Welcome
Career
I am an educational technology specialist with experience at the school, state, and district levels. I have worked in Ed Tech in the Bay Area for the past seven years, currently with Milpitas Unified School District and previously with the Oakland Unified School District, assisting school sites (administrators and teachers) and district personnel with technology planning, evaluating and selecting effective learning technologies, implementation of technology-infused instructional and intervention programs, and providing professional development.
Prior to moving to the Bay Area of California, I was with the Georgia Department of Education from 2002 to 2006, working on GeorgiaStandards.Org (previously Georgia Learning Connections), the state's curriculum Web site integrating the curriculum standards, instructional plans, Web resources, video and interactive multimedia, and assessments. Additional functionality and services include an online Builder for designing instructional plans. My responsibilities included creating, evaluating, and managing educational resources; developing and presenting training materials and professional development resources; and assisting in the ongoing growth of the site.
Prior to working with the Georgia DOE, I taught for over 9 years in the Chicago Public School System. While there, I developed a hands-on science resource program for kindergarten to fifth grade students and integrated technology into the curriculum through the use of various multimedia, software, and Internet resources. I developed web quests as an interesting and challenging way to guide students in using the Internet to find information, work collaboratively to solve problems, and present their finished products creatively. I also served as a mentor teacher and provided professional development in instructional technology.
This site includes curriucular and professional resources I created over the years, portfolios that highlight some of the work I completed for the graduate certificate program in Administration and Supervision, and the Leading Edge Certification for Online/Blended Teaching, and links to my other passion- KDM Photography.
Education
I received my M.A.Ed in Instructional Technology from Northern Illinois University and my B.A.in Education from Roosevelt University. I recently completed a graduate certificate in Administration and Supervision through a program that is a unique collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).
Interests
In addition to integrating technology into teaching and learning, my interests and passions include family, our pets, photography, cooking, gardening, and outdoor activities.
Our family includes two rescue dogs, a Border Collie named Nick and a Shepherd-lab mix named Annie ("Annie-tagonizer"). They are wonderful companions and they keep us active. Nick is a frisbee and ball ninja and in typical Border-collie fashion, obsessively retrieves over and over. Annie is a social butterfly, loves kids, and is happiest either play-attacking Nick or chasing seagulls at the beach. We also have two birds, Crackers, a Blue-front Amazon parrot, and Bert, a Rose-breasted Cockatoo. Crackers has a good vocabulary and can also laugh, sound like a fire-engine, meow like a cat, and mimic me on the phone. Bert loves music, can dance, and likes to cuddle. Both birds entertain (and sometimes annoy) us with their loud antics. Our house is definitely not a quiet place.
I like to stay active and enjoy the outdoors. We take the dogs for long walks on the trails in our community,in the regional parks, and at the beach. I love to swim and both my husband and I are certified scuba-divers.
My other hobby/obsession is photography. I take various types of pictures including portraits, still life, macro, events, and sports. I am always looking for something to photograph, to capture a scene, to convey emotion, or to highlight an artistic element. My photography website is: www.kdmphotography.com