Personal
Background
I'm the original country girl. I grew up about 20 miles east of
San Angelo, Texas on a small sheep ranch and farm. I am the oldest
of two children. My brother is 3 and 1/2 years younger than me.
We never had much money, but we were always busy and happy. Growing
up on a ranch/farm is a pretty good way to grow up. I'd recommend
it to just about anybody. I attended Wall
High School , back then a fairly small school. When I graduated,
the Senior class only had about 50 people in it. Just the right
size. My family and I were pretty active in a lot of things related
to the school. We showed animals, participated in various aspects
of sports, played in the band, did UIL--just about everything. I
enjoyed being involved at that level and that influenced my choice
of school in which to bring up my own children.
Significant
Personal and Technology Events in My Life
Nowadays, it makes you sound old to say you were in High School
when the first Personal Computers were widely distributed. I don't
FEEL old...
One of the events that probably changed the path of my future was
being accepted into a small class that would be allowed to do a
little programming on one of the three TSR 80s that our school had
bought. Wow! what a privilege! Little did I know where that class
would eventually lead me. My teacher, Mrs. Haney, still teaches
school at Wall. I wonder if she knows the impact she started that
year.
A little later, after punch-card computer classes at Angelo State
University had detoured me into the world of business, I was working
in a Regional Education Service Center. Of course, we had our Technology
department (notice the capital "T"!). My business courses
didn't "qualify" me to work in the "T"echnology
department. I had to satisfy my technological leanings by quietly
answering the questions that the "common" person didn't
have time to wait for the "T"echnology people to come
answer. Luckily I was given the opportunity to come to work for
Eula ISD. While I didn't start out in the Business Computer area,
the opportunity opened up at just the right time and, as they say,
the rest is history...
Angelo State University has changed a bit since I was taking punch-card
computer classes...http://www.angelo.edu/services/technology/
Region 14 ESC has expanded a bit, too...http://www.esc14.net/ctl/drugfree.htm
Reasons
for Wanting to be a Technology Applications Teacher
I'm not sure that it's a compliment to say that my mind works like
a computer--don't get me wrong--it's not that I can retain information
perfectly and indefinitely. Far from it! I just have always understood
what to expect a computer will do and, more importantly, why the
computer does it. There hasn't been any one important positive role
model that stands out in my memory, but there's been a few negative
role models in the technology area. People who are more concerned
with sounding like that knew what they were doing than actually
teaching the person asking the question. I was determined to be
a teacher who could explain the answer and not talk over
the head of the student!
Preparing
to Teach
Being a first-year computer teacher was one of the biggest challenges
I have ever faced. Could I actually answer the questions asked?
Could I keep discipline in the classroom? Fortunately, I had supportive
friends, family and administrators. And I wasn't afraid to make
a few mistakes. I had always been a self-taught learner and I knew
that I could do this. And I did!! There were moments that were frustrating.
There were moments when I looked like I didn't know one thing about
computers, software or technology in general. But there were moments
when a student would say, "Oh, now I understand!" To find
out more about becoming a Technology teacher, see the Texas
Business Technology Educator Association website.
Resume
Click
here to go to my resume.
Some links related to my interests and hobbies include:
Our Corriente Cattle website, Cactus
Corrientes.
Texas Boer Goat
Breeders
Other Multimedia links:
The events of 9/11 have made a profound impact on my life and
the lives of those around me. In light of the events in the past
year, the audio clip below seems especially relevant. It is President
Franklin Roosevelt responding to the unexpected attack on Pearl
Harbor. Consider the parallels. ...fear
itself... (Click here to
download Real player.)
I was privileged to be alive during one of the most amazing
feats of mankind. One of the advantages that the Internet offers
to us is the ability to experience historical moments. Click here
to view the video of one of the most memorable moments yet known
to man. (The file is quite large, but worth the download time.
Click here to download Real
player.)
|