My EDTEC

Technology and Me

My interest in Educational Technology dates back to my first teaching assignment with Madera Unified School District. I was a brand new 4th grade teacher. Along with everything else there was to learn about teaching, I received 3 new computers for my classroom. No software, no instruction, just computers. As the school year progressed, my colleagues and I struggled to find an educational use for our machines. Over the next few years, I became more proficient and confident in the incorporation of computers and software into my curriculum. I learned to use everything from “drill and kill” to project based software. After a time, other teachers began to use me as a technology resource for the appropriate use of technology in their classrooms. I not only used what educational software was available to me, I began to create projects for my students to complete that allowed them to learn, and also showcase what they had learned through the computer.

In 2001, Madera Unified School District identified a need for the instruction of teachers in the use of technology in the classroom. A department was formed, and a director was named. Based on my work with my classroom students over the years, I was asked to apply for one of the four “Teacher on Special Assignment” positions with the Ed Tech department. I was happy to be chosen to become one of Madera Unified’s first “Tech Coaches”.

In my job as a “Tech Coach”, I am active in classrooms working with K-8 students on computer media-based projects and have spent hundreds of hours training teachers on the appropriate use of technology.

Now, through my experiences in the SDSU EDTC program,  I have become a better Tech Coach, and am now also an instructional designer for Madera Unified School District.