Carmen Conley has lived in the Atlanta, Georgia area for 14 years after moving from Michigan. She has a bachelor's degree from Western Michigan University and a teaching certification from Eastern Michigan University. She met her husband in Atlanta in 1996 and moved there in 1998 after getting married. Conley has taught middle school and high school and earned two master's degrees. She is currently the department chair of her Career Technical & Agricultural Education department and is pursuing an Ed.S in Educational Technology.

1. Introduction
Hello, my name is Carmen
Conley, and I have been in the
metro Atlanta area of Georgia
for 14 years. I moved to the
Atlanta area in June of 1998,
after my first year of teaching in
Michigan. I was born and raised
in Detroit, Michigan and
attended college in little small
college towns in MI. I received
my bachelor’s degree from
Western Michigan University in
Kalamazoo, MI and my teacher
certification from Eastern
Michigan University in Ypsilanti,
MI (which is side-by-side to Ann
Arbor where the popular
University of Michigan
Wolverines are located).

2. Move to Atlanta, Georgia
 I met my husband in Atlanta back in 1996 and
well, needless to say I moved on down two
years later, got married, and celebrate my
14th wedding anniversary today! After 2 years
of long distance dating, completing my
student teaching and first year of teaching , I
decided to continue with my teaching when I
moved to Atlanta, but moved down to the
middle school level as opposed to the high
school level in which I was accustomed to
back at home in Michigan.

3. Professional/Academic
Background
 As I continued to teach the middle school grade level
(7-8), I decided I wanted something more. I had been
married for a year (in the year 2000) and had not had
any children yet (I was waiting to hit age 30)! So I went
on to pursue a Master’s of Arts in Education in
Curriculum and Instruction in 2001 through a 15-month
program at Central Michigan University (Atlanta
Emerson Center). I was seven months pregnant when I
graduated in November of 2001. I thought long and hard
over my maternity leave if I really wanted to go back to
teaching at the middle school level and commuting
approximately 45-50 minutes everyday! Well, the
answer was no! So, I went back to teaching that fall of
2002(my son was six months old then…not too paranoid
about daycare as opposed to having a 6 week old) at
the high school level (9-12) in Business Education which
is much more beneficial in high school than it is at the
middle school level.

4. Professional/Academic
Background
 I currently teach entry-level and advanced-
level computer technology courses and am
department chair of my Career Technical &
Agricultural Education(CTAE)
department. Being department chair has
opened so many doors for me as a leader,
that I wanted to take the experience that I
am gaining a step further to the
administrative level…so I further pursued
another Master’s in Education, in
Administration and Supervision in 2001 from
University of Phoenix online.

5. Professional/Academic
Background
 My role as department chair has shifted a little more in the
direction of an instructional leader, coach, and mentor as
opposed to the manager and supervisor that I predominantly
served as. With that being said, I have begun an interest in
working with teachers implementing a plethora of technology
strategies with their students and not having direct instruction
with my own students confined to the everyday routine of a
classroom teacher, but more like a technology coach and/or
technology integration specialist. So here I am in my second
year after taking a break summer quarter trying to finish up my
Ed.S in Educational Technology this year while balancing a
plethora of activities including but not limited to full time work
and motherhood for my 11 year son who just began middle
school and daughter who just recently began pre-school!