Teacher Testimonials for Technology Literacy Challenge Fund 2001 Grant
Tennessee Department of Education

Lynn Wilson Testimony, Week of April 15th-19th, 2002
Mt. Juliet High School, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee (Wilson County Schools)
Teacher - Special Education/Inclusion

The past four weeks have been an exciting and yet in many ways an exhausting journey.  Who would have thought that a teacher who started teaching in 1970 would go back to school, so to speak, and begin a whole new learning process.  Yes I am a very good typist, yes we do have up to four computers in our home at any one time, and yes I do have daughters and a husband who are very computer literate.  Unfortunately, up until now my only proficiency was in getting and receiving email, chatting on AOL, going to the internet every now and then, and typing letters and some tests on Microsoft Word.   Oh, I almost forgot, and kind of knowing how to do e-grades. And I must admit even then I could not get myself out of some of the predicaments I would find myself in and would have to call for help.  It’s not that I didn’t want to learn, I did.  I had attended almost every computer workshop offered for in-service.  Unfortunately our in-services usually were all to short and did not allow time enough and support afterwards to internalize the knowledge presented. 

At the beginning of our TCLF Grant training I had quite a few doubts.  First of all, I was dealing with the flu and really did not want to be there.  Secondly, all those around me seemed to have so much more knowledge and were grasping everything being presented what seemed easily while I was busily writing down notes in steps.  Yes, that is the way I learn.  Watching intently and writing down step by step how to do things on paper.  I have pages and pages.  Then I must practice.  By the second week of training I was well and ready to get going.  I had ideas about what I wanted to do in my mind but had no clue about how to put those thoughts all together into a teaching lesson.  

I started slowly.  I used my notes from training to start copying pictures of shapes from the Internet and copying them one by one and making a folder for each.  I did it over and over again, about twenty-five of them.  Through the repetiveness I learned.  Because I had no clue about PowerPoint I next went to the Technology Coach to be taught how to do a slide.  After creating three slides with supervision, I went home and made about twenty-five more.  Again, over and over again until learning the process I took my presentation one small step and then the next.  During that time I discovered on my own the power of the “duplicate slide”, what a time saver.  And I started exploring with “AutoShapes” and  “symbols” and color.  Again I went back for more support from our Technology Coach.  This time I learned to insert the pictures I had copied into folders.  Again I went home and practiced with all the slides I had made.  This continued through making hyperlinks, backward and forward arrows, adding movement and sound, more slides, (there is now a total of 58), hiding slides, and so much more.  Movement and sound came into play thanks to family at home and my teacher family. The laptop computer never left my side; we were attached at the shoulder.  I have had such support; with every step and question I would have there was someone there with suggestions, new ideas, and often giving up of their precious time to help me.  I certainly have not accomplished  the lesson on my own.  One weekend I was actually on our full size home computer chatting with my daughter at Clemson as she was walking me through a difficult process while working on my laptop simultaneously.  

What have I learned?  I have learned it’s never to late to learn.  I have learned that there is nothing to fear about computers, that you must get out there and work through what you want to accomplish through trial and error.  I have learned PowerPoint frontward and backward..  I have learned  that I must seek out others when I need help.  I have learned that I have a family out there who will encourage me, support me, and give of themselves willingly.  And lastly I have learned that my students appreciate the hard work I have put into trying to make their learning more exciting and interesting.  They are truly amazed and proud.  Students assimilate and  pick up our vibrations, our excitement, our fears, and our enjoyment of learning.  Our students are reflections and products of us, their teachers and mentors. 

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