Pull up a chair and sit a while. I have something to share.
Living, loving, working, dreaming, and noticing the stories that weave themselves beautifully in my mind, has me branching out to this new place to write. I am a teacher, born from being a mother who had a love for language and a greater love for the children bursting in my home. The next generation. At our fingertips. The moms and dads of every community on the globe. What was I doing, putting my first born on that yellow bus without a full understanding of the hours spent away from my nest? So, I decided to dive in, pursue my love for English and get a degree in Education while I was at it. I would know the system, learn the practices, trust in human nature, and become a great teacher to give back to the great teachers I would thank in advance for nurturing my three children.
Fast forward. Fourteen years of teaching. City schools. Suburban schools. Pre-school and adult ed. Moving a lot created a need to recreate myself and use the three certifications I earned with a degree in two majors. That was not enough.
As my students changed and I took on honors English and Advanced Placement courses I realized that the students in my care needed another dimension. I started slowly with a great website and a podcast feature where my students read their essays on line. That wasn’t enough. Eventually I went back to school and instead of that advanced literature degree aimed at one day teaching in the university setting, I decided on a degree in Instructional Technology. I wanted to meet my students where their interest popped. They were digital. They were online and increasingly tech oriented. Their video games raised them up; their ipods filled their ears, and their attention spans required multiple inputs as background noise. It was exciting and scary and well worth the stretch.
Fast forward. Twenty plus years of teaching and today I am a digital learning facilitator (teacher who teaches other teachers and their students, new and required technology) for ten middle and high schools. I model learning by being the person to admit that perhaps, “I do not know that app but I would love to explore it with you.” I celebrate the unique needs of the adult learner as I demonstrate social networking, acceptable use, digital citizenship, and global connectivity. I am honored to embrace this role in the current controversial era in education. I am branching out to learn Sketchnoting and Visual Notetaking because it is such a new expression for me, and one that I think is essential for many of our students. I am taking writing classes. I have taken back my maiden name, and I am going to build a new connection to other curious learners in the realm of being a global citizen. This site will evolve as certain as this new chapter in my career will.
Join me on the road.
