I'm doing the best I can, but man I feel like a chicken with my head cut off sometimes. Today I worked on a grant that I had been writing for school. Last year I had a student in my classroom who is visually impaired. Since he was unable to see the overhead projector or board I had to find a different way to meet his needs and everyone else in the class. I found something called a CPS Chalkboard. It is an interactive board that allows me to stand anywhere in the room and write on a small wireless board that I carry. My visually impaired student had his own personal computer at his desk. The monitor was placed close enough so that he could see everything on the screen. The rest of the class could see everything projected on the large screen. This technology traveled on with this student to his next classroom, so now I am writing a grant so that I can have a CPS Chalkboard in my classroom all the time.
While finishing up my grant, I also talked to my grad school adviser a few times today because I figured out that I am pretty close to having enough classes for a second masters degree. I have been working on my masters as a reading specialist. Each semester I have to take 6 hours but many times they have only been offering one class that applies towards my degree...so I have also taken quite a few extra classes in the gifted education program. I talked to my advisor today and found out that it is totally worth it for me to finish a second masters in gifted education. Am I crazy!? :)
Meanwhile, I have been training the 4th grade teachers to use the CPS Chalkboard and troubleshooting technology problems for them. Then I ran to the district office to submit my grant proposal, ran to Hardin-Simmons to take care of grad-school registration, and then headed back to my classroom to actually finish preparing for the first day of school on Monday! Since I didn't get much done in my classroom today, I will be headed back up there early Saturday morning and maybe even Sunday afternoon...we shall see...
It sounds like you are doing tons. But with D.J.'s schedule in the Fall I am sure it makes the time pass quickly. Maybe too quickly, huh? Getting a gifted education masters may very well pay off quicker than you think. Keep me posted. You know I know that program pretty well in AISD. One of the lady's is close to retirement. Possibly two of them. This year they actually functioned one teacher short. I am sure that was interesting. When I moved from there one of the reasons is that two teachers were retiring and they only replaced one of them. When the school district gets to where they can, watch for that position to be filled again. If you had fun this summer I am sure you would love ALPS.
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