Day 9 #MERIT18

iMovie Trailers

I really do have a love-hate relationship with iMovie. I had to use it to create videos to apply for my California Teaching Credential (CTC), but the software changes very often. When things change this often, I spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos and crying…then learning…and more crying. Eventually, I have to put a product I’m halfway happy with. Because of this, I’m not that big of a fan. The people in my group were delightful with working together. Everyone who had an idea was heard. Sharing the cameraperson duties was encouraged. Editing was pretty seamless. I personally think our final product was very cute.

Presentations: IPEVO

All the presenters have been fabulous so far and IPEVO continues the excellent presenters tradition. They are to be remembered for their awesome products and the yummy cupcakes! I loved hearing about Wishpool. Even though their product was super affordable, they made it even MORE affordable by offering it to teachers who wish for them!

Spreadsheet Thoughts

I have a mug that says I [heart] Spreadsheets. I used them all the time when teaching middle school. The critique I received from it was that it was too difficult for students to comprehend. There is no skill mastery needed in completing Spreadsheets. After having to put together a fundraising tracker for my dance company, (and close to breaking down) I realized that it was important for the next generation to visualize numbers and their meaning. I’ll probably write a whole separate blog post about this topic.

Projects:

On Day 1, I knew that I was walking into a room full of talented educators. Today, I found out just how talented they are. Every single person that went up to present made me want to take their class. If the lesson presented today was a peek into a whole year with these teachers, I would be blessed to be a student in their class. Each educator asks students to address privilege and how global views affect their present lives. I know I was totally having mild panic attacks about today, but it didn’t seem so bad after all. The program does an excellent job of selecting educators who are empathetic, talented, and genuinely care about students. One of my first tweets about #MERIT18 was about disorganized I was with all my tasks. Lisa replied with: “Be the teacher you needed.”

Today, I was able to more clearly see the teacher I needed..the teacher the students need now. If there was a school who only employed MERIT alumni, those students would be some of the luckiest students in the world.