As the band Boston did, I am singing Don't Look Back! The 2014-2015 school year will be my last as a teacher at East Dubuque (IL) High School. I have officially submitted my "intent to retire" to the superintendent. There is no going back now. But at 56 years of age upon retirement, I am excited about starting a new career. If all goes as planned, that career will still involve education, but in the world of adults rather than young adults. I plan to teach professional development courses in technology, perhaps online but preferably in a classroom setting. I would like to present at educational technology conferences, teach at the community college level, facilitate workshops for educators at their schools, and whatever else it takes to get this career moving! My expertise is in Web 2.0 (browser-based) software applications. They have become my passion; I spend much of my free time looking for new sites or for updates to existing ones.
This TechMan Training website is a beginning, I hope. Sometimes I think it is too cheesy, but the cartoon hero theme is something that matches my personality and creativity. Perhaps I launched the website too early, before I had the time to put into it. After all, I am teaching full time right now and will be next school year too. This summer I would like to get the ball rolling toward my post-secondary teaching career and add many tutorials to the site.
Besides TechMan Training, I have a few other irons in the fire, as they say. In the spring I will be teaching a Prezi course at Northeast Iowa Community College's Town Clock Business Center in Dubuque, Iowa. Also, it looks like I will be teaching some type of technology professional development course for teachers this summer through the Regional Office of Education #8 in Freeport, IL. I'll actually team-teach the class with a long-time colleague, and we are just beginning the planning stage for the course.
Clicking the send button on the intent-to-retire email to my superintendent took only a smidge of courage and a millisecond of hesitation, but I am excited about my decision! My wife and I are now "empty-nesters" which should give me plenty of time to get this career off the ground!
This TechMan Training website is a beginning, I hope. Sometimes I think it is too cheesy, but the cartoon hero theme is something that matches my personality and creativity. Perhaps I launched the website too early, before I had the time to put into it. After all, I am teaching full time right now and will be next school year too. This summer I would like to get the ball rolling toward my post-secondary teaching career and add many tutorials to the site.
Besides TechMan Training, I have a few other irons in the fire, as they say. In the spring I will be teaching a Prezi course at Northeast Iowa Community College's Town Clock Business Center in Dubuque, Iowa. Also, it looks like I will be teaching some type of technology professional development course for teachers this summer through the Regional Office of Education #8 in Freeport, IL. I'll actually team-teach the class with a long-time colleague, and we are just beginning the planning stage for the course.
Clicking the send button on the intent-to-retire email to my superintendent took only a smidge of courage and a millisecond of hesitation, but I am excited about my decision! My wife and I are now "empty-nesters" which should give me plenty of time to get this career off the ground!
