Welcome to Edu-Awesome Adventure

Education is an Awesome Adventure. I like to think of it as Edu-Awesome! I currently teach sixth through eighth grades and greatly enjoy what I do. Let me take a moment to introduce myself and my background.

My name is Rebekah Remkiewicz. I come from a family of educators. One of my great-grandmothers was a teacher, both of my maternal grandparents and both of my parents were educators. I have several other family members who are also educators or otherwise work in education. When I was 14, my granddad looked at me across the dinner table one evening and said, "You're going to be a teacher." I countered, "No, I'm going to be an entertainment lawyer." He insisted that education was in my blood and that I was destined to be a teacher. He was right.

I have worked in education for over 15 years and even before that, I often helped my mom in her classroom. I have worked with students from preschool age to adult, including spending five years as an adult school teacher. My work as an educator overlapped some with my work as a journalist. I spent well over ten years working in various capacities as a smalltown journalist, including functioning as the owner and publisher of a small weekly-turned-monthly newspaper publication. I have two passions in my career life:
1. Education
2. Writing

My other passion, of course, is being a mom. It's amazing and there are things from mommyhood that overlap what I do in education.

When I first set out to get my credential, I intended to obtain my single subject credential and teach high school. What I learned about myself as I started that credential work was that I was better suited for younger ages. In fact, what I like most is the set up of K-8 schools, though I knew I would be happy anywhere teaching intermediate level. When I first started my credential work, I excelled at the Education Technology coursework. It was recommended that I consider getting my Master's in EdTech. I put it in on hold. At one point, I put a lot on hold. I obtained my Adult Ed credential and loved substitute teaching in K-8 schools, teaching adult school, and working with the Special Day Class and Resource students at a couple of different schools. Then, the time came to make a solid decision. I needed to either complete additional coursework in order to maintain my adult ed credential or I needed to get back to work on either my single or multiple subject. I looked at what made me happy and where I was headed. I considered the teacher I had adopted as my mentor. I knew it was time to finish my multiple subject credential. So, I did.

Having completed that credential and finding a school I love, I have finally been able to explore EdTech. All these years in between caused me to fall a little behind when I had always been ahead of the curve. (I was typing my spelling lists as a kindergartner before most anyone even really knew what a computer was and my family was among the first to have a home PC.) I have spent a great deal of time (summer vacation last year helped a lot) investing in getting myself caught up with the times and now I'm moving full speed ahead. I am in my second year as a CUE member and preparing to attend my second CUE annual conference. I have attended other EdTech conferences and I get excited about many different aspects of it. I completed my Google Educator qualification last fall and have a goal of attending a Google Teacher Academy.

Teaching science has allowed me wonderful opportunities to blend my love of technology with education. I created a virtual hike that led into an investigative lab for life science in January and it was one of the best lessons I've done in my entire career so far. My strongest interest has always been in Earth Science and this was nurtured throughout my life, especially when at age 11 my nana took me to Hawaii and I got to visit volcanic trails. I have been spelunking and love hiking. EdTech blends my loves in wonderful ways.

This blog will be a place to share resources and approaches, as well as some of my general thoughts on education. I am who I am because it was nurtured by a family of educators. I do what I do because it is a passion. My passion.

So, welcome to Edu-Awesome! It's going to be a fantastic adventure!