I am a teacher, writer, researcher, coach and learner.
As an educator, my experiences have ranged from working with preschoolers through undergraduate students. In the beginning, I taught Language Arts in a rural high school school for about ten years (grades 7-12). I also taught adult refugees who were adding English to their language repertoires. Later, I took on the role of technology specialist in a suburban K-5 school where I co-taught with 22 classroom teachers and provided a lot of staff development. During and after my first doctoral program, I taught courses at the University of Northern Colorado for pre-service teachers. Off and on over the years, I have worked with preschool teachers to provide rich technology experiences for very young students as well.
I documented my teaching experiences at the elementary school in my first book published by ISTE, IT’s Elementary! Integrating Technology in the Primary Grades. But I had been a writer much longer than that. My first publication was when I was 16 and I submitted a story about summer camp to a religious publication. I never saw it in print, but I remember being paid $10! As a parent, I published a lot of articles in magazines and newspapers, especially humorous or practical pieces about family life. Integrating Technology in the Classroom is my second book and currently in its second edition. My list of publications is lengthy — including articles based on my research for which I get only name recognition, if anything.
I research. Over the past 10+ years, I have worked on numerous research projects. Twice I have worked as a research assistant on large government-funded studies. The more interesting of those was helping professors design online modules to teach classroom teachers how to meet the needs of English-learning students. As a result of the online module work, I spend MANY hours observing teachers in urban schools. Most of my research, though, has been on small projects, either solo or with my favorite co-researchers, Stacy and Jenni. Topics have been far-ranging, including teaching math through multicultural picturebooks, ethics in doctoral programs, teachers of reading and writing, students’ writer self-concepts, ethnographic case studies of teachers, and my mother’s life-story. I’ve completed two dissertation studies as well.
Teachers often yearn for a colleague who can help them grow professionally. I have been a coach and mentor for a number of teachers in local schools.
Learning is my passion. When I discovered I did not want to be an administrator (through two years as a district Instructional Technology Assistant Director), I began a doctoral program in education at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC). Through intense study and over-ambitious driving, I finished the program in three years. My mixed-methods dissertation study was conducted in a suburban district and focused on students who experienced a positive turn in their self-concepts as writers. I graduated in May 2011 and in August began a second doctoral program at the University of Colorado Denver campus. This time, for various reasons, I slowed down my timeline and used seven years to complete the degree. My second dissertation was a year-long ethnography of technology use in town and rural elementary schools. At some point, this dissertation will be another book.
I have been married to a computer scientist/electrical engineer for more than 40 years and he is still my best friend. John and I have two offspring by birth — Nick and Jamie — and one daughter by love and marriage — our son’s wife Amanda. As Nick has commented, we have a large family of choice. We pull into our family home many people who may or may not be related by blood and who are all precious.