Introduction
My name is Laura Gary-Michel, and I am currently a student in the Education Specialist Degree program in Instructional Technology at Kennesaw State University. I began the program the summer of 2013 and will graduate summer 2014. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Art History from the University of South Florida in 1993. Immediately after graduation, I began working in a local art museum and attending graduate school in Gainesville, Florida. My focus at that time was Italian Renaissance female painters. I traveled to Italy and completed my research in several of the museums in Florence. After two years of pursuing this degree I decided to leave it behind to focus my time on my daughter and family. At the time my husband and I had only one daughter, but were ready to start growing our family. I was a stay at home mom for a little over eight years and during this time our family grew from three to five. In 2004 when all of my children were fully enrolled in school, I went back to school to pursue my Master’s degree in education with a focus in media and technology at University of West Georgia. I graduated from UWG and immediately became the media specialist at Lockheed Elementary School in Marietta City Schools.
I currently am the lead media specialist at Marietta High School. I moved there in 2009. I have to admit that this is my dream job and I am constantly looking for ways to improve my abilities to make our school the best high school in the state of Georgia. I do believe by completing this program at KSU and obtaining my specialist degree in Instructional Technology that I am on the right path. I see the media center and education moving in the direction of technology driven instruction and I feel that my job is to be a leader in this area in my school.
The purpose of this portfolio is for me to demonstrate mastery of the PSC Instructional Technology standards and the ISTE NETS-C standards. These are the governing standards for technology use in education. To maneuver through my electronic portfolio, please use the series of tabs at the top of the page. The majority of my work is located under the "standards" tab. Under this tab, you will see a series of artifacts and reflections documenting the important projects I have completed during this program. Each artifact represents mastery of that standard. Also included is my video reflection and vision for technology integration in education. I feel that along with the standards’ artifacts, my technology vision demonstrates my knowledge of technology use in education and the numerous ways I have demonstrated the range of technology lessons for the classroom. The blog is reflective component that includes my thoughts and understandings that have occurred during my learning at Kennesaw State University.
Kennesaw State University, Educational Specialist Degree program in Instructional technology has been an awesome journey for me. As the saying from the 60’s goes, “You’ve come a long way baby” and I definitely have. I have learned to use technology as a tool for learning not to use technology for technology’s sake. Students and teachers that I have worked within the last year have reaped the benefits of this program in the lessons that we have created to demonstrate these new skills I have acquired. I now feel well-prepared to integrate technology into my library classroom, to continue collaborating with other educators in my district to use technology to increase student learning, and to provide professional opportunities for those I work with. I am thankful and I hope to continue this process to achieve the goals I have set for myself and to help my school continue to demonstrate its vision.
My name is Laura Gary-Michel, and I am currently a student in the Education Specialist Degree program in Instructional Technology at Kennesaw State University. I began the program the summer of 2013 and will graduate summer 2014. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Art History from the University of South Florida in 1993. Immediately after graduation, I began working in a local art museum and attending graduate school in Gainesville, Florida. My focus at that time was Italian Renaissance female painters. I traveled to Italy and completed my research in several of the museums in Florence. After two years of pursuing this degree I decided to leave it behind to focus my time on my daughter and family. At the time my husband and I had only one daughter, but were ready to start growing our family. I was a stay at home mom for a little over eight years and during this time our family grew from three to five. In 2004 when all of my children were fully enrolled in school, I went back to school to pursue my Master’s degree in education with a focus in media and technology at University of West Georgia. I graduated from UWG and immediately became the media specialist at Lockheed Elementary School in Marietta City Schools.
I currently am the lead media specialist at Marietta High School. I moved there in 2009. I have to admit that this is my dream job and I am constantly looking for ways to improve my abilities to make our school the best high school in the state of Georgia. I do believe by completing this program at KSU and obtaining my specialist degree in Instructional Technology that I am on the right path. I see the media center and education moving in the direction of technology driven instruction and I feel that my job is to be a leader in this area in my school.
The purpose of this portfolio is for me to demonstrate mastery of the PSC Instructional Technology standards and the ISTE NETS-C standards. These are the governing standards for technology use in education. To maneuver through my electronic portfolio, please use the series of tabs at the top of the page. The majority of my work is located under the "standards" tab. Under this tab, you will see a series of artifacts and reflections documenting the important projects I have completed during this program. Each artifact represents mastery of that standard. Also included is my video reflection and vision for technology integration in education. I feel that along with the standards’ artifacts, my technology vision demonstrates my knowledge of technology use in education and the numerous ways I have demonstrated the range of technology lessons for the classroom. The blog is reflective component that includes my thoughts and understandings that have occurred during my learning at Kennesaw State University.
Kennesaw State University, Educational Specialist Degree program in Instructional technology has been an awesome journey for me. As the saying from the 60’s goes, “You’ve come a long way baby” and I definitely have. I have learned to use technology as a tool for learning not to use technology for technology’s sake. Students and teachers that I have worked within the last year have reaped the benefits of this program in the lessons that we have created to demonstrate these new skills I have acquired. I now feel well-prepared to integrate technology into my library classroom, to continue collaborating with other educators in my district to use technology to increase student learning, and to provide professional opportunities for those I work with. I am thankful and I hope to continue this process to achieve the goals I have set for myself and to help my school continue to demonstrate its vision.