Grand Canyon - I love Exploring Nature
Spending time with my daughters, Hailey is about to head off to college š¢
Balboa Park is my favorite place in San Diego
My son Jacob is in the Marines, I hope to see him in December (it's been a year!)
My daughters and I were getting a bit stir-crazy being stuck inside for many months, so we decided to take some "virtual" journeys.
We purposely chose places that perhaps we would not even be able to visit were COVID-19 not around. Our first "trip" was to Pakistan.
I created this interactive slide deck to allow my kids to travel at their own pace and explore. We would get together and use our virtual journey planners to compare ideas, ask each other questions and learn more. We even ordered food from a great Pakistani restaurant in the area and used Google Cardboard to watch virtual reality videos.
Traveling is what I look forward to whenever the opportunity arises. Last summer my daughters and I were able to travel to Ireland. It was a dream of mine, and it was just as epic as I had imagined. Rick Steves is my favorite travel writer, and his guidebooks led me to cool, unexpected places. I can't wait to go back!
The theme of this experience for me has been, "just when you think you've mastered something - you find there is much more to learn." I have considered myself a tech-savvy educator, but taking this course has definitely shown me the journey is not over. It also came at the perfect time in my career. I have just started teaching for a virtual academy, which is a school dedicated to online learning. Had I not taken this course, I would not have been nearly as prepared as I am now.
Another wonderful element of being a Leading Edge Certification participant has been seeing the online learning experience from the student's perspective. I saw firsthand how important certain design components are, such as providing mentor texts, video directions, and short chunks of information. I am grateful for the experience, and I know it has made me a stronger teacher.