It’s official – effective June 1, 2022!
In 1989, I started working in the Stafford County Public School system and spent 8 years at Ferry Farm Elementary. In 1995, Apple computers were brought into the school and therefore a new position was created. I was offered that new position and served 3 of the 8 years in technology. The money wasn’t good for a field that was high in demand. I then joined Caroline County Public Schools as the Technology Specialist where I served the entire division of 6 schools as the network admin, pc technician, and instructional trainer.
To date where I started in the late ’90s, Caroline brought in its first 700 PC computers running Windows 95. The servers were Novell. I trained teachers right away on Microsoft Works and Office 97. Caroline became a 1:1 (student:device) with Chromebooks (3-12) and iPads for PreK-2 at the time of the pandemic. Prior to covid, classrooms had stations of Windows desktops.
Times have changed as technology progressed. Who knew technology was my niche and teaching people to use computers was something I seemed to have patience for? I’ve been proud of my work over the years and the marks I’ve left on teachers and administrators who swore they couldn’t learn technology. The shift in technology in education now includes STEM. I predict STEM will become a class soon enough that is cross-curricular and teaches necessary life skills in the areas of critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication. I hope to remain current in retirement and keep my Instructional Technology/Innovation site resourceful. http://sylanderson.us
