NO MCSD district wide staff development courses have yet been scheduled. Below you will find classes I offered last year. This page will updated as soon as district classes are scheduled. Thanks for your patience.

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Creating Interactive Education Video Games with PowerPoint

Classes are 9-3pm, two days, 10 hours, target group- teachers only
Location: Britt David Desktop lab
This class may not be repeated

Section A: August 30 and September 6, 2007
Section B: May 1 and 8, 2008

Using PowerPoint, you and your students can create educational, interactive, game-like activities that teach the highest order thinking skills and are a blast.  See the Interactive Activities link at my website http://mitchell.mcsdga.net/Instructional_PPT_Activities.htm  for some examples of what you and your students can do. I created the "Geometry Challenge", but two other MCSD teachers and classes created the other two examples.
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Outlook Express for Paraprofessionals

Classes are 9-3, Day 1 of 1, 5 hours, target group -paraprofessionals -
Location: Britt David Desktop lab
This class may not be repeated

September 13, 2007
January 17, 2008

Paraprofessionals will setup a temporary email accounts in the lab and will learn the basics of using email as well as some more advanced features. Most of the training will involve hands on practice. The distinction between Outlook Express and Webmail will be made clear to participants. Some organizational ideas for dealing with email will also be discussed and demonstrated.

Classroom Web Pages Made Easy

Classes are 9-3, Day 1 of 1, 5 hours, target group- teachers only
Location: Britt David Wireless Lab
This class may not be repeated

Sept. 27, 2007 (in Britt David Wireless lab)
April 24, 2008  (in Britt David Desktop lab)

Using www.teacherweb.com, this class is suited for the classroom teacher who wishes to build a website quickly and easily. Teacher Web will provide 10 Megabytes of space for you and provide an interface for communication with students and parents. I have built web pages for years and I have never seen a more user friendly resource. It allows even a novice page builder to update a her site in less than five minutes.

See http://mitchell.mcsdga.net/WebSpaceChoices.htm for more information.

NOTE: Cost of subscription is 25 dollars a year but you may try TeacherWeb free for a trial period

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KidPix Studio Deluxe 4 Demonstration

Class will be from 4-6 PM, 2 hours, target group- k-5 teachers that have never used Kidpix or who do use it, and might consider this much improved upgrade. Also any person in an elementary school who may be involved with software purchasing decisions
Location: Desktop lab at Britt David
This class may not be repeated

October 18, 2007

Kidpix has been a favorite software application at Mac schools for years. It may be the most versatile, creative piece of software I have ever seen with tools that are particularly suited for the K-5 student. The program allows for great pictures to be created and then put into a slideshow. This program has always been the most popular and widely used application for MCSD schools creating projects for the Media Festival. However, until now the Windows schools have not used it much because the interface, navigational, and saving processes have been so cumbersome. Finally KidPix 4 has made the program as user friendly for the Windows user as it has always been for the Mac user. If you use the Windows platform and have never used Kidpix, you owe it to yourself and your students to come see this demonstration. The primary purposes of the demo will be to show teachers some great possibilities using this program, perhaps urge their schools to purchase the program, and then finally to set up more in-depth training at their schools at some later date.

Teacher Online Resources

Classes are 9-3pm, 2 days, 10 hours, teachers only
Location: Britt David Wireless lab
This class may not be repeated

Section A: October 25 and November 1, 2007
Section B: February 7 and 14, 2008 (Desktop lab)

There is an abundance of online resources to help teachers in Georgia do their job more efficiently and easily. This class will give a preview of many of these resources and then give attendees time to mine for resources specific to their needs. The Georgia Learning Connections web site and the GeorgiaStandards.org site are two of the featured sites.

Tom Snyder Software Demonstration

Class will be from 4-6 PM, 2 hours, target group- 3-5 teachers only
Location: Desktop lab at Britt David
This class may not be repeated

November 8, 2007

Tom Snyder is the premier developer of educational software. Our district has purchased several titles as supplemental instructional software over the past several years, and it is excellent. I have previewed and taught educational software package for some time now, and I must say that Tom Snyder’s is the best. But if you are a new teacher or perhaps you have changed grade levels recently, you may have missed out on the training. During this two hour demonstration teachers will preview Science Court, Math Mysteries, Graph Club, and Reading for Meaning. The primary purposes of this demonstration will be to show teachers some of the various components of these packages and some possibilities for use in their classroom. Then perhaps they can request some more, in-depth training, at their schools at some later date.

United Streaming and PowerPoint to Create Video Lesson Plans

Classes are 9-3pm, Day 1 of 1, 5 hours, target group- teachers
Location: Britt David Desktop lab
This class may not be repeated

November 29, 2007
February 21, 2008

Teachers will locate video clips in the United Streaming Video Library that are correlated with the curriculum they must teach, and integrate these resources into a PowerPoint slideshow in order to create education video lesson plans. Teachers should leave with at least one video lesson.

Help Me Get Along with My Computer:Computer Care and File Management

Classes are 9-3pm, Day 1 of 1, 5 hours, target group-teachers
Location: Britt Desktop
This class may not be repeated

December 13, 2007
May 6, 2008

Teachers will learn various techniques for improving the functionality and performance of their computer. Proper care for a computer, both hardware and software, will be discussed. Teachers will also learn how to manage and store the work they have done in a safe and easily accessible location. They will also learn several methods for backing up the data on their computer. Topic will include: spyware, virus protection, tune-ups, uninstalling software, and computer cleaning software.