I am a Certified Microsoft Innovative Educator

Today was the last day for our seniors. It began with a Sequoyah High School tradition: The Senior Drive Through. It was very upbeat and so much fun. I just loved these seniors. Well, the rest of the day was wide open, so I did a bunch of courses on Microsoft Education and made Certified Microsoft Educator. This is so cool. I guess this is what it means to be addicted to teacher PD's.

Another school year is coming to an end

So this week is the last week for our seniors. It's so sad. I can honestly say that. I was transferred to this high school after 15 years at another school in the county, but it was good. Due to their policy to give Spanish mainly to upperclassmen it was a lot easier on me. Seniors are so much more mature overall. So let's take an inventory of what I accomplished with them this year: 1. I made Apple Teacher certification. 2. I went to the Dominican Republic to visit my teacher friend Alexis there at his school. 3. We established the José Martí Spanish Honor Society. 4. I established a great blog on Seesaw.me with student activities. https://blog.seesaw.me/valle 5. I presented our Cuba project at the Global Education Conference. 6. My students placed 1st and 2nd at the Roane State Academic Festival with their creative video entries and one of them presented at the Student Technology Conference. 7. I participated in the Great Global Project Challenge with my classes. 8. I co-presented a series of eight teacher PD's on Saturday mornings on a variety of topics mainly having to do with technology in the classroom. 9. I am currently team captain of the Great Chiefs for Walk Across Tennessee, though we are currently in third place :(. 10. I am registered to go to ISTE2017 in June, a wonderful conference where I will no doubt be star struck from all of the ed tech celebrities there. 11. I will be teaching German for Upward Bound this summer, my native language. 12. I am currently teaching an online Spanish class for South College and have an intensive one scheduled for this summer. Well, not bad all things considering. What's on for next year? I really want to get into teaching with badges. So I am taking an ISTE webinar to learn more about it. Also, of course, ISTE17 will produce a ton of new ideas that I can take back to the classroom. I am in contact with CO people about offering the Apple Teacher program for our district, though the enthusiasm for that seems to be mild at this point. So we shall see. Update: The Apple Teacher Program is actually being well received here and interest is growing.

Easter Weekend- I needed this

As the school year is slowly winding down we have a nice three-day break for Easter, not a moment too soon. The last few day's have been exhausting, with my seniors thinking the school year is over. I am going to get into the last chapter for them of the year, technology vocabulary for my Spanish II classes and travel vocabulary for Spanish III. On Monday, the newspaper photographer will come in to take the photo of all of our Roane State Academic Festival winners. This will be a very proud moment for us. Still to come this school year, EOC's, awards night, graduation, the Dogwood 5K, my South College online class, and finish our Walk Across Tennessee. The last day for seniors will be April 28th, very soon. What an exhausting two weeks ahead, not counting my German Meetup next Thursday and the Dinner PLC on Friday...Wow, a lot to get through. Meanwhile I made Apple Teacher certification, made me proud.