GAETI: DAY 20

Wow...last day. We made it, and it is hard to tell these wonderful people "so long." We have been through so much with each other. We have learned so much in such a short amount of time. I truly hope that IHL funds GAETI for next year. I would love to come back to work with the next group, but mostly, I would love to see more teachers get to be a part of this fabulous institute.

A special thanks to Mrs. Angela Latham, for her sweet, exuberant nature and her belief that we all have the creative spark within us! God bless you for enthusiasm! Take care of yourself.

To all of our instructors: Dr. Beriswell, Dr. Sherman-Morris, Dr. Lee, and Dr. Huang--you have been wonderful to work with, and we appreciate all of the time you have invested in this institute and in our learning.

Dr. Bracey: God bless you and your family! We are so excited about Joshua; he is precious! 

GAETI Day 19

WooHoo!!! Finished my art project presentation...in front of IHL evaluators, Dr. Bunch and Dr. Lee. My colleagues and I did such a great job on these presentations! We are all working on final lesson plan presentation for tomorrow...OUR FINAL DAY!!!

I forgot to mention on yesterday's blog how wonderful Dr. Taylia Straughter was during her presentation. She made me see that, if I don't take time to take care of myself, I cannot take care of others. She was very adamant about the importance of balance in all aspects of our lives, and I realized that I have not been doing that very well, especially in the physical part of my life. So...what am I going to do about this? Well, my goal is start on Saturday, July 1, walking at Ola J. Pickett Park in Caledonia. I plan on getting up very early and taking the hour a day for myself (5-6 a.m.). Don't freak out...Dr. Straughter takes from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m.!

Pizza tomorrow and presentations and lots of love and ready to step out into the future with all that I will take away with me from GAETI 2017!!!

GAETI 18:

Sorry I missed this yesterday, but we were evacuated because someone decided to call in a bomb threat to the library (one building away from IED Building! How crazy is that?

Oh well, I cannot believe that our time is almost up at GAETI 2017. We have made friends, learned a lot, and found out that we actually are creative!

I truly appreciate my time here and please know that I cannot wait to implement all that I have learned from this institute in my classroom. The instructors have been AWESOME!!! Sorry I did not get to meet Dr. Bracey, but I am so excited for her and her new baby boy! We are supposed to meet her in the fall.

Got to run...must finish tonight with final assignment!

GAETI DAY 17:

This has been an extremely busy day for me. I have learned about Infographics and Piktochart and Spark video/audio content.

I have completely caught up on my Weebly portfolio pages. I have to admit that it looks great. I finally got all of my assignments posted on my Work Samples page.

We are learning about how to use Prezi from Mrs. Agnew (Library). We actually learned about Prezi Next, the newest version. We have had some technical difficulties...technology is wonderful as long as it is working!

GAETI DAY 16:

Ms. Agnew from the library spoke to us today about using IPads in the classroom. She showed us several websites, such as Pocket Body Lite and Career One Stop, for teachers to use.
Next we covered creating our story in Spark. This took me a little while because I forgot to publish at times.

We then started on our newspaper by researching tech topics to use as info for our newspaper. My topics were related to cyber security issues and gene therapy. We each found two articles that we will use in the newspaper.

After lunch, I completed my art project by typing my document that is attached to the back of the project. We had to write about how we would use this project in our classroom and how we would relate to our subject. I teach STEM, so I talked about how I would relate this project to the use of safety rules in the lab, the design process, and writing for reflection.

We finished the day by completing our newspaper in Google Docs as a shared document with two other students, April and Beverly. I am continuing to work on the Weebly webpage and posting my info on Canvas.

I cannot believe that we are in our final week! Where has the time gone?

GAETI DAY 15:

Today was an extremely busy day! Mr. Jeremy Martin, the assistant Mississippi Secretary of State, spoke to us about how to use the Secretary of State's website to develop an LLC, as well as showed us many of the resources that are available to the public for data analysis in preparing to open a business. He was so knowledgeable and passionate about his work and the good things that are happening in our state. We need many more people just like him!

Mrs. Latham discussed with us the parts of the business plan that we will need to work on for our project that we will complete next week.

After lunch and lots of rain, we completed our art projects. I am so excited about mine! I will upload a picture next week.

We worked on website (weebly.com) this afternoon. I did not realize how much I still had to do the site, but Jason said that we were on track with our work. I hope so! I hate being behind in my work.

Have a great weekend!

GAETI DAY 14:

Today we had a guest speaker, Mrs. Billie Jean Fulton, and she talked about different programs that she uses in her classroom to engage the students or help with classroom management.

We then worked on our videos in Camtasia with Dr. Beriswell. We had some technical issues, but she was great and helped us figure out what we were doing wrong. This is our Flat Stanley project. We then Skyped a gentleman from England, a friend of Tony's. He told us about the educational system over there, as well as some cultural issues he had to face when he moved there from the US.

After lunch we worked on our art project. I have almost finished it! It has turned out great, so far, and I hope to get it finished next week when we get our fused glass.

Mrs. Latham finished up our day with information on starting our own businesses as a way to supplement our teacher income. I actually already have a business, as well as two sideline jobs--apartment complex management (two sites) and as an assistant bookkeeper/secretary for a local water system. Many irons in the fire!!!

GAETI DAY 13

This morning we worked on banner for our Canvas site while working in lab. We then worked with Dr. Beriswill on our Flat Stanley assignment. We ran into technical difficulties; Jason had to work on Raj's video files from her Samsung phone in order for us to use the files in Camtasia. We did a practice movie during our time and then worked our movie.

Had a great time in art...think I have all of my glass chosen for it. I now have to layer my parts on my board and add the foam pieces to create the depth of the shadow box project. I am not very good at cutting glass, but I guess I would do better with practice.

During our final session, Dr. Lee showed us how to set up a teacher Canvas account, as well as adding pages, assignments, quizzes, etc. Hope explained to us that Schoology, our school district's LMS, will allow us to create rubrics just like Canvas. I am excited about this.

Cannot believe we only have a week and half left! I have learned so much from this institute and cannot wait to implement some of this!

GAETI DAY 12:

This morning we learned about recording lectures and creating videos for our online learning environments during Dr. Lee's session. We learned about several different programs, including Articulate and Camtasia, that can be used for these tasks.

Next, we started our Flat Stanley project with Dr. Beriswell. Raj and I are partners, and we had the BEST time looking for places to take Stanley. We went to MAFES Cheese store to buy cheese, we went to Barnes & Noble to get a latte, check out the cowbells, and ride the escalator. We then went to the Wade Clock Museum (they have a dynamite collection of old cowbells!) to see the beautiful collection of clocks. Stanley got in trouble while we were visiting...you just can't take him anywhere!

After a quick lunch, we went to the art room to work with Mrs. Latham. I finished cutting out all of my parts for my project, thank goodness! It looks great, if I do say so! Mrs. Angela showed us how to cut and smooth glass today. I will begin on that tomorrow.

For our final session, Dr. Lee walked through developing a WebQuest site on Zunal.com. Thank goodness, April and I had most of our work completed because it took a while to post all of the info on our site, especially the images. We did get it posted to Canvas, though, so our work is done for the day! It has been a good one!

GAETI DAY 11:

During our first session, we were with Dr. Lee. We received new headphones with mikes for our project. We are working in Canvas, a learning management system (LMS). We registered under our GAETI account in Dr. Lee's Canvas class, as well as looked at the different sections in Canvas.

We then had three visitors from the Library. Our guest speaker went over the facets of Copyright and Fair Use guidelines. We then had a discussion after her presentation about different scenarios and the correct way to proceed.

After lunch we worked on our art project in Mrs. Latham's lab. I am so excited about how much work I completed today. Can't wait to see final results. By the way, we got see Dr. Bracey's new baby boy's picture...what a doll!

We finished up our day in another computer lab working on our layout for our Webquest. April and I are working on Engineering careers as our topic. I think we work well together. She teachers Project Lead the Way as her curriculum in West Point, and I teach STEM, so we have a lot of crossover on topics.

We then looked at our Weebly sites. I have to admit that I got a little turned around as far as finding my site, but I finally realized that I was using the wrong email address. I am having a great time!

GAETI DAY 10: TGIF!

Today we worked on our art project during the first session. We learned how to cut our mat board (with our artwork glued to the top of it) so that it would be neat and have clean edges. I did not realize how time-consuming and tiring this could be, but I can't wait to see my final project.

Then we worked on board games with Dr. Beriswell. I learned how to use Excel and PowerPoint to make boards for games. This was extremely interesting to me, especially the Jeopardy game.

We then had Justin Putman from Lowndes County School District give a presentation on gamification of the classroom and formative/summative assessment. He also showed us different sites to use in our rooms for quizzing/polling students. This is an interesting prospect to me, and I will definitely use this in my classroom this fall.

Lastly, we went to the T.K. Martin Center here at MSU. We were shown different assistive technologies for people with communication disabilities, beginning from approximately two years of age. We all have had students at some point who could have or did benefit from some sort of assistive technology, so it is uplifting to see this group of people who are working hard to help people of all ages and walk of life be able to communicate and to express themselves.

Week 2 of GAETI...ACCOMPLISHED!

GAETI DAY 9:

This morning we reviewed what we learned about UbD/backward design. We worked on a lesson plan project that we broke down into the different sections we had covered the previous day. It does help to consider where you want to end up (outcomes) before you begin designing our lesson plan.

In our afternoon session, we looked at different technology tools, such as the bubble map above. We went to https://bubbl.us/ to develop our own bubble maps. I did mine on a simplified form of the design process as this is a major theme in STEM.We also looked at word clouds and then Google Docs. It was fun with us all on one document, adding all kinds of different information.

During art today we traced our pieces of our project on our background sheets that we painted. We then took them to the Mrs. Latham and she helped us cut out the pieces to paste on the mat board. We then had to make sure that immediately after we finished putting glue on the back of the sheet, we had to put on magazines and then bricks to make sure that the glue did not wrinkle the paper in the drying process. We will cut out tomorrow, I hope!

GAETI DAY 8:

Today we worked with Dr. Huang on UbD and backward design. My best explanation for starting this process with deciding what your desired results should look like is that, in the learning process, we have to know what student outcome we are working toward before we can design the map to get there. I have had professional development on this topic, but it is always important to revisit these ideas before the next school year starts.

I will use the template to set up my units in my planning this summer to prepare for the next school year because I have been teaching STEM for six years now and I need to revamp my lessons for the curriculum I am using. It is time to find new learning activities, videos, and other resources to use in the teaching of this class. I love STEM, but I want to make sure that I keep it fresh and relevant to my students.
I had a great time today in art...I finally got my template cut out for my project!!!! We completed our next phase of the background by using markers, chalk and acrylic paints. I cannot wait to see what the next step is. Mrs. Latham is lots of fun, and she keeps the class engaged with her great personality and the use of hands-on work with the art project.

Dr. Houang finished up by giving us a great tour of China, as well as a fabulous presentation of her birth culture. I truly enjoyed learning about her life before her immigration to the USA. Glad we have her here!

GAETI: DAY 7

During our first session this morning, we looked at developing a geological timeline on a paper roll. We had to calculate where we would place info on it in relation to its length and the time periods represented. I can use this to develop a technology and/or science timeline for STEM classes.

The next section we looked at weather forecasting, as well as the use of this for foreign language teachers. Dr. Sherman-Morris also showed us a website that will give us more info on different topics with activities. We also checked out some links on weather, including MSU's student weather forecast that are on YouTube. We then began developing our own weather forecast in PPT.

Today in art, we painted our background in watercolors. We then took our images and considered the shapes that make up our individual image. We chose our background boards (mats) and then started drawing the shapes in our images. We are going to cut out the individual pieces and overlap them to develop our design. I cannot wait to see this project when it is finished!

Dr. Timmerman spoke to us about Native American Indian stereotypes and their prevalence in movies, cartoons, tv shows, etc. He also showed us how we can incorporate the use of videos to address these issues with our students. Many of these are culturally insensitive with some being downright insulting, so it is important to discuss this issue with our students.

We finished up by looking at a workbook that incorporates creative writing with science topics. I think this would be great in my classroom because so much of our writing is based upon technical writing, not necessarily "fun" writing.

I have really enjoyed Dr. Sherman-Morris and her input to GAETI 2017. Her love of her subject area has made a great impact on some of what I will teach this fall in STEM. I truly hope to bring my students to MSU to check out the museums, as well as the weather broadcasting lab.

GAETI: DAY 6

Today we walked to Hilbun Hall to check out the Geology museum and complete a scavenger hunt. I learned that MS used to be underwater...not a big stretch considering we are a Gulf Coast state, but interesting nonetheless! We got to see the casting of a triceratops found in Montana (I think!).  We then went to see the Broadcast Meteorology lab. We found out how this geoscience major is laid out and what the academic requirements are, as well as the practicum requirements in the lab setting. We also found out that this department helps their students find jobs in the broadcasting field and that MSU has a great reputation for graduating students highly qualified in this field.

Our next section was the presentation by Bryce Touchstone on his unusual experiences around the world. He has taught in South Korea and Tajikstan, even though he does not have a teaching degree. He has also lived/worked in Australia in the Department of Wildlife working with spatial tools and training others to use these in deciding on prescribed burn-offs. He encouraged us to consider the following when teaching: 1) the necessity of tailoring our lessons to fit the needs of the people we are teaching, and 2) the necessity of understanding that the "range of knowledge" of our students is varied.

After lunch we began our art project in Mrs. Latham's class. We received a run-down on what the project would entail, as well as a grab bag of goodies for our project. We had a great time while Mrs. Angela explained what we could expect during this project.

For our final session, Dr. Beriswill had us playing online games and simulations in a effort to show us how we can engage our students with these types of activities. We chose a game/simulation we liked, wrote up a lesson plan for its use, and then presented the site to the class.

GAETI: DAY 5


Today we began learning about Weebly and webpage design. This online webpage design application is extremely easy to operate for the beginning designer. What is so good about this is that we can develop a page that we can use when we go back to school in the fall.

We also considered the relevant issue of 1:1 and BYOD for our school districts. We discussed the pros and cons of the different initiatives, as well as the effects of each on the educational process. We had a speaker, Nashandra James of Madison County School District, who discussed how rollout of the 1:1 initiative occurred in her district, as well as the problems the district encountered after implementation.

We then worked on our webpage design for some time before Dr. Beriswell installed files on our jump drives. These files are related to web page design and the design standards that we should consider in this process. Dr. B. said it is probably "spinach," but we are excited to learn about design standards! I can see how this would work on my website design.

This has been a great week!

GAETI: DAY 4

Wonderful trip to a local coal mine. Hosts were very friendly, and lunch was delicious!

What I learned today:

• Importance of reclamation is to the mining process
• Size of the vein of lignite is in MS
• Importance of work ethics in the workforce
• Concept of electricity production through coal mining
• Size of property 
• Length of time to process the coal
• All coal mine owners/companies have to pay into a mine reclamation fund
• Under EPA regulation/ Mine Safety

We completed a great activity about permeability and porosity. Can't wait to set up field trip for my students this upcoming school year.

Resource to share:

http://teachcoal.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/CoalActivitySecondary.pdf

GAETI: DAY 3

Today we worked on political cartoon analysis during our first session. It was fun to listen to the teachers analyze and then explain the background of the cartoon.

We then worked on advanced PowerPoint design. I learned that the Outline View is the fastest and easiest way to make a PowerPoint quickly. I also learned the difference between frogs and toads!

After lunch we traveled to the library to learn about Google Maps and Google Earth and the properties of each of these technologies. I was able to travel around the world and see many different places that I will probably never get to visit personally.

We then visited the Templeton Music exhibit in the library. What fascinating machines! It is absolutely phenomenal the pieces that comprise this exhibit. I cannot wait to bring my mother to the exhibit.

When we came back to to the IED building, we then walked through the seasons by way of an activity that had us rotating on our axis as well as revolving around our sun, Jason Forrester! Great activity to explain this concept to our students.

We finished up with a reading activity where we had to read an article and choose a phrase that caught our attention in some way. We then composed poetry within our group of eight from the phrases we had chosen.  Fun way to end the day!

GAETI: DAY 2

I enjoyed the information from Dr. Sherman-Morris about  the use of maps and the varied types and uses of maps for the classroom. I never considered how maps could be used for my STEM class in order to look at info related to technology and the world. I will do so from now on.

We next went to the library for a refresher course on  Excel. Mrs. Agnew was very gracious and extremely knowledgeable about Excel, yet she made it very user-friendly. We were shown how to take our info and graph it, a skill that I would like for my students to be able to develop/hone.

We heard from Mr. Michael Murphy, a doctoral student at MSU who is a member of a group of individuals who have developed a Civil Rights website that is focused on the history of the movement in Starkville and at Mississippi State University. One can tell that he is passionate about his work with this project, as well as his doctoral focus on the institution of mental health and how it was affected by civil rights and vice versa.

Dr. Sherman-Morris then went over a section on political cartoons and the analysis of this type of cartoons.

I have found several things that I can incorporate in STEM, especially this blog-writing assignment. This is a good way to conclude a daily class!

Day 1

GAETI 2017

I am so excited to be a part of GAETI 2017!

We have met some great professors, so I truly expect to be wowed! All of my classmates have been friendly and helpful. I have a feeling I am truly going to enjoy this institute.

We have been to the library to (re-)learn about Magnolia, as well as looking at the three sets of standards that we, as teachers, should be considering when developing our units/lessons for our individual classes. This was a great help to me because we had all three sets of standards open at the same time when we looked at a particular lesson for each group. Mrs. April Hazzle from West Point, one of last year's participants, helped me break down my lesson to determine what standards would be covered when I teach the Design Process: The Egg Drop project this fall. I see where I can begin to make improvements in the presentation of this unit so that my students' engagement will be stronger. 

One of my take-aways for today is that Ms. April is going to share some of her resources for STEM; she uses a different curriculum than we use in Lowndes County. Also, Ms. Taquela told us about www.powtoon.com, a free cartoon development website. Another participant told us about www.piktochart.com. I cannot wait to get my students to try these for certain projects.

I have had a great first day at GAETI 2017!