The Inauguration

Welcome to the inaugural post to my new blog.  I’m thankful you’re taking the time to give it a look. I’ve been wanting to start a professional blog for quite some time now, so I’m excited to get started!

I suppose it makes sense to start with a little “about me” with my background and how we got here.  I went to Winona State University and received my degree in Social Studies Education. My first job was in Windom, MN (my hometown), where I taught one section of 8th grade social studies and 4 sections of different business classes.  It was quite the learning curve teaching Excel... commonly spending hours on Youtube learning it the weekend before teaching it. But the year went well and I loved every minute of it. Late that year, I decided to follow my heart and apply to other schools chasing a full time Social Studies position, but I had been bit by a bug… tech in education.

I accepted a job in Alexandria, MN at Discovery Middle School in the spring of 2014 teaching 8th grade Geography. I had finally done it!  I landed the dream job: not far from home, subject/grade I loved, and where most people go to vacation. To say I was excited was an understatement.  I could spend all of my free time hunting, fishing, or hanging out on one of the 50 lakes around the area… I was set. My first year there couldn’t have gone any better.  I had a lot of friends, the students were incredible, and I was coaching middle school football, girls basketball, boys basketball, and baseball. I also got involved in as many committees as I could to learn as much as I coud.

Fast forward two years to 2016 and our district decides to create and hire a Tech. Integrationist.  I was just finishing up my Masters of Education in Learning Design and Technology - a Masters that revolved around Human Centered Design and technology in education.  It was the perfect program for me and I applied for the tech integration position. I was offered the job and accepted it a few days later.

My first year in the position during the 2017-18 school year I was excited, nervous, and not entirely sure what to expect.  There weren’t any examples for me to follow in the district, no templates... I was the only one. So I focused on on learning as much as I could.  I became a Google Certified Educator (Level 1 and 2), then a Google Certified Trainer, and later a Smart Certified Trainer. I met some awesome people at Tierney Brothers in the Twin Cities during my Smart Certification and later became an Independent Professional Development Contractor for the company.  I got several opportunities to travel and teach for them last summer and can’t wait to get into it again next year.

Now I’m in my second year and I feel like I have a much better idea of what’s going on.  I’m blessed to work where I do because my district has been nothing but supportive of me and always listens to the crazy ideas/suggestions I come up with.  I have a lot more to share, especially about #edtech, but the beginning is always a good place to start.

"I find the harder I work when no one is asking questions, allows me to answer more when they do," - Lukas Gotto