I often find myself the most exhausted during the first week of school. Not necessarily because I am swamped with lesson plans and paperwork, but because I am so excited for the new year that I can rarely sleep. It doesn't matter how many years I've been a student or how many years I've been a teacher- I still love the first days of school!
This year looks a little different for me. Instead of teaching four different courses, I only have two that I am teaching. Even though I have less preps, I find myself even more busy than the previous years. Why? Technology. There are so many things "out there" that I want to try. After pondering and searching, I discovered that I needed to put some goals in place, so that I don't become too overwhelmed. On day one, I had computers in students' hands which was definitely a "win" for me. I'm really trying to focus on what I can do to make my classes more enjoyable. I know that a lot of my students spent most of their summers on a smart device of some sort. I don't want the beginning of the school year to also be a time where their technological engagement is shut completely down. I'm still playing around with what that looks like for the year.
As far as new things go, I have come across some incredible apps and website that I will be using. I am teaching a class called Explore the World where I am am going to take students on several virtual field trips across the globe. A couple apps I especially LOVE are the Arounder app and the Geoguessr app. These are incredible! The Geoguessr app is a really great app that is set up in a guessing game format. The app drops you somewhere in the world and allows you to take a 360 degree look at your surroundings. You are then able to guess (right down to the city) where you think you are in the world. The closer you guess to the actual location, the more points you receive. I used this the first day as a whole class activity, and then as a group activity (with two iPads and two computers), and my students absolutely LOVED it! I highly recommend both apps.
So I guess I am just really excited to try new things this year. I think the most exciting thing about technology is that you never really "arrive." It's not like I will ever get to a point where I can say, "Gee, I really don't have any more to explore." But, really, I guess that's true about all learning.
Happy first week of school!
-L
