[Today's blog post is designed for people who are participating in Moveable Feast. If you are one of my typical blog readers, read on, but know there are other purposes for today's information.]
Welcome to my latest obsession
As of the last year and a half, I have been enamored with Blogger and Facebook. It was a paradigm shift that allowed me to leave a lot of the typical control of a website's format to someone else and let me deal with my favorite part... the writing. So, when I was asked to write a bio for being a trainer for what we lovingly call "The Feast," I decided not to recreate the wheel. If you really want to know about me, it's out there on my blogs. Take a look at the sidebars, click around.
Professionally speaking
For those who are curious about my background in education, you will really want to read my vitae. If you would like to know about me in a nutshell, here is your fast and furious list:
Born: JoLynn Paul, August 6, 1969 in Reading, PA, the youngest of 8 children
Exported to Illinois: Attended Blackburn College in Carlinville, IL, where I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Mathematics; married Scott Plato and moved to Springfield in 1992
Moved around Central Illinois: We lived in Springfield, Riverton (adjacent to Springfield), Normal, and Bloomington over the last 17 years
Bragging rights: I am a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) and a continual presenter for topics that excite me
Why a techie?: I earned my Masters Degree in Education in the area of Curriculum, Technology, and Education Reform from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2000. Since then, I have been passionate about finding ways to engage and maintain the interests of intermediate through junior high school students through the use of computer technology. I have done a great deal of work particularly with SMART Boards over the past six years.
Why so in love with data?: That's the math side of me. We in education seem to generlaize quite a bit. I support generalizations that are backed by reliable and valid data over time. I also believe that it is needless for anyone to have to sift through papers in hard copy files to find data in the year 2009. We have at our disposal powerful digital databases that can give us what we need in formats that make sense. Because I am a "dataholic," as well as a bit nutty about continuous assessment, I was happy to be asked to present IlliniData for The Feast this summer.
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