For the last 20 years or so, I have been working in the field of education with emphasis on how to use technology to help enhance student learning. Until this past school year, I worked at a middle school and with grades 6-8 designing the technology courses for the students. This included various permutations from six-week wheel courses on keyboarding, computer skills, video production, to trimester, semester and year long courses including journalism, yearbook, music publishing (with garage band), and computer publishing. I have also for the past five years, worked with English Language Learners, as the primary teacher and then this year as the District Coordinator for the state testing program.
Technology is just a part of the process. I have also been working with the student information system since the District adopted PowerSchool and was one of the first trainers and support personnel for the implementation and training of both administrators, support staff, and teachers on the system. I still help manage and update the system primarily in the area of registration and the updating of various components related the English Language Development program related to the new CA system of CALPADS. Working with support staff at various sites, we fix the errors in data entry and occur and help to reconcile inconsistencies in the various individual student records.
This year, I started my high school teaching career in the fields of math and social studies teaching Business Math and Economics to mostly juniors and seniors. This transition has allowed me to work with students at another stage of their educational endeavors and has presented me with new opportunities for growth. I am still learning my pacing and adjusting to the new level of students, and look forward to some additional new opportunities as we prepare to add two new courses to our catalog, Business Accounting and Business Economics in anticipation of a new pathway for students to engage in at our high school. We already have a visual/performing arts and foreign language pathway and recently added an engineering pathway, with the first cadre of students working on their capstone projects in two years. Another new pathway, the biomedical pathway, was just announced last week. I will be working on the courses in the still under construction, business pathway and have been working on the development of the two cornerstone classes and the UC A-G Approval for the courses as well.
I come to the edtech world with a B.A. in Communications with an emphasis in photography from Cal State Fullerton. I also took most courses needed for a minor in business including macro-, and micro-economics, business law, and accounting. I worked, and took all the courses towards a masters' in educational technology from CSUSD, but was not able to complete the final project, so attended Chapman University's masters in education program and graduated with an M.A. in Education focusing on Professional Learning Communities. I have taken courses for adding a multiple subject credential to my existing secondary business, and journalism, photography credentials, through National University as well as participating in a GATE certificate program and many professional development programs independent of the ones offered through my district.
This online certification is another opportunity for growth, reflection, and learning how to better meet the needs of my students while keeping myself up-to-date on the latest research, professional practices, and giving me more tools to share with my fellow educators through our informal "aha" professional development meetings (often held over coffee, or chatting during off hours) and our more formal built-in professional development meetings on Monday afternoons.
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