Day 1 of Global Learners training, and I'm pretty excited. For those that don't know, being a part of the program means I get all sorts of cool technological gadgets for my classroom, including a laptop, projector, etc. as well as several days of training in ways to better incorporate technology into my teaching. I've already gotten some nifty ideas, including changing up how journals are done in my classes. In my increasing effort to go paperless, I've decided that starting next year, rather than write journals in a notebook, my students will be required to create a blog using their school Gmail accounts and update those blogs at least once a week. I'll have guiding questions and word counts for them, but that's the basic plan for now. Being a part of the program also means that the other teachers on my team who have access to the same technology and I can plan cross-curricular lessons and "simul-teach" (yay! new word! Inspired by the word "simul-climbing" in rock climbing) students in each of our classes. Instead of just working with 25 or 30 students, I could work with all 100+ students, and so would the other teachers on the team. THIS is going to be FUN!!! (With sincere apologies to my students from the class of 2012 who won't get to take advantage of this kind of thing... don't worry, I still love you... well... maybe. Ha! ha! ha!) Seriously, though, it's too bad I hadn't thought of this last year or the year before last. Sorry, kids!

Two more days of training... we're going to be discussing blogs, wikis, podcasts, Twitter, Skype... all sorts of really cool things that I can't wait to use. Oh... for the members of 2012, I do have one consolation for you. Remember how I used to email you the class notes so you never missed a thing? Well, one of my goals for next year is to make podcasts of my classes, so students who are absent can log into their Gmail accounts, get the notes, AND listen to the class day that they missed. Not only will they not miss the notes, they won't really miss the class (and all of my super fantastic jokes)... how amazingly cool is THAT??? :-D

In other news, if it weren't for this stupid cold I have right now, things would be peachy. I was too tired and sick to even make dinner tonight, so Lamar and Blake made dinner for everyone. It was pretty tasty spaghetti, too, I have to admit. Not as good as mine, of course (ha! ha! ha!), but it was good... they did a great job.

Hmm... I think I'll make some tea with honey. Hope everyone is having an excellent summer. More soon!