For the last twelve years, I have been designing and delivering curriculum for the most challenging audience you can find: middle school students. These 11-14 year olds and their parents have forced me to be creative and flexible. As a result, I can write curriculum that works well through any circumstance. Kids falling asleep? Random fire drill? Schedule upheaval due to testing? I’m there with a lesson that is interesting and adaptable.

My world has revolved around pre-teens, but fortunately for my mental health, my team includes many adults. I work closely with teaching colleagues, consultants, therapists, classroom coaches, and parents to design programs that meet the students’ needs.

My introduction to the design process came during my first year of teaching when a supervisor handed me an outdated, poorly planned textbook. Sadly, these awful publications are the norm, so I created and adapted curriculum so that my students could learn instead of being bored. A few years ago, I decided to step up my curriculum design game by enrolling in Purdue and earning an MS Ed in Learning Design and Technology. The program was entirely online, rigorous, and amazing. I had taken online classes before to complete credential requirements, but this was an entirely new experience. The students truly interacted and formed a community, and the instructors connected with us and taught on a profound level. My degree program taught me things like adult learning theory and how to use Adobe Captivate, but it also forced me to learn the intricacies of online learning programs.

Early in my teaching career, a supervisor needed to use mail merge to send out parent letters. As the only staff member who could complete this task, I became the Official Technology Expert. My attempt to live up to that designation opened up an abundance of opportunities, and I started designing and delivering technology training courses for teachers in my district. At first, my colleagues were nearly as challenging to teach as my middle schoolers. When word got around that tech trainings were suddenly useful, teachers started showing up with smiles. Before long, my school district was hosting the regional conference for one of our educational technology vendors and we developed a robust technology program. Today, I am proud to say that almost all of my colleagues can deliver blended learning without panicking!