On April 15th, 2019, I was fortunate to attend an awards ceremony at Lamar University. This awards ceremony was focused on honoring specific individuals chosen by the Lamar College of Education and Human Development for differing categories. I was honored as the sole individual selected from a pool of candidates from the Educational Technology Leadership program. Additionally, I was delighted to meet another recipient of this award, Melissa Summerford. She was with the Digital Leading and Learning program at Lamar University. Needless to say, I was very grateful and ecstatic to receive this award! Dr. Tilisa Thibodeaux was the faculty member (and my prior professor) that personally invited me and handed the award to me.
Receiving this award really made me think back on my prior year to figure out what it was that really stood out for me to be honored with this award. Over the past fiscal year, I have been able to accomplish several "firsts" for me. These include:
First blog post published by TCEA, titled "Four Apps for Teaching Students Coding Skills" - July 2018
Graduating with my Masters in Educational Technology Leadership - August 2018
Transitioned to Clear Creek ISD and teaching five differing courses of Computer Science - August 2018
Co-hosted a lunch and learn with TCEA, titled "Coding Activites for the Non-Techy Teacher" - November 2018
Attended PAX South Conference and brought back materials and resources to further enrich my classroom - January 2019
Led a district-wide Professional Development, "Coding Activities for the Non-Techy Teacher" - February 2019
Co-Presented with Dr. Thibodeaux and Dr. Harapnuik at TxDLA conference, titled "Exploring How Students Use Feedback to Take Ownership and Deepen Learning." - March 2019
Currently proposing an initiative with my district to begin hosting a student-led Computer Science Hour where my students will enrich the lives of our fellow students at the middle and elementary school levels - April 2019 & onward.
Although these are what I would consider to be awesome things accomplished, I do feel like the biggest reason for the award is my intentional communication. Communication is extremely important at all times. Without intentional communication, I would have not had the opportunity to be able to lead and/or co-lead anything. Keep this in mind as you are pursuing any new challenge.
BE INTENTIONAL WITH COMMUNICATION
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