We're Back!!!!

Today was our return visit to MSU and GAETI 2014. Can we just have this once a month? It is so great to get together with my new friends and talk "shop" about our schools and classrooms. We shared what we have incorporated in our classrooms so far and talked about what had worked for us and what had not. It was sad to hear about some of the obstacles that some of my fellow "campers" have had to endure during the first few weeks of school. Teaching is already a time consuming profession and adding "monkey-wrenches" into the mix will not make it any easier. I am proud to say that my year has begun with a bang and is going GREAT!!! I cannot begin to thank GAETI enough for what they have allowed me to experience.

It's not goodbye ...

It is like the last day of summer camp here at GAETI 2014. This has been the most awesome month of professional development that I have every been involved with in my educational career. We had Art and everything. I am not only taking away lots of new and exciting concepts, ideas and information to share with my classroom and school, but also great new friends to continue to share and collaborate with at every chance. I am so glad that I was chosen to attend this fabulous institute and to meet these great people. Thank you to Dr. Bracey and all of the professors and presenters that touched our teaching careers and left their thumbprint on us.

Lesson Plan Presentations

We have had a full day of sharing today. We presented our lesson plans and presentations that we had created. Every body seemed to include lots of innovative technology components in their work. It was easy to see that we have all learned a great deal this month. I really hate to see it come to an end. This has truly been an amazing month. I cannot believe how much we have been introduced to by so many amazing people. I must stand and applaud Dr. Bracey for putting this together for us. She deserves so much praise from the participants of GAETI 2014. This month has sparked my desire to include new technology in my teaching.

Present Art

Today was our Art project presentation day. Our art projects were amazing. We have some awesome artsy people in our group. It was definitely easy to see how to incorporate an art project into our classrooms. It reminded me of how my students feel when they are out of their element. Everything is not easy for every body. I guess my art project is okay. I think that my 5th grade Art teacher would be proud because I didn't copy a picture but came up with my own image.Thank you Ms. Latham for putting up with us and teaching us. We worked on our portfolios, too. It was amazing to think about all of the technology that I plan to use in my classroom. When I began writing it down, I kept remembering more and more of what I wanted to do. I have grown to love this mixture of personalities that we call GAETI 2014.

Hold on to your suspenders, Spanish 2

Dr. Lee did an awesome job this week introducing us to new technology that is available to use in our classrooms. My Spanish 2 students will not be as happy about the technology. I cannot wait to have them begin working on the projects that I have in mind. We learned about Infographics that I have incorporated into my lesson plan for the finale. We created a webcast on Fotobabble and added it to our website. Dr. Lee also taught us how to use PowerPoint and Youtube to create movies of our lessons for students to be able to view. I see so many possibilities for my classes. I can hear them now, "We know, 'You learned this at MSU in June.'" Ms. Rachel Cannady talked to us about Copyright and we learned that we need to make some changes. Hopefully, this will keep us out of trouble. I am sad to see this come to an end. I must say that it has been wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Lee.

LOOK OUT POWERPOINTS!!!

Today we learned how to create wonderful, original PowerPoint templates. Thank you, Dr. Briswell. My PowerPoints are going to be upgraded. Dr. Lee had us to "HIKE" over to Allen Hall for a Canvas lesson. I hope to be able to use Canvas this coming school year. I think that by using Canvas in my classroom, it will better prepare my students for college. I know that a few of my co-workers at school will be excited to use Canvas in their classrooms. Unfortunately, the teachers that would not use it outnumber us. It is sad that so many teachers just show up because it is a job. Time is moving so fast. It is so hard to believe that we only have 4 days left for GAETI 2014.

I want one, too...

Today Dr. Lee taught us about using Ipads in the classroom. There are so many advantages to using Ipads in the classroom. As teachers, we have to work to engage our students in whatever we are teaching. Today's world is filled with technology. We have to learn to incorporate that technology into the classroom to connect with our students. We walked over to the library (Walking-YUCK!) for a presentation about Prezi. It was very interesting. I want to work on my presentations that I have for my classes and incorporate the use of Prezi into what I have. I plan to convert some of my PowerPoints to Prezi. We, also learned about Apple TV. Prior to today, I had no ideas what this was. From what I understand about it, now, it reminds me of the old Avery Keys that we used to use in our classrooms. That just shows us how technology has evolved over the years. I don't have an Ipad of my own, my children have them. They really enjoy being able to do so much on them. I can see the Ipad as the next wave to come through our schools. I don't foresee my school being about to go 1 to 1 any time in the near future. Hopefully, when we return in August, we are going to have a growing computer lab. Now, we will have to wait in line with the other teachers to schedule a time to take our classes to it. This afternoon, we worked on our WebQuest. It was helpful to collaborate with my fellow Spanish teachers. In Art class, we cut glass to be fused for our project. Needless to say, I better stick with teaching, I would not make a living as a glass cutter. HAHA!