hello & welcome

welcome!

Hi,
I'm looking forward to working with Santa Maria High School students again this year.  You'll hear me say this a lot during the year, but it's true and sometimes people forget: time moves fast and we have to stay ahead of the game. Before you know it, the holidays will be here, and next spring, and we'll be saying goodbye in June...

So: Since we don't have the opportunity for an orientation or a summer prep plan, I'm starting the course blog now.  SMHS students (and anyone else who wants to learn along with us) can visit anytime for all the information you need for the course.  As we get rolling, we will also use this space for collaborating, sharing information and online tools, finding scholarships, posting multimedia projects, and anything else we dream up and/or find useful.

Please bookmark this URL and follow the blog so that you will receive updates automatically instead of having to check back all the time.  If you don't know your way around blogs or the Internet, have no fear-- we will be dedicating class time to this. You also probably have friends/relatives who can help.*  (*Working with each other to do a task and achieve shared goals is the definition of collaboration.  Please Note:  Collaboration is not cheating.  We learn better when we learn together, and we will be doing most of our learning together this year.  [I hate writing this next part because it feels so high school teacher-y, but I want to avoid any misunderstanding-- so...] Please Also Note: Some tasks will require you to demonstrate your individual mastery of close reading, literary criticism, and written organization/ expression.  Don't even think about cheating when you know it's cheating.

I hope every single person who participates in this course connects with a personally meaningful interest, discovers people & resources who can help pursue that interest, and takes charge of his/her own learning journey.  For now, please feel free to post any questions or comments here or email me at dpreston.learning@gmail.com.  Sapere aude.  I look forward to meeting you!

Best,
Dr. Preston