I was destined to be involved in educational technology. As a child, I attended a preschool in the high school where my father worked. My father was a Media Librarian, and for most of my childhood he would wheel me around the school on a video cart. What my father learned about computers in his last few years as an educator was through immersion. The school bought computers and his job was to support them and help teachers and students in their use within the library. Despite my father's warnings about the workload and pay scale, I became...a teacher.

In college, I dreaded and avoided using computers. One day, while working for the Dean of the College of Business, he gave me an assignment to research and enter some data for him. He also wanted it turned into graphs in excel. I was forced to learn by trial and error and I did it!

After graduation with my BAEd, I taught in a bilingual 5th grade classroom. During those six years, I begged, borrowed and pleaded for every bit of technology I could get in my classroom. I believe that technology can be a powerful and engaging tool to use in the classroom especially with LEP students. The visual aspect alone was a great tool to reach those learners. Therefore, technology became an integral tool in teaching the curriculum and differentiating learning using a variety of cooperative learning strategies on a daily basis.

That enthusiasm for technology led me to my current position, collaborative peer teacher of technology. This was a newly created position funded by a TLC grant. This position forced me to learn through immersion by teaching myself. (Like father, like daughter.) My job is to train teachers in the use and integration of technology within the curriculum. I will begin my fourth year in this position this fall. In the three years thus far, we have been awarded grants each year which are used to fund my position along with software, hardware, staff development opportunities where substitutes are provided(Thanks to Kim Thomas for the idea!) and our latest technology mentor program. I have found the sub-release method to be highly successful in disseminating information and ideas, motivation of teachers, creation of technology-rich curricular activities and the successful completion of web pages by 97% of our teachers.

This technological journey has taught me that there is so much that I still have to learn in technology. Therefore, I have opted to begin to work towards a Masters in Elementary Education with a concentration in Educational Technology at ASU West. I want to be able to provide teachers with the best technology assistance and training that I possibly can. In order to accomplish this, I need training. Sometimes, when you are in a position to train others, you forget to get training yourself to learn fresh ideas of what is possible and what others are doing. I look forward to this new adventure in my life and hope to put all that I learn into practice in my job.