Getting started

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by kherron on May 18, 2007 at 8:59am

Thanks Kevin! I am just getting started using Classroom 2.0 but so far love what I have seen. I will continue to navigate my way through and become an active part of this discussion group - got the feeling this will be my best way to communicate with you all and share ideas without taking time out of family and traveling, etc..... Here we go!!!

Permalink Reply by Ginger Lewman on May 18, 2007 at 5:45pm

Welcome Kim! I'm looking forward to talking and working with you! Where did you come from before TCA? Tell us a little about your background...

Permalink Reply by kherron on May 20, 2007 at 12:20am

Hey Ginger! About me in an overview.... I have just completed my first year of teaching. I graduated from FHSU with a degree in Elementary Ed after working as a paraeducator in the Colby schools for 3 years and will now be pursuing getting my endorsements for middle school levels. I have graduated college as a veterinary technician and as a certified nurses aide and worked in these areas as well as ran a childcare center from my home for 8 years before going back to school to become a teacher. (Yea took me a little while to decide what to be when I grew up - Im just not sure Ive grown up yet, so education should fit me perfectly!!!) My own children are a huge driving force for me as I watch them grow and see them each as individuals and wish the rest of the world would to. My youngest is especially good at this as he has only half of his heart functioning and was only given a 30% chance of living a halfway normal life and has thankfully been able to live 100% full activity level life, to the point he is constantly in trouble at school for not being able to sit still and continuously thinking beyond what they are expecting. (Hence my devotion to the belief that every child should have the opportunity to grow and fullfill their abilities and that we as teachers have no right to squash and bend them into robots!) He is expected to make it to between the ages of 8 and 15 before needing a heart transplant which really highlights just how short any of our lives or our students lives may be. To stop and think that he will be spending a LARGE majority of his life in school not being allowed to express, apply, and succeed in his ideas and talents is very frustrating to me and makes me very aware that this is not only true for him but for any student. None of us are here on a set schedule and should be given every minute and opportunity to make the best of our personal talents.
I LOVE technology and project based learning. This year my class of 5th graders have taken this style of learning and flew past all expectations and, I believe, had a good time doing it. Feel free to check out my class webpage at http://www.usd352.k12.ks.us/teachers/north/kherron_site/Welcome.html I am not sure how long into the summer my page will exist as I am leaving that district, (I am going to try to save the webpages and transfer them to a new site to refer to, but if you want to check them out might want to do so soon.) As a new teacher I feel I am still lucky to be naive in some things as I feel sometimes the fear of doing something different henders teachers, at this point I am not sure what is in "the normal realm" so I'm not stuck in it. (And hope to never become stuck in it.) I've got a lot of ideas, some that may work, and some that may not, but have reached the age and point in my life that my own children have taught me that it is ok we are all gonna fall at sometime so we just as well try them out and learn from them as we go. I tell them and my students to lead the way!

Permalink Reply by Ginger Lewman on May 18, 2007 at 5:44pm

Thanks Kevin! I can rely on you to cheerlead us into an educational revolution!!! I could NOT be more pleased!

Permalink Reply by Ginger Lewman on May 19, 2007 at 12:44pm

Hey--I'm all for creating a think tank for 3D classrooms. If someone is SERIOUS and is planning to implement something big, feel free to invite them here! I think a think-tank is precisely what we need!