Let's Salute the Week!

Why this . . . . is a good thing?

This blog title will become a regular title in my blog on this day.  Why this . . . . is a good thing?  The . . . . will be where I put an event, piece of technology or another related item to this blog.  I hoping that I will present a well researched item that works well in the classroom, presentation or some other kind of professional development.

The world, oh the world.  This week I have been Skyping with individuals in Asia.  This means that I am talking in real world time with individuals who live in an Asian country, a place that my daughter travelled literally 24 hours to visit.

I am in the process of turning my skills into something else.  Something that I can do over the Internet in a remote position, where I can earn an annual salary and a bit more.  Not only that but I want to some traveling, but I want to do it six months out of the year and then spend the rest of the year up in the mountains.

God is fighting my battle right now and I am planning on this life!!!

A Little Support . . . A Lot of Hope

When I went to college I was was one of the few people, I knew,  who had not changed their major.  There was no doubt in my mind that I would always work as a teacher, an educator in some capacity. There was no question that I would use technology as I was an audio/visual worker in high school. I have dreamt about working as a preschool teacher, a special education teacher, or elementary AND I WOULD BE GOOD.

My dreams did come true, I have worked at each level of education with the exception of post high school education, but I have conducted professional developments for teacher, online and in person.  I have always been interested in technology and that is why when I renew my license this year I will add that endorsement to my license.

It is the end of the year!  It has been a tough year.    I have thought hard and long that there were ways I could manage each job, I could use technology.  However, since I was not the technology coordinator, I didn't have administrative rights, which made it difficult, if not impossible to use anything that was not school issued.  The end is near.  We have rough 3 weeks of school left this year and I will not return next year.

I subscribe to a blog written by Vicki Smith and she provides links to wonderful sites. She has a site that I would like to be part of my blog, but I also like to give my opinion of various sites.

• Some of you, like me have many days left, prayer is a great way to get through the many days and one day can feel like many.  Join this challenge:  Linda Kardamis' 21-day prayer challenge
• Some of you will end school tomorrow or in one of the many tomorrow, check out this link:
• http://www.coolcatteacher.com/finding-your-beautiful-moment-the-last-week-of-school
• check out the rest of her ideas for ending the year:  coolcatteacher.com/blog

Finally, there are individuals like myself who are sad and happy to see the end of the year.  I will miss the students, this is the first year in a long time where students outside my classroom stop and say hi to me during the day.  Students from past years have stopped me; in a lot of ways it has been ego affirming that individuals know, like and remember me.  However, I have also lost co workers and relatives this year.  It has been a year for reflection. 

This blog will still be about technology, teaching and curriculum, but I want to acknowledge where I am and I don't want to be teaching for the rest of my life in a public or charter school.

Changing Your Position in Education

I recently made the decision that after a  year of learning many lessons about working in a different school environment in four different roles I will not return next year. In 25 days, I will be changing my title to that of an online learning specialist.  I will be working online, full time.

There are so many negative things that I could say and why do negative thoughts come into a persona's mind rather than positive.  Of course there are plenty of people who think positive thoughts right away. In the meantime, I learned that the best thing I could do was to keep my mouth closed.  

Working online should be interesting, I need to learn another set of skills as I work online and earn a living.  I am very excited and grateful to see what God has in store with me.

Let's Salute the Week . . . . . have a great one!!!

  I finished my first stack of books from the Research for Reading challenge in March.  I really liked them, in fact as I read them to my students the language in them was great.  I have language challenged students so it was fun to read espcially

"Best Frints in the whole universe" by Antoinette Portis.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and the kids were able to put the right words with the "made up" words by the author.

Teaching/Working ONline

Today I had my first foray into teaching online.  I have been filling out a lot of applications for remote work.  I am a online learning specialist, but I have been looking for other things so that I can get more experience in other online arenas.

Interview lessons learned:

I was interviewed for and English language teaching job.  It was a good experience and I hope I get

the job.  However, even if I don't I did learn a few things during the interview:

• teaching online is definitely different than in person teaching
• requires more preparation, because some of the materials I used needed to be larger.
• the "I Do, We do, You do" format is much different.  The modelling requires more practice.
• planning also includes practicing it online so that visual aspect can be seen ahead of time and problems can be eliminated in advance.
• teaching online and presenting webinars are not the same

Reflecting on the lesson, I don't think I impressed my interviewer, but it was my first time out, so I hope I am interviewed again.  However, I don't a lot, because I do want to teach online.

My Reasons for Online/Remote/Virtual Work

My husband and I own a cabin in the mountains that we want to move to and live it at least six month of the year.  It is not a place where I would feel comfortable commuting to work everyday, especially since the commute is all down hill.  IN addition, there are are several  animals that I would have to share the road with in the morning and at night.  Plus, remote work would mean that I can stay in the house, take a walk during the noon hour and when 5:00 comes I don't have far to go.  

Plus, we also own a 22 foot RV with a slide and a outside kitchen.  We have met several people who live and work full time out of their RV, plus I watch a lot of RV shows.  The main thing we would need would be a cellular enhancer.  This would give us the time and travel we both want to have in our life.

Learning more and more about technology will really help me with this goal!

Bringing it Up to Date

The week has been busy, so has the month. i h started off the month putting all my books and reviews in order so I would remember to post them on a regular basis.  It did not work out well!

However, the day will begin again and God's mercy  begins every day.

The month is almost in the middle, I know we are not in the teens yet.  We are in the single digits.  The week I put in my resignation this week.  I can't go back to that school.  Actually I can't go back to any school.  I need an online job.  I need to find one or I need to develop one myself.  I will be working hard at that this month.  It will be put in place.

Let's Salute the Week

Book Review: Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Character Choices That Matter Around the World by Garth Sundem

Book Review: Creating an Online Presence by Cat Rambo

Let's Salute the Week

Happy Easter!

Christ has risen!  Christ has risen, indeed!

The middle cross is where our Lord was nailed and on either side the thieves were also nailed.  Please, be like the thief on the side that asked our Lord for forgiveness and was granted it, even though he hung for his sins.  Our Lord hung for our sins!  WE are forgiven!

A quick note, I am learning how to use the scheduler and as many of you may have noted, I am not very good at it.  This week I will be taking Charity Preston's course, "5 Days to social Media Scheduling . . " I am very excited, especially since I will have an accountability partner for the whole time. Trisha Katkin is my accountability partner and her site if  "The Seven Step Social Story" at  http://trishakatkin.com/.  

Also this week I will be sharing my technology project from my course on Canva, it will be a very busy week, but I am hoping to learn a lot, sharpen my skills (writing and social media) and get better at this who blogging!

Take care everyone!!!

Book Review: The Cyber Effect A Pioneering Cyberpsychologist Explains How Human Behavior Changes Online by Mary Aiken

A cyberpsychologist, really.  Yes really, we have progressed in our world to the point where we need someone to explain the type of person who is online.  In this case the character of the psychologist in  CSI: Cyber, (i.e. played by Patricia Arquette) is based on the author, Mary Aiken.  I loved that show and I learned a lot about that field of cyber, this book explains more . . 

Synopsis

The author explains the behavior of people who spend a lot of time online or use online. Mary Aiken's  coins the phrase "cyberchrondria" to describe a whole suite of anxieties related to online search of real and imagined health ills.  In addition, she discusses why people develop relationships online as opposed to in person. 

Aiken has a number of recommendations to help avoid some of the pitfalls she sees in her research, for example, a separate Internet for children, which would be walled off from the dangerous Internet of porn and predators. Parents need to be vigilant, but unfortunately they don't have all of the information the need to adequate and informed decisions. 

Book Review plus 4. 6 stars:

This book is fascinating and, but not a quick read.  While reading the book does each you a lot about safety . y, especially what to look for when searching the Internet. It is an interesting outline of a world that most of us touch every day but know so little about.  

This ARC was provided to me from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review. 

Mentor Books: Good/Bad

"A mentor text is a written piece used in education as an example of quality writing used by an individual to illustrate a genre or text." (ehow.com/about_5324946_mentor_text.html (2016)

Artists use other paintings and drawings to learn techniques. Teachers follow other teachers around to learn their styles. People use models of like material or models that represent something that they want to create. Writers in and out of the classroom are no different, they need inspiration, a good model or just an idea so that they can make their  improve their manuscript

I spent a lot of time looking at webinars to find the best approach and presentation.  However, I noted that in one of my presentations, it wasn't very good and needed to understand the problem.  People who use mentor text in a similar method in order to help them correct a problem that they may be having with their manuscript.  I know that when I have attended trainings in the past most of the presenters encourage people to underline or take notes as they read a book.  I know that I have done that! I have found a passage or way the author has written a scene and wrote down my interpretation of the author's style. I DO NOT COPY IT!

Copying a style of writing, it is just copying.  When you see how a writer has written a manuscript in a genre or trying to find a good rhyme,  it is good to take notes and use it for future or  current manuscripts.  Ralph Fletcher encourages the use of mentor texts in his books, when teaching during writing workshop. Reading for research is a month long "challenge" to read various types of mentor texts and blog posts on all different kinds of genre and techniques.  I didn't really get into this year, but I will be going through it on my own at a leisurely pace.  What I really want to do is include the technology so that I can save my notes, the books and keep it handy for curriculum materials.

In the next coming months, I will be developing curriculum materials with one eye on educational technology and the other eye on working a skill or technique into a writing lesson.

Let's Salute the Week!!

April 3 is the first day back to school.   Spring break has been busy, our dishwasher broke and the new one we bought did not quite fit, so now we have to wait until Tuesday to get the other new one. However, my husband has been good about washing and drying the dishes.  

In addition, I have been active in my special education Face book group, which is great!!.  They are a wonderful group of people and we have really interesting discussions.  In addition, I have been brushing up on my Educational Technology skills by taking some courses

through Canvas: 

* Instructional Design Service Course: Gain Experience for Good

* Integrating CCRS and Literacy K-12

* E-Learning Environments and E-learning Design

* Copyright for Educators

* Accessibility: Designing and Teaching Courses for All Learners

* Instructional Evaluation Service Course: Gain Experience For (K-12) 

* BL-101: Beginning to Blend

My license is due in September for renewal and I want to add instructional design certification my teaching license.

In addition, we have been clearing out boxes from a family members house, beginning my round of doctors appointments and visiting people. 

The week begins, onward and forward!!

Accommodating Students with Special Needs: Five things to remember!

 When a students requires an accommodation(s) in order to access the general education curriculum that are at least five items that an educator needs to remember when developing their plan.  Not all students need an individual education plan.  They may need an accommodation, a general plan or specifica plan, but they all need to be written up in order to provide students with the instruction they need to learn!   

1.  It’s not about following the letter of the law but the spirit of the law.

An educator needs to remember that the law is designed to protect and help the students learn and access the general education curriculum in the classroom. The student should be spending as much time in the general education classroom as possible,while the students receives the instruction that they need. The spirit of the educational law is just that, it needs to utilized to provide the student with an education. 

2.  Listen to the students when assigning the accommodations.

The individual education plan that is designed for the student should be provide the accommodations that he or she needs to access the general education curriculum.  That is why it is important for the students to receive interventions prior to the during the development of the IEP.  This way the students and the teachers provide the accommodations that the students need and are good for that student.  Cookie cutter accommodations do not work for the students, nor should they be used to help the student. It is important to listen to what the student is saying and not saying as they are working in the classroom.

3. Students also have invisible disabilities.

The students may not have an educational disability that impacts their educational career.  It could be that the students have a chronic illness that may not be visible to the teacher. The educator needs to watch how the student is learning and what is causing the student to struggle in the classroom.  This would be up to the educator to make sure that they are aware of the laws that protect their civil rights.

4. Two laws regarding the protection of students with disabilities:

It is important to know and be aware of the following laws when setting up their students educational plans.  Instruction is not just the curriculum, but how it is provided in order to measure of how the educator can provide the student(s) access to the curriculum.  An individual educational plan may not be the route to go in order to provide them with access. 

       1. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504)  

       2.  Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

       3.  IDEA The Individual with Disabilities Act

5.  Disability is a protected class that we can all someday be a part of temporarily or permanent

This is the most important item to remember when setting up the accommodations for the students. Someday you may be have a temporary disability that requires you to need your civil rights protected and have accommodations put in place in order to do your job. 

Let's Salute the Week!

Start of the week:

 This week began with seeing a Falcon cooling off in our bird bath.  In addition, I watched a moose eat her breakfast on the side of the road. 

Old Fashion Technology

I watched American Pickers, sort of. . .  In this episode the stars are free lancing and find this older gentleman has a lot of good, quality old stuff.  One of the items was one of the first slide projectors.  It was so cool, I mean really cool!  This item even had the slides to go with it!!  However, I could not find a picture of this old slide projector to show you! Take my word for it, it was cool!

Actually, I wouldn't mind using it today.  The docu camera is good, but I don't know ... I'll explore this option later on in the week.

Side/Virtual Business:

This is an interesting area for me, I would like to tutor online, create curriculum and training, in addition to other items.  I know what I want to do and I guess it is time for pushing up the sleeves, putting lotion on my hands and getting my creative gig on.  The main purpose is work at the house, the cabin and the RV.


Upcoming events

•  Book reviews
• App reviews
• adding an addition space for jobs

This is the end!  Please stay tuned!!!

Let's Salute the Week!!

I just realized that I haven't posted in almost a week on this blog.  That is not a good thing, I have so much that would like to share with you all.  My mind has been going a mile a minute and then some!!

As you can see,  this is my dream job, my job that provides a paycheck is well, is.  I will be evaluated tomorrow.  Deep Breath!!!

Educational News:

There is a lot of news in the world!  President Trump has been moving very fast!

Business News:

My TeacherPayTeachers store will open at the end of March.  My facebook group will be beginning around than too

Everyone have a great week!!!

Let's Salute this Week

This is a new week.

I read three books this weekend and one of them was By John Maxwell . He discussed how we must learn from our fallers and keep on keeping on.  I have been experiencing failure in all of my careers since I have moved here.  Those failures have always been someone else's faults.  No matter what I was not to blame.

Great philosophy if it's true, most of our failures are our fault.  Some our are 100% our fault.  I have come to realize my issues are the result of fear, lack of faith and diligence.

Change does not come in a day, it comes in years.  Satan wants us to fail and fail again.  That is why when you are making gains he hits you hard.  He hits you through all aspects of your life, through your children, family, jog, money.

It won't be easy, but the next five years will b interesting!

Merry Christmas, Dear Dragon (Beginning-To-Read) Kindle Edition by Margaret Hillert and Jack Pullan

Synopsis

A boy and his pet dragon enjoy winter activities and prepare for a very merry Christmas. This book uses high frequency words and repetition, within the book so that the readers gain confidence as they read the book.  The student really enjoy the every day experiences with a boy and his imaginary pet dragon. There are educator resources which include reading reinforcement activities and a word list in the back. The activities focus on foundational, language and reading skills, in addition, the resources include phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. There are teacher notes available on publisher's website which will help with the lesson planning and small groups.

Summary and rating of 4.7

This series was first introduced to me in 2014.  It was one of the first books I reviewed and I have really enjoyed them.  I have read them to my students who have really enjoyed them.  The illustration, text and addition pop up words are really wonderful.  I highly recommend this book. 

This ARC has been given to me by Norwood House Press via Netgalley

Just a Normal Tuesday Hardcover by Kim Turrisi

Synopsis

What begins as just a normal Tuesday becomes a day that will shatter sixteen-year-old Kai's life,  Jen has committed suicide.

Kai is heartbroken and furious and life getting worse; That's when her parents shock her: they're sending her to the Tree House, a summer camp for grieving teens.

Just a Normal Tuesday offers a road map for anyone who has been touched by loss and anyone who is looking for hope in a broken world. 

Summary and rating of 4.7

Middle school teachers will like this book as a way to introduce and discuss suicide and all of its ramifications.  The reality of suicide is heartbreaking for everyone connected, this book will deal with this a topic starter.

This ARC has been given to me by Kids Can Press via Netgalley

Spork by Kyo Maclear, Isabelle Arsenault

Synopsis

Spork is half spoon and half fork, as a result he feel as if he doesn’t quite being on the silverware drawer. One day, a baby arrived and there wasn’t a utensil for him to be fed with, but the spork turned out to be just what he needed to be fed.  The story relates to the positve portrayal of “mixed-race” character, which is so wonderful. 

Summary and rating of 4.5

The great use of words to provide a great storytelling experience, with the mixed-media illustrations which bring the readers into the story.  This book provides teachers and parents with a great conversation start on topics of race, difference, and acceptance.  This would be a great book to use during the African American and Mexican American month.  This is a Kindle Edition.

This ARC has been given to me by Kids Can Press via Netgalley

Happy Valentine's Day

Let's salute the week,!

The road has been bumpy and painful

The true enemy has been busy at work.

Forgiveness is the only way out.

How do you forgive?  When it hurts.

Thy will be done.

Forgive us our debts 

As 

We forgive those debts against us

That is why I like technology, things can be erased so quickly and completely, until it can't. Don't let Satan burn your soul Be obediant and let your gifts from God shine!

Book Review: Animals Do, Too!: How They Behave Just Like You by Etta Kaner and Marylin Faucher

Synopsis

This visual aspects (aka the illustrations) of this nonfiction book, even in the ebook, are wonderful! The text and illustrations are wonderfully connected through a rhythmic question and answer format in the book. In addition to the comparison between the animals and how we handle our family.

  

Summary and rating of 4.5

Wonderful! Wonderful!  This was a really good book and a great mentor book to illustrate rhythm and comparison to the students.  I think that teachers will have a wonderful time with this book. 

This ARC has been given to me by Kids Can Press via Netgalley

Let's Salute the Week!

Well, we finally had a our first full week of school with the students and I had to take a half day off.  I though how much easier it would be if I could have had everything on video for my students and subs.  The good news I am a lot closer than I was yesterday.  Next week I will discuss it with you!

Procrastination

I have look at my most visited sites.  They include:

• Amazon
• Home! Daily Mail Online
• TMZ.com Celebrity Gossip
• Facebook
• Find Titles/NetGalley
• News/People.com

None of the "most visited sites" do not include an educational site or educational technology site.  I must admit I wasn't surprised to see those sites. They are one that all I have to do is enter the first letter and the rest of the site comes up. I will say that none of these sites have an app on my tablet's home screen 

My word is Diligent.  I will be diligent because I want to be a Google trainer and Apple Distinguished Educator.  This will happen!

Show Me Interactive Whiteboard

That is all there is to it if I am going to continue to work as mild moderate and multi intensive teacher, I need to have a least one more teacher to work with me. As a result, I will be starting with an app that I had used in the past when I decided to leave for four days and go to a convention. Sh. . . I didn’t tell the administration, I just took time off.

The app is called Show Me Interactive Whiteboard by Learnbat, Inc.  It worked well!  Also, to writing out what I wanted to accomplish, I was able to complete a video and attach them to the lesson.  I will be doing that this time as well. The only problem that I am running into is that the I need to figure out how to show it onto the smart board.

This post is not a sponsored post; I am not receiving any compensation for the app or its promotion.  I just like the app.  Here is a link to the website:  http://www.showme.com/

Show Me Interactive Whiteboard is fantastic.  I don’t remember if I paid for the ShowMe app because it was an app I was trying out for the company.  However, at this point, if you want all of the features it costs $5.99 a month, but to get it initially, it is a free app and does give you a lot of features.  ShowMe allows you to record voice-over whiteboard tutorials and share them online. It’s an amazingly simple app that anyone can use, no matter how young or old!

The app was great in setting up a class lesson for the students while I was gone.  The substitute provided information for her when she was unsure about how to process an experience for the students.  She would put the iPad on the table for the student to watch, while she had the materials in place.  Also, I recorded the routines and rituals for the classroom and a complete set up for the classroom management system.

What I liked was that I could easily edit the material on the app.  After I returned I update the class lists, the classroom management, the individual behavioral plans and the lessons as they progressed. I also used the app for centers and other small groups when the paras were absent.

All in all, I like the app and use it regularly.  I do encourage its use.  Finally, I have never paid for the upgrade, not that I remember but for those of you who have larger iPads it might be something to consider.

Who are in my Personal Learning Network? Why are they in my Personal Network?

 Everyone needs a personal learning network in order to be successful! This is a comment that I find a lot in the blog posts, job hunting advice and in the Bible. The individuals who are in your network can enhance and amplify your learning, success, creativity, happiness, joy and life.   

In order to develop and determine your personal learning network I propose that you list your responses and comments regarding the following five points:  

1.  Personal Belief System

Some people call this a moral compass, but it is an answer to what do you believe in and who has the ultimate power in your life.  My personal belief system is the Bible. I pray a lot and communicate with God.  I want to be obedient to his word and commandments. I need people to hold me accountable.

                                  2.  A Bucket List                                                             In the movie “A Bucket List," the two hospital roommates make a list and set out to achieve those goals.  There are two components involved in the bucket list:  your mindset and your boundaries.  In order to make a bucket list, your mindset has to be open and your boundaries need to be limitless. Several years ago, I made a bucket list and I thought I put it in my Bible, but when I went to find it I couldn’t, so after fruitlessly searching for it, I made a new one. The list is typed, in my handbook and hs the following sections of importance -  primary goals as writing, teaching and traveling goals. 
-  secondary goals financial, relationship, health
- tertiary goals meeting people, habits, 

I have realized that in order to achieve those goals I need to make health and relationships a priority, followed by everything else so .… 

3. Develop your Personal Learning Network

a. Develop a type or characteristics of individuals that you want to associate with and why.

           

             Remember there are people in your life who you have little choice but to accept them as part of your existence, but it is YOUR CHOICE what kind of influence they have in your                   life. The people include:

              -Co-Workers: (workplace individuals, supervisors, team members and all other  staff members at your place of employ.”

              You DO have to be professional and give them professional respect.  You DO NOT have to                let them use you as target practice or tell you what your opinion is on ANY subject.

       - A social media friend has the same interests (educational technology, education, writer,                   blogger, book reviewer, author, entrepreneurial and/or presentation skills) and shares                      them with me, as I share with them. 

These are not individuals you know personally, usually.

 

4.  Boundaries

It is important to establish a gate around your life, it doesn’t have to be a solid wall, more like a picket fence that you can see over but people need your permission to come into your world.  The individuals outside this fence do not have the privilege to influence, direct or impact your life in any manner. 

5.  Council of Influencers

This council consists of you, you are the chairman of the board, and everyone in your council will help you meet your goals and positively influence you. This is a group of people that you choose, some may be close friends, some may be celebrities that have achieved your goals and want to know how they did it, or they may be individuals in between. You choose them, you accept them and the council does not consist of more than 10, usually only 5 people. They are who you touch base with when you make an important decision. As you change, your council of influencers may change or it may stay the same, but you need to constantly evaluate who is in your circle of trust.

This list is not exclusive the five points that are listed in this post, but they do provide an outline to help you select and develop your personal learning network.  It is not a short process and it should not be a long process, but it is a process that must be constantly re evaluated to determine if the personal learning network that you have developed has been helpful. 

Let's Salute the Week

This past week has been productive, Yeah!

There is a blog post scheduled for Monday. This blog is completed. That was an accomplishment, now if my followers could comment on this blog, I would appreciate it.

This blog is dedicated to my curriculum development, teaching, educational technology, and learning.

My administration is setting up a technology committee for next year; I have asked to be included on the panel.  The time commitment to develop a flipped classroom is all-consuming, but as I stated in a previous post, I have been asked to submit my work for Apple Distinguished Educator.  In addition to completing modules that will give me more skills and as a supervisor stated put more skills on my resume.

The district has allotted me four fourth-generation iPads, and the school granted me three iPads from a previous grant.  I am trying to get two desktops or iPads, as well as get on the chrome calendar to instruct keyboarding skills once a week. Flipping my classroom is something I will start this week and put an outline so others can use it to develop a flipped classroom at their school.  It is time-consuming, but this is an activity I will complete and continue so that I can submit it to Apple. 

Finally, this week should be a relatively good week, now that I know it is the spiritual forces that are trying to get on my nerves.  I won’t let it bother me, whether it happens or not, well that remains to be seen.

Let's Salute the Week!!

  “I know God will not give me anything I can't handle.  I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.  “- Mother Teresa

 I wish I could say that I liked the lessons and events of this week. There are times when I like to think that I am writing a blog that attracts a million followers because I am sharing very interesting and wonderful words in the field of educational technology.  Blogs that are written by a wonderful Christian Educational Technologist. I am grateful that I have the ability to write that I am trying to show I am GRATEFUL for what I have!!

Lessons and they're Learning . . . and more learning

Praise You in This Storm

Songwriters:  John Mark Hall, Bernie Herms

Sung by:  Casting Crown

Thy Will

Writer(s): Hillary Scott, Emily Weisband and Bernie Herms (2016)

Sung by:  Hillary Scott and the Scott family

Shaken (c) 2014

written): Bernie Herms/Matthew West/Randy Phillips

sung:  Danny Gokey

Giants Fall

Songwriters: Molly E. Reed, Francesca Battistelli, Jeff Pardo

 Sung by: Francesca Battistelli

These four songs were playing each night on the way from home,  four out of the five nights this past week I cried coming home,These songs were playing.  It is one of those situations where I understand it on an intellectual level, but it still hurts.  These songs didn’t make it any better, but it was handled in a very hurtful situation.

Apple Distinguished Educator Program

No, I am not one nor have I completed the requirement to become one.  However, I received and invitation to go ahead and complete the lessons to to become one.  I am very excited about the process. If you are interested the application is open.

It is an eight course process and hopefully by Jun I will have completed all of the courses.

This week will be better!

Starting a New Quarter

  

January represents, to many of us, a new quarter, trimester, to be soon followed by a celebrations of a 100 days of school. This year began with my husband recovering from a severe injury,  a funeral, debt collectors and a call from a bails bondsmen. 

Dear Past,

Thank you for all of the lessons!

Dear Future,

I am ready!

The year has started out with a bang! When I saw this quote, (worry don’t know who wrote it)  but this is how I am viewing the upcoming month, especially this year. The year began because of past decision, but it will change this year. 2016 had been a confusing year, to say the least.  I believe that I have followed my Lord, but I also know that I have not been obedient as I should be this year. Consequently  . . .

One of the most important lessons I’m taking into 2017 . . . 

If you can’t do anything about it, then let it go. Don’t be a prisoner to things you can’t change.  (Tony Gaskin)

In addition, a new quarter, many educators will be receiving an intent letter.  Will you be going back?  What will you teach? Then you have to return it by a February date. This does not mean that you will be asked back, but the powers that be want to know if you will be returning.

I haven’t made any decisions about this decision.  I know what I want to be doing this time next year.  I know what needs to happen in order of this to occur. 

When you reflect on the new quarter, keep all of these items in mind.  Remember, the students still need to be taught and the quality of your teaching will reflect your emotional state. 

Have a great quarter!!