Leslie Decker

My name is Leslie Decker . I am a native speaker of English, as well as a fluent speaker of German and Dutch.

I was born in Austin, Texas and grew up nearby in the towns of Hutto and Bastrop. From 1994-1998, I attended the University of Texas at Austin, and graduated with a double-major in German and linguistics, with minors in English and Dutch. During my time at the University, I also studied abroad twice--for the first time a summer in Würzburg, Germany, and for the second time a year in Leiden, the Netherlands. During those stays I learned to speak German and Dutch fluently.

After working for a few years in Austin, I returned to Europe in 2000. In Prague, Czech Republic, I worked as a teacher of English as a foreign language, traveling to businesses both as part of a school and as an independent contractor. There I stayed until 2003, when I returned to Austin.

In 2006, after completing three semesters of student teaching I started at Taylor High School, teaching German and ESL, and assisting with technology staff-development workshops. Since 2013, I have been doing the same job, but at Cedar Ridge High School in Round Rock, Texas.

In 2014, I started working towards my M.Ed. in Educational and Instructional Technology at Texas Tech University.

Over the past decade and a half of teaching, I have seen many changes in the tools used in instruction. During my tenure in Prague in the early 2000s, if I wanted to supplement my textbook materials, I was limited to portable cassette players, recordings off the radio, and printouts. As new technology came along, I embraced it, and try to incorporate it into my lessons and lesson design each day. Though I do not believe technology can REPLACE a good lesson design, I do believe that it can enhance it. We use technoogy in our lives every day, so why should we not use it to learn?

Though I love languages and teaching foreign language, the recent budget cuts as well as changes to foreign language requirements in Texas skills have led me to pursue educational technology and design as my future career. When I finish my M.Ed, I would first like to work as a technology specialist on a school campus for several years. Eventually I would like to either work for a state education service center designing technology-based curriculum, or a private firm helping develop technology solutions that will most benefit K-12 teachers.