Goals!

Okay, I had a blog but you'll see it's been 3 years since I posted! I always have good intentions but it just doesn't always work out. So, fresh start, new blog.

This year, I hope to be different. This year, I have goals. I put some posters behind my desk at school to provide some motivation for blogging, for trying new things in the classroom, and for really pushing ahead with my PD efforts this year.

So, what did I do with my summer to prepare? As a business/computer teacher who teaches much technology, I can't ever really take off... there's too much "new" to learn every year!

June: Well, I started this off with a bang! I actually participated in Missouri DESE Tech Week and presented in Columbia, Missouri, to a group of teachers for three days. We did Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop training. I love to do computer trainings (especially all day for multiple days) because it forces me to come up with new ideas and activities for my own classroom. The website is here if you want to see what we did!  After that, I took some time off with my husband and spent two weeks in Colorado celebrating our 20th anniversary (and we started binge watching How I Met Your Mother).

July: I enjoyed some rest and relaxation in July and prepped for a trip to Arizona for the Arizona ACTE conference, which was in Tucson just recently. This was a 3 1/2 hour workshop for teachers and I had a blast. Here is the info for that one.  I also attended two online conference Teachers Leading Teachers 2015 and the 30 Goals Conference. And, I participated in an online book study that ends today for the book Unshakeable: 20 Ways to Enjoy Teaching Every Day...Now Matter What!  I'll talk more about some of that in the future. I got "really into" webinars and attended probably 10 different ones through SimpleK12. I also decided to do Google training so I could get Google Certified Educator Level 1 certification, which I achieved this week. And, I submitted a proposal for Edcamp Global, which starts tonight.  Oh, and Sunday is our Future Business Leaders of America officer training, so I worked on those materials (finished that Wednesday!). So, in retrospect, I guess I was pretty busy in July (the last half, anyway).

I'm pretty excited about the new school year. I am thrilled to try a few new things, add some new tools I experimented with this summer to my toolbox, and to just really try to make a difference in the lives of my students. I want to make this year legend-wait for it-ary!