ABOUT+US

= = = **﻿media type="file" key="BUS959354B.swf"** = = **This is an emerging learning and professional development community. We are all sharing our journey towards our Master in Education degree at Walden University and have a new challenge: Building up our own Wiki. ** = = = =**Here is a little about each of us.** =

MARIA CAROLINA FERRO I am a Philosophy and English teacher who has become enchanted by technology and lately has moved her practice to dealing with what integrating technology into our curriculum implies. I work in a K-12 only boys private school at Bogotá, Colombia. I have been a teacher for more that 10 years and I love it. I am married to a great teacher and I have an amazing 8 years old daughter.

Matthew Book I am the Technology/Computer teacher in a Baltimore City School. I teach in a high poverty Pre-k-5 Title 1 School. I was a classroom teacher prior to this for a few years, teaching grades 3, 4, and 5. I used technology to enhance my lessons then, and that was why my principal asked me to leave the classroom and take on the technology position school wide. Not only do I think getting students fluent in the use of various technology important for them, but it also makes learning a lot more fun.

﻿Sarah Williams I have taught middle school Mathematics in Charles County, Maryland for seven years, although I am orginially from northeastern Ohio. This is my third year also teaching a pre-engineering class where I have access to many technological resources, including a computer lab. I am excited to embrace and incorporate different resources in my classroom to enhance my students' learning.

Leonor Estremera I am a fourth grade teacher in a high poverty inner city school located in Cleveland County North Carolina. I am currently in my 4th year of teaching. I teach in a school where there is no computer lab and students have never had the priviledge of being inside of one. We are fortunate to have the four computers in my classroom to use when working with the internet and other resources requiring use of the world wide web. I do have a Smart Board and laptop which I use daily to allow my students to see the internet and be interactive in their learning. I think it is vital that students have access to technology because it is changing our world and I think it is also important because it is the new way to teach and will help our students to be successful. It also makes learning much more enjoyable and hands on. I am excited to continue to learn about technology and the various resources that are possible to use in the classroom.

Michael Sigler I am a 7th grade math and science teacher at a charter school in Detroit, Michigan. My wife and I have been married for almost 7 years and have a daughter and another one on the way. I currently use a document reader and projector in my room, and am on a long list for getting a SMART board. I have already witnessed the added dimension to teaching that technology brings, and fully understand the importance of creating a technology literate student body. I am very excited moving forward in our program.

Eryn Schmidt
===I am a 7th and 8th grade math teacher. I teach in Maine, so I have 1 to 1 computers with my students. I have a smartboard, and access to a document camera when I need it. I have recently been given time to help other teachers in my school incorporate technology into the classroom. I am currently adding Google emails and apps to our students computer expectations. I am so excited about learning how to do wikis and blogs and all the technology that is out there that I haven't gotten to yet.=== Jacqueline Szczerba Hi, I am a fifth grade teacher in Delaware. I teach at a high poverty Title 1 school. I am married with two children who are heavily involved in sports. The technology in my classroom consists of a SMART Board, four broken computers, and I am currently waiting for an ELMO. I had one last year, and when I moved classrooms, I could not bring it with me. It broke my heart because I used it everyday last year. I am nervous and excited about this course. I have never blogged or used a wiki like we are in this class. We have wikis in our district to use, but it is mainly for us to get information. I have never contributed to one before. I am excited about all we will learn and I will hopefully learn enough to calm my nerves and build confidence as we move forward in technology.

** Kayla Shandra **
===** I am a science teacher at a charter school in Maryland. I teach 8th and 9th grade Biology and Life Science. This is my 3rd year teaching science and I am excited about using things such as wikis and blogs in my classroom. Currently, I have a SMART Board and a projector in my classroom. My school is also working on getting a few document cameras for all the teachers to share. The SMART Boards were just installed a few weeks ago and I am still trying to learn how to use it. My students ask me every day if we are going to use the SMART board. I am very excited to learn about all the cool features so we can start having fun! **===