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Showing posts from 2012

Prep for Holiday Traditions (our school's big holiday & cultural festival), December 2012

Seasons Greetings~ Holiday Traditions, our annual Holiday Festival, at BHS, is upon us.  The Multicultural Club and I (club advisor) put on this huge event each December.  It's always on the last day before the winter break, which is Friday, December 21st, 2012 (during periods 1-3). I'll be sure to upload a video or two during after the event! Stay tuned.

ELL students discuss Question 2 (Mass.) - November 2012

Greetings. Today, I wanted to share some thoughts on the adolescent mind, and its ability to handle and discuss deep and serious topics among peers.  Today, in class, students asked some specific questions in regards to the current ballot questions, for this current election, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (November 2012, USA).  It’s amazing how even when English is not your first language, students’ oral language production skills come out and impress you.  We discussed Question 2 in depth.  For this current election (November 2012), Question 2 pertains to “doctor-assisted suicide,” and the “right to end one’s own life.” Tomorrow (Nov. 6 th , 2012), residents in Massachusetts will go to the polls and be asked whether you support or don’t support Question 2.  In short, it’s like this:  “Should an elderly (old) person who has lived a long life be allowed to take pills to take his/her own life (suicide); while being mindful that the individual may find himself/herself to

October 2012 --- Please enjoy this music while your party is reached.

Hi, Busy teacher ... no time to blog... please enjoy the music! Thanks! Mista Chocka

New School Year, off to a fine start!

Hey all, Good news -- this ELL Teacher has got a brand new classroom! Is it true...?!  Yes!!  Believe it or not, there's plenty of room for my 15 ELL (ESL) students, with big windows overlooking a beautiful New England road, just as the colorful leaves of fall descend. Our school has been going through a major renovation.  Check out our school site here:   http://marshallsimonds.wordpress.com/ Happy blogging! Mista Chocka Our newly renovated middle school~

Chiocca Family Reunion! --- 8/26/12

Great to see everyone!

Reflections on Good Parenting: Thanks to Mom & Dad, August 2012

In every career, job and trade, people can get better at what they do and I think we all should, in any small way we can.  I hope that I improve each year, and summer vacation allows me to do some thinking and reflection.  I know that I am not the best teacher in my school, but I'm glad that my parents raised me to remember some things really do matter - like a good attitude. Let me take a moment just to thank my mom and dad for teaching me that having a good attitude makes everything else better.  I'm glad too that they instilled in me a strong work ethic, and a desire to want to do my best.  Having a good sense of humor helps too!  T hanks Mom and Dad!

Loving summer in New England -- July 2012

Hey all, Hope your summer is off to a fine start!  The MADPC conference last week, at Burlington High was really awesome.  I was glad to learn about how I can use new and different sites and apps in my teaching and teacher preparation, but was even happier that I got to put some of my new knowledge into practice. I got much better at Dropbox.  In case you're not familiar with it, it's basically free online storage of your docs, files, photos and more, but the best part is that you don't have it on one device or hard drive.  It's through Dropbox.com, so essentially it's like "in the cloud." Anyways, so... I think our district will be doing away with our current document storage system, so we have been encourages to start moving important files to either GoogleDocs (aka Google Drive) or Dropbox.  I'm glad to say I moved it all to Dropbox during the MADPC conference! Let me give a big shout out to Dennis, Josh, Dan, Andy and Tim and the rest of our aw

June 25, 26, 27 --- MADPC at BHS --- --- --- ---

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Looking back... to Feb. 2012, and ... Unit 5: Adverbs - Happily Teaching Adverbs!

Links to videos, Feb. 8, 2012 1.       Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WMzIzzPwi0 2.       EngVid, for Qasin! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WMzIzzPwi0 3.       Location/ Where to put it…? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGYmavJYvA4&feature=related 4.       Answers the questions … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBWpbDLu74c 5.       Nice Teacher (India): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-9HUEPetdI&feature=fvst 6.       Lolly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14fXm4FOMPM&feature=related

June 2012 - Graduation Time for BHS Seniors

It is certainly a wonderful time for our BHS Seniors.  I have four this year, and am so proud of them!  Congrats you guys!  And just for fun... look what my mom recently found in the back of a closet... my old varsity jacket!

Grad Class Project: Community Relations and Partnerships (May 2012) - Check out my new video-editing skills! Yay!

Our field trip was a success! (4/26/12)

Hi, Please check out these photos from our African-American Student Association Field Trip (4/26/12).  If you don't see them right here... please look to the left or right and down a bit... as I am trying a new photo-sharing site.  It should be in a "slide show" format. Thanks to all our wonderful new friends at Northeastern! Mr. Chiocca Club Advisor, Burlington High School African-American Student Association

The BHS Marching Band at Holiday Traditions! Dec. 2011

Here's our super BHS Marching Band!  
Hi, In case you missed it, here's a look back at Holiday Traditions. In this video, you get a bit of our awesome BHS Drum Line. Enjoy~

Burlington High School Principal's Blog: BHS Model UN Attends MIT Model UN Conference

Feb. 14th, 2012 I have fond memories of my Model UN days in high school. Well done students! Burlington High School Principal's Blog: BHS Model UN Attends MIT Model UN Conference : (left to right) Helly, Rick, Peggy, Elizabeth, Nantia, Michelle, Walter This past weekend, Burlington High School’s Model United Nations cl...