Total Eclipse of the Heartland

A day after totality and I still get goose bumps.  It was an amazing experience.  The Northwest students were awesome throughout the afternoon.  It is definitely a bucket list item.  This was my first but not my last.  You need to experience it once in your lifetime.

A full moon rising

So far school is flying for me.  Eight preps in seven class periods keeps me hopping.  Class are going great so far.  I have a good bunch of kids and they are getting the job done.  I am looking forward to next Monday for the chance of a lifetime for myself and students here at Northwest.  The eclipse.  I'm sure there are some people who don't realize how big of a deal this is.  Nobody living in Grand Island today will ever witness another total eclipse unless they go searching for it.  Amazing and awesome experience.  Cannot wait.

School Time

Well here we are again.  First week of school for my 39th year of teaching.  Whoa.  Where did the time go?  Another meeting has just started so I better get out of this blog and pay attention to the speaker.  Have a great day!!!

PLTW State conference

Had a great day this past Monday at UNL as I attended the State PLTW conference.  Lots of great info and insight on the future of technology and engineering.  We have autonomous vehicles but we also have the possibility of autonomous highways.  Boggles my mind.  What will this world look like for my grandkids?   We have jobs available, now we just have to make sure our students have the skills they need to fill these jobs.  We have to prepare them for jobs that will haven't even been thought of yet.  Critical thinking and problem solving  are the most important skills that our students will need to be successful in the 21st century and beyond.

Google explosions

Learning lots of new exciting stuff on google.  Jackie Ediger is a Google Goddess!!!  A lot more stuff for me to learn and stay up late night to get more knowledgeable.

ICE Monday

Sitting at home because of ICE storm.  But, I am getting schoolwork done as I brought home some projects to grade.  CEA students had to put together their Affordable Housing Projects.  Had some very good projects.  Amazing to see what students can accomplish when they put their mind to it.

Went to Kearney On Saturday to their VEX Robotics competition.  Took along five students so they could see what was happening.  They are now super excited but also feeling a little anxious as we have only two weeks before we compete at Ravenna.  More to follow on this.

2017: Get ready

Back at Northwest High.  Second semester starting off with a bang.  After two days classes are going well.  Students are getting involved in their projects.  CEA students are putting together their Affordable Housing Design projects.  POT classes are redesigning Putt-Putt boats.  POE students are finally seeing where the Pythagorean Theory helps build trusses.  CSP, CSA, and Exploring Tech students are diving deeper into computer programming and app development.  Hopefully all students will strive to do their best and learn from each other and myself.  My plan is to get students to start blogging about their experiences and reflect on what they are learning.

1st quarter reflections

As we end the first quarter at Northwest I am reminded of the saying, "Time flies when you are having fun!"  This first nine has been fun and also trying at times.  Teaching six different classes can be a challenge but it also keeps me sharp.  Computer Science Principles and Computer Science A are in their second and first years, respectively.  Students are doing a great job. Some call it computer science but I call is problem solving.  Trying to get a program to work correctly and realizing there can be more than one way to solve that problem is a daily occurrence.  Hopefully the students are learning lessons that will benefit them long after they leave the halls of Northwest High School

NW Students reaching out to the WORLD!!!!

Giving my students access to the world.  This year in my PLTW classes I am having my students develop their own weebly sites.  They are using them to create a digital portfolio.  It is a work in progress and many students are cranking it up.  If you want to check these out head to my weebly.  http://jeffpaige.weebly.com/  Click on any of the tabs to access many of my students projects that they are sharing with the world.

I'm BAAAAAAAACK!!!!!

Hey gang,

Been  awhile, I know.  I finally found my blog site again and so I'm going to try and keep more in touch and up to date.  So far school year is going great.  I have new curriculum in two classes and I love them both.  Lots of STEM!!!!

Heading to national PLTW conference in early November so I will keep you posted.

Until then, keep living the dream!!!!!

Summer Fun

Getting ready for summer.  Gonna do some traveling.  Also gonna do some learning.  Hopefully I can catch on some reading.  Sitting on the deck, reading a good book will be a priority, right after golfing, fishing, swimming, wrestling camps, etc.  Have a good one.

Wrapping up the Sea life

Hey gang,  Monday night about 11:00 pm shiptime.  Awesome couple of days.  Yesterday was beautiful day on the North Pacific.  We spent a lot of time on the steel beach during our break times. Had group pictures taken so we all have some great memories to share.  Spent the day in class doing some geology that I cannot wait to bring back to my students at Northwest.  Finally saw some wildlife.  We had a sea lion swimming along side the ship.  It was pretty neat.  Had a whale visit today but didn't get a picture.  As nice as yesterday was today was complete opposite.  Today we had 15 ft waves that really got us to rocking.  It was unbelievable how much different the surface was today compared to yesterday.  Lots of energy out there today.  We are winding things down as tomorrow morning they will start bring the camera up from about 1200 meters below.  All in all it will take about 24 hours to bring up the pipe and camera and wind up back at the dock in Victoria.  I do beleive that we are ready to get back on solid ground.  Anyway, that is about all for now.  Catch you tomorrow. 

Saturday Night on the Seas

Hey gang,  a lot has been happening since last I blogged. The SCIMPI is planted.  Everybody is pretty excited.   A few of us School of Rockers got to help get the SCIMPI planted so we all had a part in the history of this new technology.  They will come back this way in about 3 weeks and collect some data.  The engineering and science that is going on is unbelievable.  We are sitting on the shelf about 50 some miles from the coast of Vancover Island.  In about 10 minutes we are going to put the logging apparatus down another drill hole.  The logger is lowered to the bottom of the drill hole that is about 200 meters below the sea floor.  They will than raise the logger up to the top and then lower it again.  The logger collects data as it is lowered and pulled back up.  The data it collects on the way up is what they really want to collect.  This entire process will take about 8 hours. 

After this we are going to drop another mini SCIMPI that the crew calls the SHRIMPI.  It is very similar to its counterpart but different in the fact that it is only about 20 meters long.  They are going to drop it to the floor and then see what happens. 

Found out today that we are probably going to be heading back to Victoria late Monday night or early Tuesday morning.  We will still be on board but able to hit the hotspots in Victoria come evening. Jon Lewis, the resident geology Dr., has set up a chance for some of us to go mountain biking.  Should be an interesting experience.  I have met some super people.  The other School of Rockers are pretty cool.  I know that I will keep in touch with them after this experience is finished.  Getting lots of great ideas from all of them for class next year.  Just got back from outside and the full moon is beautiful.  Haven't see any whales yet but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Well gang, until next we visit, keep feet on the ground and your eyes toward the seas.

Theres a hole in the bottom of the sea!!!

Tuesday May 21, today is the day that the crew goes fishing.  Fishing for the cork.  We spent most of the morning watching the recovery of  cork 858G.  My classmates and I had a front row seat to the whole show.  Never mind the fact that the show was 2431 meters below the ship.  It was an experience in frustration as time and time again the retrieval head was unable to hook up with the cork head.  They had to keep moving the ship right, left, etc a few inches a time to try and catch the cork.  After a few hours of trying they brought the pipe back up.  Once they got it to the surface there was some damage done.  We will know in about an hour if they decide to try it again. 

Meanwhile up on the beach deck we were preparing the SCIMPI for its journey to the bottom of the sea and beyond.  It is a newer and more hi tech version of the old cork system. This is the first attempt to use the SCIMPI.  Years from now when they are talking about the SCIMPI system of collecting date from under the seafloor, I will be able to say that I was there and helped with the very first one. 

The seas are getting a little rougher right now.  We are seeing ocean swells up to 10 ft high.  That means the ship will rise up 10 ft above sea level and then drop to 10 ft below sea level.  It is as fun as any roller coaster I've ever been on.  They also are expecting a gale tomorrow, which means stronger winds. What a rush that should be.  

I haven't told you about the meals.  WOW, brisket, pork, pineapple ham, fish, and anything else you an think of.  It is an adventure every meal time just to see what they are serving. 

Well gang I better head on upstairs because tomorrow is going to be another full day of high seas adventure on the JOIDES Resolution.

Until next time keep you feet on the ground and your eyes to the seas. 

Somewhere upon the sea!!!!

Hey gang, its Monday 8:30 pm seatime.  Had an awesome day today. Finally made it to our first site.  We are going to attempt to replace a cork.  For you landlubbers, that means we are going to pull a long tube with scientific instruments from the seafloor and then replace it with newer instrumentation.  The cork has been down there for about 16 years.  Here is what you would have to do to simulate this mission.   Your job, should you decide to accept, would be to go to the top of  the Empire state building with a whole lot of drinking straws and a piece of gum.  You would put those straws together and with bubble gum on the bottom of that chain of straws try to pick up a penny that has been placed the ground 112 floors below you.  Mission impossible, right?  WRONG!!!!
These people on the JOIDES Resolution research ship are about to do that tonight.  Once they hook up to the cork on the seafloor it will take about 2 hours to pull it up.  We are on a mission of "firsts!"  They are using a new camera system that has never been used before tonight.  Also the second "first" is the employment of the SCIMPI rig.  It is a brand new, state of the art, cutting edge technology that will be placed beneath the ocean floor.  From its position it will send back data about what is going on done there.  And I am here for all of it.  WOW!!!!

As you can tell I am in ADHD heaven.  There is so much stuff going on here it blows my mind.  I will be in touch again tomorrow.

Until then keep your toes in the sand and your eyes on the sea. 

Anchors away!!!!

   Bringing the North Pacific seafoor to the Ogallala aquifer. Here we go School of Rock 2013. Getting ready for the trip of a lifetime. We are currently sitting at the dock in Esquimalt Bay, Victoria, BC, Canade. We have spent the last 2 day getting used to the ship and learning all about JOIDES Resolution research ship. We are shipping out today(Sun May 19th) at 6:00 pm. I cannot wait until we are out there in the open ocean and looking at the deep ocean biosphere. Interesting side note. Of the 13 teachers involved with SOR, 10 of them are associated with virtual schools. WOW, a classroom with no students. Today we are also doing some cool stuff in the microbiology lab. Culturing some microbes. Being on the JOIDES Resolution is an ADHD rush for me. So much stuff to look at and so much going on. We are doing some cutting edge research out here. Well gang I better back to the lab. I will keep you posted. Unitl then, I will see you topside.

JOIDES Resolution

Well gang, 4 days until I fly out of Kearney to Vancouver, BC, Canada for the trip of a lifetime.  Spending 2 weeks at sea on a scientific research ship.  I cannot wait.  I will keep you posted throughout my trip.  Until then see you topside.

Science 360

Watch a video on the Science 360 website and comment about it.  What was it about, what did you learn, why would anyone want to watch this video, etc.

Here we go.

Well gang, the next few weeks are going to be exciting as school is approaching and the iPads are here. Lots of training to get ready for the kids. I'm looking forward to learning more bout google, moodle, iPads, and all other technology.

Hello