What do you value most about Assets School?

What I value most about Assets is the community as a whole (staff, teachers, students, and parents).  It is everyone working together to help students to find their learning strengths and to help prepare them for a future after school.  What I see is that everyone is willing to take risks and give of their time to help the students succeed.  This belief that Assets always puts "students first" is one that I share completely and have always valued the most.

What is your goal for the current school year? 

Educational Technology is more than just getting technology in the hands of everyone, it is about working to find tools that will help students to better understand their learning, to help them utilize their learning strengths to their fullest and to find ways to use technology to compensate or overcome learning challenges.  My goal is to bring about a change in the way technology is utilized by the students and teachers:  to help everyone to embrace technology for educational purposes, to not only enhance their learning, but increase productivity and digital creativity.  As the Schools of the Future grant leader, I will also be looking at ways to encourage more 21st Century learning in classrooms (i.e. creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, problem solving, etc.) and to create more opportunities for collaboration between students and between our school and other schools like ours around the country.  I have always believed that if we can get our students talking to other students with similar learning challenges around the country, they can learn from each other and create a strong voice of change for the rest of the world.  

What drew you to be an educator?

When people ask me about the teachers who inspired me the most, I am at a loss for words.  One reason that inspired me to be a teacher was my lack of good teachers in my childhood.  A teacher is a trusted person who a student can turn to in times of need, a teacher is someone who inspires students to want to learn instead of being lectured to, a teacher is someone who is patient and caring when the struggles seem too hard to overcome and a teacher is someone who is always willing to help.  It has always been in my nature to work with people of all ages to help them become more than they are now.  The joy of my job is the "ah-ha" moments I get to see in the faces of students, fellow teachers, and friends, when I show them a new technology tool that will save them time, show them a new way to look at something interactively, or a way to unlock their creativity.  Plus, as a lifelong learner, I always try to learn everything I can from every experience, and as an educator I learn something new everyday!

What is your book by your bedside?

Most of my reading is done while running, listening to audiobooks.  I have just finished the last of the Daniel Silva spy mysteries.  This is a great set of books to keep me entertained while I train for my marathon races.

Illusions by Richard Bach is a book that I always have on hand when I need inspiration or words of wisdom.  From this book, I found the quote that I live by and try to teach others, because I believe that with any problem, there is a solution if you are willing to try.

A quote to live by:

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours. - Richard Bach