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Showing posts from August, 2017

Beginning a New Chapter

Earlier this summer, when I was writing curriculum at Trinity I was asked my opinion about private and public schools. I have experience teaching at both of the schools I went to before Trinity, one public and one private so I didn't know how to answer exactly. I felt judged for being an advocate of private school for some students. It was the best decision for me. Let's rewind. After I left Boerne at the beginning of the 2015-2016 and took some time off from teaching, I had a breakdown. It was about mid-September when that happened and I realized I needed to be around people. That led me to join the Impact group at Oak Hills. About a month and a half later, after interviewing for a second grade position and getting rejected, I decided to join the Children's Ministry team at my church. Almost two years later, I love working with our littlest members and I've learned to work with pre-schoolers. They are so much fun! Working at Oak Hills brought me back to my faith and ...

Teaching Writing with Technology

I absolutely love writing. I always have. I can remember a project I did in fourth grade and how excited I was even before the school year started. I knew the project was coming even in third grade. For this project, we got to write our own stories and then publish the story in a little hardcopy book. (This was back in 2000 before iPad book creator apps) At the time, I was a competitive ice skater so I remember my story being about a young girl who was traveling to an ice skating competition. Fast forward to senior year of high school when I took a playwrighting class at my high school. I was one of four students in class. I remember spending hours writing and re-writing scenes in that play. I actually found a copy of my play earlier this summer when I was over at my parents' house. Sometime in high school, I also decided that I wanted to write screenplays. I don't think that lasted very long. While writing has not always been easy (I'm looking at you, English III and Play ...

Flipping for Flipgrid!

Flipgrid has been all the rage this summer with teachers signing up for accounts by the thousands. According to the Flipgrid Twitter account, over 11,000 educators signed up for accounts during the month of July. I first learned about Flipgrid at this year's ISTE and I am so excited about this platform. There is also a new version launching August 10th. By now, you may be asking yourself, what is this Flipgrid thing? Flipgrid is a video platform with both a website and then the app for both students and teachers to use. I downloaded the app on my phone. The teacher creates a grid and a topic. The students, using iPads or even their iPhones, then enter the unique grid code and add their response. All the students' responses are then in one place for the teacher to view. No more emailing videos! When the student goes to the app, they choose the "I am a student option." They then enter the unique grid code. Very similar to the Kahoot game pin. After entering the ...