New adventures
A New Job...
The past few weeks have been incredibly busy! I've accepted a new position at the newest school in my district, St. Georges. I will be starting up the Business Technology program and teaching both of the strands (majors) for the first year - Computer Software Applications and Web Design/Print Media. I am beyond excited because this is the first time that I will get to build everything from the ground up. The schools is absolutely beautiful - big as an airport it seems, and a very nice design. My classrooms are a good size and, in my opinion, one of the best perks is that they have windows. Over the last five years that I have taught in my district, I've gone from no windows for a year, windows for two years (but with a view of a brick wall, haha), to no windows again in my current classroom. While some feel a view of the outside is distracting, I think it's necessary to avoid feeling so closed in.
Tech Ideas: I've already started working with the district tech guys on various ideas. The projectors have been set up in both classrooms. I think they both will have the entire Starboard setup. I've requested that both Office '07 and Vista be installed on all machines. I know they are going to go with the Office request, but they are still thinking about the Vista install. It's not an absolute necessity, but I like the idea of my students learning one operating system as oppose to transitioning to a new one mid-year or later.
Text books: A colleague of mine has suggested using the Adobe Classroom in a Book series for teaching the various software. I hope to get desk copies of all the books I plan on teaching with so as to spend the summer working with them. I am a huge Photoshop fan so this new job is giving me an excuse to learn the Adobe products inside out. Creative Suite 2.3 has been ordered, but as 3.0 has since then been released, I am going to call Adobe next week to request an upgrade - hopefully for free as the licenses haven't been used yet.
Etc...: Fluorescent Light Panels: Another colleague of mine pointed me to this website, where you can buy these for $39.95 a piece. I think they would look fantastic in a classroom! I'm going to have to see if I can convince my new boss about that. There are several options, clouds, Puppies and Kittens (which looks kind of scary), Hot Air Balloon (also an option, I like this one too), Flowering Tree, and Palm Tree.
This weekend
Looks like it's going to be a beautiful three day weekend. To celebrate my hubby's 28th birthday tomorrow, we are heading up to Philly for the day. I am absolutely terrible with surprises and have managed to tell him about our activity (riding Segways with this company), AND about the birthday cake I special ordered for him from Cold Stone Creamery. I just get so excited about stuff that I can't keep it in. Fortunately, he thinks its funny, but I need to work on that. My parents are planning a Birthday Party/Memorial Day Celebration for Peter on Monday so we will head down to Dover for that. I'm thinking about baking a cake to bring down and am searching the Martha Stewart website right now.