Hello!

My name is Johanna Thorpe, so nice to meet you all.  I am currently finishing up my M.Ed. in Educational Technology at Lesley University and intend to graduate this spring. WooHoo!!! My interest in this degree began a few years ago while working on my doctoral thesis at the University of Houston. More specifically, I had the honor to work with and study a progressive middle school with a mobile learning platform. The students spent half of their day fulfilling their personalized learning plans online and the other half of the day visiting museums, parks, and businesses across the city to complete real-world, hands-on projects.  The school was quite experimental but received national attention for their innovative design. My research explored the students' capacity to academically self-regulate.  This was a key factor for the success of the school for it depended on students' ability to be self-directed. Long story short, I became keenly interested in the power of technology to close the achievement gaps I've often encountered in my 12 year career as an urban educator. I'm really interested in personalized learning platforms, innovation, 21st century learning principles, the learning sciences, to name a few. I think we've only touched the surface of the power of technology to solve some big problems in education. This degree has given me the basis for that work, which I am thankful for!

Me!

When I'm not thinking about solving big problems in education, I am a mom and a wife. I've been married for almost 10 years. As previous stated, most of that time was spent in Houston. However, we moved back home to Massachusetts about two years ago. We love our new community in Wellesley, MA. We love it so much we are in the midst of building a new home.  I have two beautiful daughters, ages 6 and 8, as well as a menagerie of pets including a Great Dane, two cats, and fish. None of the pets get along with each other  - imagine a household with tails constantly chasing each other up and down stairs! I'm also in the process of committing myself to get back to my old physical self. Motherhood takes a toll. I used to run track & field for a division I school in college, ran a little bit professionally outside of college, and have completed three marathons before I turned 30. In the last 10 years or so running has fallen by the wayside. So much energy has been put into raising my kids, helping my husband with his business, and in finishing my doctorate. These past few months I've decided to reclaim the physically fit person I used to be. I meet with an amazing group of  wellesley and natick women twice a week to lift weights as well as twice a week with a physical therapist. I has been the best decision of my life to put my health first - I have felt better these past two months than I have in an entire decade. Hopefully that feeling will seep its way into my work at Lesley :-)

Mia daughter Mia (age 6)

My daughter Ava (age 8)

In closing, I have a request of you all. If you've made it this far in my bio you might not be surprised to find out that I tend to have a hard time keeping the scope of my work in focus. It was a real problem during my doctoral thesis! I wrote over 200 pages for my poor adviser to suffer through! Please keep me in check during this process to keep the scale of my work to an appropriate depth. I can tend to go wide on projects when I really need to narrow in and gain focus. Suggestions are always welcome! Looking forward to hearing about your passions and interests. I hope I can provide the same level of knowledge that I know you will graciously provide me.

 Best ~ Johanna