Blogging in the Classroom

Hope to use blogging in the classroom this year.  Just practicing a bit with it.

What Fun!

It's kinda sad thinking that I might never see some of you again. Would really like to have that reunion next year. I do appreciate all that our facilitators have done to help us bring technology and 21st century skills to life in the classroom! I just couldn't believe that today could be as good as the rest of the institute but it was! I really did enjoy the digital storytelling instruction today. I've used a lot of what I learned at GAETI this year and I hope to develop even more lessons integrating technology over this summer.

Sept. follow up

It was so good to see all of my GAETI comrades and facilitators again today. So hard to believe that it has already been 2 1/2 months since our June institute! Such good news to hear that GAETI has been funded again for next summer. I hope that some of my colleagues will apply and attend. It was encouraging to hear both the success that you have all had with your new teaching strategies and tools and the trials that you have experienced (since I, too, have experienced a bit of both). I think I can really use the newspaper activity that we completed this afternoon soon as we will soon be studying the Spanish-American War and yellow press journalism. Animoto seems soooo easy, too! I think that will be a great tool for review for my students. I hope you all will stay in touch and I'll see you again in March!

Week Two

I feel this has been a very productive week. I was kinda freaking out last week when my promethean board went down but with the block schedule and how we have to plan for that, I really haven't missed it nearly as much as I thought I would. Parts are in and I do hope to have it back up and running by next week, however. Students have been working well together in their groups. So pleased! We do need to work on transition times in between activities a bit, though. Love my Classdojo! I think this app has helped students stay on task. They have quickly realized that now, I can easily keep a record of all positive or negative behaviors. I plan to reward the student(s) with the most points accumulated in each class and reward the class with the most accumulated points. Our first test is next week so I'm anxious to see those results. Good Luck to the Wildcats on Saturday!

Some students seem to be having difficulties with some of the assigned websites. I'm learning that not everything will work fully and completely from your phone. So if you have access to a computer at home, it may be best to access them from there. Also, keep in mind that Google Chrome works better for many technologies than Internet Explorer. If you don't have Chrome, you can download it free. My website was blocked by the school but should be accessible now.

First day of school 2014-15

Today was our first day on the block schedule at LHS. It's going to take a little getting used to for us all, but overall, I think it went great. The students kinda looked like deer with their eyes in the headlights, though, no matter how cool they tried to act. We do have SOOO much to learn this year! In class today Western Civ students researched the prehistoric eras. They will be using the info on Thursday to create a Toilet Paper timeline. U. S. History students tried to summarize the State of Mississippi U. S. History Framework objectives. Maybe this is why they reminded me of the deer! I can remember how I felt the first time I saw it, too. All students who were in class today should have received their usernames and passwords for my.hrw.com, our online textbook. B day students will receive their tomorrow and we will really get rolling.

School's Out for summer!!!

Looks like we made it! It has been such a pleasure to be here at MSU with all of your this month. I was very conflicted about whether or not to apply for this institute since it did require such a time commitment. I only applied on the very last day and then, even after that, waited to the last day to confirm my participation. However, the only two days that I dreaded coming at all were the first day and the last! After that first day, I was excited to be here every day. (By the last day - I was about ready to be done!) There was something new, different and exciting each day. It is always so reassuring to come to workshops and realize that there are some many wonderful educators all across the state doing some really great work with our students. I hope you all know that you are appreciated for what you do. And thanks to Dr. Bracey and the other staff that facilitated - you're great. Look forward to seeing you all in September!