On Being a Digital Hero
I love thoughtful sci-fi movies. Specifically, I love the Matrix. What could be better than secret underground heroes hacking their minds into an evil digital world to free the minds of people from a life of slavery to the machines. Unfortunately, my digital life is not quite that heroic. I do, however, attempt to empower my students with the academic tools that technology provides.
My Digital Birth
As for me, my technological renaissance began when my dad brought home one of the first Macintosh computers in the early 80's. I was fascinated by the technology and spent hours putting in floppy disks to use MacPaint, MacWrite, and games. We went through several generations of Macintosh's before I went off to college with a Mac Classic.
My Digital Education
The Master's College, a small Christian college, introduced me to the world of Windows. I soon jumped on board the bandwagon and purchased my first Windows 95 computer-a Cybermax. It wasn't exactly the earth-liberating software that it promised to be. I did, however, learn a tremendous amount about computers by rescuing my computer from all the software and hardware issues that arose from owning that piece of evil machinery. Windows 98 provided me a similar experience, and I learned amazing new lessons about saving my own digital life by keeping the computer running.
At the same time I was getting a backdoor education in computer technology, I was learning to become an educator. While initially headed towards a church educational setting, I redirected my career towards schools and earned my California Teaching Credential.
My Digital Bent
After working a few years as a third grade teacher at Friends Christian School, I soon became every teacher's personal IT guy when they had a technology problem. I think I was even called a hero on occasion. At that point, I decided to further my education again, and began taking classes at Riverside Community College. My continuing education equipped me with some cool new tools: HTML, MS Office proficiency, system repair and trouble-shooting, and network knolwedge.
When baby Faith was born, our world was turned upside down. My wife quit teaching to stay home and mother full time. Desparately needing more income, I launched Computer Boot Camp by renting the FCS computer lab in the summer. During CBC I ran students through an educational and fun technology program for three to four weeks a summer. That was my staple summer job for five years until I decided to switch schools in 2005.
My Digital Calling
At that point I started my dream job of teaching computers in a former underground bomb-shelter; otherwise known as the Corona Fundamental Intermediate School computer lab. . When I arrived at CFIS, I was given a computer lab, but no curriculum. So, like I did in Computer Boot Camp, I created a curriculum from scratch where I taught students MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel, reseach, typing, and about computer history and parts. Last year I expanded my arsenal to include building design with Google Sketchup, making personal movies with MovieMaker, and basic photo editing with Google Picassa and GIMP. Being a technology coach for a district-wide CTAP grant is also keeping me busy as I will be teaching and co-teaching ten district-wide inservices to middle school teachers this year.
My Digital Future
Earning a masters in educational technology is just another step in making me a better teacher for my students and coach for my peers. Maybe by the time I finish the program, I will be one of those secret underground heroes, freeing minds with every lesson.