Digital Portfolio

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WOW! I DID it! I built my own website, and I am BEYOND excited! Okay...it's a little basic, and a little hokey, but it's a start, and I made sure I hit "save" and got a URL before the whole thing disappeared in front of me. I absolutely intend to revisit and "upgrade," but there is a time-and-a-place to "stick a fork" in an assignment and move on.

Being a digital immigrant, the words "self-promotion" have historically been preceded by the word "shameless," so I initially planned to start a wiki and just add my digital projects to each page...short, sweet, basic. But, times have changed, and "self-promotion" has really become a survival skill. A friend and I have cautiously launched a tutoring venture...I need to promote that. An acquaintance conveniently locked-in two of my summer vacation days getting free out-right instruction on putting together a Buck Institute-style project, AND digital tools training. I'm thinking: I don't even really know this person...she should be paying me for this...not a lot, perhaps, but SOMETHING.

I also think that, when this degree is said-and-done, I could possibly market myself as a consultant for professional development. As a digital immigrant teacher who is FAR FROM RETIREMENT, thank you very much, I might be useful to an administrator who would like to encourage veteran teachers to acquire and use some of these digital skills. I've never met a vet teacher who DIDN'T WANT to be on board...it's just that, as immigrants, we think differently about things, and I'm wondering if there isn't a niche market for a non-whippersnapper techie?

I'm rambling...Basically, what this means is that I didn't, obviously, just populate a wiki. I built a website that, while rudimentary, sets the foundation for recording what I've already done (and I'm pretty happy with my accomplishments, four classes into this program), and serves to help organize my thinking around my own professional development over the course of the NEXT SIX classes. I'm not in the market for a job right now...I'm CRAZY about my job. But I do intend to put this degree to work for me when I'm done, and I think I've laid that groundwork. No one can count on school districts to advance us anymore...we've got to put our embarrassment away and self-promote.

One would think that, as much "fun" as I didn't have with the webinar, or with transferring data from an old cell phone to a new computer, I would have shied away from the word "beta." Oh, no...some of us take more beating than others...WIX is a really neat site, and I would recommend it to people. You can definitely see the "beta" in it, though...It is hard to accept that the solution to so many problems is: turn the machine off and let it rest. It is (both hard to accept AND the solution). I had to do it a couple of times...amazing disappearing text boxes...wouldn't upload video...In the end, it got DONE, and that is what counts. My next step is to add an "About Me" page...I could have thrown something together, but I've already used a lot of creative brain cells, and I'm going to save that for another day.



http://ktyhawk.wix.com/laura-trimarco#!home/mainPage