Bienvenido a Meet the Teacher: el segmento del blog de CodeMonkey donde los maestros de todo el mundo comparten sus experiencias sobre lo que es ser un educador. La publicación de hoy presenta a Tammy Cummings, especialista en medios bibliotecarios para grados K-12 en el Centro de Tecnología e Innovación de Instrucción en México, Nueva York.
“Ver a mis propios hijos participar en el aula me hizo decidir convertirme en maestra. Entré un día cuando mi hija estaba en la escuela solo para ayudar un poco a la clase. Realmente no pensé mucho en eso hasta que me di cuenta de que se sentía bien. Me estaba divirtiendo y me sentía como en casa en el aula. Esto comenzó mi viaje para convertirme en un especialista en medios de la biblioteca escolar. Regresé a la escuela a tiempo completo para la educación y trabajé a tiempo completo en la escuela de mis hijos. Fue mucho trabajo, pero cuanto más aprendía, mejor me desempeñaba en mi trabajo. Obtuve mi licenciatura y tuve la oportunidad de asistir a la escuela de posgrado para convertirme en bibliotecaria escolar. Ha sido un camino largo y difícil, pero lo logré y esas experiencias las comparto con los estudiantes y les muestro que ellos también pueden lograr sus metas, incluso cuando sus metas cambian. He sido especialista en medios bibliotecarios durante 3 años y lo disfruto cada vez más. Trabajo con estudiantes y profesores todos los días. No todo es diversión y juegos, pero trato de hacer que cada día sea lo más agradable posible. Quiero hacer de cada día un momento memorable.
I think I am pretty connected as an educator. As a Library Media Specialist it is expected that I be connected. I don’t belong to all the Social Media but I join resources as they become relevant to me personally and for my position. I write a blog when I have information to share with everyone in my school. It’s great to see how many people quickly read what I post and I not only reach the other educators in my school but parents and other School Librarians as well. I do have a Facebook account and I help to manage our department’s page. I love to share the PBL digital projects on there. I also belong to The School Librarian’s Workshop on Facebook. This group is a great group of School Librarians. It is a great place to post questions and to chat back and forth about relevant topics. I have my likes and dislikes when it comes to social media but that doesn’t stop me from sharing those resources with others. I’m not a big fan of Pinterest but I have created my own boards and helped others with theirs I still wince when someone tells me to look at a Pinterest board but I get inspired by them too. I do enjoy the connection that I feel when I go on social media, and that is what it is all about, making connections.
Working with students has kept my perspective of the world fresh. My students are a joy and a challenge but they keep me looking at the world with new eyes. I see things that I might have overlooked if not for them. They challenge me and I challenge them right back. We use PBL (Project Based Learning) and it never ceases to amaze me at the ideas and information that students find and share with me. You would think that an educator would know the answers to anything they ask a student to research, but I find it much more interesting to find out the answers together.
It’s important to me that my students have opportunities to explore and learn about things that are relevant to their own lives. There are so many topics that students must learn about but a big part of the school library is to teach students how to find/learn about things that they want or are important to them. It’s also import to me that my students know that the library is a safe place to come and ask questions and get guidance on how to find answers.
The biggest piece of advice that I have when it comes to educational technology is to step out of your comfort zone. Take a look at something you may not know how to do or are not the best at and create a lesson plan integrating that technology into the lesson. Truly integrate it, don’t have it as an extra or after thought. Just having that goal has helped me immensely in my job. I have learned so much just because I needed to learn it. When you have a purpose for the technology, it makes it more manageable to learn and to teach.”
