Welcome to the Beginning of My Portfolio

While visiting here, you will have the opportunity to surf through my digital portfolio that I have created during my year-long TATC-TA certification studies.  You will see a collection of artifacts made in web building, digital graphics, desktop publishing, multimedia, and much more.  You will see my strengths and my weaknesses.  Hopefully, you will be entertained and learn something at the same time.  

The first thing I want you to do is to play this song.  It always makes me laugh - HulaSong 

The key to surfing through this portfolio is to have a smile, a positive attitude, and an open mind!  Hope you enjoy!

The major components and navigation of my portfolio are presented on the left, at the top under the banner and at the bottom of the page. The following components comprise my navigation and portfolio framework:

• TATC Portfolio Home - An introduction of myself including my Resume and my technology life history.
• Goals - A brief statement of the goals I have set for myself concerning technology and teaching.
• Observation - A reflective statement concerning my overall thoughts about my Observation experiences.
• Reflection - A reflective statement concerning my thoughts about the overall program of study.
• Standards I-XI - All of the Technology Applications (8-12) Standards and their artifacts are listed on one page with a link provided to each individual standard. Each standard has one or more captioned artifacts linked to it. Note that when you view an artifact representing any standard, a separate window will open for the artifact. When you finish viewing the artifact you can close the window.
  • I, II, III, IV, V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI - Links to direct access of each individual standard and its captioned artifacts.
• Standard's Matrix - A matrix diagramming the relationship between the TA Standards and each of the associated indicators with my portfolio artifacts.
  

Personal Background / Significant Events / Reasons / Preparing / Resume

Personal Background

I was born in Amarillo, Texas on January 9, 1957.  I grew up in a family of 4 kids.  I am the oldest and they tell me I am the bossiest.  We moved several times.  The one that affected me the most was the move we made from Silsbee, Texas to Bay City, Texas between my sophomore and junior years.  I feel like I belong to Silsbee High, but my diploma says Bay City High.  I went to Southwest Texas State University, transferred to Texas A&M, and graduated from Houston Baptist University.  I met my husband, Bryan, at A&M. We have been married 24 wonderful years.  We now live in Throckmorton, Texas.  We have lived here for 16 years.  We have 2 children.  A daughter, Allison, who is a junior at McMurry University and a son, Cade, who is a freshman at Throckmorton High.  I taught in Throckmorton for several years then left teaching.  I returned to teach in Megargel and Paint Creek.  However, this year I have returned to Throckmorton and I really love it!

The best times of my life are when I am doing things with my family.  I love to build furniture and mosaic them too.  I am hooked on the show "Trading Spaces". This leads me to constantly redecorate a different room in our house.  My family just loves it.  HaHa...
This picture is the great group at Trading Spaces!

Significant Personal and Technology Events in My Life

Several things have changed my life.  Children have been one of the most significant.  When things looked down, they were always a positive influence in my life.  When I left teaching several years ago, I changed a lot and became a stronger person and learned what the most important things are in my life.  I also realized that I was meant to be a teacher.  Teaching was in my blood and it drew me back to the classroom. 

Reasons for Wanting to be a Technology Applications Teacher

Since I came back into teaching several years ago, I realized that the computer field was intriguing.  I had a chance to go for lots of training and to help write a grant to get equipment.  I set up a network and realized that there was so much to learn.  I was only beginning.  I moved on to another school and wrote for more grants and got some more equipment.  I got so busy building on my knowledge with the network and technology, that I realized that I was teaching more technology than math (my field).  With my new job at Throckmorton this year, I am only teaching the technology application courses and working on the network.  What fun and there is always something to learn, fix, or change with all the technology around me.

Preparing to Teach

What does this new year, new classes of my own, and new software hold for me?  I spend my time now constantly learning.  I have my own classes with new software.  I am teaching that same new software to my students in my classes.  I feel like I stay a day or two ahead.  Will I catch up and all these new things become second hand?  Yes they will - or at least that is what I am constantly telling myself.