Groovy Educator

I have mixed feelings about writing this post.  Part of me wants to hide behind "everything is fine." Teaching is not an easy job but it is an extremely rewarding job.  I love teaching but last year was a rough year.  I've had some health issues.  The best thing that happened to me was becoming a mommy. It was rough returning to work leaving my beautiful baby to teach other sweet babies.  It has changed my perspective dramatically.  I knew i would be more tired this year.  With the new baby, there was less sleep and more activity.  I was especially drained because I had shooting pains in my abdomen.  My doctor said it was an umbilical hernia from the pregnancy and to wait a few months.  The pain will lessen. It did not and it was so excruciating, I had to go to the ER after school one day.  Tests were taken and I needed to have surgery.  With this surgery, I could not lift my daughter for a whole month.  I missed a...

I went to a workshop last week where I learned more about using apps in the classroom.  The presenters have a website  http://classwithapps.com/ .  It has useful resources. I really liked the app Haiku Deck for creating presentations.  It would be great for back to school night.  You can take pictures of the classroom and the kids, write cute captions and display it for the families.  This app is also great for the kids to use to create a presentation or report.  I was thinking that it would be perfect for science experiments. They also went over using QR codes in the classroom.  There are many ways that they can be used but I like the idea of using it as a "what to do when you finish your work" activity.  I would like to make 4-5 QR code sheets, one for each reading group.  I wand to make QR codes for apps that would benefit the kids in each group.  It would allow me to differentiate to meet the children's needs.  I could ...