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====Welcome to the online web home of Mr. Cheatle. I currently teach English and PSSA Prep classes at Smethport Area High School in Smethport, PA. 2011-12 will be my fifth year of teaching, and I am excited as the new school year will be upon us before we know it. This year, I will be teaching 8th grade English, as well as 7th and 8th grade PSSA Prep. I coached football the last four years, including one year as the varsity head coach in 2010. Although we made our first playoff appearance since 2004 and gave the eventual district champs all they could handle, there's no pleasing some people. Thus I'll be enjoying this fall with my lovely wife who I married just two months ago on June 18. In the spring, I plan to coach our throwers in track and field again, and overall, I intend to keep on going as I have been. ====



My goals for this course were to learn new and interesting ways to engage students in my classroom. Things change so quickly that we often become stuck in our old ways and rarely get the opportunity to break out of our funk. While I do feel that English is one of those subjects that is fairly static (Books are books and grammar is grammar. While some techniques have changed and other things like texting have altered our language of interaction, much stays the same.), there are some things that can be altered. To that end, I feel like I have accomplished quite a bit. I have been exposed to new things outside the classroom that I would never have considered using before, things like Skype or Epals that can bring the global community into the classroom. Likewise, I have seen different perspectives on social resources like Ning, Twitter, Facebook and the like. I'm still trying to figure out what best suits me as an educator, but I have seen where technology can be used to aid my instruction.

I feel as though my integration plan shows that to the fullest extent as I have altered a project that I've used in the past to great success. Lois Lowry wrote a wonderful novel called The Giver which is set in a dystopian alternate society. Students find the culture restrictive and bizarre. Indeed, many of the events are dark and even downright disturbing. It is from this point that I give them the opportunity to create their own societies, ones that are shaped as they see fit, ones where they are the kings and queens and presidents. What technology will do here is allow for more free collaboration between groups via wikis and VoiceThreads. Likewise, it allows students to compose everything online which conveniently will replace the multitude of folders and dog-eared papers in the back of my classroom. Resources like Google Earth will allow students to explore other nations around the world which will given them insight toward creation of the own nations.

Any other questions and comments can be directed my way at jjc2k3@gmail.com. Thanks!



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