Hello everyone – My name is Marlis Enders and I am coming to you from Nanoose Bay, which is on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Great to meet you all. I’m posting a bit late this week, but I am hoping to get a better grasp of my timing starting tomorrow. I am finding the format of this LMS quite different to navigate compared to the other courses I’ve taken so far, but I like trying something new.
I am a junior high science/math teacher previously in the Surrey school district for over 23 years, but last summer my husband and I made the leap ‘overseas’ to the island (best choice we ever made), and I am currently working as a teacher on call (substitute) with the local district here. I am hoping to eventually get full time work, but working on call for now enables me to concentrate more on my courses and setting up our new home.
In our rare spare time, my husband and I enjoy music – he plays trumpet and I play flute/alto sax. We really miss having a group to play in, but hopefully by the fall, things will start up again. I also enjoy hand crafts – crochet, cross-stitch, sewing, etc and now in our new home, I have space for my sewing machine so I’m excited to take that up again.
This semester I am taking courses 7 and 8 (I am also taking ETEC 530). I am hoping to finish everything by the end of the year. My ultimate goal with taking the MET program is to expand my skills and knowledge to improve my teaching practice, but I wouldn’t mind a position as a district tech support/advisor if something like that becomes available. I also wouldn’t mind a position working with distributed learning should a position become available. Last semester was the first time I took 2 courses at once and although I did find it challenging, the fact that I don’t have to bring home marking and prep every evening helps immensely.
I find that mobile technology is a double edged sword. On one hand, the plethora of online resources and supports for students makes teaching and learning more exciting each day, and the fact that most students have access to at least a basic smartphone makes it relatively easy to incorporate. However, on the other hand, competing with cell phones for student attention and focus is frustrating. I think that part of teaching with mobile technology should be incorporating etiquette and self-regulation skills. Being perpetually connected to the virtual world has been proven to be detrimental in some ways so I think it will take a generation or 2 to figure out how to achieve more balance. That being said, I am hoping this course will help me add to my arsenal of digital skills and I look forward to an interesting semester.
Hi Marlis. I’m also in course 8 right now and hope to finish by August and I’m a science/math teacher in 100 Mile House. This is my 2nd course in WordPress, and I’m fumbling my way around as well – it’s definitely not immediately intuitive. I’m looking forward to working with you and learning about mobile technologies – lots of potential there for math and science teaching!
Lori
Hi Lori, great to meet you. Congratulations on being so close to the finish line. It is nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I do have to admit that the student discounts you can find are pretty sweet. I may just have to find another program to sign up for when I’m done this one, lol.
I agree that there is bound to be lots to learn in this course, I just hope that I can keep up.
Hi Marlis!
I am also taking courses 7 and 8 and enrolled in this course and 530 this term! It’s going to be a busy one! I have taken two courses every semester, so I just find that I need to be on top of things Monday-Wednesday to get my head wrapped around everything and get the readings done, and then use the rest of the week to comment and get assignments done. Looking forward to learning lots from both our courses this term!
Meg.
Hi Meg, great to see you here. I took 2 courses last semester for the first time and found it challenging even working part time, but hopefully I can manage this semester. I tend to leave things for the weekend, and that’s a bad habit to have so I’m trying to be more proactive this time. Hope it goes well for us.