Peru EDU 552 Class Introduction

Welcome to my class blog.  I'm Melanie Hudgens and I am starting my 6th year of teaching.  I am originally from San Diego, California and attended the University of Southern California.  My first bachelor's degree is in Exercise Science - I wanted to be a pediatric physical therapist.  Instead, I ended up working in mortgage banking for several years, but then met a great guy, who happened to be in the military.  We moved to some really great places such as Hawaii, Virginia, Kansas, and finally Nebraska.  I have two girls, one in high school and one in college.  I was a stay at home mom for 12 years but decided to pursue a Middle Grades Education degree from Peru State because I wanted to teach math.  I really enjoy using technology in my classroom, and am excited to be taking my third and final technology class for a certificate in addition to my Master's degree that should be finished this coming spring.  I am currently a 7th grade math teacher working for Bellevue Public Schools.  While this blog is for professional uses, I have created my own website for my students, and last year, I created blogs for the English classes that I taught.

With respect to technology, my district offers free professional development courses in several areas. I would really like to work as a district trainer some day, and have learned so much about how to engage students in the classroom using technology.  I am not afraid to try anything, and the trainers are willing to co-teach as well as plan lessons.  I have used hand held clickers, Mobi, and iPods, and am really trying hard to "flip" as many elements as I can in the classroom.  I was so inspired by the work that the district trainers do that I created my own professional development course about Edmodo.  I am a huge fan of Macintosh but also have P.C. products.  In my first teaching position, I had to crash course the entire iLife products in order to teach Broadcasting.  My P.C. currently has Vista for Windows on it, but we would like to upgrade it soon.

As I mentioned earlier, I have almost completed my Master's degree.  While it's great to receive more pay, I can honestly say that I have learned more about teaching and myself by taking these classes.  Eventually, I would like to either be a district technology trainer or perhaps teach online college courses.  I think I would also enjoy working with non-traditional high school students that also want to take online classes.

You can follow me on Twitter: SoCalDreamr2 - there are many great educators out there that I follow that offer wonderful ideas; I also have some good math and education boards on Pinterest and have started using Good Reads to keep track of books that I would like to read or have read.  Last year I also created a Scoop.it! page for my English students and for technology ideas.  Please feel free to follow me.