Beaming Teacher

There are so many things that I could write about and I don't know exactly where to start. How wonderful the class was....How much I learned....How much I enjoyed meeting and talking with the kids....How good the food was....How I enjoyed the other teachers.....How much I missed Tony last week.....

Yesterday at our monthly music meeting we were all writing down the dates for next year's workshops. Everyone had out their calendars and note pads. I was using my Handheld. All of a sudden this other teacher across the room pulled out her Hand Held and was really struggling with it. She said her daughter-in-law from out of town had sent it to her as an early Mother's Day present and she was just starting to learn to use it. Of course I went right over and to check out the situation. She was just pushing buttons. When she saw I had one she handed it to me and said put those dates in here for me. I told her to just hold it out and I BEAMED the dates to her. She was SO impressed. I was BEAMING both literally and physically. I told her you just have to take this awesome class next year. So hopefully she will.

I guess the best way to summarize all this is I am BEAMING. I learned so much from this class. I wish that there was an advanced class that I could take next year.

Thank you to everyone for making it so great but especially thank to Tony for being such a great teacher.

Have a great summer!

Awesome Class

I enjoyed class last week. It was so interesting to see all the different ideas that everyone came up with for their lesson plans. I was amazed at the different art lessons that were presented.

I was in a staff meeting this week and had my Handheld out. (I was actually playing a the Same Game). A teacher at my table looked over and said she also had a Handheld but she didn't really know how to use it. She had gotten it for Christmas but hadn't really worked with it too much. I was so excited because she asked me if I could show her a few things. I also recommended that she take this class next year.

I learned so much from this class. It was so nice getting together every week and talking to other teachers from the district as well as other schools. The different ideas and topics that came up during dinner always interested me.

I think Sue mentioned this last week about just learning from watching Tony teach. I feel the same way. It is so inspiring and motivating for me to watch someone else who is so well organized and knows the material so well. I never felt threatened or intimidated during class and I will miss the time together. Good luch everyone!

Finally Done!

Well I am finally done with my lesson plan. I have been thinking about it and working on it all week. I'm not sure it is exactly the way it is supposed to be but at least I've got it done. I spent alot of time just searching for websites that would work in FlingIt. Tony recommended looking for "text only" and those were a little hard to find.

I'm a little nervous about my presentation because I'm not sure how everthing is going to fit together but I know that I'll survive. Hey if I can survive taking our whole school to see the Royals play on Monday this is nothing!

I am going on the Bike Ride Across Nebraska in June and I have been reading the message board where people write in with questions, advice, etc. One person referred to their blog and I was so excited because before this class I had no idea what a blog even was. I have learned so much from this class and I am sad to see it end!

Count Down

Well here it is a week before the lesson plans are due and I am still struggling with what I am actually doing. I have a couple of ideas running through my head but nothing seems to be clicking for me. I searched for musical programs and found many that have to do with organizing your personal CD collection. I downloaded and experimented with other programs like the one that Becky showed us in class with the bugs crawling across the staff.

For some reason I have in my head that I wanted to do a lesson plan on instruments of the orchestra and their families. For example the String Family, what instruments belong to this family, where they sit in an orchestra, how sound is produced. I already made a quizzler for this subject but I just can't seem to find anything else.

I did find a program called NotePad which does musical notation. I liked how easy it was to learn to use and the many different things it could do. Who knows maybe this will spark a new idea for me!

Back in Business

Since I left early last week for a concert I feel like I'm a little out of the loop but anyway I did have a little excitment on Tuesday!

I have been experiencing problems with the battery in my HandHeld. It wouldn't hold the charge. I had tried to doing a hard reset in hopes that it would jump start the battery but nothing seemed to work.

After talking to Tony I decided to take it back to Office Max. Tony reminded me to make sure that I did a hard reset to erase all my personal information before taking it back so the people at Office Max wouldn't get all my personal information. So I before I left for the store I did a hard reset and the screen froze! It just had button on it that said Reset. No matter what I did I could not get the screen to unfreeze. Needless to say I was getting a little (actually alot) frustrated. So I found my receipt, CD's and the power cord and sync cord and headed out to return my frozen Handheld. I also took along my wireless keyboard because the left shift key was not working.

The people at the store were great. The were able to reset it by using the paper clip and holding and releasing the power button twice. Then we were able to delete all my perosnal information. They then gave me a new palm, a new keyboard and the best part was the new one was on sale for $20 less. So in the end I got a new Palm, a new keyboard and a gift card for $20! Pretty good deal if you ask me! Now I am back in business!

I am looking forward to class this week. Even though I have to leave early for the Fine Arts Night Concert (last one) I still am learning so much!

Battery and Quizzler

I feel a little behind because I had to leave early last week and didn't get to spend any time looking for programs to use on my Hand Held. I did however find the checkbook program which I have started using for my own personal checking account. I am also using the Quick Tip program which easily figures out the amount of a tip depending on a percentage.

I made a quizzler using families of instruments. It was so easy to do and would be so useful for my kids to practice and review the instruments if we only had Hand Helds for my kids. I'm also trying to come up with a way to incorporate this into my final lesson plan.

I have charged my battery when it gets down to about one half left. I think I made a mistake and let it charge too long (like overnight) and the next day when I went to to it own it was completely dead. Has anyone else had this happen???? See everyone Thursday!

Moving Forward

The last class we had left me feeling a little overwhelmed. Everytime I get an assignment or project I always get a panic feeling. Why, I don't know. But it has happened to me since I was in jr high.

I really enjoyed all the Sketchy designs that everyone did. Mine was pretty simple compared to some of the other ones. Art is not my forte. I wish I could draw better!

I'm thinking about my final lesson plan. I have an idea but first I need to learn Quizzler to see if it will work. My plan is to do a lesson on instrument families and create a quizzler to help students learn the different instruments and their families.

The next three classes I am going to have to leave early because of music events. The High Ability Music group I help to direct is performing a Family and Friends Concert and the next week they are performing at the Fine Arts Night. This Thursday I have a church committment because of Holy Week. I am so glad that we have the Roving Reporter taking notes so I don't miss too much. See everyone on Thursday!

Dessert

Here is the recipie for the dessert I brought to class.

Ooie Gooie
Yellow Cake mix with pudding
1 stick butter
3 eggs
1 pound powdered sugar
1 8oz cream cheese

Mix yellow cake mix with 1 egg and melted stick of butter. Press into 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Mix 2 eggs, sugar and cream cheese. Pour onto cake mix. Bake 300 degrees for 50 minutes. ENJOY!