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My Google Applications!

April 11, 2014 By JulieK

Whew! It has been a crazy Google-y couple of weeks around here!!

First… I finished my Google Qualified Teacher tests (yay!!)

Next… I had applied for a Wilmington Educational Foundation Summer Explorers Grant to cover the costs so that I could possibly go to the Google Teacher Academy this summer. There are 2 GTA’s in the US this summer, one in Atlanta, and one in Mountain View… I applied for the grant and let them know that I had no idea if I would get accepted to to to the GTA or not, but I really wanted to go!! AND, my principal and the head of WEF came to my classroom last week to tell me I got the grant!!!! Holy cow, I was so excited!!! They hadn’t even opened the applications for GTA yet, now the pressure is on…

This week, I applied to teach a workshop at the Connecticut Summit Featuring Google Apps for Education– AND got an email from them inviting me to be a presenter! OMGosh, my proposal is already listed on the site!!! Go Google-Drive Collaboration !!! What an exciting week!!! I need to get a decent picture and little bio done, but the proposal is LIVE!

Then, they opened the applications for BOTH Google Certified Trainer AND Google Teacher Academy in the last couple days!! Both applications are open for another month or so, we’ll know the end of May for GTA and first week of June for GCT.

Both required videos (different topics)… Plus resumes, case studies, short answers… And, both are done and submitted!! Now, we just wait with fingers crossed!!!

Here are my 2 videos… The Google Teacher Academy application required a video that was no more than one minute long… Topic (I didn’t write down the exact wording, just read through it)… But essentially including collaboration and Community building :) But it had to be just one minute… THAT was HARD :) we all know I’m kinda enthusiastic and wordy :) even with that, I’ve never talked so fast in my life!! But I do love the idea and hope that they love it too! (don’t laugh too hard :) The idea came up (like so many ideas do…) on the drive home from school with my kids, just throwing ideas out, and grew from there! Is the Goddess of Google a Myth? Watch to find out :)

Of all the applications that they get, they are accepting 35 participants for Atlanta, and 65 for Mountain View. I suspect there will be about a gazillion applicants, but I have everything crossed that I will be one of them!!

The Google Certified Trainer application wanted a two minute training video. I chose something that I could explain fairly completely in 2 minutes :) Adding cool fonts and images in Google Docs. It came out at exactly 2 minutes, and I didn’t have to talk quite as fast as the GTA video!! (and this will be a series I’m working on for school… look for more very soon!)

Anyway… those are my videos… Wish me luck!! I’m nervous, but super excited even thinking about the possibility!!

#GTAAT #GTAMTV

Learn Something New Every Day!

April 6, 2014 By JulieK

We need to learn something new every day… It seriously keeps your brain moving… Even though I think my brain is full most days, I believe it is good to keep trying new things!! Here’s my newest!! After attending all those awesome Irish Music concerts, I decided I wanted to learn to play the concertina!!

What’s a concertina? Well, it kinda works like an accordion, you squeeze the bellows to make a sound, but instead of a keyboard, it has a series of buttons. I got an anglo concertina which is diatonic, meaning that the push and pull on a button produces different notes… Yup… Crazy!!! So, last Saturday, Kathryn and I drove the The Button Box in Sunderland, MA and bought me a concertina!! We came home, and Sean, Kathryn and I all figured out how to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!! I sat down with some YouTube videos and started learning some other songs. I now know 4… Twinkle, Maggie in the Woods, Terry Teehan’s, and Zelda. Zelda is the “tune of the month” on my new found favorite message board, Concertina.net :) Every month they post a song, and people learn it and post sound clips… how fun is that??!!

Here’s my first recording… It is MUCH slower than it’s supposed to be :) but considering that as of one week ago I had never even touched a concertina, I think it’s a pretty good start!! There’s a couple of klunker notes, and a brain freeze for a second in the middle, but it’s a start! I will post an update toward the end of the month with a (hopefully better) recording!!

Of course, now I’m scouring the internet for a really nice concertina :) I have had more fun the last week!!

Trifecta of Awesome Irish Music

March 17, 2014 By JulieK

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! We’ve had a wonderful couple of weeks of live Irish music!!! 2 weekends ago, we drove to a lovely little theater in Cumberland, RI to see Caitlin Nic Grabhann and Ciaran O Maonaigh along with Robbie O’Connell Caitlin is a concertina player (amazing) who also danced with Riverdance (amazing) and played with Ciaran who’s a wonderful fiddle player. They played the first half of the show… Then Robbie O’Connell (guitar and vocals) did the second half, and they all played together a few songs at the end. It was a GREAT show… Caitlin and Ciaran met with the kids during intermission and were so great with them!

Here’s a pic from the end of the show. It was wonderful!!!

On the following Friday we had tickets (which we’ve had since Christmas) for the WGBH Celtic St. Patrick’s Day Sojourn at the Hanover Theater in Worcester… An amazing show, and who was playing??? Caitlin and Ciaran!! Yay!! Plus so many wonderful performers, like Carlos Nunez… WOW is all we had to say… Here’s a little clip from the very end of the show with all the wonderful performers on the stage… (ummm, that’s Caitlin dancing too, seriously talented).

The show was so great, that Mike got tickets for himself and the kids to see it again on Sunday, this time at the Sanders Theater in Cambridge (I couldn’t go ’cause I spent the weekend at the Google Summit, also amazing!!).

Here’s a couple pics of the kids with the performers for Sunday’s show… some of the same, but some different, I love the the shows are not static!! Mike said the theater was just amazing, we’ll certainly choose to go there again!! It’s so personal!!

Yay!!! A picture with the wonderful Brian O’Donovan!! Host of the Celtic Sojourns!!!

And the simply amazing Carlos Nunez… Seriously, what a performer he is, really knows and connects with the audience!!

Now… Next week, we’re going to see the farewell concert tour of the Irish Rovers!!!! I cannot believe that we’re going to see them live, after all those years of listening to them on Saturday mornings!!!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!! I hope you can enjoy some live music very soon!! There’s nothing like it :)

What? My “Baby” is 10!! Happy Birthday Kathryn!

January 31, 2014 By JulieK

I know that I say it every time I post about my kids’ birthday… But honestly, how does the time go by so quickly??? AND how is it possible that my “baby” is now in double digits??? Oh my heavens, I don’t even know what to think about that… Not only double digits, but half-way through 4th grade already… (And, don’t even get me started on the fact that I’ll be the mom of a teenager in June… lots of time to lament THAT fun fact later!!)

Back to the double digits…

One of my favorite pics of Miss Kathryn with me :) sitting on the front steps one afternoon waiting for her brother after school… When Kathryn was in preschool.

And… a very similar view… (5 years later) at the library knitting together while her brother was at basketball practice…

Here’s a couple more oldies but goodies :)

from 2007-Why, yes, she does rule the world…

2009-Ha! Check out those bangs :) This was June… but the Easter before was when Kathryn “trimmed” her bangs to the scalp line :) So super cute looking through old pictures :) I don’t know who that young looking guy is :)

2009 again (National Zoo in the kids play area :) Loving the bangs :)

And… More recent… October on the Appalachian Trail in Maine…

And November in North Conway…

Happy, Happy Birthday to my beautiful, spunky, confident baby girl!!! (I don’t care how old she gets, she’s always going to be my “baby!!”)

Happy Catholic Schools Week

January 26, 2014 By JulieK

This is National Catholic Schools week and also the kick-off of the 100th anniversary of the wonderful Catholic School that my children attend. We are truly blessed to have found this school, especially since I had never planned for my children to attend a non-public school. Here’s the short version of the story of how we came to Catholic Education.

First and foremost, I am a “public school” girl. I grew up Catholic, and LOVE to go to church, but I attended public school, and then became a public school teacher. My mother is a public school teacher, as is my husband’s mother, and three of his aunts. I never even considered sending my children to anything other than a public school… That is, until my son attended first grade. There is a big long story about why we felt that our public schools were a poor choice for him, which includes (but not the only reason) the HUGE class sizes in the town where we live. We did complete one year of public school in town, and when we got the class list for the next year, which had 36 student names on it, we scrambled around to find a school that would work better for our family. Unfortunately, many private schools in our area did not have openings as June is awfully late to be looking for a private school for September… I called St. Augustine in Andover, and not only did they have an opening, BUT even though I called the office something like 5 times in one day with random questions, I never got the impression that they were rolling their eyes at me :) (although I am positive they MUST have been, they never let on!!).

I love the fact that they spend time each and every day TEACHING and MODELING about how to simply be a good person, how to be kind, how to reach out and help others, how to share your talents, and how to appreciate the talents of others. It’s part of the curriculum, and not something children get by seeing what other people do on TV or even out and about around town. The teaching staff is dedicated and wonderful. They go above and beyond to be sure that each child uses their talents to the best of their ability. If you are considering a private school, St. Augustine School in Andover is a wonderful place. It’s not just the smaller class sizes, but the attention and care for each child that makes the difference. They have a very well-rounded curriculum, which includes music, art, computer literacy, and languages. (I also want to point out that I don’t teach in the town we live in… If I lived where I teach, we probably would not have had to make the same choice, but, everything happens for a reason). The school has an open house this week, and would love to hear from prospective families. You don’t need to be Catholic to attend the school, and you also don’t need to be a member of the St. Augustine Parish to send your children there. There are about 450 students in the school, grades prek-8 with 2 classrooms of each grade. Teachers work together and really make it feel like a huge family!

Happy Catholic Schools Week!