GAETI 2017-2018 Tony Odom

So here we are again. Today was bittersweet, busy, and fun. We heard a presentation on helping students develop grit, which I define as mental toughness. We finished up our projects and presented.  Everyone came up with brilliance as always.  So here's the final product: Thanks to everyone who did everything.  This experience was unforgettable. And with that, I'm out.

We began with a session on college and career readiness skills.  Got access to an ACT prep site. Following that was a session on teaching "Generation Z" and implementing digital content.  Thinking about using Quizziz instead of Kahoot moving forward. Art project progress: I figured the "smoking gun" needed some smoke to go with it. We finished up with a session on vocabulary instruction.  Had a lot of good content and ideas in it.  Mainly this:

Today we learned about using Microsoft Publisher.  We also learned a neat trick for Microsoft Word: It generates random paragraphs (in this case, 3). Then we had a rollicking session on Fake news: This afternoon, we learned about some genealogy resources and I was able to find some family grave photos: Art project progress: And we are finishing up with Web Design!!

Worked a lot with Adobe Spark today, and put this together: <iframe src="https://spark.adobe.com/video/cSAsjsp4yNK9y/embed"  width="960" height="540" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> We also learned about presentations and 3d Printing from the Library staff And we primed our back boards for our sgraffito tiles. We also got a primer in Web Page design.

Guess what? We're back! Short session this time.  Only 5 days as opposed to a month.  So everything is feeling pretty rapid-fire. New art project: It is an explanation of the Watergate Scandal. Today we were treated to a session on using music in the classroom by he Funchess' of Yazoo County. It was very informative and entertaining. After our art project, we were treated to a session from Reginald Ware of Alabama. This one dealt with classroom management and was extremely informative and entertaining as well.  I will definitely be using the social contract in my class this year, especially since I am starting at a new school. 

And so ... it ends. Today was the final session of GAETI 2017. Today we caught up with each other.  Shared some of what we've picked up since the fall.  Found out about some free sites offering quiz-taking software.  (Quizziz and Everfi) Also found out about some blogs (Cult of Pedagogy) Apparently, I can get Google Certified and that could present some opportunities as well as resume' fodder. Lunch was awesome and we got so much stuff that I was hardly able to carry it all in one trip to the car. We also learned about robotics from Jeffrey Coleman of Madison County. Melissa Adkins of Lamar County taught us about Padlet and Flipgrid.  I had a good time with those, but I think Padlet will be the most useful for my purposes. It has been a tough year.  I am not sure what's going to happen going forward.  But I feel more equipped now to deal with it.  I'm more able to analyze my situation now and think a little more clearly. I am sa...

So the morning was spent catching up and discussing grant writing.  It is not as complicated as I was led to believe. I do have some questions, but I am so muddle-headed today that I think i'd better wait until I have some time to process. The afternoon was spent learning about coding.  Also not as complicated as I was led to believe.  There are multiple applications across the disciplines that can be implemented into instruction.  Beware of memes. Anyone can code.

Hello, you're gorgeous. And so, it ends.  And i'm still here. So what do I leave with? Perspective.  Although I am still unsure about where tomorrow will take me, I feel confident that I can deal with whatever is thrown at me. I'm done. For now.  Next week, i'll go to Florida and give my wife and son their promised vacation.  It'll be good to get away for a while. I've produced what i've produced, and I am fairly proud of it.  Maybe now my mind can slow down and I can collect my thoughts and develop a plan to keep moving forward. I told everyone on day one to put aside their expectations.  And even my expectations were exceeded. My sole surviving tile came out of the kiln today and it looks phenomenal. We had three miscarriages before we had Jacob.  Three tiles exploded into dust and shards. But one remains. Also, it is kind of fitting that my son refuses to be boxed in to anyone's definitions and the other three sides of my ...

So here's a little more explanation about yesterday: https://www.wcbi.com/update-msu-returning-normal-following-bomb-threat/ But now that all that is over, let's focus on the here and now. We all presented our art projects to the IHL representatives this morning. I really enjoyed everyone else's presentations. Here are my finished products.   Minus the surviving tile. The project was about crossing borders. I crossed a personal border making ceramics. The raven is the intermediary between Odin and Midgard (Earth).  This crosses the boundary between the human and the divine: the natural and the supernatural: myth and reality. The mixed media project is the boundary between life and death, heaven and hell, order and chaos. And between thought. word, and deed.  How far are we willing to go for what we believe? So this go round has been faster and a lot different.  I feel as content as possible with what I produced.  I feel a lot more conf...

Today we planned a business. Then we had a nice discussion about wellness. Then we had a Zoom session with a lady in Brazil. Now we have to leave because some idiot decided to be an idiot.

I made an Infographic using Piktochart.  I think it's OK. https://magic.piktochart.com/output/23225775-21st-century-news  (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site. And I have made another video with Adobe Spark.  This is a really helpful program! https://spark.adobe.com/video/zHAqhXRKSqpIS We also spent a great deal of time polishing our Weebly sites.  Every day I improve it. http://tonyodomGAETI2017.weebly.com/ I made a Prezi.  It's not very impressive.  I am working on a proper one about Educational Technology that will be on my Weebly site. https://prezi.com/view/I3wCXTkwkIRWzCpYxdUh/ I feel things winding down and I feel like I've done a lot more than before, but I'm afraid that i've not done enough.  I think i'm just really stressed out about other things outside of this institute and really need my vacation.  I've earned it this time! I have also started work on a new Weebly site for my classes. http://mrodom...

We began with a presentation about iPad apps that can be of use in the classroom. Then we made out own website story using Adobe Spark: https://spark.adobe.com/page/kj2yyqTGGi3R5/ So over the weekend, my clay pieces were fired.  One came out fine: And it's being glazed: The glaze looks like Pepto-Bismol. My tiles were not so fortunate. This is the sole survivor.  Much like an old star, they exploded.  The brightest flames burn quickest, I suppose.  I still have the concept and I also have the sole survivor: Hopefully, it holds up because this glaze has a very interesting look once it's fired. Then we did a newspaper in Google Docs.  Here's ours: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b90ymcSs6fpjSmQT0z1KfnDKGjS9go6-OPJFFSQU9hI/edit?usp=sharing

We were visited this morning by the assisstant Secretary of State for Mississippi.  He was very enthusiastic about helping us start our own business.  Of course, a salary increase might negate the need for that,but I digress.  He also mentioned that the state was desperate for tax dollars.  Funny, considering the massive corporate tax cuts passed just this past year.  But again, I digress. The web tools he showed us were very helpful and thorough. https://yallbusiness.sos.ms.gov/ http://www.sos.ms.gov/Pages/default.aspx We spent the rest of the day putting in work.  Getting the art projects finished. The others are being fired in the kiln. We put in work on our Weebly sites and lesson plans, and helped each other through the process of getting our portfolios together.  For production results, see: http://tonyodom.weebly.com

So today, Ms Billie Fulton from GAETI 2014 and my own school came to talk about tech things she has found. We finished our Flat Stanley project. We Skype'd with my old friend Christian over in England.  That was actually pretty cool.  It was really nice talking to him again. My art projects are coming along nicely as well.     We finished out the day talking about business plans.  I do side jobs, but a business? Seems like a lot of outside things to have to deal with.  Then again, I give my labor to K12 in exchange for $12 an hour.  I could pay myself more.  Just a thought.

Today we learned about banner making software.  I made this one for my college class: We got a primer on Camtasia and began making our flat stanley movie.  I am hoping to put together a project that won't be a drag. Art project progress:     A LOT got done, for sure. We finished up with more Canvas.  I learned today that i've been adding documents to pages the hard way.  Time savers!!!!

So we began the day with a primer on making presentation videos.  I even made one: We then began a Flat Stanley project.  Flat Stanley has come to Mississippi State and we are to make a movie about his adventures.  Stay tuned. Art progress:   We finished the day on a webquest.  Here are the results so far: http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=356929 I apologize for not being more descriptive.

This morning, we were with Dr Lee for a primer on Canvas.  Much of it was review for me, but necessary.  I have revitalized my old Canvas account and will use it this year to augment Google Classroom. We also were treated to a presentation on Fair Use and Copyrights from the library staff. The art project progresses: It has been glazed 3 times since this photo was taken. We are also doing a four tile story of sorts.  Gotta work on that later. The multimedia project is also coming along, just slower than I would normally be working at this point. We got some spiffy new headphones today! Much better than the ones I got last time (though i was still using them as of May of this year!)  These are USB connected and really nice! We have also begun a WebQuest.  The one we did last time is still available.  I hope to improve.  It will be about the Cuban Missile Crisis. So here's another header I made for my Weebly site: And with that, I ...

Art project was first up this morning:   My shapes have been drawn on the watercolors, and have been glued to the mat board.  I am now in the process of cutting them out.  It is a very tedious process, but it will be rewarding.  The plate on the right is not my project, but shows what my project will look like.  I am using the same plate mold, but this design:   Dr Beriswell talked to us about creating board games using Powerpoint and Excel.  To be honest, this one was difficult for me because I am not a fluent with Excel as I'd like to be.  It looks like something I could really benefit from, but there's the learning curve.  I'll get it eventually. My old friend Justin Putnam came to deliver a presentation about gamifying you classroom: using gaming principles in instructional design. He also brought a lot of really cool tech to play with: Finally we took a field trip down the hill to the TK Martin Center.  I honestly ...