Week 2 – It’s a Great Pumpkin, Kate Sparks
Last week I tested my soft skills, this week I think I’ll record the hard ones. While I know that hard skills are not necessarily actual physical skills, look up what they are made me think of this website I found a few months ago that tests your computer reflexes which I found was quite fun. I am including it here for anyone who would like to compete with themselves and a population of other people throughout the world. The Human Benchmark . While you do that, I have split my hard skills into two categories: hard academic and hard “other” skills.
List of my hard academic skills:
- Fast typer (95 wpm)
- previous MA degree (helps with the imposter syndrome)
- Fast reader
- Licensed as a teacher in Indiana and Maryland
- Good at Math
List of my hard “other” skills:
- Speak French (at least I could 3 years ago)
- Born in 1997 (this is important because I am quite good with technology)
Lastly, I am in a class called the Coloniality of Data that discusses how data and the focus on data in our society is a cause of colonialism, coloniality, and capitalism. I thought this was worth mentioning because that is one of the reasons that I chose this program. Working as a teacher for a couple of years allowed me the understanding that the education system, specifically in America, focuses entirely on numbers rather than students. This is a toxic and dangerous occurrence. Referring to adults in mass death situations as numbers is wrong in one way, but to look at a child’s development as one in a system is a treacherous path to go down. I wanted to ensure that I was receiving an understanding of data in order to discuss this with the education stakeholders and even potentially enter the system in a place where I can enact change. So when I heard this exact statement when watching a lecture in Coloniality of Data, I was very excited to learn more about this type of thinking.
Until next week 🙂
-Kate
You ARE a fast typer and an excellent presentation designer!! I find your background as a teacher with a master degree super interesting and glad you’re open to sharing about it 🙂
Can’t wait to hear more about Coloniality of Data – it’s a course that made my short list so I hope to enroll next year. I am so happy to see people with teaching backgrounds in this course, as I think educators can have some power to influence societal change. As the daughter of teachers and sister to two more teachers/administrators (one of whom teaches in a low-income public school in North Carolina), I have a very deep appreciation for the work you do! I don’t think I am as fast at typing as you but I can definitely attest that fast reading and fast typing have benefitted me a lot in this virtual educational world so far. I am really looking forward to getting to know you better and maybe meeting you on campus someday.
” data and the focus on data in our society is a cause of colonialism”. That is very inspiring. Never thought about it in this way. Thanks for sharing:)