During my student teaching practicum, my mentor asked me
what my plans were after graduation. Obviously, I wanted to get a teaching job,
but as I later would learn, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.
If I ended up a substitute teacher, I knew that I wanted to begin towards my
Master’s degree. Five semesters later, I went from unsure, yet optimistic Penn
State graduate to goal-driven, accomplished Duquesne University Master’s
graduate.
"Graduate and professional programs in the arts, sciences, music,
business, nursing, pharmacy, health sciences, education and law attract
over 4,000 students from around the world to Duquesne University."
The first step was deciding on what degree to obtain. I
remember the decision process very clearly. First, it was Creative Writing.
Then, it was just a standard Master’s in Secondary Education, which switched to
School & Curriculum, only to revert back to Creative Writing. Since I was
undecided, I talked to three people who I feel have shaped my academic
landscape up this point in my life: Mrs. Constance Palmer, NHS Social Studies
Teacher & Curriculum Specialist; Mr. Jonathan Klingeman, AAMS English
Teacher; and Mrs. Barbara Vandermer, BVA HS English Teacher. From the input I
received from these three important people in my life, I made my degree
decision: Instructional Technology. What school? All my life I wanted to go to
Penn State, but since I accomplished this, I decided to get my Master’s from #2
on my list: Duquesne University.
All three of my reference letters from my academic peers
used “technology savvy” in them to describe a characteristic trait of my
teaching. Technology is the future of education, if not the present already,
and students today are saturated in technology (cell phones, internet, social
networking, etc.). I thought to myself, if I want to be a 21st
century educator, I should find a way to connect to my students and be an
“expert” in the connection. Technology in the Classroom was my realization five
semesters ago, and Technology in the Classroom is my niche today.
After being accepted into the program during the summer of
2009, a few weeks after my handful of failed interviews were swallowed along
with my pride; Dr. Carbonara, head of the IT department, called me personally.
I remember our conversation vividly. Instead of focusing on “selling me” the
program, he asked about me personally. I told him about my background, my
expectations, and my experiences, and he answered all of my questions using the
information I provided about myself. I appreciated this because in the matter
of one simple phone conversation, he made the program mine and made it seem as
if I was making the right decision. Now, a lot of people would say, “Oh, he
just did that so you’d stay at Duquesne.” But what I’m telling you right now is
that Dr. Carbonara was right.
I gained so much from my Instructional Technology courses that a lot of what I teach in my classes today is supplemented by what I learned in my classes.
I gained so much from my Instructional Technology courses that a lot of what I teach in my classes today is supplemented by what I learned in my classes.
Top 3 Assignments/Projects:
509_curcio_project.pdf | |
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514_curcio_grant.pdf | |
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