GAETI Day 20

I can't believe this is the end! I have really enjoyed this immersion experience in such capable hands. To know that I could learn freely and try to do what I thought with no worries of getting lost was priceless! This has been a fantabulous group of professionals to work with; I look forward to meeting with them and see what good things will come of all this. For myself, I fully accept the challenge to step out of my comfort zone for the sake of moving myself into a new age of teaching. I know my students will greatly benefit; a new bar has been set for measuring personal and student growth. Lamon labe!

GAETI Blog: Day 18: The End is Near...

GAETI Blog: Day 18: The End is Near...: Finished up with our Art presentations, er'body did their thing and seemed to be proud of their work. We visited the student disability ...  

GAETI Day 19

Today was interesting hearing all of the presentations. Once I presented, I thought of several ways I could improve. It was fun participating in each others lessons. My goal is to do a project of some type each nine weeks. Lots of talented people in here!

GAETI Day 18

I am so glad we had time to work on my lesson plan. Just putting the finishing touches on it to be ready for the presentation tomorrow. Presenting my art project today was fun. All of the symbolism in it is intriguing...the sun and moon pyramids, the triangle for the Brazilian flag, all of the angular shapes with a few circles because we are all part of the world. I made a cross, but it looks like a plane or a directional finder- we all get/got to this country some way and we are united by religion. The colors are representative of the flags-red, blue, yellow, and green. These people are a hoot! The humor is such fun to be a part of!

GAETI DAy 17

Well, it is finished! (The art project that is.) I tried last night to work on Power point with my Apple computer and they did not jive. My lesson plan is coming along, and I'm SUPER excited to have added most things to my web page. To see all the things I have created is exciting! I NEVER expected to learn this much! I am looking forward to perfecting my skills in canvas. I created a graph in piktochart and did some work in infographics, loaded a picture into an audio file on audioboo, and created a power point with sound. Mrs. Cannady burst my bubble with all of the new updated info during her "Copyright or Copywrong" presentation. Yesterday Dr. Beriswill showed us some really cool shortcuts to create a power point. She is very nifty with all of her tricks. She is always cool as a cucumber in her presentations. Very refreshing! I will look on Amazon or eBay for some of the games she let us play. Well, I'm off to eat and work on my lesson plan! Aurevoir, alviterzein, winershnitzel, ciao, chao, adios!

GAETI Day 16

Well, I got started on my PowerPoint to go with my lesson plan today! It was really fun to have time to sit and play with the Powerpoint and add some graphics. My goal is to choose the most boring thing, grammar, and spice it up. This will be a way to draw the students in and have it be creative with lots of cool graphics to make my presentations representative of me that will cause them to remember the information. This IS proof that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! The Powerpoint presentation was a huge accomplishment for me because I do not think like that. I'm learning and am looking forward to presenting my lesson plan. The canvas tutorial was helpful and will help me when I actually learn to use it for how the Clinton District wants us to use it. Well, I'm off to work on my lesson plan!

GAETI Day 15

I REALLY like playing with all of the new things we have learned! We finished our webquest project and posted it online at our canvas account. It is great to be able to put our heads together and create things we can USE in our rooms. This morning was interesting in the fact that I can use, one day, all of these different types of technologies and sync them to accomplish _______________. (I do not have a word to describe what I'm feeling...educational-teaching-freedom- while-walking-around-the-room-dom.) I can't wait to finish some of the other lessons we've started! IT'S ALL BECOMING CLEARER!

GAETI Day 14

I have spent more time on the computer TODAY than I have all of last YEAR!!!! It was great stuff; I need time to play with it and process it so I can ask questions and see what I'm having problems with. I'm really looking forward to closing things out and seeing a finished product on my weebly website and my lesson plans. There is lots to do! I'm oober excited about showing off my newly acquired skills. I can use the podlet as a do now or reflection tool. The webquest is neat for creating online projects; they can do a monton (Spanish for A LOT) of common core with that. Well, I'm off to drive home and think about this week! Adios!

GAETI Day 13

This morning was very helpful just to hear the same info again, but it was nice to have the new actiities and see how each person that presents puts a little twist on their activity. Each of us will infuse our lessons with our personalities while meting these objectives. Dr. Lee's shortcuts to use when serching the web were helpful for me. I am not a good searcher for information. I just don't know what words to use sometimes; I will need the video on "Searching Google" (or something like that). I really liked the kid friendly websites so I can have my personal kiddos search for info this summer. I want to prepare them as much as I can while I have time. Through this art project with Mrs. Latham, my creative juices are flowing, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm excited about explaining the symbolism and what it means to me! This institute has been great so far. Everything is winding down, and I know next week will be a whirlwind as it all culminates and poof...we are finished. It feels so good to learn and from such knowledgeable people. I thank God for this experience!

GAETI Day 12

I thank God for my health and abilities to complete my daily life and duties! I was completely overwhelmed when we sat down to plan a lesson and I had to go through each step. There are some things that I do automatically; over time things will get easier. We also discussed all the different schedules we teach in during the day. Those schools that have had the hybrid block schedule did not stick with it. They eventually went to the block schedule with 90 minute classes or back to the traditional 50 minute classes. It will be interesting to see how this next year goes! Mrs. Bennett, from the Federal Reserve, had a LOT to say about economics and history. It was extremely enlightening because I can see how I can incorporate our currency and the people on the bills and why with currency from other countries. Bringing the info in about our currency will not only be interesting, but it will be teaching across the curriculum. Meshing all of that into my teaching is the revamp that I am looking for. The video with Chin Chi Cho was really neat! It was so nice to see her and hear her speak English. The music selections she chose really give an insight to the culture. The word "wife" is made up of the words behind and home. They want their spouse to die first so they don't have to watch the other suffer. We Westerners are just the opposite!

GAETI Day 11

Today was really neat to see that some districts are stuck in a rut, the Stone Age. I am thankful that I am in a district that has taken the time to research and implement these new strategies of learning. Having lived outside of this state and moving back, it's like a time warp. I am grateful that the teachers that are here at GAETI are good teachers that have the students' well-being in mind. These are tough times of integrating districts, and in the process, some might not have a job next year. That's unfortunate, because what I'm hearing as we discuss topics are very well-informed adults that are in this career because they want to be a catalyst for change. (The very people that gave permission for this opportunity to happen WILL be challenged on various topics.) (...I'm stepping off the soap box...) I did find it rather mind boggling when I looked at the CCSS/CCRR Standards along with the MS and the NSLL Standards. I just wanted to teach how to conjugate an AR verb. With the new standards, learning has to be linked and scaffolding has to take place; we are ALWAYS building on previous learning! (How exciting:0) We has a really good discussion on MSTAR and how it might be linked to merit pay in the future. There are lots of unknown factors and therefore it is hard to accept that. (I'm stepping back on the soap box...) IF merit pay comes down, I think we need to have some sort of evaluation tool for these legislators and representatives to determine their merit pay. Everybody wants to tell everyone else HOW to do their job. If you want to know what teachers do, go IN the classrooms...and not just for a day. Better yet, TEACH and see how easy it is. I bet you mind will be amazed at the many facets of the job. As my children get older, I'm learning the difference between a teacher and a TEACHER. There are those individuals that put the information out there and whoever grasps it does well. What about those students that don't know how to grasp it or are afraid to ask questions? That is where a TEACHER comes in and takes that person by the hand walking them through the steps SO learning can take place. After all, someone held our hand once. As a result, students are falling through the cracks. It is hard to sit by and watch it happen if it is your child. We need take ownership and teach these students as if they were ours.

GAETI Day 10

My head is about to explode with all of the ideas bouncing around in it; I can't write them down fast enough! Today was a lot of ideas, but when we had time to think about how to implement them there are ENDLESS possibilities. Using the polleverywhere.com to post do nows or to wrap up a lesson would be a great way to see if the concept was understood and to which level. Students could work in groups to create podcasts to share with the class in which they have a grammar, speaking, and application portion to help review for an exam (each group takes a chapter or a portion of a chapter.) Google Docs (drive) will be a neat tool when creating dialogues. It will be easy to monitor who is doing what. To present their dialogues, the students can use imovie or simply record their skit and we can watch them as a class. Their creativity would soar! Using the google docs when out of the classroom would be helpful to see how far or at what rate of speed students are working. Responding to a blog every now and then would be neat to see what they are thinking about a particular topic and how much they might know from personal experience. I would like to try the QR codes in groups or as a scavenger hunt to have them listen/interact with various places/info. Whew! Mis dedos estan en fuego!

GAETI Day 9

Today was a breakthrough in understanding what 21st Century Skills are! Having it explained as soft skills-those important behaviors we "should" learn at home such as etiquette, ethics, social skills, etc. and hard skills-the content related and technical skills is SO much easier to grasp! It is difficult to teach those soft skills because teaching the whole child has, unfortunately, fallen on the classroom teacher. We can no longer assume that children should know certain skills. The way we interact with our students IS a teaching tool. Another speaker today came from the Dept. of Highway Safety, De'Marco Fomby. He was instrumental in telling us how some of the teens think about drugs and alcohol. This is a subject that I touch on in my class, but I can build on this by helping the health teacher at my school by translating some of the posters and info into Spanish. That will be great practice and maybe making a video in the target language to help involve as many students as possible. Good communication is the key. If colleges see a disconnect, they need to talk to the high schools and then we can produce well rounded students!

GAETI Day 6

We visited teh Extension Center for Economic Education amd Financial Literacy Office. I learned that the word "economics" is a REALLY broad term, at leat with all the things MSU does in that building. Dr. Becky Smith walked us through some pre-writing activities on what ecnomics meant to us; all I could think of at that point was frming and agriculture for some reason. After her presentation, we did a post writing activity; needless to say, we were all more informed. I learned that economists deal with cost and data to help make more informed decisions about the market or state of things. (n I know it's still somewhat vague, but there was sooooo much information it was difficult to process!) For our lunch talk, Dr. Cade Smith came in to talk about the "Alternative Spring Break" service-learning projec. This is where a group has classes and then goes out into the field to do hands on activities to help better a community. Some groups built raised beds to garden as well as green houses, cleaned up trash at various sites and then worked with teh community leaders to help establish some guidelines for helping to keep those places clean. Working with the community was an important part to explain why those areas should be kept clean and what side effects could result in further neglect. Talk about making a difference! Dr. April Heiselt talked extensively about service-learning and how it is different from community service. It as an ongoing process instead of a one time event. She has a dynamic personality that keeps her students on their toes...I bet! James Wilcox met with us via video confernce and he is doing soem service-learning at USM...Go EAGLES!!! He has middle school kids talking to senior citizens about fraud. The students come up with the presentations and then take thos to nursing homes and other places in the community. How NEAT for inter-generational learning! Dr. Bobbie Shaffett talked about financial planning and ways to bring that into the classroom. She had some ver practical ideas with all of the websites students can go to and get involved and help them take control of their learning, th estockmarket game was my favorite. It was a busy day! Lunch from the Pita Pit was fabuloso! I've never had anything quite like that before. Thanks for a great and informative day!

GAETI Day 7

I cannot draw a straight line and hate trying to get the same size square, BUT Dr. Beriswill has come to the rescue! We learned how to make games using Excel! All of the shortcuts, I always take the long way around, were crazy easy! I can make one template and change the cards according to the chapter. We learned how to take a shape and align it top and horizontally to make several shapes in a row. We also learned how to make a spinner, which is TOO COOL! We played board and card games earlier to figure out how long it would take the students. That was helpful because it is frustrating to hand the students a game and while they are trying to figure out the rules, I am frustrated that they are wasting time! They aren't! Voki was a neat way for those students that are shy to hear the language. They can create an avitar where they can type their script and it will say the script in the target language. Not that they will not have to practice, but they can have some assurance that they are "hearing themselves correctly in their head. As we were talking about the lesson plan, it was neat to learn some of the tricks, tubaloos for hearing themselves, dinero comico to use as extra points, bathroom passes, and homework passes. I have LOTS to think about!

GAETI Day 6

During the literacy strategies discussion, it will be easy to incorporate some of these with a short story in the target language. The House on Mango Street or Don Quixote are 2 I am eager to try. Having the students work in groups and go through this process together will be exciting. For some students, this will be the first time they will have to take charge of their learning. The jigsaw method will be a great tool to aid in test corrections; making students explain why they chose that answer and debating/discussing what is the correct answer and why. I have always wanted to try the "flipped" classroom I just didn't have the time to put the methods into practice. During the school year time is always moving and it is so fast paced that it is hard to slow down. (That is why we need a longer summer:0) The creative juices are flowing!!! I do want to focus more on dialogues and focusing on schema(what to do/say in certain situations.) Holding the attention of some students is difficult because I do not have an off button and do not move fast enough for some of them nor do I turn around the grades fast enough, BUT incorporating videos and the varied learning strategies will help to break the monotony of the day. Some students complain that class is never long enough; time flies when you're having fun! LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL...

GAETI Day 5

I have learned that the left side of my brain holds a creativity that is undiscovered! This art class is going to be FUN; however, it can't be fun for the instructor after she explains the process and answers my many questions multiple times...I do not see it. I have decided on a very abstract design that will speak to many because it WILL be open to interpretation:0 I'm up for the challenge...viva la stick people!!!! Designing the web page is very cool. I can see putting my parent letter and course expectations on there as well as pictures of my travels to inspire a new group of students. That will be useful to build as the years go by to see how things, as well as myself, have changed. The reflection question is listing 2 things that I found most and how I can apply them to my lesson planning and teaching. I will be able to use the thinking maps or designs in bubbl.us when I teach a unit on the family. Students can create a family tree and write a description about each member. The colors and options will be a great organizational tool. In our groups we discussed a lesson plan and it was great to put our heads together and let my language creativity flow. With all of the new websites polleverywhere.com, weebly.com, bubbl.us.com, and wordle.net and wordcloud.com, I will be able to have the students describe a person or get some raw ideas about a topic and show them the words that they chose using a graphic design. (This will surely get them talking:) I'm looking forward to new, improved, and revamped lessons. WATCH OUT...HERE I COME!

GAETI Day 4

As we wind down the week, there have been a wide variety of activities done. Not all have dealt with my subject are, but I can certainly modify it in some way. It is VERY interesting to hear all of the social studies people discuss certain topics! It's also nice to be able to talk about some of these "touchy" topics as a group and figure out how to bring them to our classes, of various ages, in a safe and teachable way. The Found Poem activity was my favorite activity today. (Archaeology is my first love; I enjoyed the museum immensely!)This is a great way to handle current events and political cartoons that deal with activities going on in other cultures. Students can read a passage and choose a phrase that interests them, and the groups works together to create a poem and they get the gist of article! Those low level readers do not get left behind and hopefully will gain some self confidence in the process by being actively involved in this process with their peers! Whew! Lots of ideas to write down...Adios until next week!

GAETI Day 3

First thing this morning it was a race against time, like a Survivor episode, as we raced across campus to find the next coordinates for our geocache activity. This was FUN! I enjoyed reading the clues and finding out about the history of MSU. I could do this, not with GPS, but with clues in spanish using prepositions and/or places in the school. It would be more interactive with the GPS devices, but I don't think that is in the budget. Nick Timmerman was very intersting in talking about Native American Civil Rights. This led to stereotypes and what is depicted in movies, cartoons, and most commonly, Disney films that I have shown my children. I will go back at some point and clear up those misconceptions so they will be more informed than some of their peers. In this age of "political correctness" who knows what could change? We went on Google Earth and plotted coordinates of various places; I can give clues to important chapter info and have them find the places using the coordinates given. A virtual scavenger hunt! This can be done at the beginning of the year to introduce the students to places the spanish language is spoken and as a project where they research a country and tell the type of government, languages and religions, etc. but also list ssome places they would like to visit and why. They could also plot the coordinates and we could show this to the class using the projector. These are easy yet fun activities to get the students involved and drawn into the subject matter. Finally, (music playing in the background) I have seen the light...this is the creativity I need.

GAETI Day 2

Whew! What a day. This morning was interesting listening to the social studies teachers and how I can plan across the curriculum with Spanish. It's really neat to know that I'm doing good things in my room. In the future, I plan to expand on some of the geography lesson I already have in place to try to meet more of these common core standards. Some of the presentations were hilarious! Mr. Chauncey Spears was excellent! I have a new perspective on Common Core. At first, I was overwhelmed at all of the "extra" stuff I was going to have to do. In reality, all I have to do is focus on literacy in my subject area. It has been a while since I have used Excel; it was fun creating graphs. I can use spatial maps and data in my classroom to show how many students have traveled outside of the U.S. or how many students speak languages other than English. Spatial data could be used to see how many students have experienced the focus of a chapter. Lots of things can be done to compare the data collected at the beginning of the year vs the end of the year. It is do nice to be with a group of teachers to collaborate, hear about the different struggles we face in certain areas of the state, and in the end know that we are in this profession for one reason, to positively impact the lives of others. It takes guts to do what we do...NO GUTS, NO GLORY!

Day One of GAETI

Well, I made it through Day One! This campus is huge, but after the tour today I have my bearings. This day has been full of new ideas to incorporate. I wish I had known of about MAGNOLIA when my son did a project/report on Roman mosaics. I am also excited about the new standards info that I can be implementing over the summer and aligning my lesson plans with Common Core. I am SOOOO thankful to be a part of this conference to grow myself!