Day 20!!!

Day 20!! Our last day was spent presenting our lesson plans and e-portfolios . Hard to believe our 20 days are done. Thank you to all our instructors! Thank you for your patience. I am looking forward to incorporating some of the technology I have learned into my classroom.  There will certainly be a learning curve for all involved.  Until Oct. 3rd!

Day 19: Lesson Plans, Art, BYOD Letter

Day 19 was spent working on lesson plans for the majority of the day.  Have finally submitted my lesson plan.  Art project has also been completed.  Tomorrow will be presentation day and then summer will begin!

Day 17: Digital Story Telling, Lesson Planning, Art, Skyping

We began our day finishing up our Flat Stanley digital story writing.  This is one more project completed!! Yay!!

After lunch I cut the glass for my art project so am one step closer to finishing this project.

Lesson planning was next and I am very close to finishing it.  Will be glad to learn what exactly it is we will be doing with this come Friday.

We ended our day with another Skyping session to Taiwan.  What a delightful lady she was! She seemed to be more than happy to talk to us! Really enjoyed listening to her.

Day 16: BYOD Letters, Digital Story Writing, Lesson Plans

We started our day working on our letters to our districts in support of BYOD.  Though our district does not have a policy in place for BYOD I do not think that I would be a problem at our school as long as permission was given beforehand from our principal.

We then began work on our digital story writing.  We chose several different locations on campus to take Flat Stanley and and narrate short video clips.

Lesson planning and art were switched today.  Glad that we were able to get started on our lesson plan.  Ready to get that done as I do not like to have things hanging over my head that need to be done.

Day 15: Federal Reserve, Prezi

We began our day with Mrs. Bennett from the Federal Reserve.  This was a very interesting presentation with a lot of resources available to us to use in our classroom.  I had actually been a part of one of her sessions a couple of years ago but still enjoyed hearing her again today.

We then learned about creating PREZI presentations.  I am interested in using this in my classroom but may be a bit too complicated.  I do think that the students would be more engaged with PREZI presentations than with regular PowerPoints.

We ended our day with Dr. Beriswill and digital storytelling.  Step by step but do not thinkI would be able to do this again by myself.  We will see how it goes Monday.

Day 13: WebQuests, Ipad, Creating a Newspaper

We began our day finishing our Webquest.  Our group created a Webquest about major  battles of the Civil War.

We then had a session on Ipads and Ipad apps.  This was VERY helpful.  Dr. Lee gave us different apps that I was not aware of that I hope to be able to use.  I am also going to look into purchasing an Apple TV for my classroom so that I can at least make better use of my Ipad and hopefully more use of our school's Ipad lab.

We of course continue to work on our art project and I continue to plod along slowly but surely.

We ended our day with Dr. Lee and creating a newspaper.  Another day of technology overload!!

Day 13: Skyping

Enjoyed our session Skyping with the gentleman from Chile. How far technology has come that we are able to talk with and see someone thousands of miles away!

We then worked on PowerPoints which I am at least a little familiar with. I am glad to know how to add video and how to do a few extra things with PowerPoint that I did not previously know how to do.

The last thing we did this morning before lunch was to visit the T.K. Martin Center.  This was so interesting to me and is truly an example of modern technology being put to good use.  So many amazing things can be done now for people with special needs  because of all the advances in technology.  We certainly  need to spread the word about this wonderful facility.

We ended the day creating a WebQuest.  I am so glad to get to  learn about Zunal.com.  We have a shortage of technology in our schools but I believe that I can use my Mimio to do a WebQuest activity and still allow the students to work in groups to complete the activity. Zunal.com has a plethora of social studies webquests that are available for use.

Day 12

Technology overload!!  Too much technology.  It is all starting to run together and not remembering when to use what.  Hoping it will all come together eventually.

Plugging along in art like a turtle on a snowstorm.

Enjoyed learning about Storify from Dr. Lee.  If computers as available for all the students I would like to try to use  this.

Began our Web Portfolio today.  I enjoyed this activity but do not know that I would be able to do this again by myself.

Day 11: Pros and Cons of BYOD

We began our day with Dr. Bracey and a session on the pros and cons of allowing students to bring their own devices to school for educational purposes. We began by working in pairs to list pros and cons of BYOD.  We then watched videos from different school districts about the ways 1:1 policies were implemented in their districts.

We began our afternoon with art. I glued my shapes down and will now wait for the glue to dry before moving on to the next step.

Our next session was with Mrs. Nashandra James. She spoke to us about the implementation of 1:1 in Madison County.  Very interesting.  I so wish West Point would do this.

We ended our day with Dr. Bracey.  We drew numbers for our assigned project for the end of our session.  I drew the number 4.  We will create a letter to try to persuade our district to allow mobile devices in our district.

Day 10: Native American Civil Rights, Grant Library Tour, Art, Geology Museum

TGIF!!!

We began our day with Mr. Timmerman and his presentation on Native American history. Though I didn't agree with a lot of what he said, it was interesting.

We then toured the Grant Library. I enjoyed this tour and taking pictures.

After lunch we had art. Slowly but surely I am making progress on my project.

We then went and toured the archeological building and the geology museum.

Day 9 Ms. Kimberly Lane, Art

Today has been a BUSY day.

We started our day with Ms. Kimberly Lane and Keeping Up With Technology.  This took the whole morning but was definitely worth the time.  Ms. Lane was very knowledgeable in the field of technology.  The two main things that I liked were LiveBinder and Kidblog.  I hope to use both of these.  It is still left to seen as to whether or not the blog website will be blocked in our district.

We began our afternoon in art.  Mrs. Latham has taken a subject that I do not really like and made it enjoyable  Thank-you, Mrs. Latham for your patience.

We ended the day with Dr. Bracy and The Art of Lesson Planning.  This will probably stress me out. However, one reason I am here is to learn how to create better lesson plans using technology.

Day 8: TBL, Art, Board Games

We started our day with Dr. Kun this morning learning about collaborative learning. I enjoyed learning about TBL, Team Based Learning, and this is something that I would like to educate myself on more so that I can use this in my classroom.

After lunch we had art with Mrs. Angela Latham.  I was not looking forward to this as I am not artistic at all.  However, the art we did today was not stressful  as we were able to watercolor abstractly and even I can do that.  Mrs. Latham assured us that she would be with us step by step and I am counting on that.

We ended our day continuing work on our board games.  This activity requires us to work in Excel and I am finding this activity to be challenging.  Hoping that  I will be able to learn the basics enough to use it in my classroom this next year.

Day 7

This has been a full day of new information.   We began the day learning more about building lesson plans.  We were given two books, one with common core lesson plans and the other general information about common core.  SOOOO happy to receive these resources.

After lunch was spent learning how to create a board game.  Lots of technology information but I enjoyed the step by step instruction.

Really enjoyed the presentation on Kahoot.com.  Will use this next year if I can.

One technology tool that I will most likely use is blogger.   This was much simpler to use than I thought and I would like to try and start a classroom blog.

I will also use Kahoots and Zipgrade.  Loved both of these and think that each will be easy to incorporate into my classroom.  Kahoots will be a way to engage students in reviewing for tests and students love to be able to use their phones in class.

Zipgrade is more for me but will be a great time saver and probably not as prone to error as manually grading papers.

Day 6:

We started our day with Dr. Kun Huang learning how to build a lesson plan using backward design.  We then practiced writing an objective so that it is measurable.  I enjoyed this activity and am looking forward to learning how to build better lesson plans.

We then learned from Mike about Zipgrade.com.  I am planning to begin using this next year because it will be a great time saver when it comes to grading papers.

After lunch we were with Linda Clifton and Connie Gusmus in a hands on activity in the TRAC and RIDES program.  The presenters were excellent but I did not enjoy this activity.  I am not mechanically inclined and building a bridge was not something that I enjoyed doing.  However, that said, students would love this program.  I am going to tell the science teacher on our team about this program and recommend to him that he sign up for the training.

We ended our day with Dr. Kun Huang learning how to build a web page.  A lot of technology today! Hoping I can remember all of this!

Day 5: 21st Century Skills, Crowdsourcing, MS Highway Safety Project

TGIF was a good day. Dr. Bracey started the day off with 21st Century Skills. Mrs. Emily Tate spoke on getting our classrooms funded which was very helpful. Two sources of funds available are Doners Choose and GoFund Me.

In my opinion Mr. Fomby stole the show with his presentation. I am hoping to have him come to our school.

I also enjoyed the grant presentations and gained some ideas that I may could try to get funded through GoFund of Doners Choice.

Enjoyed my first week of GAETI and am looking forward to next week.

Day 4: Coal Mine

We had a full day visiting the coal mines today. This was my first time to visit a coal mine and I  enjoyed my day. Usually when you think of coal mines, you think underground.  All of this mining was done above ground.  It was fascinating to see how they had "reclaimed" land that was once mined.  The ride through the mines was a bit rough but enjoyed the sights and taking pictures!  Fun day!!  Would be a great field trip for students.

Day 3: MDE presentation, GPS Activity, Games

We started our day with Mr. Segalini from MDE.  I really enjoyed his presentation and learned more about Common Core than ever before.  He was very helpful.

Dr. Sherman Morris created a GPS activity which I also enjoyed.  It was nice to get out and walk around the campus.

Our last session was with Dr. Briswill.  Learned a lot in this session about finding online games and how to save the URLs so that I would be able to access them later.  I hope that when I return to my classroom I will remember how to navigate the computer to do this again.

Looking forward to tomorrow's field trip to Red Hills Mine in Ackerman.

Day 2: Google Pro, Kinsey Collection, Seasons Exercise, Toilet Paper Activity, 5 Themes of Geography

We started our day in the library with Google Pro training.  Very informative but fast paced.  I will certainly have to go back and read the handout.
We then went and viewed the Kinsey Collection.  Very interesting and worth the time for anyone who has not seen it.
Dr. Sherman- Morris then conducted an Seasons activity to get us moving.
Dr. Sherman -Morris also conducted a creating a timeline activity that was very useful in showing us how to involve the students in the learning process.
Michael Murphy lectured on the  Civil rights movement.  Learned some things about the Civil Rights Movement that I did not know.
We ended our day with the 5 Themes of Geography which I will be able to take back to my classroom in the fall.
A lot of information today!!  Will take some time to process it all.

Day One: Introductions, Magnolia Training, Blogging

Our first day was a full day.  After  MAGNOLIA training and learning to blog I look forward to the next 19 days and learning new and innovative things that I will be able to take back to my classroom this fall.  I enjoyed the different presentations and meeting teachers from other districts.  Lots of new to learn and looking forward to it.  The tour of the campus was interesting and enabled me to get my exercise as well.

I look forward to learning how to incorporate more technology into my classrooms this fall.