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.

Global Project Challenge Complete: Why Should I study a Foreign Language?

We finished our Global Project Challenge last week: Why Should I Study a Foreign Language? The results are on our website, whystudyalanguage.weebly.com/favorite-websites.html We had 28 international schools respond to our survey and supply answers to why they study languages. They also listed favorite language learning websites and apps that were compiled on our website. It's very interesting how the reasons for language study are quite similar across the globe. I am very excited about the language websites and apps to explore with my classes. Spring Break is almost upon us, one more day....

Great Genius Hour Results

On Friday my students presented their genius hour projects. I was amazed at the results. Many of the students are quite artistic and I was wondering why they did not register to enter their art at the Roane State Academic Festival. I would definitely say that this program was a success in my classes. The students thoroughly enjoyed presenting their products. We do have a few stragglers who will present on Monday, so we will see what happens with that. I am totally looking forward to ISTE 2107 for inspiration for the next school year. Also, there is the possibility of teaching German for Upward Bound this summer. I found a great YouTube based class I could use for that. We will see. On a personal note, one of my good friends decided to move to town and I am so excited to be able to share experiences with her as she settles in here. The predicted snow did not materialize here. So this afternoon I will be able to get out to Walk Across Tennessee.

Great Student-led Conference

I loved the Student Technology Conference yesterday. One of my students presented "Rapture: Our Underwater Future" about his project proposing such a habitat for our future. I was highly impressed with his presentation as well as the follow-up questions that were posed by the participants. This presentation really made them think about such a possibility. None of them brushed it off as being unrealistic, which was interesting to me. Great conference put on by students!!!

Global Student Technology Conference Participation

This week we found out that one of my student's proposal was accepted for inclusion at the Global Student Technology Conference this coming Saturday. This confererence is completely student run and modeled after the Globel Education Conference. My student's project is about an under the ocean habitat that he could create in the event that life on Earth is no longer feasible. He researched ways to make life sustainable under the sea and even laid down ground rules for behavior in his proposed habitat. This project is his Genius Hour Project in Spanish II classes that I am doing with my classes this semester. We had him do a practice run today to see how long it would be and what sorts of questions the audience may have. My class was pretty shocked by the whole idea, but it's an idea worth exploring in the future.