed, 09 May 2007 19:40:00 +00002007-05-09T14:58:22.345-05:00Recently, I've witnessed a surge in the research, use and overuse of technology for technology sake. "Technology for technology sake" is the use (and sometimes abuse) of interesting, but sometimes purposeless technology simply because "it's cool". Technology without a purpose, or with a misguided or possibly deliberately twisted purpose, has proven to cause countless business projects to fail andhttp://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2007/05/technology-4-technology-sake.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-116005446996907630Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:00:00 +00002006-10-05T08:21:09.990-05:00I'm saddened by a comment made by my step-son last night. He's a senior in high school and is trying to figure out what he wants to major in. One of his comments was that he wanted to teach history, but needed to figure out how he could spend as little time teaching high school as possible.As a high school teacher, I know I have the hardest job in the world and make very little pay for my effortshttp://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2006/10/nobody-wants-to-teach-high-school.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-115826093651488779Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:49:00 +00002006-09-14T14:08:56.593-05:00Typically, the average teenager won't spend as much time contemplating or researching the social issues of our times as they would spend updating their MySpace sites. Not true, if they want a passing grade on their first HTML Web-Site project in my class.I'm having much fun watching them learn about something more serious and relevant to our society, their society.... the world they live http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2006/09/teens-and-social-issues.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-115577889273266157Thu, 17 Aug 2006 01:36:00 +00002006-08-16T20:41:32.746-05:00This week The Academy teachers have been in their three-day staff development training. We're blessed to be given some of the best training around and have been able to share a wealth of ideas being implemented by schools who are the "best-of-the-best".Many exciting changes will be made this year. Some changes are a result of attending the Model Schools Conference. Take a look at the link and http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2006/08/new-school-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-114797202626400530Thu, 18 May 2006 16:59:00 +00002006-05-18T12:07:06.273-05:00Need I say more?http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2006/05/done.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-114650284730685540Mon, 01 May 2006 17:00:00 +00002006-05-01T12:00:47.353-05:00My husband tells me that we have to celebrate the big events in our lives. We don't do that very often and I believe he's right about the importance of those events. In the absence of those celebrations, the negative events seem to overshadow our lives.Today, I'm celebrating an award. I was named the 2006 receipient of the Outstanding Secondary Post Baccalaureate Student Award for the Department http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2006/05/celebrating.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-114590523169252615Mon, 24 Apr 2006 19:00:00 +00002006-04-24T14:05:51.813-05:00Many of you who know me, know how I believe the No Child Left Behind Act is one of the biggest blunders in educational history. There are too many reasons to list here. However, here's a good analogy that will demonstrate how ridiculous the NCLB Act is. Take a look at the "Football Version" and tell me if you think they'll be implementing this anytime soon!NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: The Football http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2006/04/nclb-for-football.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-114504355877377639Fri, 14 Apr 2006 19:39:00 +00002006-04-14T14:42:40.636-05:00I have to say that I'm proud of the efforts of most of my students. They're a great group of kids and if they continue to work hard, they'll go far in life! However, a teacher's support can only go so far. In the end, the student is responsible for making it happen.Yesterday, one of my classes gave team presentations of 'battery powered' projects they created on their own. I emphasized that a http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2006/04/last-day-of-5th-6-weeks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-114443642367026750Fri, 07 Apr 2006 18:57:00 +00002006-04-07T14:00:23.670-05:00I forgot to mention in my earlier post that my husband and I are going to start teaching SCUBA again. We've made many new friends who really want to learn and want us to teach them, so we renewed out liability insurance (you all know the importance of that!) and we will begin teaching again as soon as we have the materials we need.If you're interested, keep your eyes posted on our new web-site http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2006/04/teaching-scuba-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707322.post-114443521924831551Fri, 07 Apr 2006 18:35:00 +00002006-04-07T13:50:06.796-05:007 more weeks of school left - at the Academy.5 weeks of UNT and then I'll walk with my MEd!Now that things are winding down on the school year, I'm going to try to get in the habit of posting in a regular basis!My Web1 students are building web-sites for teachers here at the school. Some of them are really impressing me with their creativity. Some, who were not really interested in designing a http://catwhillock.blogspot.com/2006/04/winding-down-school.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cathleen Whillock)0