Why do you want to work for Littleton Public Schools:

I believe that the two things that are required for anyone to grow personally or professionally are passion and vision (both foresight and hindsight).

Now, I have passion for collaborative learning environments in the classroom, for student-directed learning, for constructivism, for thinking divergently, for coupling technology and pedagogy to create authentic learning. I have a passion for working things through and coming up with solutions.

I also have vision for the future of education that I blog and podcast on a regular basis. I love writing out plans or driving down the road and getting the ideas ready to be put into practice. The themes of anywhere-anytime learning, authentic assignments and assessment, creating authentic learning environments, and using technology to transform practice are the ones I end up talking about repeatedly, focusing in more and more closely on how to make each one of them a reality in my classroom and personal learning network. I also have the vision of reflection. Looking backward is just as important to me, which is why I am constantly reflecting on how my plans have come to fruition. I am always looking to be more engaging, more potent in my teaching and learning. To me, there is nothing more important for this than the vision of reflection.

While I have maintained this passion and vision for quite some time, it has been mainly through the connections and relationships that I have forged with other teachers and leaders in educational technology. It is because of my discussions with people like Will Richardson, Bud Hunt, Karl Fisch, Clarence Fischer, Kevin Honeycutt, Vicky Davis, and many others that I have been able to continue this line of inquiry. With that said, there is only so much vision and passion one can have when it is spread out among thousands of miles. What I need now is the ability to have conversations about pedagogy and technology every day, face-to-face, without the barriers of a skype voice lag. I need an environment that shares my passion and my vision and will challenge me to work within a framework for success. I want to feel a part of something that is bigger than me, and that is why I have chosen to apply at Littleton Public Schools. I been following what Karl Fisch has done for about a year and half and I have never stopped being amazed at the amount of great thought that is coming from his cohorts. I have read nearly every document that Dan Maas has put on his blog regarding technology integration in this district because I want those ideas to be a part of all of my writing and thinking. You clearly have the ability to keep my vision crystal clear and my passion pumping as strong as ever. Whereas I have had to challenge myself to come develop many of these ideas, I now can see a day where the challenge comes from working with others locally toward a singular goal, where my work has a greater significance than just to the people who read my blog or listen to my podcast.

What is your biggest flaw?
My biggest flaw is in needing to record everything that is important to me. For this purpose I carry around a iPod with microphone, a palm pilot, a cell phone with texting and Jott capability, and a cross pen. If there are any actionable items, I immediately write them down, because I know if I don't, I won't get back to people in as timely of a manner as possible. I have found a way to leverage technology to help me get my work done more efficiently and easily, but it is still an issue if someone passes me in the hallway with an important idea and I don't quickly dial Jott to e-mail myself a message.