Welcome to My Blog
Welcome to "Truth, Tech, and Teaching!" My name is Lauren and I live in the suburbs of Detroit, MI. Since my career is in teaching, that will be the primary topic of this blog, but I plan to bring in some of my other interests too - the Catholic faith, books, movies, TV shows, music, color guard/marching band, Michigan State University (my alma mater), youth ministry, and various other randomness. My life tends to be an eclectic mix, but somehow everything seems to connect. At least it does to me.
Some background on me: I'm a computer/media/technology teacher at a K-8 Catholic school. I teach all grades in the school, from kindergarten to 8th, and students have computer class with me once a week. (I'm what you call a "specials" teacher, similar to music, art, or gym.) I had each of the 6th-8th grade students create a blog this year to serve as a portfolio for computer assignments and a place to write reflections on the tech concepts they learn. Their blogs are set as unsearchable and only read by me (their teacher) and their classmates. It's a great way for them to learn about writing and publishing online in a safe, controlled environment. But if I'm teaching my students to blog, I should set a good example and blog regularly myself.
I just finished my first year at my current school (yay summer vacation!), but sixth year of teaching overall. Previously, I taught middle school math and 6th grade language arts and religion at another Detroit area Catholic school for three years. That school closed at the end of the 2015-2016 school year and I moved on to my current job. I have a masters degree in Teaching and Curriculum through Michigan State University and my concentration in was educational technology.
In my spare time, I teach color guard (as in flag/dance performers with a marching band) to 5th-7th grade students in a local public school district. I did color guard myself in high school and college and this was my 7th year coaching this group. My group practices weekly during the winter competition season (December to March) and goes to a few competitions in the area. In the fall they perform at a couple football games. I also volunteer with the high school youth ministry programs at my church, helping plan and lead youth group meetings on Sunday nights. I've been part of this for 5 years and I love watching teens discover the joy of a relationship with Christ. It's a privilege to see young people grow into their faith and take ownership of it.
I definitely spend most of my time teaching/leading/coaching/mentoring other people's kids/teenagers. It's a challenging, stressful, and emotional vocation sometimes, but I know God has called me to this and there's no other work I'd rather do. Hopefully everything I've learned while working with young people will pay off when I have my own children someday in the future.
I've titled this blog "Truth, Tech, and Teaching." It's a catchy summary of the ideas spinning in my head every day. Technology plays a huge role in my life. It has a major place in my career obviously, but also in my personal life. I enjoy technology that facilitates learning and/or makes life more efficient, organized, and entertaining. I'm always reflecting on whether certain tech resources are effective or not, if they're worth teaching to my students or not, and especially if they can lead to God's truth or distract away from it. Like all of us, I do make plenty of tech mistakes and sometimes get too distracted, but with God's grace I'm working on finding the right balance and navigating this crazy 21st century world we live in.
I just finished my first year at my current school (yay summer vacation!), but sixth year of teaching overall. Previously, I taught middle school math and 6th grade language arts and religion at another Detroit area Catholic school for three years. That school closed at the end of the 2015-2016 school year and I moved on to my current job. I have a masters degree in Teaching and Curriculum through Michigan State University and my concentration in was educational technology.
In my spare time, I teach color guard (as in flag/dance performers with a marching band) to 5th-7th grade students in a local public school district. I did color guard myself in high school and college and this was my 7th year coaching this group. My group practices weekly during the winter competition season (December to March) and goes to a few competitions in the area. In the fall they perform at a couple football games. I also volunteer with the high school youth ministry programs at my church, helping plan and lead youth group meetings on Sunday nights. I've been part of this for 5 years and I love watching teens discover the joy of a relationship with Christ. It's a privilege to see young people grow into their faith and take ownership of it.
I definitely spend most of my time teaching/leading/coaching/mentoring other people's kids/teenagers. It's a challenging, stressful, and emotional vocation sometimes, but I know God has called me to this and there's no other work I'd rather do. Hopefully everything I've learned while working with young people will pay off when I have my own children someday in the future.
I've titled this blog "Truth, Tech, and Teaching." It's a catchy summary of the ideas spinning in my head every day. Technology plays a huge role in my life. It has a major place in my career obviously, but also in my personal life. I enjoy technology that facilitates learning and/or makes life more efficient, organized, and entertaining. I'm always reflecting on whether certain tech resources are effective or not, if they're worth teaching to my students or not, and especially if they can lead to God's truth or distract away from it. Like all of us, I do make plenty of tech mistakes and sometimes get too distracted, but with God's grace I'm working on finding the right balance and navigating this crazy 21st century world we live in.
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