Same Blog Location...New Class : )

Hello-

My name is Melissa Rowe and I have decided to use the same blog URL as I did for EDUC 553 and adapt it for the purposes of EDUC 552. I am from Alabama where I graduated with a degree in English from The University of Alabama. I have lived in Nebraska for the past three years and also finished a second degree program at Peru State College to earn a teaching endorsement for high school English. Besides the cold weather and lack of tall pine trees, Nebraska is a great place to live and teach. I am looking forward to the warm weather so that I can start running outdoors again. Currently, I am a first-year teacher with Omaha Public Schools. Each day, I lead two sections of ninth grade English and four sections of twelfth grade English. My first year has been quite challenging as I have also decided to tackle graduate school through Peru's cohort program. My first semester was extremely tough but I have found a better balance among work, graduate school and a personal life this semester.

My experience with technology has been quite varied. As a student teacher, I worked at a school that placed a strong emphasis on technology use as each student is assigned a Mac computer. During my experience as a student teacher, I become fairly proficient using a Mac in a school setting. At first, I was quite resistant to using a Mac and adjusting to Mac features, but found that using a Mac was quite user friendly. At home, I have a PC and enjoy using it as well. I currently use Office 2007 and find it is fairly easy to work with for personal and professional use. At my current setting, access to technology is rather limited. In each classroom, there is one desktop on each teacher's desk and a projector. A few classrooms have Smartboards but not many. Integrating technology this past year has been quite a challenge.

I was inspired to come to Peru State College for graduate studies for several reasons. First, I enjoyed my experience as an undergraduate student at Peru. The online format provides the flexibility to work on classwork on the weekend when I have the most time to dedicate to my studies. Peru State College is also very affordable which helps in tougher economic times. Finally, I feel that faculty and staff at Peru are very knowledgeable and personable. I enjoy my experience so much that I recommended it to a colleague who plans to start this summer. I am looking forward to learning new information in EDUC 552!