Natural transitions

Technology has been in my life as long as I can remember. My parents were technology project managers. They were always aware of technology's place in the larger and future picture of corporate America and every day life. While this is great in retrospect, it was miserable when all I wanted was to take piano lessons and my parents felt Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing was a much better investment of their seven year old's time.This was incredibly hard to trust when I was watching Alex P. Keaton sit down at a type writer.

In college telnet was the way to electronically communicate and it honed my skills to a point that would make Mavis Beacon cry with pride. My love for music somehow, through a series of haphazard events, transitioned into a writing career for magazines, online and print. My curiosity of an Email address found me at my first paid position for one of the (then) largest content providers of music information. All of this through technology before the year 2000.I was on Email lists and built a social network of friends around the world; thanks mom and thank you Mavis.

Years transpire, the internet rockets, dot-com's plummet, and I find myself in education, teaching in a small-town school that had little awareness of technology application.How did I get here and where is Mavis when I really need you? I had never been in a setting where technology was a choice and not a requirement. I saw so much possibility for change and slowly began to shift part of my focus into education technology. The networking skills I once used to connect musicians is now used to connect teachers to resources and keep me informed through social networking. The search engines I used to use to find record labels and events, I now use to find lessons, wiki models and new outlets for student creativity.I am starting to take notice that technology isn't so much about change as it is about readiness to transition and
transform the environment to a place that speaks to the audience (te[a]cher and student).


I once asked my mom if corporate America knew that CDs were ready for public market before their launch, why did they wait? She said the public wasn't ready and does not respond to being pushed. I remember and apply this to technology professional development sessions I lead and attend. I also remember that even though I thought Alex P. Keaton was so cool to question the future of politics, maybe it was time for him to meet Mavis too.

Adventure, activate

A year ago I finally got serious on my professional crossroads. Lurking in my education background is this technology side of me that grew up on the first Apple and Tandy computers; floppy disks, pong and all. My parents were technology professionals; portable information, systems management and leadership manuals were more common in my house than grocery lists. My parents introduced sympathy and perspective through Myers Briggs training sessions to my Girl Scout Troupe. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing took priority over practicing a piano because my parents saw the keys on a keyboard as having more financial promise and stability.

So here I am, over twenty years later and one Masters gained finally getting a chance to combine the lover of education, technology and life's oddities in general that I am. My head nose dive into the world of Instructional Technology...err...I mean Educational Technology...err...I mean...well whichever title you choose it's a combination of environments that I feel is my flock.

Thanks to starting a second masters in Instructional Technology I've been a bulldozer for pushing technology tools at my school. Like a row coach screaming "STROKE!" I feel like I've been encouraging my team to catch up. It's working, but I still find myself wanting to expand and challenge myself in other arenas.

Which lands me here, with you, reading this. I'm hoping to maintain the diligence to keep this blog running. Posted will be technology sites that I've built, others have built, discussions in my classes that I need to think upon, and me just generally flexing my rusty muscles as a writer. I'm sure I'll take some bumps and bruises along the way. I know this is a part of learning and starting a third (or is it the fourth?) career a little later in life. However, I know this one feels perfectly right.

I have some good adventures planned for this summer and like any communicating educator I feel the intrinsic need to share and discuss them.