It has been a crazy, busy week at work for me. It all started with a lightning strike that was discovered on Monday morning. Since then, I have felt that somehow I've been trapped inside of Usain Bolt's body sprinting around campus. I sure could use a little jolt of something to survive my Friday! I'm certain it's been an equally insane week for you. The first weeks of school always bring about a feeling of organized chaos that leaves us completely and utterly exhausted. But, never fear...it's the weekend! It's your chance to be resuscitated after what can sometimes feel like a near death experience. Whew! Here's to you and the weekend!
Like many of you, one of the things that I do to decompress and de-stress is exercise. Sometimes when I exercise I listen to my workout music playlist and other times I listen to podcasts. Podcast are a great source of entertainment but also a very good tool for Professional Development. I think it's important, as an educator, to learn. If we ask this of our students, then we should be doing it ourselves. Life-long learning is so important to us as educators in order to remain relevant in our profession, learn best practices, and stay on the cutting edge of instruction. PD is often difficult for us to do with our busy schedules. Sure, we get PD through our school. But, let's be honest, it's not always timely or relevant to our needs. With that said, we need to take it upon ourselves to seek opportunities for relevant and timely PD. Your very own PD can come about via many avenues. There is social media and PLNs, webinars, blogs to read, videos to view, podcast to listen, and so much more! What I like about podcast is that I can multi-task. I can exercise, decompress and destress, and LEARN!
My weekly FanTECHulous Fridays normally come pretty easy for me. I feel like I always have something that I want to share and that you might find useful for your classroom technology integration needs. But, because of the marathon that I have been running this week, I really didn't have time to sit down and ponder the next tool, tip, and/or trick to share with you. So...as I reflect on my day today, here's what I have for you. I spent my day working on one HUMONGOUS PowerPoint presentation for a special event that will take place on campus tomorrow. As I worked, my mind kept taking me to this place called "Death By PowerPoint!" If you're not familiar with it, then let me indulge you.
As I worked on this presentation, I was secretly hoping that lightning would strike campus again and take the power and the PowerPoint out! (Gasp!) I know...it was a horrifically, horrible thought. I share my FanTECHulous Fridays with everyone on campus; therefore, I know that the Administrators will be reading my post. (Well...at least I hope they read it.) I guess I will be finding out soon enough if they actually read my post or not. I will go ahead and apologize for my evil thoughts and ask for their forgiveness in advance. I'm sorry. (insert pouty lip here)
I have to admit that I have not used PowerPoint in quite sometime. I've been brainwashed by Google, LOL! Not really, I just truly love the G-Suite and especially love me some Google Slides. I love Google Slides for many reasons because it's so much more than just a presentation tool. Earlier this week when I was out for a run, I listened to a podcast entitled "Google Slides Can Do What?!?!" It shared some really unique ways that you can use Google Slides in your classrooms. Some of those ways were as follows:
- Creating eBooks
- Interactive/engaging activities
- Magnetic Poetry
- Choose your own adventures
This was an awesome PD opportunity for me and I learned a few things about how Google Slides can be utilized for more than just a presentation tool. I encourage you to click the link above and take a listen for yourself. Maybe, just maybe, you will be inspired to use Google Slides to create an engaging lesson for your students. Better yet, how about your students creating an engaging lesson for you! Who knows...maybe this will be the "Death of PowerPoint" for your future instruction!?!?
As I wrap up this post, I hope you all have a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend. Take some time to do something for yourself. Maybe that something is your very own PD! Listen to a podcast, learn from your social media PLN, watch a video, or read a blog post. If you don't know where to start, then here...try the Google Teacher Tribe podcast. Matt Miller and Kasey Bell are great educators to have as a part of your PLN and their podcasts are great tools for taking your PD into your own hands. Go ahead and give them a try. They never disappoint on a three-mile run!
