Hello World!

NETS 1

Available on my blog are my educational reflections on educational technology and class assignments. My interests are listed, embedded, posted within the blog and hyperlinked, a click-able reference to a document that the reader can directly follow, to help make information easily accessible. My class assignments are posted or embedded either as a blog post or a page. Each blog posting provide the reader with my insights, references and research available within the blog. I am modelling collaborative knowledge to students with the use of the blog. Students can see how my collaborative efforts with other teachers within my network, an interconnected group of teachers and educational specialists online, to create lesson plans, how I obtain information from various sources and as well as the amount of information and research I have available to them through the blog, a virtual world. Showing students the possibilities of collaboration through modeling my use of collaboration on the blog. I engage students through my blog by encouraging and sometimes requiring commenting on each blog and also by the use of GoogleForms, a web-based data gathering tool that allows the student to answer specific questions to help students reflect on any particular blog post or page.


Hello fellow classmates. My name is Thao To, I was born in Wichita, Kansas. I went to preschool and midway through kindergarten in Kansas. I moved to Orange, California and finished kindergarten at Prospect Elementary School. I stayed at Prospect up until 2nd grade. My family moved to Fountain Valley, CA after 2nd grade. I spent the rest of my elementary, middle school and High school years in Fountain Valley, going to Plavan, Masuda and Fountain Valley High School. My undergrad was at UCi where i majored in Psychology and minored in Education. I also got my multiple subject teaching credential at UCi. My teacher job search only led to substitute teaching and teacher aide positions. However, that gave me the opportunity to work with students with Autism and interested in teaching special needs students. I then began my search for a Special Education Program and Classroom. I found CSUM, went there CSUSM for my Level 1 and Level 2 Education Specialist Credential for Mild to Moderate and Moderate to Severe disabilities. This is my fourth year teaching in a moderate to severe classroom at a NPS in Orange County. I finished the Level 2 and MA coursework in June 2011 somehow I slipped through the cracks and was told that I did not complete a prerequisite for Level 2 as I was applying for my clear credential. Hence me being here now =).

I grew up with computers and was apart of the internet rise with American Online and Juno for my dialup services in HS first with a 28.8k and then with a blazing fast of a 56k modem. I partly paid for college through making websites and selling items on ebay. I had a geocities and angel fire website. I have used computers all through High school and College, recently switched over to mac 3 years ago. I competent in photoshop, ms word, and excel.

From reading the mission statement what speaks to me the most is the ongoing life learning and the student centered aspect of teaching. Having students learn through teachers who also want to keep on learning and perfecting their craft is amazing. Letting the student be your focus is something education should be about. Your students should be the focus and from that you incorporate whatever is appropriate to better his or her learning and understanding of the subject matter.