ETEC+524

The above was originally published June 11, 2009 at http://lori-etec524.blogspot.com/2009/06/june-8.html Hello Everyone! I am excited about this summer semester and this class. There are so many new and exciting things available through technology it is hard to keep up with it all. I hope to learn more through this class about some of these programs and activities in order to share with my family and friends these new ideas.

My name is Lori Hooton and I live in a small East Texas town called Mineola. I work in the school district in which I grew up and am tickled to have this opportunity. I am the district librarian for Alba-Golden ISD. I graduated from this same district in 1992 and I love beig able to come back and teach my own children as well as the children of others that I have known my entire Life. I have been teaching for 13 years and in many different districts. When my husband and I decided to start a family of our own we moved home. This is a great place to raise our family and a wonderful community to be a part of.

I am currently working toward a master's degree in library science. The program and course work has been very interesting. I enjoy going back to school after all these years. I find myself a little more diligent about my school work now than when I was 19! I am very fortunate to be in a librarian's position now in our district. It is a fun and rewarding job. I enjoy the variety that comes with this job. I also enjoy seeing all of the students PK to 12 grades. I feel as though there is no heavy pressure to my job, I just do my best to assist teachers in their curriculum and support the goals of our district.

I beleive that teaching students about technology is extremely important. I am glad to take on that responsibilty since our teachers are bombarded with the TAKS test pressures. Teaching students the curriculum through the use of technology is possible and essential to their success in the future. Promoting learning through the use of technology is a responsiblity of all educators especailly within the society in which we live. This semester I hope to learn as much as possible about ways to incorporate technology into all areas of the curriculum. I hope to be able to inform and assist classroom teachers of different ideas and lessons in which they are able to incorporate technology which is meaningful and fun for students. I see myself as a teacher and a messenger. I am able to teach students technology skills, however, unless teachers are aware and comfortable using these same skills these efforts are useless.