Twenty-one years ago I graduated from Liberty University with my Bachelor of Education degree.  At that time technology was not an educational priority in the training of new teachers.  Five years later I returned to college in pursuit of my Master’s degree.  My brother, just an undergraduate freshman, had recently purchased a Tandy Computer and was eager to demonstrate to his older sister the wonders of technology.  After a heated debate he finally convinced me to type a paper for one of my graduate courses on his computer.  When the computer crashed, taking with it all my hard work, I vowed never to again touch such a machine.

            I was dismayed to find that I really didn’t have a choice in whether or not I would become technology literate.  It was explained to me that to maintain my Virginia Teaching Certificate I must demonstrate a set of technology competencies.  My principal sent me to a NTTI workshop.  Her hope was that at this workshop I would get fully certified in all competencies.  Needless to say the workshop alone did not provide me with all the skills in one weekend that I needed to have.  What it did accomplish was to show me that technology was not something I needed to be afraid of, but rather another strategy that I could use to further my students’ academic success.

After attending my first NTTI workshop in 2001 I became a NTTI master teacher.  I have written 1-2 published lessons each year.  Even before becoming a master teacher I attempted to incorporate technology into my classroom after completing the workshop.  I started looking for technology rich lessons that would both engage my students and teach the required SOLs.  The first NTTI based lesson I tried in my classroom was one published by Betsy Weaver. I did this the very next day following the original workshop.  Just recently I taught my lesson from this year on the phases of the moon.  Using the NTTI strategies kept my students focused and engaged.  With their attention on the skills being taught, my students passed their SOLs with top scores.

The year following, in 2002, I went to a two day work shop on creating web quests.  The first day we were led through a web quest as if we were students. The instructor stopped often to point out the parts of a web quest and the impact a web quest would have on my instruction.  The second day of the workshop we were led through the process of creating our own web quest.  The following Monday I began a web quest with my students.  The first planning day I had was spent creating my own web quest.  The problem with web quests that I discovered was with the enormous amount of time they took to complete.  After browsing several teacher discussion boards I found that many teachers were at this point using “scavenger hunts”.  These are “online worksheets” with links to the answers.  Scavenger hunts can be completed in one day.  I have found them to be much more time efficient.  I tend to use scavenger hunts at the beginning of a unit before I start to “lecture”.  This gives all students more of an equal footing so that they can participate in class discussions.  I believe in brain-based learning and have found more student participation when they have an opportunity to research the material on their own prior to my instruction.

In 2003 I took a 1 hour graduate class on using Technology to Communicate.  This course demonstrated many ways that technology can improve communication between teachers and their students, the student families, and the school.  One of the most interesting ideas was to create a class web page.  I really took off with this idea.  I created and have maintained a web page ever since.  It has now evolved into an ITRT page instead of a class page.  This has become both a hobby and an obsession to me. I LOVE getting emails from teachers who have found ideas that I post to be useful in their own classrooms.  I also get very excited when a teacher from across the nation or even in another county sends me an idea that I can use just because they read about my current units on my page.

In 2004 I was placed on the County Technology Committee.  We were shown the new technologies coming into the county and given “first dibs” on using these.  One of the biggest ideas that I grabbed on to was the S-video cable.  Using this I connected my laptop to the classroom television.  This opened up an entire new world for me.  Technology became a daily activity and not just a “scheduled” one.  Students were thrilled to be able to see a computer screen easily as a whole group.  Whole group engagement with technology is something I push for as we are constantly adding “smart classrooms in our division.

In 2005 I was hired by my division as an ITRT.  Prior to becoming an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher for Amherst County Public Schools, I had started to become an advocate for instructional technology.  I feel my excitement over integrating technology was as a result of seeing the benefits to my students. My scores as a classroom teacher were positive.  Teachers who have been open to my sharing with them have reported high scores on class and division tests.  We are all looking forward to this year’s SOL to see how focusing more on technology integration has affected the division as a whole.

I strive to continue growing in the area of instructional technology.  Below my professional development plan has been mapped out.