Hi, my name is Kris Lutes.I am originally from Scribner, Nebraska and graduated from Chadron State College with a degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education 28 years ago. In the past twenty eight years, as I followed my husband in his career I have been a substitute in Grand Island, a preschool teacher in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a kindergarten teacher and day care director in Colorado Springs, Colorado and a Head Start/Early Childhood Special Education Teacher and a Kindergarten teacher in Des Moines, Iowa and for the past two years back home in Nebraska as a Kindergarten teacher for Millard Public Schools at Walt Disney Elementary. Education has always been very important to me and my family as I have two grown daughters in education as well. I have always enjoyed working with the young children and I am enjoying that experience in my personal life as well as I have two young grandsons.

I have a MacBook at school and a PC at home. Since beginning the cohort program I spend 95% of my time using a MAC. We have MACs at school. I have three in my classroom and access to a computer lab as well as thirty laptops on a cart. The upper grades at my school were suppose to get SMARTBOARDS this year and the lower grades sometime after that. We are still waiting. Having not grown up using computers and access at school very limited until the past two years my technology abilities are limited. In the classroom, we use Successnet to support our curriculum, pbskids, and starfall. I am using Microsoft Office 2008. I really hope to learn helpful information in this course that I can utilize in the classroom and personally.

I had been thinking about getting my Master's Degree for several years (when we became empty nesters) but couldn't quite find the right fit for me. When we decided to move to Nebraska from Iowa it was one of the best personal decisions my husband and I made, being close to our daughters, grandsons, and family however, it was not the best choice financially as Nebraska's teachers salaries are far lower than Iowa. So I continued my search for a Master's Program. I talked with several colleagues and heard very good things about Peru and I liked the idea of the online cohort program including the time frame. I have had many experiences in education and wanted to put my experiences with additional educational experiences to become a Master Teacher. In doing so it will benefit me educationally and financially, and more importantly it is my hopes that my students will benefit as well.