Post Graduate

Here it is...I graduated from Full Sail University with a Masters in Education Media & Design Technology.  My family and I flew down to Florida and had an amazing vacation ending it with me walking across the stage at Full Sail on June 30, 2011!!

I graduated with the feeling of pride and enthusiasm to infuse new ideas and technologies into our school systems.  I graduated feeling hopeful and idealistic that I can help to make a change in education and help the students develop a new love for learning, as I had through this program.  I graduated in amazement at how fun and fulfilling it felt to learn new things and then be able to use these new tools.

It is now the Middle of August, I have been applying madly for teaching positions all over.  I have sent out almost 50 applications.  I have gotten a few interviews, most I knew at the end that it was not meant to be, although I had to wait for weeks for them to get back to me with the official rejection.  I am at a loss!!  I  keep getting the "you don't have enough experience"  You know what? You are right!  I don't have enough experience doing the same old thing, setting up the same old projects.  I have NEW ideas, NEW visions, NEW methods that are exciting and fun and motivating students to learn how to learn!!!

The news last night commented on jobs that are available and that no one is prepared for, math and science is needed more focus on in school.  So, the nation is in a bad way because they aren't being taught math and science...yet HELLO!!  NO one is HIRING teachers who have NEW IDEAS!!!

If you have a connection with a school that is open and willing to use new technology and make learning fun... please contact me:)  I am a passionate teacher who loves to learn and wants to share that love of learning with students.

Wk4 Pub_Lead Presentation

This past month we have been deciding whether to publish a paper or create a presentation.  In an earlier blog I discussed my decision to present at an upcoming conference this summer.  I look forward to the opportunity to share the work that I have done this year and showcasing Learning Management Systems to teachers in the area to get them excited about using them in their classrooms and discussing the advantages.  I have made my presentation very interactive and I hope this will be an engaging and informative time for both my audience and myself.  The following is the presentation, without the notes.  The notes can be viewed at the following link...Jones_Tiffany_Pub_LeadProject

Please feel free to leave your comments, ideas or questions regarding my presentation or Learning Management Systems. 

wk4 Response to Monica Heaney

                                            Monica Heaney

    “Being the Board” is something I’ve learned this year with a full time job, Graduate school, three young children, and a husband. Making the choice to go back to school was difficult, but I committed myself and here I am. If I decided not to go through with this Graduate program, I am certain that I would have blamed my husband for not being able to help out, or the ages of my children and their needs.  I don’t think it was a conscious decision to “be the board,” I needed it to be that way and it has actually benefited my family and me.  Through this crazy year, I have learned to give everyone in my family an A for helping and understanding. They have all kept that grade up. My husband has especially earned the A. I feel like this year we have all become game pieces who worked strategically to get through homework, tests, games, holidays, and special occasions. Now, I can happily say that the end is almost here, my kids are happy and well, and I think food shopping is going to be my husband’s new permanent job. More importantly, my kids have seen the value my husband and I place on education rather than just hear about it. We were all students this year and we have all learned so much.

         My favorite part of Chapter 11 was reading the words of Marianne Williamson. After reading those words over and over, I typed and printed them. I will frame them and hang them in my children’s room. As I read her words, and thought about how I wanted to share them with my children, I also thought how I often want to pass along messages as great as this one. My new goal is to hear them and live them myself first, then pass them along.

Monica, you are such an example of the Marianne Williamson quote.  You have let your own light shine this year through it ALL and by doing that have allowed your family to show their true lights as well.  You have also allowed your group to shine along with you.  This has been a life changing, empowering year, I could not have done it without you!  Thank you for all of your chats and encouragement and laughs and fun!  I know that it is because of our group that I got through this year.  There were times when I wanted to surrender to the negative thoughts of my mechanical self, that I was not good enough to do this.  I too could have come up with a million excuses as to why I shouldn't complete this year.  You were always there with encouragement and support... I am eternally grateful, thank you!  I look forward to seeing where our new journeys bring us:)  

Wk4 Response to Jeannine Berube

Jeannine Berube

Am I willing to live in the Universe of Possibility?  That is the most honest question I can present to  myself as I finish reading this book.   Knowing now not only of this new universe, but also having been given the tools to navigate, am I ready to embark on this new adventure, to learn to be the “BOARD” on which my life is played?  Am I willing to enroll others in the “game” rather than scare them to death; to begin to create new frameworks of possibility, to truly tell the story of WE instead of me? 

I read the Coda too.  The choice is mine.  No condemnation for not practicing is mentioned.  No judgments are made.  Only possibility remains:  CHOICE.  The problem has been and continues to be about choice.  Choice is always the key to making a change, to make possibilities happen.  I can choose to be a “victim” I can choose to be a leader from any chair; I can choose to invent new rules.  I can even choose to invent the game board on which my life will be played. What will I choose?

I can stay where I am, fearful, trying to survive, watching out for me.  I can stay here, worried about what others say or think, or long for connection to others that will not come, at least not according to “their rules”. 

I can choose to create a new universe for my life.  A universe of possibility, where connections are made, where fear or survival does not dictate, but rather love and generosity.   Where students are inspired to learn rather than forced to endure; where colleagues value each other’s gifts and do not undermine each other because their subject is more “important” than another.  To truly lead from any chair means to take the risk that others secretly want to live in the realm of possibility, and simply haven’t realized it yet.     

The practices are just that-PRACTICE!  I will not get it right every time.  I will make mistakes.  I will fail at times.  HOW FASCINATING and I AM SORRY... will become phrases most familiar in my vocabulary. 

What do I want?  Am I willing to make the life-changing effort?  Am I willing to read this book again, and again?  Am I willing to become the being that I am meant to be?  The measured self is crying out in fear and anger.  Who do you think you are?  You can’t do this!  You’re too lazy, you’re too...........

 The central self however has found her voice.  She has something to say!  And her voice is becoming more loud and more clear.  There is nothing to lose and only everything to gain...

BTFI-one moment, one day, one week, one month, one year, one lifetime left at a time...

 I CHOOSE TO LIVE 

 IN THE UNIVERSE OF POSSIBILITY!

Jeannine- you have summarized the empowerment of this book!  Choice, is so powerful, once we grab onto that and develop choice as our center of focus, the possibilities are Endless, much like your rainbow:)  I also loved that you are going to read this book again, I see this book as one I will truly read over and over.  Already, I have gotten so much, I know my next read will be on another level and I will get even more.  We have begun a journey of Joy in finding what the universe has in store for us.  I am thrilled to know that I am not alone on this path and ever grateful to be a part of the WE! Glad you are in the WE with me:)!

Wk4 ARt of Possiblity - WE are The World

"Individually we are one drop, together we are an Ocean." - Ryunosuke Satore 

This week the reading was again very powerful!  The author  discusses the subject of WE and how different this is  from ME.  It is so refreshing to take the spotlight off ourselves and focus on working together. Many times teamwork or collaborations are phrases that many throw around, with only a few actually having true collaboration.  With each of us focused on the future and working with our individual talents to perform their best, allows the group to do likewise, with each participant performing at their peak. When each group member in WE is performing at their top level, the group as a whole is Exceeding Standards. Another visualization I have is because each person of the WE team is able to hyperfocus on their part, they have become a star, with all the stars shining together, optimum brightness is achieved.  I found this to be so true with my group work here in the EMDT program, working with my group allowed me to put my best foot forward and with everyone's strengths, talents and hard work, our projects far outshone what I could have accomplished on my own.  Developing a group synergy where tasks are shared makes the overall "job" more manageable, fun and ultimately, Successful!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Wk 3 -post 4 Wrapping up my Research

What a wonderful opportunity this year has been for me at Full Sail University.  I can't rave about this place enough.  I entered this program as an "emailer"  I used Facebook, socially and emailed for communication...I had NO Idea the whole new world that would open up to me!  I am now Blogging, I am refining my website and I have discovered a world full of educational tools that I can't wait to use in the classroom.  We have Moodle available to us to use so I thought I would start there.  I began my AR project focused on Moodle, quickly finding out in my research that there are other Learning Management Systems, LMS, to use in the classroom. After researching 20-25 resources, I began to write, I did what I could with a narrow topic, only to find out that my paper was reading like an annotated bibliography.  I got discouraged and showed my paper to my critical friends.  I was ready to hear anything and change whatever needed to be changed.  My critical friends suggested that I rewrite, yes, rewrite my paper.  Now I was going to have my focus be more general and include LMS.  There was much more research and it was very interesting to see how the systems had been tested and used in classrooms, or simply as interfaces for entire classes.  

The benefit for me in rewriting my AR Project was that all of the sudden, my cycles and data that I had collected, connected to all that I had read about.  I have completed the circle and come Full Circle with Full Sail.  I have learned so very much and enjoyed every moment of it.  

wk 3 Response to Joshua Montanye

EMDT MAC: Week 3 Art of Possibility Chapters 5-8

I have to say that I found Chapter 5. Leading from Any Chair to be very amusing personally. As it happens I am working on an ongoing documentary on Maestro Longoboardi who was a student of Karajan and quite coincidently we were discussing the importance of individuality just the other day. The youth orchestra in which he conducts has been preparing for a major concert and I've been going to a few of them here and there to document their progress along the way. As I arrived at the school where they practiced I received a frantic call from his wife informing me that he was running late and to inform the students of the situation. To my surprise when I entered the room where they held rehearsal I was greeted by the sounds of Vivaldi. I hung back in the hallway for a bit until the Maestro arrived just enjoying the young musicians interpret this classical piece. Maestro Longobardi seemed very pleased when he arrived to hear his orchestra continuing in his absence. He pulled me aside and commented to me that it was not a Maestro's job to teach the students how to play music just to feel it and he went on to imply that he was very lucky to be able to learn more about the music from his pupils. I've never personally experienced anything like this as an educator but from that moment I really gained an appreciation for the importance of feedback even at a Master's level. It is very encouraging to know even after you gain an understanding of the material there will always be new ways to learn and grow as an educator.

Joshua

That is a really great story to share.  I love the idea that the students were going on in the absence of the conductor, because they had the confidence and knew the music.  I think that sometimes a great way to check for understanding is to have students show what they know, showing us.  I also believe that it is our job as educators, conductors of the classroom, to instill the confidence in the students that they may not be able to find inside.Allowing students to teach us new things expands my horizons as well as theirs.