THE PAST How did I get to this point in my career? I always felt like I was born to teach, and I worked hard in the testing grade levels of 3rd and 4th grade. I was devastated and nervous when my principal of 10 years retired and we’d be getting someone new. Little did I know, that new principal was moving on from the eLearning Team and would push me in new ways. My classroom became a place that was truly becoming student-centered, I was shifting to let students teach me, and we teamed up with Test to have a technology day. It was empowering for me and my students! I saw students become leaders in technology when they weren’t leaders in “traditional” ways. We utilized our LMS, Canvas, spheros, Sway, and more. I couldn’t wait to start this year doing it all from the beginning. I had no plans of leaving, until I did. THE CHANGE A retiring librarian position was not being filled, so it was listed as an eLearning position. I took a huge leap of faith and pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and applied. I interviewed, and the rest is history. Not only did I change positions and buildings, but I joined the Cadre. THE CADRE The Cadre pushed me into redesigning this for the classroom, but I no longer have a traditional classroom. Thanks to a first grade teacher in one of my buildings, she took on Canvas assignments and creating weekly tasks for her higher groups to record themselves on their weekly phonics check. We even presented this at our January PD day. From there, I have done weekly Canvas discussions in my media center classes. I have learned to embed Flipgrid, use Chatterpix, and completed an iMovie project with O365 documents and Canvas assignments. I have worked with the district eLearning Team and am headed to Colorado this summer to present with Cadre members at Instructurecarn! THE TAKEAWAY So, what has been my take-away? Or what do I hope your take-away is? Well, I hope that you take a leap of faith. Try one new thing with technology each day, each week, each month - just try it! Things have not worked flawlessly, but my students and I persevere and problem-solve together. I would have never dreamed a year ago that I'd be doing what I'm doing now. Making one change continued to push me and has enabled me to become the leader I am today. If I can be of assistance to you, please reach out to me. Today’s post comes to us from Mrs. Sarah Vance. Sarah is in her first year as an eLearning Teacher with Richmond Community Schools. She runs two Elementary Media Centers, in addition to visiting classrooms to support technology. This is also her first year in the Cadre. Sarah is in her 11th year with Richmond Community Schools, where she spent 10 years as a classroom teacher in grades Second thru Fourth. Sarah earned the Rising Star Award her first year teaching, along with the No Excuses Award. She was the Charles Elementary Teacher of the Year in 2017. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Indiana University East and her Master’s Degree from Earlham College. Sarah and her husband, Adam, have 3 boys. In her spare time, Sarah chases after her 3 year old twins (aka “the twin-ados”) and watching her 6 year old play soccer and t-ball. [email protected] @MrsSaVa5
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