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 Fort Worth, Texas on May 29, 1972 to Jacqueline and Oberian Lee. To say the least, I was a very curious child. I am a proud product of Fort Worth Independent Schools. Having grown up on the Eastside of Fort Worth, I attended Eastern Hills Elementary, William James Middle, and Paul Laurence Dunbar High School for Science and Engineering Professions. I was a magnet student at each of these schools and gained some of the greatest educational experiences one could imagine. I enjoyed Chemistry and Physics because these were subjects that I could allow my curiousity to unfold. I finally decided to become a cheerleader after a dare and who would have thought that I would end up being the captain! I guess it was all of those years of gymnastics that actually paid off.

I earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas in 1994. While enrolled, I was a member of several organizations including Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society. After completing my undergraduate studies, I moved to Houston, Texas where I accepted my first teaching position with Houston Independent School District at Kashmere High School. My plan was to teach for a year in order to stay abreast of skills before enrolling into medical school. Well, after teaching for a year in an area where the socioeconomic status was extremely low, I decided medical school could wait. I had another purpose . Now, eight years later, I am still teaching. I am a Technology Education instructor in Fort Worth ISD, by way of science. In other words, I began my career teaching Biology and after six years of that I was ready for a change. I decided two years ago to take my current principal up on an offer to teach middle school Technology Education. I accepted this position for two reasons. First, I wanted smaller classes because after teaching science classes with at least 35 kids, I needed a break. Secondly, I would be working with computers, my second love. So far it has been a wonderful experience. I am now a Technology Coordinator for my campus.

I have a four year old daughter, Amani Elizabeth, who keeps me going and I am also engaged to be married in March of next year. I am a jazz fanatic so here are a few clips for you listening and viewing pleasure..

Significant Personal and Technology Events in My Life

One of the most significant personal events in my life, I would have to say, is giving birth to my daughter. I was teaching science in Houston, Texas and decided at the ripe old age of 26 that I was ready for a family. I have come to realize that you are not truly a woman until you have held a job and carrried a child at the same time. I remember my students, who were in High School at the time, would always tie my shoes for me and make sure that I was eating right. It all paid off on May 15,1998 at 3:10 P.M. my daughter, Amani Elizabeth, was born weighing 7 pounds 13.8 ounces. I went through 13 hours of labor and let me say this...labor is an experience only God can explain. I think it could possibly be more intense than having your legs cut off with sword because at least that is quick. On the up side, I would not trade it for the world.

Now for technology, one experience stands out. I had a student my first year teaching technology. He was the type of student that cut classes, skipped school and was always in some kind of trouble. I would continually call his name on the roll, but he would never answer until one day, midway through the semester I him say "here". I found out, that as a stipulation of his probation, he had to attend school regularly. He seemed to be very intereste in computers. I thought, let's try something. I needed a lab assistant to help me with technological duties and he was not the perfect candidate, but I was experimenting, why not. We spent afternoons learning the ins and outs of computers. He learned basic troubleshooting and maintenance during this time. His grades in my class began to get better. he went from an F to a C, which was an improvement. I noticed that we had alot of spare parts from broken computers lying around and I would ask the lab assisstants if they could figure out what to do with them. He would always take the spare parts and scraps. The end of the year finally came around and I had assigned a class project. The students had to create a web page that highlighted their favorite teacher. As I was grading the projects, I noticed his was not there. I went back to school the following Monday and he was not in class. I called his house and told a relative that I would stop by after school. To my dismay, his grandmother had passes away and he was taking it very hard. He told me that he had his assignment, but he hadn't been able to turn it in. I told him under the circumstances, I understood. He took me to small room in the 3 room house they lived in and gave me a diskette. I noticed that he had a computer, which is a scarcity in the neighborhood thatI taught in. I told him that it was a pretty nice looking computer. He told me that thanks to all my help..HE BUILT out of the scraps that we were planning to throw away. My heart just dropped. The entire drive home, I just cried and cried. I could not believe it. It didn't matter to me that he had missed 10 weeks of school and had been so defiant before. I can truly say that no feeling could compare to what I felt that day. I learned never to judge a book by its cover.

Reasons for Wanting to be a Technology Applications Teacher

I remember my BASIC and PASCAL programming classes in high school. They were the most boring, monotonous hours of my life. I vowed that if I ever had to teach, whcih was not in the plan, that I would make my classes intersting and student-centered. My passion had been the sciences,but I had to purchase a computer for my ACP coursework after completign college. I'll never forget. It was an Apple. I tinkered and tinkered until I figured it out. I started getting involoved in training at the high school that I was teaching at and from there my comfort level increased. I became a technology coach for my shcool district, HISD, and realized that I really like teaching people how to use the technology available to them. I thought ....I like teaching and I love computers, but will I ever be able to leave science? Well, I accepted a position at my current middle school, where I teach a general course in technology. I wanted to specialize in web authoring or digital graphics on the high school level, but this would be a stepping stone. I am really enjoying it and look forward to my future goals.

Preparing to Teach

Every year in August, I say to myself..."Oh, God...I am not ready." I think about what areas I want to focus on and I just start searching the Internet and libraries, etc. for all the materials I will need to teach my class for the year. What will my students be like? The luxury I had before, of teaching science, was that I knew my students already, but now all of those students have gone on to high school. I get very anxious because with the new year comes new challenges. Luckily, almost every kid wants to be in Tech Ed, so that is a plus coming out of the blocks. On the other hand, its a great deal of work because technology is ever changing and the teacher should always be abreast of what's going on to some degree. This is why I frantically try to gather alot of material during the month before school starts. Training is especially important. I gain so much during summer technology training sessions. The one thing I always remind myself of is that a teacher is always a LEARNER too. I will not always know everything, but I have to be willing to learn new things.