BIG Year! BIG Goals! BIG Announcement!

This year, I turned 30! The months leading up to the BIG 3-0 were filled with deep reflections on my life, analyzing my past and looking towards the future. I have decided that my 30th year is going to be the year that I look back on when I'm 70, saying I made things happen that year. 

So here it is, as I am looking forward to this new school year, I am committing myself to many new personal and professional goals. I hope by declaring my top three goals here, it will help hold myself more accountable to reaching them! 

• First BIG Goal: I am going to develop, offer and present weekly, hour long, technology based, professional development opportunities to any educator in my district. 

This idea was developed last year, after talking to many teachers about what they want and need from professional development. Most of our professional development opportunities occur after school from 4-6 PM. After teaching all day, staying at work until 6PM can seem daunting, especially for teachers with loved ones waiting for them at home. I am hoping by cutting the time commitment down to an hour, teachers will be able to attend easier. With only an hour to deliver content, the focus of each PD will have to be carefully selected to truly build expertise in one tool, idea or concept at a time. During each session, I hope to provide teachers with information that can be applied immediately into their classrooms. 

• Second BIG Goal: I am going to promote and model the sharing of ideas and resources to foster collaboration between educators.          

As educators, we are always willing to share our knowledge with our students. We use every tip, trick and gimmick in the book to engage our students, develop their skills and foster their knowledge. However, all too often I see educators keep this knowledge they share so openly with their students hidden from other educators. Collaboration among teammates, grade levels, schools within and outside districts and the world are not always pure. Even within my own team, I've noticed behavior that hinders collaboration, communication, and open sharing of knowledge and resources. Why is this? Now I am not out to answer or solve this question, but I'm committed to promoting and sharing my knowledge with others. I want to build collaboration within my district through sharing knowledge and resources to all educators. 

• Third BIG Goal : I am going to blog about my progress and adventures each week! 

This blog will be about my journey as an education technology specialist that specializes in Kinder Code. That's right... Our district rocks! We have set a goal to introduce every TK (Transitional Kinder) and Kindergarten student at our seven Title 1 schools to coding!!! My job is to help support these teachers and students reach this goal, while using technology integration to promote student learning. Hence the name of my blog: Coding my way through K!