I am a life long learner, are you?

I have become a life-long learner and I hope I instill this in my students and working to complete my third degree in the last 6 years is a reflection of this.  However, I do not stop just in course work.  Learning comes in many ways.  In developing my skills as am Instructional Technologist, I look to find various paths to broaden my horizons in this field.  Several conferences over the past two years have provided insights to instructional strategies, new tools to use and being an eye opener to many the impact technology has on the learning for today’s students.  The last two years I have attended two conferences: Georgia Association of Technology Educators Conference (GAETC) and International Society of Technology Educators (ISTE).  The ISTE conferences was held in Atlanta this past summer was an incredible experience.

In attending these two conference, the biggest impact to me was interacting with young students at poster sessions displaying how they have used technology in their learning and to display what they have learned.  One in particular was a group of elementary age students from Mexico.  The school had students creating a town farm using a CAD design system which was environmental sound including creating power from solar and hydro resources as well. The students were able to show the programs they were using but also created a video program reflects and showcasing their design work and the beginning stages of their work.  This is authentic learning at its best.  Gandhi said it best “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

As a Fulton County educator, I have been blessed to be a part of two great programs.  One was the Technology Leadership Forum, I first began my quest to integrate my former life working in technology with education. I was able to interact with incredible resources such as Tony Vincent and attend my first GAETC conference.  Today, I a member of Fulton County’s Vanguard Team which is further developing my skills as an Instructional Technology educator and coach to my peers.  I am further extending my learning through the use of the Sanderling we are using for learning and coaching plus various professional learning sessions throughout the year.  I will be coaching at least 4 peers at my school and hope they will improve my learning as well in technology and as a coach.

As teacher, “we must talk the talk but also walk the walk “to show our students the importance of learning and it does not end when school ends.