ETFO Summer Academy

This was the 3rd summer that Trish and I were facilitators for ETFO's Summer Academy. These are 3 day learning opportunities for teachers, offered throughout the province in July and August. Presenters are chosen by application and are usually sent to locations away from home. Adventure! The first year, we went to Dryden - a wonderful location for northern Ontario lovers like us. Last year, we did 2 - one in Stratford and one in Toronto. And this year, we went to beautiful Barrie from July 14 - 16.

Yes, my birthday fell right in the middle, and although I haven't very often worked on my birthday (I think this was the 2nd time in 35 years!), this year was a working birthday - interspersed with wonderful surprises and treats!! For starters, we stayed at the Carriage Ridge Resort and had a beautiful one bedroom apartment, with full kitchen, marble bar, etc. etc. Trish cooked me this amazing breakfast right at 'home' and spoiled me with an assortment of lovely gifts, including my own hashtag!!
Once we got to class, our group had arranged for the most scrumptious cupcakes for break time in the morning. Mmmm, they were soooo yummy!
We had 40 participants in our iPad session and we had so much fun over the 3 days - they were a great group! We explored all kinds of activities on the iPads - if you're curious, check out our site at iPads4Learning.
On the 3rd day, we had a reporter from the Barrie Examiner come and speak to us and take a few pics. It resulted in THIS ARTICLE, posted the next day!

On the evening of July 15, Trish and I drove into Midland and took a 2 hour boat tour in and around some of the islands in Georgian Bay. We brought dinner on board and it was lovely! xo