What About Me?
My name is Margie Hay-Ashcraft and I am just about to complete my CTER course work at the University of Illinois. Yeah!!!
This year marks my 11th in teaching, and I must say the time has flown by! I teach at the alternative education program, Eagle Academy, at Rantoul Township High School. Our program is in its second year, and I really think Ihave found my dream job! I work with 30 kids on a daily basis and help them to finish high school on time. Most of our students are way behind and we use a combination of NovelStars, a computer based program, teacher taught classes, and individualized packets for the students. The best part of the day is seeing a student who has had little success in the regular school setting complete a class to earn a credit!
At home, life is a circus! I have a husband, two daughters and two grandchildren living under one roof! My daughters are 20 and 22, my grandaughter is 3 and my grandson just turned 1! My 82 year old mother lives next door, so I am definitely a part of the "sandwich generation". But, our house, while busy and cluttered with trikes and toys, is one that I look forward to coming home to every night! I also have a stepson who left for
Afghanistan in April. We pray that he will return to the states safely in July of 2009.
I am a digital immigrant. I bought my first computer in 1993 and taught myself just about everything I knew about it. I was a 3o year old computer nerd! I was also the first "nerd" I knew! I was in college working on my teaching degree and knew that I wantd to teach with technology. I was one of the first teachers to use power point or show internet video clips in my classroom. I am now a part of our school's first "teaching with technology" team! The process has been slow, but I thinkl we moving forward.
More later... I think some of the circus clowns have escaped and are about to let the monkeys loose!
Reflections 9/1/08
Evangeline said...
You have an interesting perspective given your current field of work. I wonder how many of your students might have excelled more in school had technology been more meaningfully integrated in their learning. You see yourself as a facilitator - which is good - but how do you see yourself facilitating. What do you do now that you didn't in the past?Margie Says: In the past, I thought of myself as a "fountain of knowledge". I learned to teach the way I was taught in the 70's. The teacher stood at the front of the room, spouting knowledge, and I took notes and listened, and hopefully either absorbed enough of the information, or could study and memorize it long enough to take and pass a test. After a few years in the classroom, I figured out that just wasn't working with my students. So, I learned to ask a lot of questions, guide class discussion, and try to ensure that everyone was involved in the learning process. I also went to a conference that changed my thinking... The speaker taught us that students remember more information when they find it for themselves that they do when someone tells them. Of course I knew this somewhere in my brain, but, I had just never processed it. I was too busy sharing my knowledge! :) Do I think that my students would have been more successful if technology had been more integrated into the regular high school? You bet!! Now I know, on all levels that students have to be active learners. I see it with my 3 year old granddaughter when I try to tell her how to do something, but she really only learns it when she does it for herself, and I see with it my high school students who are exceeding all of our expectations for them because at long last, they are able to learn by doing. We have to ask the right questions, and give them a place to go to find what information they need, but they are learning.
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