Sweet Sixteen

     

     As John Cougar Mellencamp once said, "Hold on to sixteen, as long as you can".  (Yes, I am a hopeless 80's girl.)   Right now I am drinking celebrating being (almost) done with my 16th CCU tech class from the wonderful TT4T people in my district.  (insert round of applause)

      I was one of the few who didn't get a master's degree until later in my teaching career, so I was already at "that level" on the pay scale....getting my degree didn't move me across.  :(  So, still "bottomed out" with my fabulous K-12 Reading masters obtained in May 2012, I set out to move across to +18 by the end of this summer.  Well, I must have let my ambitions get the best of me, because at the end of this week, I will have accumulated +36 hours! 

     As I said, sixteen of these hours were earned by honing my technology skills with the help of Ann Feldmann and Brent Catlett, gurus of all things tech.   I have learned SO MUCH from these classes.  I have Google Formed, Google Doc'ed, Pinned, Tweeted, Apped, Blogged, made movies, made podcasts, Flipped, and every other "tech verb" ending in -ed.  I have learned that much of what I used personally could be very useful professionally, too.  I mean, come on....how many of you knew Pinterest had great educational value?!  And that gazillions of educators are Tweeting tips, websites, articles, and lessons at all hours of the day?  (I still think originally thought that when Catlett would say "Let's Tweet that to #tt4t!", he was a little off his rocker.)  And, I'm proud to say that I can almost totally keep up with my 12-year-old computer/tech genius son with all things electronic.  Thanks Ann and Brent!  I wouldn't be where I am today without you.  (a little graduation speech there)

     If any other Bellevue teachers out there are reading this and have contemplated taking an online CCU class, DO IT!  At twenty-five bucks a class, it is the best investment in your tech-future you will ever make.  And, I will read your new blog!  I will stalk follow you on Twitter! I will re-pin your great ideas from Pinterest!  And, you will become a better teacher.  If all else fails, you will at least know what a Tweet is.
      Or, you may end up taking sixteen classes, and being pretty proud of it.