Am I Really Ready For My a First Day?

I am experiencing something I haven't felt for quite a few years.   First Year Panic.   There is so much happening and I have no idea if I have all the holes plugged in this boat before I put to the sea of a school year.   I am in a little corner of calm as workers in hard hats wander through doing more work on The Career Academy for tomorrow - when the students arrive for the first time.

Is my syllabus complete?  Will Google Classroom work?  Do I have my units prepared?   Will I set the students on fire for Economics?  Do I have a room?  Do I have seating?  Where is there a working bathroom?  Rumor has it that there is a working water fountain down the hall .... somewhere.

Low Batteries

Everyday I leave my seminar absolutely amazed at all the new tools that really are transformative to the educational process.  I also thank my lucky stars that I'm in a new position that nobody has said "you can't do that!" in regards to technology.

But last night was a low battery night all around.   My new Chromebook was at 7% battery life.  My Mac was at 5%. So I plugged them in, settled down with my iPad, with 30% power, on the couch to watch some videos and read the articles for Thursday.

Read a good one by Brian Bennett on flipping the classroom that kind of gave me. Bit of a reality check for what I want to do.  I tweeted that article.  Then I saw there was a video with Salman Khan.  I'm a HUGE fan of him and what he is doing for education,  though some of my students tend to shrug a bit over his Econ videos, favoring ACDC Econ,  Mr. Green and Jodie Econ Girl.

So, there I am, comfy on my couch, a cat nestled in with me, husband reading on his device and I started the Khan video, a good TED Talk about the process of how Khan Academy came about.  I was engaged in the video, wondering that these days we think that demand is derived, but here was a clear lesson on consumer demand being driven by the Invisible Hand.  .....

Next thing I knew my husband was waking me up and asked me two questions from the video.  I failed.   My own batteries crashed.   GEEZ!

So, I'm up early to get caught up.

Biography

Carol Mathias is a dedicated educator.  She has a Bachelor’s of Journalism and her Masters in Economics from UNL.  Most of her career has been spent at Lincoln Northeast High where she has had numerous championship Economics teams in state and regional competitions.  After 23 years at LNE she is seeking new opportunities to expand Economics education at Lincoln's new school The Career Academy.  Her outside interests are varied.  She is currently a member of the Federal Reserve’s Economic Education Advisory Council for the Tenth District, President-Elect of the Nebraska State Council for the Social Studies,  Advisory Council for the National Council for Economic Education as well as working with non-profit organizations like the Cat House seeking no-kill alternatives for animals.  In her spare time she enjoys renovating her old house with her husband, travel, yoga, petting animals and cooking.  

It has been an interesting day.  There is the well-known fact that lessons should be based on content and pedagogy.  In recent years technology has been added to the Ven Diagram.  Today was about how to use technology better in the class to raise both the pedagogy and content to new levels.

BTW: Dr. Trainin is the BEST.  This afternoon he provided us with coffee - and I mean GOOD coffee.