Professional Development Plans for January 2

Here is a sneak preview at our January 2^nd professional development day for the faculties at Ellis Jr. High and each of the five elementary schools. (Talladega High School and Career Tech will be following a different schedule.) We are offering six different technology workshops, each of which will last approximately two hours. You will be able to choose two workshops—one in the morning and another in the afternoon.

Below, you will see a description of each workshop so that you can begin to decide which ones you would like to attend. We’re still working on locations. Check back later in the week for exact starting times, locations, and instructions on how to sign up on PDWeb.

Google Gadgets (Janet Taylor) This hands-on workshop will focus on some of the newer tools offered free through Google. Participants will learn how to use iGoogle, Google Notebook, and GoogleDocs. This workshop will be offered both morning and afternoon.

Practical Classroom Solutions (Thad Miller and Bradley Ward) The presenters will demonstrate the technology they are using in their classes and Ellis and is easily transferable to any other classroom. You will learn how to project images from your computer to your television. You will see how you can use a student response system to test student learning and save their responses to enter in your gradebook. The presenters will take the mystery out of purchasing technology by giving you ideas on the best and cheapest places from which to order. This workshop will be offered both morning and afternoon.

Let’s Play Jeopardy (Karen Clark) You will learn how to create a Jeopardy game on the computer you can use with your students. Please bring a copy of your course of study and the needed resources to use to help develop the questions and answers. You will also need to bring a flash drive to store your work. This workshop will be offered both morning and afternoon.

PowerPoint…a Teacher’s Best Tool (Pattie Thomas) You will learn the basics of PowerPoint, see examples of how PowerPoint can engage and assess students, discover how to gather free PowerPoint’s, and create a PowerPoint of your own. This workshop will be offered both morning and afternoon.

Get Organized! Managing Digital Data With Ease (Dr. Frank Buck) Nobody ever taught us how to organize the data on our computers. That changes today. You will come away with strategies that make filing and finding your data easy, a system for backing up your data, best e-mail practices, Google tricks you probably never knew, a look at why iGoogle should be your homepage, and other practical techniques for saving time and increasing your productivity. This workshop will be offered during the morning session only.

Your Own Blog in 10 Minutes or Less (Dr. Frank Buck) You have read all about them and seen them. This session shows you how to create your own blog fast and for free. We will create a blog from scratch, show you several established blogs, and leave you with a host of tips for maintaining a blog of your very own. This workshop will be offered during the afternoon session only.