Oh What Fun We Had!!! Summer 2010 Session...

Oh What Fun We Had!!!

Summer 2010 Session

This is my second time as a Spark Apprentice Teacher and it was great!!! My first time as a Spark Apprentice Teacher, I worked with Genna and we had a great time. Typically with the spark program as a teacher, you work with a student for 8 weeks and then afterward, you say goodbye, which made no sense to me at all.

I decided to see if I could improve Spark by experimenting with bringing Genna back to be involved in the next session which was the Summer session. Genna said he wanted to participate and an administrator from Spark wrote me an email to ask if I would be participating as an Apprentice Teacher in the summer program. She said there were many kids that wanted to participate, and I thought to myself, "did she just say kids? as in plural?"

So I said, since we are mixing it up, and since there are more kids than teachers, why don't I take on 2 apprentices for the summer program? Spark agreed to allow me to conduct my crazy experiment–so not only did I get two new apprentices, at the same time, but we also had Genna!!!

Jarvis is 12 and Jeremy is 14 and they were my new apprentices for summer, and the three of us are pictured below.

It was amazing how successful our summer session was. I reasoned that be having three kids, they could work together, and as a team, we would be more successful and all have a better time–and it worked out exactly that way. I hope that this becomes a new option for other Spark Apprentice Teachers in the future because I think it is a great idea.

In the photo above we see Jarvis on the left, with Genna experimenting with the iPad, and in the photos below, we see Genna and Jeremy having fun.

By the way, the all-new iPhone 4 took all the photos and video in the post, and I am am so excited because for the first time, I no longer have to carry around a point and shoot or a camcorder with me!!! The boys also loved the new iPhone!!!

In the photo below, the four of us are playing Multi-Pong together on the iPad. I remember when the four of us were playing Multi-Pong on the iPad, I felt like I was just one of the kids, even though I am around 30 years older than them.

I would say, my experiment is going well, and in the upcoming Fall session, I am going to add 2 more students, maybe even three!!! And of course Genna, Jarvis and Jeremy are all coming back as well, so it should be really fun and productive!!!