JMU/Microsoft Partnership Wiki: Michelle Childress

Michelle Childress, ITRT for Washington County Schools

Phone: 276.642.5336 (voicemail@John S. Battle High School)--276.642.5600 (High Point Elementary School)

Schedule: High Point Elementary School (M and Th)--John S. Battle High School (T, W, F)

We began our ITRT positions in 2004-05 Washington County (a year ahead of the mandate!) and some enthusiastic, technology-minded professionals were brought out of their classrooms and media centers to fill these positions. We are each assigned to two or more schools--I am assigned to both John S. Battle High School and High Point Elementary School for a total of nearly 1,200 students and over 100 instructional staff members.

Our new positions are not only professionally rewarding, but also fun! Some of us prepared for the possibility of a position such as the ITRT by obtaining advanced degrees. I obtained my IT degree from ETSU in December, 1999. Many of us have always considered ourselves to be a lifelong learners and technology is an area where there is always something new to learn. While we realize that our most important job is to assist teachers with technology integration, we also find ourselves constantly redefining our responsibilities in this new position.

I'm married to Ken, is the senior naturalist with Bays Mountain Park in Kingsport, TN and we have a son, Logan, who is a junior in high school. Logan is very involved with his high school band and his other great interest of the moment is geocaching. I enjoy traveling with my family, movies, Americana music festivals, creating chain maille jewelry, shopping for antiques with friends, taking digital photos, and creating memory albums (aka scrapbooking). I'm currently working on my NETS-T standards with a current goal of finishing about 3 standards per week. I've found that I'm already doing much of what is specified in the standards. I just need to document what I'm doing with a reflection and an artifact.

Check out some of my elementary school resources at:

High Point Technology Resources (workshop, training and conference files)

High Point Portaportal (a never-ending work in progress)

High Point ikeepbookmarks (a beginning attempt to organize Internet sites and activities by SOL strands)

Posted at Sep 27/2006 08:21PM:
Margaret Kostal: Hi Michelle--Your bio and resources are very impressive. You are setting a great example for the rest of us! Thanks for sharing.