Bio+Page

I am a PreK through 12th grade (ages 3 through 18) teacher and media center specialist at a private Christian school in northern Maryland, USA. I learn along with wonderful people at [|BCA], where I am a fellow learner. Many of them are called students and I am often called a teacher, but these definitions are becoming more and more blurred! This will be my third year at this school. Prior to that, I was an English teacher in a computer lab teaching 8th grade study time, 9th grade public speaking & 10th grade debate. I also had a 9th grade class of advanced english. Before that I was a daily substitute. I taught in both capacities at [|Scotland School for Veterans' Children] in Scotland, Pennsylvania. I have been teaching in various capacities and at various schools in rural southeastern Pennsylvania, USA for 15 years. I attended [|Wilson College] in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, USA, where I earned a B.A. in Elementary Education. I also attended [|Shippensburg University] in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, USA, where I earned a M.Ed. in Elementary Education. I am a member of [|Phi Kappa Phi].

The photograph of the Seuss hat links to my professional blog. I have several class blogs as well.Here are some: [|Durff's English] [|summerfunatbca]

This links to our live, interactive webcast on the edtechtalk channel of the worldbridges network. We are four educators who produce a bimonthly webcast titled It's Elementary. We focus on web2.0 tools in the elementary classroom. The producers include Jose Rodriguez, third grade teacher in Los Angeles CA, Alice Mercer, a fifth grade teacher in Sacramento, CA, Maria Knee a Kindergarten teacher from Deerfield, NH, and myself. Please join us by logging into the chat room at [|EdTechTalk] and either ask for sound in the chat room, or listen to the stream at the [|listen page] at edtechtalk.

This links to the Webcast Academy. The Academy is a hands on, collaborative training center for people interested in learning how to produce and host live, interactive webcasts. It is part of the Worldbridges Webcasting Network and was founded to help train those who would like to webcast on Worldbridges. This wonderful community is all thanks to Jeff Lebow and Dave Cormier. I was originally part of the class of 2.1. But now I am enjoying learning along with the class of 2.2, which is a totally awesome class. There are other webcasters presenting in this conference from whom I learn so much!

This was a professional learning opportunity for educators in New Zealand and overseas. Here participants could explore examples of collaborative online learning and the application of Web 2.0 technologies in teaching and learning. I was interviewed by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach as part of her keynote at this conference. This is the link to her [|keynote page]
 * [[image:k12online07presenters:conference_logo_draft2.jpg caption="Interviewed by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach" link="http://centre4.interact.ac.nz/spaces/space.php?space_key=13374"]] ||



I was a presenter in the K12Online2007 Conference, an international online conference. My presentation, //Pushing the Envelope//, went live on Wednesday, October 24, 2007. I also enjoyed participating in the live events in Elluminate. The highlight of the PreConference Keynote this year was David Warlick's chatroom. I am trying to get time to listen to all the presentations, but there were about 40 presentations chosen from 100 proposals. The nice thing about such conferences is that they will continue online...the 2006 conference is still online as well.

I presented a seminar entitled //Using Technology to Enhance Instruction// at the Washington, D.C. Convention in 2007 and in 2008. The presentation wiki is at Acsiseminar, including the slideshow and extra materials. The seminar was recorded by ACSI and is available from them.

I recently presented at the [|Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education]conference. This conference was held entirely online in the virtual world Second Life. I probably learned more from the challenges of presenting in a virtual world than anyone did by attending my presentation. The title of my presentation was "Building Community Through Virtual Worlds in K12."