Who says teachers have three months off to do nothing? Ha! Not this girl. Since getting out of school at the end of May, I've been on a nonstop, brain-busting, full of ideas kind of ride. To start off, I made a to-do list, which is great, unless you have a tendency to put it down somewhere and forget about it. That's me. Usually. But not this time. This time I decided to make the most of the summer off and get caught up on all the stuff I've been wanting to do for a while but just didn't have time.
The first item on my to-do list was to get my Apple Teacher certification.
Check! Finished that bad boy 4 days after school was out. I learned a lot and have some great ideas for next school year.
The next item on my list was to earn my Level 1 Google Certification. As of last night...
Check! Good Lord! That test had my stomach in knots prior to starting it, but once I did, I was psyched that I knew how to do everything it asked, though Sheets still kills me. Now I want to work on Level 2, but I do need to take some me time and just relax before school starts back up next month. Yes, we teachers go back the last week in July. Sigh.
The final BIG item on my to-do list was this blog. While preparing for the GCE1 exam, I found myself on an old blog I had back in 2009 when I was teaching English. At first I was good about keeping up with it, but then it fizzled out. I guess life got in the way. However, rereading the old posts (especially about losing my fur baby Max after 14 yrs) reminded me of how much I actually enjoy writing, sharing ideas, and connecting with others. So I decided to dive right in again and start fresh. My goal is to set aside at least an hour per week and blog about some of the things I'm doing in my 6th grade social studies classes. I'd like the focus to be fairly broad, including how we use tech in our class, as well as good old-fashioned hands-on learning. I'd also like to share what I've learned from others and from both the Apple and Google certifications process to help other teachers in my building.
Check!
I'm really lucky that I get to teach in a 1:1 iPad/Google for Education district. For most of my career (25+ years!), I taught with little to no tech at all. Now? The tech I have access to is incredible. We even have a Z-Space 3-D lab at the end of our hall! But technology only goes so far. Kids can and will get bored if all we use the iPad for is to play games or assign them drill and kill activities. Trust me on that. So this year, I'm stepping up my game. I'm going to put my newly earned skills to good use and change up how I've been doing things in the past.
Interest in gamifying classrooms have really skyrocketed in the last couple of years, and I'm no exception. However, I need to step it up a couple of notches and move beyond Quizlet Live/Quizizz and ClassCraft. This summer, I've read a couple of books that really inspire me to take my teaching to the next level and boost my students' engagement. If you haven't read
EDrenaline Rush by John Meehan, you should. His
website is loaded with great ideas and resources. Check it out! You won't be disappointed. But just be warned. You might find yourself filling your Amazon Prime cart with all the goodies you read about in his book. Other authors/teachers who inspire me include
Explore Like a Pirate's
Michael Matera,
Play Like a Pirate's
Quinn Rollins,
Make Learning Magical's
Tisha Richmond, and
Ditch that Textbook/Don't Ditch that Tech's
Matt Miller just to name a few. My stack of books keeps growing!
Well, that's it for now. It's time to close the computer, grab a book, or maybe just veg out in front of the tv for a while. I hope you enjoyed reading and that you come back soon!
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