Getting Started

I begin both this blog and this course with high hopes. As an ‘old dog’ I already know a few tricks, but I’m always eager to learn more. Compared to most people I know I’m pretty tech savvy, although perhaps not compared to the average 12 year old. I’m guessing that I'm the oldest student in our class, and I'm obviously coming to education as a second career (or third or fourth or fifth depending on how you keep score).

I’m eager to learn ways that I can use technology to both improve my future students' learning, and to help my students learn to use the tools they will need in the 21^st century. I am enrolled in the Prudential Teacher Scholars (Pru) program, which is a program for career changers with math and science backgrounds to become teachers in the Newark school system. The Newark schools vary greatly in their technology resources, ranging from good to virtually non-existent, and my goal is to take advantage of whatever technology that I can. As part of grant given to the Pru program, I have a mini smart board and a computer along with a projector and some other goodies, like a digital microscope, that I would like to incorporate into my lesson plans.

I have a degree in biology, but I took a 25 year ‘side trip’ into photography. If anyone is interested, some of the work I have done is on my photography website www.riccohn.com. I also spent a few years directing TV commercials. Lately, I’ve also been doing photoshop retouching, and I have a separate website for that: www.rcretouching.com. I continue to take pictures and do retouching as I work my way through graduate school.