About Me

The labels I have:

Technology Integration Specialist.
Former Social Studies teacher.
Mom.
Daughter.
Wife.
Sister.
Reader.
Yogi.

The job I engage:

I have the truly awesome job of working shoulder to shoulder with teachers to implement technology in their classrooms in meaningful ways. I love my job. I am continually refueled by the heroic teaching and learning I see all around me everyday. I watch teachers that meet students where they are and take them to greater and greater heights. I see students that come to school hungry, grumpy, hopeful, earnest and everything in between. These students try, day after day, to prove themselves and better themselves. I value being immersed in school culture where I can't ever forget how hard it is to be a teacher or a student.

I love working with educational technology because I have seen over and over again how students that have been passively "learning" or actively NOT learning, pick up their heads and begin to produce when educational technology is introduced. I say this so much, people probably think I am overstating the case, but I literally can't think of a time I came into a classroom and this didn't happen. Whether it is the kid that never asked a question in math class but then piped up when he wanted to score in an online game (Running to get to math class), or the student that never participated in classroom discussions but became prolific in discussion board posts, or the student whose head was glued to the desk until the Augmented Reality app was introduced and then was walking around the class showing other students how to access the videos they needed, I believe that educational technology can help us reach more students and make them more active learners in their classrooms.

The blog I write:

This is why I keep a blog. I want to document and share what I see happening around me everyday. Teachers are trying great things in their classrooms. The very educational technology that I cherish also makes it possible for me to publish to a world of teachers what I see my teachers in my building doing. This blog is also a place where I collect resources and ideas about what other teachers can try. Teachers are so busy and have so many demands put on them, they can't always go looking for new methods or new tools. It is my hope that by providing clear examples, resources and suggestions, that more teachers will try to use technology to transform learning in their classroom every day.

The secret I keep:

There is one more reason I keep this blog. It might surprise you.

I don't like to write.

Really, I don't. I find it somewhat nerve wracking. I don't think I ever say exactly what I mean. And I don't like to slow down and reflect the way good writers should and do. I think I've said "I just don't see myself as I writer" so many times that I believed it.

But, I keep asking students and teachers to write. And to publish.

So, it seemed like it was time for me to start writing too. And to publish. So this is my attempt to stay authentic and to model what I believe all students and teachers could be doing. Sharing their ideas, questions, and beliefs with the world.