Find my blog at Reflections from Hog Hill

I live in East Kingston, a small town in southeastern New Hampshire with my two sons (14 & 16 years old) and two cats. We live in a house built ca. 1775 with land that has fields, woods, springs and vernal pools that we enjoy exploring. My boys are the sixth generation to live here, but I grew up as a Navy kid and lived all over the country.

I work at the library at Phillips Exeter Academy, where I'm circulation coordinator. I make sure people can find what they want when they want it; I run our student work program; and I put together displays and exhibits.

I started my undergraduate degree in 1970 but kept getting sidetracked by life. I've finally finished it - a BS in Biology/Environmental Studies. Last summer I started on a master's degree in Library and Information Science, but soon realized that the focus was on management and administration of libraries. I've worked at business and management, and it's not what I'm looking for. What I want is to work more than I already do with students and, upon reflection, I realized that what I've always wanted to do was teach. So, here I am. I'm undecided as yet about my focus - either science teaching (9-12) or heritage studies. My hope is that as a teacher I can be a facilitator of learning rather than a gatekeeper of knowledge.

My older son is a true digital native. I read so much about how awful computers and gaming were for children but I could see how much good he was getting out of it. I decided early on that I'd better get involved with new technology as it developed if I wanted to understand where he was and what he was doing. Having certain geek-ish tendencies myself, I dove in the deep end and came up paddling. I went from Runescape to Facebook to Blogger to LibraryThing and had a great time along the way. Now I need a way to analyse the parts and understand how to put them to the best use in a classroom.