Assignment 1

My name is Laura, I'm an English teacher at Horn High School, and this will be my 8th year teaching. I’ve been married for 5 years to John, and have a one-month old daughter, Janie. We live in Mesquite and enjoy hanging out with friends and family, good movies, music, and sports. I have always wanted to teach; it’s been on my heart and my main goal since I was 8 years old. I grew up in Mesquite and have affection for the district. I enjoyed the education I received between the years of 1983 to 1997. Teachers I have had have influenced my decision to become an educator, and I’m very pleased with my choice to teach. My personal goals right now are to learn to be all my daughter needs, while still being the wife my husband needs, getting healthy and fit, finishing my Master’s with a 4.0, and eventually teaching Literature and Language class at the college level.
I love my career, I love my kids, and I love the people I work with. I am in my ideal teaching situation, and I couldn’t ask for anything more... Well, maybe I would ask for a computer lab just for my class, a projector that could stay in my room at all times, and a wealth of technological savvy to help my students be engaged in learning at all times. I know that I can do a good job teaching no matter what the circumstances, but staying with my students in the knowledge and know-how of technology can only strengthen my abilities and effectiveness as a teacher, which is what I hope to gain from this class and by gaining my Master’s degree.
My life is extraordinarily busy right now, and working on my Master’s is not an option within the district, but I chose this route because the Cohort presents us with tools, which I can use in the classroom to relate better with my students. The choices of directions to go with one’s Master’s are endless, but I found meaning in the Cohort because every topic on which we focus, every well-planned lesson gives us methods and theories to take back to the classroom and make us better secondary education teachers. I expect to gain the same tools in our ETEC classes. Who can deny the importance of reaching students in any way necessary to prepare them for a future, which will inevitably include creating and organizing projects with different types of technology? If I can reach my students through technology and help them prepare for wherever life takes them, I will be serving my purpose and fulfilling a goal that has been in sight for 20 years of my life.
Educational technology is the study and practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources. The list of technology skills I would like to develop this semester is as follows:
• I would like to create and maintain a website for my classes to use throughout the school year.
• I would like to find out and become proficient in all of the technological resources our campus has to offer.
• I would like to teach my students to compose drafts completely electronically to save paper.
• I would like to teach my students to create presentations with the latest technologies available.

I want to learn these skills for the following reasons:
• I want to engage my students.
• I want to relate to my students.
• I want my students to learn to love Literature and Language by their own means, which no doubt will contain technology.
• I don’t want to become a dusty, rusty teacher who is afraid to try new things and venture out of her comfort zone.
• I want to be able to share what I’ve learned with other teachers at my school.

I will use these skills to be an “informator” of technology by incorporating the skills I learn in ETEC whenever possible in my own classroom. Students will learn to incorporate technology into their own creations and not just see use of technology as a “treat” or as something I’m checking off of my PDAS to cover my bases. They will learn that everything we do is for a purpose to help them stay engaged and learn the skills that will help them in the future.

Educational Technology

Oh, if we could all have our own personal computer labs as teachers! If we did, imagine what we could accomplish, how we could engage our students, and how ALIVE our classrooms would become!