Karen Sigmon

About Me: Hello! My name is Karen Sigmon. I reside in sunny Florida, a real treat after growing up in Detroit, MI and spending several years in both Minnesota and Ohio. After what seemed like a lifetime of working in an office, I quit my job and decided to pursue my passion at 34 years of age. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from Youngstown State University (Youngstown, OH) with my Bachelors of Science in Early Childhood Education (PreK - 3rd Grade), I moved to Florida. I was a 2nd grade teacher for five years and am now spreading my wings by moving to 3rd grade. I looped up with my class from last year and we are BOTH learning the joys of FCAT testing. While never formally a teacher, I have spent my life working with children. I directed Children's Theater for almost 20 years and traveled to Ukraine three times to direct Summer Camps for orphaned children. Those were truly the greatest moments of my life, and to this day, I am reaping the rewards of developing close teacher/student relationships with hundreds of children. Just last month, I was flown up to Ohio to celebrate the success of a former "theater kid" that I worked with for over six years, when she performed one of the lead roles in CATS in her high school play.

I am proud mama to two golden retriever dogs (both rescues), Jenny & Jillian (one deaf, one blind - so life's a riot at our house), and two cats, Jemima & Jersey (also both rescues). Also among my greatest accomplishments is that all 9 of my nephews & nieces consider me the "best" so you will often see my "title" of AuntieSiggy on most of my online endeavors. It's a title I wear proudly!

My journey to Full Sail University began as a result of a low evaluation mark in the "Uses Technology in the Classroom" section on the new Empowering Effective Teachers evaluation process (a by-product of a Bill Gates Grant in Hillsborough County, Florida). Technology? In the classroom? Beyond the copy machine and overhead projector? HA! Not me! I was fortunate to have an Active Board in my classroom and I USED IT! (For displaying student work, for creating another wall in the room, and the like . . .) It wasn't that I didn't want to use technology, but I knew I wasn't really a "techy" person. I wasn't familiar with the language, the tools, the . . . well, you get it. My computer was good for retrieving e-mail, and that was about it. The evaluation was in April. In late July, I was on Facebook (my other technology tool skill) and noticed an advertisement for a Master's Degree in Education Technology. It wasn't 48 hours later that I was preparing to begin the EMDT-MS program at Full Sail.

Fast forward five months and here we are: preparing to embark on a journey to share what I've learned and travel (teach) other teachers, my peers, who are still reluctant, for a myriad of reasons, to use technology tools in their classrooms. In a way, we are traveling together and we will learn together. What I do know, is that the few tools that I have introduced in my classroom have made a significant difference in my own students. The Active Board is now a source of engagement for my 18 eager learners; they are motivated to perform in ways I have never before experienced. We are actively using Web 2.0 tools including Zefty (economics for children), Story Jumper (writing), Study Ladder (interactive reading, writing, and math lessons), creating podcasts to improve fluency, iMovie Math (acting out word problems), and Promethean Board lessons. I can't wait to introduce these tools to my peers. I want them to experience the kind of student engagement that I have in the past five months. Student engagement is contagious - I can't wait to spread THOSE germs of enthusiasm for learning around my school . . . and hopefully beyond. I want to be the pebble that creates widespread ripples across the ocean of education.