(no subject)
I'm heading out today and tomorrow to learn about the changes in Section 508 at a conference in Washington, DC. I knew just about all there was to know about web accessibility shortly before and after June 2001 when the law was enacted, but after leaving the full-time workforce, didn't continue my education in that area. While I've done a few accessibility evaluations in the past few years, I sorely need a refresher and update. I've tried to keep up with changes by reading articles and being on email lists devoted to accessibility, but it is sometimes good to go somewhere in person to see what's new.
I am hoping, also to learn a little about the non-web aspect of the law. I recently had to turn down a job that involved telecommunications - making sure a government entity's phone and voice mail system was accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. It seemed straightforward, until the folks making he product were challenged to create a product that integrated TTY (or a similar accessible mode of communication) into the system instead of providing a way for it to be added when necessary. I know so little about that aspect of section 508 that it would have been unfair to tell them I could do it. Needless to say, the consulting company that referred me has not contacted me since.
A while back Vox had a qotd about dream jobs. I didn't answer it because I really didn't know what my dream job is. It changes based on my mood. I'd love to get back into teaching, but not special education this time. I'd like to do what I trained to do at the end of the last century - educational technology. I fear, however, that by not having taught in that field, set myself up for ending up at McDonalds.
I still think I have a lot to offer a school system. I know a lot about teaching with technology, and I've kept up-to-date with emerging technologies. I also know a lot about web accessibility, and because schools are now embracing the fact that their online presences must be accessible to all, I'd make a decent candidate to work both with online access and teaching teachers how to use technology in their classrooms and in their online interactions with parents.
With my youngest going into high school next year, I think it is time to think about full time, away from home, work again. I'll need to see what's out there and see if I can work my way back into the education field. I'd love to work for the school district my kids are in for several reasons but location being a major factor.
I applied and even interviewed in this district many years ago, but the interview was the worst ever. I was applying for a special education position but the woman interviewing me never asked about my special education background. She was taking over for the special education administrator who was out of he building on an emergency or something. The woman interviewing me was the head of technology and media. Because I'd been using technology in my special ed classroom I, at first, thought this was a good thing, especially when she asked how I used technology in the classroom.
I explained how I connected the computers to the televisions and used the Internet for various lessons (This was 1997, mind you). When our entire school had made pin-hole viewers to see the solar eclipse and the day of the eclipse turned out rainy and cloudy, my students got to see it online from a sunny location (and the other teachers in the school begged me to hook up their televisions to their computers after that day). When my kids learned about butterflies and wrote essays on the life cycle of the painted lady butterfly, they were able to read essays other students wrote in different parts of the country.
She then said, "Uh-ha what other technologies have you used?"
I explained how I used television and video discs (we had a program called Windows on Science) to illustrate science lessons seamlessly because I had a bar-code reader that played clips from video-discs even if I was across the room. I'd litter my lesson plans with the bar-codes for the particular clips and when it was time, swipe the bar-codes and the clips would play.
I explained how I used the word processing program on our Macs to teach the students with eye-hand coordination problems to type and how their creative writing improved when they didn't have the burden of writing by long-hand as a barrier.
I told her how I'd used a spreadsheet program to teach percentages and graphs.
After I was finished, she looked at me and said. "But don't you use an overhead projector?"
Needless to say, I didn't get the job.
So, today is my first step in getting back into the world of work.
I am hoping, also to learn a little about the non-web aspect of the law. I recently had to turn down a job that involved telecommunications - making sure a government entity's phone and voice mail system was accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. It seemed straightforward, until the folks making he product were challenged to create a product that integrated TTY (or a similar accessible mode of communication) into the system instead of providing a way for it to be added when necessary. I know so little about that aspect of section 508 that it would have been unfair to tell them I could do it. Needless to say, the consulting company that referred me has not contacted me since.
A while back Vox had a qotd about dream jobs. I didn't answer it because I really didn't know what my dream job is. It changes based on my mood. I'd love to get back into teaching, but not special education this time. I'd like to do what I trained to do at the end of the last century - educational technology. I fear, however, that by not having taught in that field, set myself up for ending up at McDonalds.
I still think I have a lot to offer a school system. I know a lot about teaching with technology, and I've kept up-to-date with emerging technologies. I also know a lot about web accessibility, and because schools are now embracing the fact that their online presences must be accessible to all, I'd make a decent candidate to work both with online access and teaching teachers how to use technology in their classrooms and in their online interactions with parents.
With my youngest going into high school next year, I think it is time to think about full time, away from home, work again. I'll need to see what's out there and see if I can work my way back into the education field. I'd love to work for the school district my kids are in for several reasons but location being a major factor.
I applied and even interviewed in this district many years ago, but the interview was the worst ever. I was applying for a special education position but the woman interviewing me never asked about my special education background. She was taking over for the special education administrator who was out of he building on an emergency or something. The woman interviewing me was the head of technology and media. Because I'd been using technology in my special ed classroom I, at first, thought this was a good thing, especially when she asked how I used technology in the classroom.
I explained how I connected the computers to the televisions and used the Internet for various lessons (This was 1997, mind you). When our entire school had made pin-hole viewers to see the solar eclipse and the day of the eclipse turned out rainy and cloudy, my students got to see it online from a sunny location (and the other teachers in the school begged me to hook up their televisions to their computers after that day). When my kids learned about butterflies and wrote essays on the life cycle of the painted lady butterfly, they were able to read essays other students wrote in different parts of the country.
She then said, "Uh-ha what other technologies have you used?"
I explained how I used television and video discs (we had a program called Windows on Science) to illustrate science lessons seamlessly because I had a bar-code reader that played clips from video-discs even if I was across the room. I'd litter my lesson plans with the bar-codes for the particular clips and when it was time, swipe the bar-codes and the clips would play.
I explained how I used the word processing program on our Macs to teach the students with eye-hand coordination problems to type and how their creative writing improved when they didn't have the burden of writing by long-hand as a barrier.
I told her how I'd used a spreadsheet program to teach percentages and graphs.
After I was finished, she looked at me and said. "But don't you use an overhead projector?"
Needless to say, I didn't get the job.
So, today is my first step in getting back into the world of work.