I typically look forward to returning to work from break. This year should have been the same since I had an extended break taking three additional days for my vacation. I returned home to step off of the plane to find out that my cat had health issues, my brother put my car in the ditch resulting in the need of a new radiator, and my dad needed open heart surgery with the week. Ughhh. Normalcy sounded great at work. Only to walk in the next morning to hear that my students had been a wreck without me and one of my coworkers was having health problems of her own. Seriously?! That hour before the kids arrived was rough... and then... one of my more challenging kids got off the bus to see me, run and give me a hug, and somewhat intelligibly say, "you back?!" Oh, the normalcy returns:)
On the technology front I went to another TIES training at their headquarters in St Paul. To anyone that feels that they need assistance or training with any of the technologies... TAKE ADVANTAGE of these. I have gone to about 5 in the last year, and haven't been to one that wasn't worth my time. I now have more and more ideas for the smart board, although some may need to be put on hold until this summer when I can just sit for a week and develop a plethora of games and activities for my students to use next school year. I am definitely not an expert at this yet, and may need to take the same class every once in a while as a refresher since there was so much information, but it was the kick I needed to look forward and be excited about our technologies once again!
