Susan Tolivar -- The 513 Challenge

Hello Everyone!

I am excited to be taking EdTech 513.  I have been looking forward to this course.  

I am a mom, but my two children are all grown up (at least physically).  I love spending time with them when they visit.  My cat, Calvin, keeps me company all the other times.  I have been teaching for over 14 years, and will be finishing my M.E.T. program next Spring.  I am, what we call in Virginia, an ITRT (Instructional Technology Resource Teacher), which means that I train and coach teachers on the integration of technology into their instruction, as well as provide them with resources.  

Originally from New Orleans, I've lived in Virginia for five years.  I will be moving to northern Virginia from the southeastern part of the Commonwealth in just a few weeks.  Right now, my hobbies include packing, more packing, driving more than two and a half hours to look for a place to live (in my spare time), finishing out my present contract, and more packing.

My biggest hurdle this semester will be figuring out how I am going to complete my assignments for the next few weeks without Internet access.  Tomorrow I am turning in my work phone which gives me Internet access, and there is no place within miles of my house that has high-speed access.  

I do not know what I will be producing, but it should be very interesting for me!  I will have to take a short trip just to do coursework.  I suppose it will turn out all right; at least I hope so.

Good luck to all, and I look forward to learning with you!

Brian Querry - Intro to 513

My name is Brian Querry. I am entering my 14th year as a music teacher just outside of Pittsburgh, PA (go Steelers!). I have taught every subject area and grade level during my time, most recently focusing on middle school general music and multimedia. For next school year, I will be heading back to the rehearsal room, as I will direct middle school and high school bands. I also advise the award-winning middle school tv station and several extra-curricular bands. Outside of school, I run a small multimedia production company and direct music at my church.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the classes I've taken so far, as I pursue my M.E.T. degree. The assignments and projects have all been very relevant, enjoyable, and applicable in my own classroom. I look forward to this semester and learning even more ways to incorporate technology not just as a tool, but as a powerful learning instrument.

Crazy, Hazy, Days of Summer School 2011

I live in Riggins, Idaho - a remote town at the confluence of the main and little Salmon Rivers which lies on US highway 95 just north of the 45th parallel. I teach grades 7-12 whatever subjects the district needs in a given year. Most subjects range from math to computers to graphics to economics. I also perform grant writing, IT, and Powerschool Administrator duties, so I'm used to multiple roles.
My husband and I are advanced EMTs and licensed foster parents. We became parents for the first time three years ago and have two lovely daughters age 18 and 14, whom we adopted after having them in our home as foster children for two years.
I love what I do, and I love where I live. The exciting thing about online education is that it can be taught from ANYWHERE! We live in amazing times and I consider it an honor to be able to take this class.

Initial Class Posting

Hi, my name is Chris Schinzel.  I am a graduate student at Boise State University.  I am seeking my Master's in Special Education and hope to teach middle school or high school someday in an extended resource room.  I am currently teaching summer school at an elementary school in Boise and working full-time as a volunteer staff at the Boys & Girls Club of Boise.  I really enjoy working at a Title One school and volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club.  I like working with youth that are not as privileged as most.  I am hoping that this class, in addition to fulfilling my elective credits, will teach me to better incorporate technology in my teaching and give me more experience to use it for my leisure time as well.  I enjoy backpacking, volleyball, exercising, and the outdoors.  I am excited to see what the semester will bring.

LaTrelle: Sharing Knowledge

My name is LaTrelle Walker I have an undergraduate degree in Instructional Systems Design and I am nearing the completion of the EDTECH M.E.T. program. I am taking most of my electives in the areas of multimedia and gaming as I currently am working in that arena. I look forward to learning many new tricks from the 513 group. In my job I am an Instructional designer for the Army and I am responsible for digital training product development with a special emphasis on gaming and its integration into traditional curriculum and dL courseware. One of my life philosophies is to stay hungry (not physically, but mentally). As far as my career is concerned this means to stay on the edge of emerging technologies, continually developing strategies for integration to improve products. Additionally I love exchanging knowledge and networking with others.

Another Summer!

This another summer semester for me in the Edtech program and hoping this will be my last. My goal is to graduate this fall semester. Being new to education as well as e-learning, it has been quite an eye-opening experience for me. I've been involved with training throughout my military career but it was mostly "this is your course, you're the instructor, now teach." When I would have questions on methodolgies or effectiveness, it was always "well, its this way because we've always done it that way." I found myself wanting to change the whole course to what I thought would be a more effective course which I'm not sure was very healthy for my students or my career.

Working throughout my Edtech online program, I have learned (sometimes the hard way) that two things have to be continual, both with the learner and the instructor. One being organization and the other time management. I'm (admittedly) not the most organized person when under tight deadlines and "life" is extremely busy. The program has and I hope this class will continue to force me to focus on and prioritize pending projects with things going on outside of class. I'm not using most of what I have learned within the Edtech program as of yet so I hope this class will allow me to continue to utilize my newly acquired skills learned in previous classes.

Time management has been another skill that I've been forced to relearn. I am a extremely good at multi-tasking different projects at once, but I have a tendency of getting focused on one aspect of a given project. I find myself getting up from the computer after spending 4 or 5 hours working on one part of the project and then realizing that other parts are needing to be completed - on time. One thing I have learned to combat this is to take more frequent breaks and "walking away" from the project for a while and that normally refocuses me on the whole project - not just one part of it.

I'm truly looking forward to this semester so that I can further practice and learn new skills for my new career. I look forward to working and getting to know the class as we move quickly through the material.

Werner and Multimedia 513

Hi.

I'm currently living and working in Istanbul Turkey at Istanbul International Community School. I teach secondary Music and TOK (Its like a philosophy course for grades 11-12). My time is pretty evenly split between teaching applied music (Bands, Orchestras, Choirs) and academic music (Music history, theory, listening). I've always been interested in technology and melding it into a networked system. To improve the academic side of my students experience I want to flip my classes so that any lecture type lessons I give become interactive videos or web sites that kids can explore at their own pace. That way class time will be freed up for guided practice. The general vision is flipping it so that "homework" happens in class and "lessons" happen at home. I'm interested in this class helping me to realize this vision. Glad to know all of you and hope to get to know everyone better over the next 8 weeks.

Best

Karl