Teaching Experience

I've been a secondary classroom teacher for fourteen years, so this is obviously an area in which I have a great deal of practical experience.  However, this should not imply that my approach to teaching is static; to the contrary, I am constantly working improve my instructional strategies and interactions with my students.  An immediate and consistent benefit of my enrollment in the iSchool has been the numerous opportunities to apply my emerging library and information science expertise to my instructional practice.  This has occurred on a daily basis, and has informed my perspective in general interactions with students and staff, as well as specific projects and programs.

Information Behavior in Secondary Schools

In terms of my daily teaching assignments in English and Social Studies at Wenatchee High School, perhaps the most influential project was a study in "The Information-Seeking Behavior of High School Students" I completed along with Lori Smith, Jay Lyman, and Leslie McNabb for LIS 510. It forced me to consider student information behavior in a broader sense, especially in terms of how students approach resources, and the manner in which they evaluate a source when conducting research. The conclusion? Often, authority takes a back seat to expediency. As a result I have dedicated considerable energy to helping my students bridge the gap but teaching my students how to better establish authority--regardless of the medium--when considering a research resource.

Technology Resource Teacher Workshops

In addition to my regular classroom teaching duties, I have also spend the past academic year as our building Literacy Coach, as well as the past four years as one of four "Technology Resource Teachers" in charge of helping teachers with the integration of information technology in their instructional and professional practice. In the process, I have led literally dozens of individual, small, and large-group workshops, all of which have been informed by my iSchool experiences, especially LIS 541 and LIS 540. Here's a list of the workshops I have either led or co-facilitated in just the past academic year:

Staff Workshop: Introduction to Online Database use in the Social Studies Curriculum, Wenatchee, WA, April 2006

Staff Workshop: United Streaming Video Technology in the Library, Wenatchee, WA, 23 March 2006 (presenter/facilitator)

Staff Workshop: Library Web Site Development, Wenatchee, WA, 8 March 2006 (presenter/facilitator)

Staff Workshop: Using Apple’s iMovie Software in the Classroom, Wenatchee, WA, 26 January 2006 (presenter/facilitator)

Staff Presentation: Using Lexile Data to Improve Instruction and Understanding, Wenatchee, WA, 23 January 2006 (co-presenter/facilitator)

Staff Workshop: Advanced Classroom Web Site Development, Wenatchee, WA, 15 November 2005 (co-presenter/facilitator)

Staff Workshop: Beginning Classroom Web Site Development, Wenatchee, WA, 10 November 2005 (co-presenter/facilitator)

Staff Presentation: Literacy Skills Across the Curriculum, Wenatchee, WA, 19 September 2005 (presenter)

Staff Workshop: United Streaming Video Technology in the Classroom, Wenatchee, WA, 1 September 2005 (presenter/facilitator)

Staff Workshop: Introduction to Wenatchee School District Information Technologies—New Staff Orientation, Wenatchee, WA, 24 August 2005 (presenter/facilitator)