Well, I am really working hard to get organized and I have created a couple of new items that are editable and I am REALLY excited about them!
Here is a little history on my computer skills when I went back to teaching 7 years ago. I had taught from 1991 until 1998 and then became pregnant with my first child. My husband was transferred and that meant we were moving from Grand Rapids to Atlanta right around the start of a new school year. We decided that I would stay home with our baby and not go back to teaching that year. Well, that year turned into 11 wonderful years of being a stay at home mom to my three sons! I loved it and while it was hard and I struggled internally with not using my calling as a teacher, I would never go back and do anything differently. I WAS teaching! Being a stay at home mom is one of the most rewarding teaching jobs you could ever have, and I took it seriously. :-)
Once my third son was of age to start kindergarten, God provided a perfect job for me in a middle school with my old administrator! It was such a blessing and I am thankful every day for the connection I had with him in the nineties that led to a wonderful opportunity so many years later! (don't ever burn a bridge....)
My FIRST day at pre planning was exciting for me, but I quickly realized that teaching had changed over the 11 years that I was at home. I had never used a computer with teaching. We hand wrote notes to other teachers and sent students with them if we needed something. There was no learning management system, never used a power point much less a prezi, and ONLY wrote lesson plans in the good old green lesson plan book! Can anyone relate?????
We were told to open our laptops and turn them on ------- first problem. I had NO IDEA how to do that! Truly!!!!! I did not have a clue. I tried to sneak peaks at everyone else and figure it out, but my young male teammate sitting next to me was onto me. He leaned over and told me, "Its the little silver button at the top of your keyboard." OH MY GOODNESS! I was embarrassed, overwhelmed, and completely out of place. That first year back was one of great stress, anxiety, and also excitement! I learned SO MUCH.
I am a learner by nature, so I delved in and soaked up everything I could in the arena of technology, and here I am today - with a TpT store - and creating EDITABLE DOCUMENTS for others! I am also blogging! WOW! I am amazed myself! Yesterday, I sent the product I am about to share to our IT person for a test run, and she called me so excited because it works!!!! She remembers me from the days of running to her frantically yelling that I can't figure out how to do something with my computer. She felt like a proud momma! (and she should!)
So, nowadays, my back to school presentations are digital. I love "cute" so I thought I would create a couple of things that teachers could use to introduce themselves and their policies to students and parents at the beginning of the year. PLEASE go to my TpT store, Connie Jennings, and check out more, but for now, here are two versions of an editable power point! I am using the chalkboard one for my class and my teammate will use the bright polka dot one. We are really excited! All we have to do is click to insert our info. We can save it as a PDF and attach it to email for parents, or add it to our LMS. LOVE IT!
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