Christy+P.

=Hello!= My name is Christy Pottroff and I am a first year English Ph.D. student at Fordham University. Before moving to the east coast, I lived in Manhattan, Kansas where I received a B.S. in Secondary Education and an M.A. in English Literature. While in the always bustling and exciting Manhattan, Kansas, I taught 7th and 8th grade Language Arts for one year and worked as a paraeducator in both a self-contained classroom for students with autism and a program for students with severe mental handicaps for a total of five years.

I am primarily interested in studying and teaching twentieth century British literature, gender studies, and queer theory. When I am not immersed in reading, writing, and teaching, I enjoy hiking, running, knitting, and playing basketball. Also, my partner and I just got a new kitten--and she is very good at convincing me to put down my books and play!

I look forward to working with all of you this semester!

=**My Life as a Technology User:**= My parents bought our first family computer in 1998 when I was 12. This addition to our home gradually, but significantly, changed the way I learn, write, and interact in the digital world. A few years later, we got dial-up internet and I began to explore wikipedia, yahoo, and online communities. As a middle-school student, this changed the way I engaged with information. The computer and internet allowed me to research and write about a wide variety of topics.

I attended a low-income school in a rural setting and technology education was not integrated into the school until I was in high school. There was one computer lab that some classes got to use to type, research, and learn. Throughout my high school experience, I gradually began to learn more about being a digital citizen.

I bought my first cell phone when I went to college. Ever since, it has shifted the ways that I engage with friends and family. Initially, I would talk on the phone for hours--while driving, walking, cooking, etc. Currently, I my engagement with friends and family has become more centered around email, social media, and text messaging.

Computers, internet, and cell phones are best learned through safe exploration. I spent hours trying links, websites, text messages, and computer programs as an emerging technology user. Now I feel very literate in a variety of technologies. In contrast, my mother, who very recently signed up for her first email account and rarely uses the internet for anything, does not feel capable of this kind of exploration. During a cell phone conversation when I was an undergraduate, my mom asked for advice printing a basic Microsoft Word document. From memory based on significant personal experience, I told her how to open the document and how to bring up the print menu. Frustrated, my mother was not able to follow my instructions. She waited for my younger brother to come home from school and he printed the document for her. As it turns out, throughout my over-the-phone tutorial, my mom was right clicking with the mouse and was unable to even open the document. This experience showed me that individuals experience technology in a variety of ways. Growing up with technology throughout my adolescence and adult life, I feel capable of learning through exploration. But some people, my mother included, do not have the same relationship with technology.

=Personal Use Project:=
 * I will be starting a blog for my personal use project. Follow my progress through this [|googledoc]:
 * My [|blog] is an online resource for student writing.
 * I have developed a professional online editing service in conjunction with my personal use project. Visit me at [|Hogarth Edits].

=NETS Goals:= As a paraeducator in special education, I gained a lot of experience working with adaptive technology. I would like to learn more about how to use these technologies for a variety of students. For example: text to speech, speech to text, PECS, CCTV, and innovative uses for ipods/ipads. //**Goal**: I would like to develop a multi-media in-class lesson plan that integrates these technologies (typically used in a special education classroom) for a class of diverse learners. Ideally, this lesson plan will develop community between all students at all levels in an upper-level high school (or possibly University writing course) English classroom.//
 * 1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity:**

When I taught composition and literature as a graduate student at Kansas State University I tried to include a variety of technological tools to engage student learning and creativity. Our course had a discussion board through the university website. Instead of a final paper in the literature course, I gave students a variety of creative options to display their learning (video adaptations, themed cookbooks, proposed soundtracks). //**Goal**: I would like to learn how to manage, develop, and successfully implement a wiki.//
 * 2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments:**

I know how to use some emerging technology in my field for presentations and a bit for publication. I have given presentations at conferences using Prezi and I have begun to think about alternative forms of publication. //**Goal**: I would like to pursue alternative methods of publication for professional development as an academic in English Literature. Specifically, I will explore “Spatial Humanities” and “History Engine” and try to make specific contributions to these spaces.// //**Goal**: I would like to write an abstract for a conference that incorporates digital humanities into my area of study.//
 * 3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning:**

The school I attended did very little to help students learn about emerging technology. Further, my undergraduate university assumed that all students were coming from the same media literacy backgrounds. I feel uncomfortable with the large discrepancy in media literacy between certain schools and locations based on income. //**Goal**: I would like to learn more about how to universalize technology and information for students at the secondary and post secondary levels. I want to grapple with what is at stake when education becomes increasingly more centered around technology.//
 * 4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility:**

Currently, I have a facebook page, twitter account, and am in the process of developing an online editing service. I feel as though I have a lot of room to grow in terms of learning about how to extend my classroom. //**Goal**: I would like to research how to extend my online presence by writing a blog about my research and professional development as a Ph.D. student in English.// //**Goal**: I will acquire interactive white board skills.//
 * 5.** **Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership:**

Visit my [|Glog] to learn more about the complex and often confusing nature of copyright in the classroom!
 * Copyright Clarity: **

Throughout the course of the semester, I have developed a better understanding of what it means to be truly digitally literate. I have compiled a statement on digital literacy for my students, colleagues, and others.
 * Statement on Digital Literacy: **

I revised a lesson for a Freshman Composition Class at the post secondary level. Originally, this lesson only employed technology on a very small scale. This individual lesson contains technological enhancements that are indicative of my ideal means of instruction in the future.
 * Revised Lesson: **

=Final Reflection:= I have created a powerpoint document that fully addresses my progress on my learning goals throughout the course of the semester. It includes artifacts and commentary about my assessment of my own progress.