My Squirrelly View of Education

Karen Chichester is a Special Education teacher in extreme southeastern lower Michigan. She teaches the Michigan Merit English/Language Arts Curriculum in a high school departmentalized Resource Room program. She has been teaching since “dinosaurs roamed the earth” (just ask her students.)

Karen began life as Karen Hoffmeyer in a General Motors town, Flint, MI. She graduated from Kearsley High School in 1975 and went on to Central Michigan University earning a BS in Secondary Ed-Cum Laude in 1979. Karen attended graduate school at Oakland University graduating in 1985.

Karen holds a Master of Arts in Teaching English Language Arts with a full Endorsement in Learning Disabilities. She is “Highly Qualified” to teach Speech (Interpersonal/Public Communication) and English in grades 9-12, and Reading in grades K-12. (The family joke is that if you are female and a Chichester, you are required to have a Master’s degree in Special Education.)

Karen’s ADHD makes her a risk taker and is often a early adopter of all things gadget-like. She began using computers in her classroom in 1980 with a Commodore Pet. She has used various Apple platforms in the past, but is now a Windows XP & Vista user.

Karen’s most recent foray into new things began in September of 2009, when she became the third (and oldest) cohost of The EdTech Classroom Podcast sponsored by California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) – Region 6. Her co-hosts Burt Lo and Joe Wood put up with her Windows use and her lack of an iPhone. Maybe one of these days they’ll convince her to come over to the other side. Just don’t hold your breath.

Karen has been married to her ever patient husband John, an independent Government Contracting consultant for more than 25 years. They have one son, Chris, who has Asperger’s Syndrome. Chris is a student at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

These experiences make her able to comment on Special Education, high schools, and technology as both a parent and as an educator.

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