“I quit.”

 

That powerful phrase changed my life forever. I had no idea at the time, but saying those words would eventually transform my career path, educational goals, and outlook on how students learn.

 

After graduating from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, I dreamed of becoming a High School Band Director. Knowing that landing a dream job straight out of college would be a long shot, I took a position at an Elementary School in South Brunswick where I taught band, choir, and general music. This job was a far cry from the ideal I had dreamt up as an undergraduate, but it ended up planting the seed for my love of technology. To succeed as a teacher with a multitude of performance responsibilities I needed more help than my antiquated music training could give me. That year I purchased a MacBook Pro and began experimenting with the various preloaded applications. I quickly realized how much more effective I could be once I mastered this new technology.

 

I used Garage Band with several of my general music classes and also discovered Sibelius, a music notation software. Without a doubt, Sibelius saved my life. Not being a strong piano player, I entered all my choral scores into Sibelius and then used the program to accompany the choir. This alleviated my stress about my sub-optimal piano abilities and also allowed me to work with the choir without the restraints of staying within playing distance of the piano.

 

After two years, I left South Brunswick for a band directorship at an Elementary School in Randolph. Due to budget cuts, that job was eliminated after one year and I was moved up to the Middle School as Choir Director. Once again, I subsidized my piano training with Sibelius. I quickly entered all of my music into PhotoScore, a feature of Sibelius that takes scanned images of sheet music and converts them to digital versions that can be edited. This saved me countless hours of manually entering the music note by note.

 

As my interest in integrating technology in the classroom grew, I was invited to join a pilot group of teachers to test out BlackBoard. I immediately fell in love with Learning Management Systems. Creating different classes for each of my choirs, I uploaded the audio files I used in rehearsals from Sibelius so the students could practice from home. This is actually quite rare in the field of vocal music education. Short of having phenomenal piano skills, students cannot not be expected to do any practicing on their own time. Empowering my students to work at home was a game-changer that marked a period of rapid growth for my ensembles.  My groups regularly took home top honors at competitions.

 

Part of the commitment of being in the BlackBoard pilot group was sharing learned knowledge with other staff members. Conveying my knowledge of BlackBoard during the Music/Art faculty meeting was my first experience in educating other teachers and I enjoyed every minute of it. While I did not recognize it at the time, this set the tone for my future in teaching teachers and being a technology leader.

 

After several years in my position, I left my job to stay at home and take care of family.  It was scary to leave a tenured job, but it was something I had to do. I took a year off before I was ready to jump back in the ring and start my search for a Band Teacher position. Unfortunately, the market was not what I hoped for and I ended up taking a job as an Associate Teacher for Sage Day, a therapeutic school for emotionally disturbed children.

 

As an Associate Teacher, I worked as in-class support for Math for the first half of the day and then taught Music in the afternoon. While this was not the job I was looking for initially, being in the private sector had many perks that has forever impacted my career. For instance, whenever I needed new equipment for the classroom, my principal would hand over his company-issued American Express card.  No purchase orders, no vendors, no bidding war. If the kids needed something, and I could make a clear argument in favor of buying that something, the powers that be would provide.

 

Sage Day strives to be a one-to-one district and has Chromebooks for every student. Working directly from the cloud, Chromebooks work seamlessly with Google Apps For Education. I knew nothing of the Google Suite of tools prior to coming to Sage Day and working with a cloud was a foreign concept to me. Intimidated but intrigued, I experimented with the tools Google has to offer and became hooked.

 

Google has the ability to greatly impact education and I am thrilled to work in a school that supports its integration. Experimenting with Google both at school and at home, I became a sponge and couldn’t get enough. At this point in my career I realized that technology, when used properly, can greatly enhance the learning experience.  I entered NJCU’s Master’s in Educational Technology program after working at Sage Day for one year.

 

During my second year at Sage Day and first year in my Master’s program, I started training the staff at my school during faculty meetings. I taught them about Google and different Apps and Extensions that could enhance their classrooms. Seeing my passion for technology and my desire to share my passion with my fellow educators, the owner of Sage Day created a position for me. As the new Technology and Media Integration Specialist for Sage Day Schools, I coordinate all technology integration and teacher training at our four campuses.

 

Technology has not only shaped my career; it has become my career. In the beginning I saw it as a convenient tool that made my chaotic life as a music teacher easier. But the more I leaned on technology, the more it enhanced my students’ learning.  For me, classroom technology evolved from something shiny and new into an absolute necessity. During the year I stayed home, I had lots of time to reflect. The recurring theme? How a little-known computer program called Sibelius saved my life. How I thought every teacher should know how to use technology to makes things easier and more effective. Now, I get to show teachers how to do just that.