Instructor Kathy Zimmerman has no problem going back and forth between the worlds of virtual reality and reality.
She's entering her 12th year at South Callaway schools in Mokane, where she is responsible for introducing the youngest students to computers.
"I'll literally be in every room at the elementary and Early Childhood buildings," Zimmerman said.
But she's also often found in the woods, alone or with a gang of friends who used to teach together at a Navajo reservation in New Mexico. Or, one might see her swimming across a 7-acre lake where her family has a cabin.
Sometimes she sneaks out of the house to take a walk.
"I take along a basket and look for mushrooms - that's my excuse. I'm looking for mushrooms," she said. "My husband calls me Jungle Girl because I'm always disappearing in the woods."
Sometimes it's a balancing act between her fascination with technology and her love of nature.
"I really love to see what kids can do with technology," she said. "On the other side, I just want to go outside."
She just came back from Colorado, where she climbed Mount Shavano near Salida. Zimmerman, now 58, climbed the 14,249-foot mountain 30 years ago.
"I wanted to see if I could do it again," she said, adding while she loves being unplugged from technology, she posted a picture on Facebook of herself on the summit.
Zimmerman has been teaching for 33 years. She was born in Iowa City, but most of her family was in Colorado.
"I got there as soon as I got out of high school," she said. "In Colorado, I had another career. I was assistant department manager at Montgomery Ward and on a management track. But I didn't like it. Sales was not my thing."
She became a teacher, working with special-needs children.
"I knew kids in my school who didn't fit the mold," she said.
Zimmerman taught six years at a private school in Colorado. Mainstreaming developmentally delayed preschoolers was one aspect. She spent 13 years teaching in New Mexico at schools on a Navajo reservation. She also took classes in technology at New Mexico State University, a long commute.
"There were kids growing up on the Navajo reservation who had barely been to town," she said.
Zimmerman found a way and took many of them on trips to places including Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
"I still Facebook with a lot of those kids. Some of them are 30 now," she said. "We have that connection, and they still talk about Disney World."
She and her husband, Dennis, have a son, Kai, who is now 23.
"We were very remote," Zimmerman said. "It was difficult for my son. Going into town was 100 miles away, and it was very difficult."
So the family came to Missouri, and Zimmerman taught for two years in Jefferson City before moving to the South Callaway school district.
"I really wanted to be at South Callaway," she said. "There's a phenomenal group of staff and students and community."
Zimmerman is dedicated to her students and teaches them the four C's of 21st century learning: Collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity.
"I hope all kids can find something they're passionate about or interested in," she said. "We're preparing kids for an unknown future. We don't know what's going to happen. We have to have kids doing decision making."
The school year at South Callaway begins Aug. 11.
"I literally look forward to every day," she said. "I'm happy to be at school every day and try to provide that safe place and challenging environment for kids."