A Bridge Over Troubled Waters

 

Welcome to my first blog!  This year marks my 24th year in education.  During that time, I served as a special education teacher, program specialist and instructional coach.  For the past year, I worked as an assistant principal in my district's online academy.  My interests include traveling with my family, attending my teenage daughter's volleyball games and spending time with my great nieces and nephews. When not enjoying time with family, I spend time with friends whom I love dearly.  I feel blessed that these relationships exist for multiple decades, reach across thousands of miles and sustain our group through life's challenges.  

At the beginning of my career, I never considered the possibility of serving as a school site administrator.  Sure, I found fulfillment when working with the students who experienced the greatest challenges both academically and socially.  Yes, I sought out the teachers who were slow to embrace the latest initiatives.  Of course, I eagerly accepted challenges involving the use of data to improve academic outcomes for students.  Later in my career I learned how each of these prepared me for a position as an administrator.  Working in this role has brought the most joy.  Teachers are fabulous individuals who deserve support and praise.

Enrolling in the Learning, Design and Technology Program marks a significant milestone in my journey as an educator and school leader.  The picture above is from a week-long UC Berkeley educator's institute attended in the summer of 2019 along with approximately 120 educators from across the globe.  None of the attendees knew that the experience fortified our mindsets and strengthened our resolve as we faced the pandemic of 2020.  With school closures, more than 3 million teachers and school leaders in the United States found the need to immediately shift to the use of online learning tools, (Lemov, 2020).  The relationships, tools and knowledge gained from this program empowers my ability to bridge the gap between where our students currently perform and where we desire them to be in order to achieve at high levels.  The need to leverage online learning tools is here to stay.  It is my desire to leverage the experience of The Learning, Design and Technology program to identify and understand the best practices for building rigor, engaging students and assessing academic performance.

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Lemov, D. (2020). Teaching in the Online Classroom:  Surviving and Thriving in the New Normal. Wiley Press.