It’s the morning after #ISTELive in New Orleans. I spent the last four days with educators and leaders and vendors and advocates and others from around the world of education. Reflecting is so important to me – almost as soon as something ends I like to think about how it went and how I could… Read More Reflections from #ISTELive 22

I’ve been thinking about the idea of independent learners vs dependent learners over and over during the last few months. Really over the last few years. When I first started as an SBTS (tech coach), I thought the biggest role I played was resource provider. I spent so much time remaking resources, translating them for… Read More Are We Creating Dependence or Independence?

Last Wednesday at the FCPS Honors event I was awarded the 2021 Fairfax County Public Schools Outstanding School Based Professional of the Year. This recognition makes me emotional for a variety of reasons beyond being recognized for my work, and I want to be vulnerable and share a bit about what this award recognizes and… Read More Reflecting about Recognition: Impact and Growth That You Can’t Always See

Last week I saw this tweet from Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom and I can’t stop thinking about it. (side note – buy and read her book THICK: And Other Essays) I’m a tech coach. I believe in technology. But I don’t believe it will save us. I want this shirt and I want to wear… Read More Tech Will Not Save Us

As a tech coach, one of the things I think surprises people the most is when I say that it’s not about the tech or the tool… it’s about the learning. I’m like a broken record at times (and annoying I’m sure!) but this is important to me. Nothing we do at school should be… Read More As We Look Toward Fall, Let’s Remember To Start With The Learning

Over the last few months I’ve seen headlines proclaiming distance learning a success and many proclaiming a failure. It’s so interesting to me to dig into what these stories really reveal about how the author and audience understand education systems. First, let’s start with synchronous and asynchronous. This is in some ways a buzz word… Read More What can we learn from the discussion about Distance Learning Successes and Failures?

The last month brought a lot of change! I left my job at Instructional Services and started on October 1st as the School Based Technology Specialist at Westfield HS. I couldn’t be happier AND the time I’ve reclaimed has allowed me to read more! Which is always a great thing! Learning First, Technology Second by… Read More What I’ve Read and Learned: October 2019

Whew! Start of school has shifted my time away from reading – between professional learning before school started and all that came with the return of teachers and students, I’ll share a few links to what I’ve learned from over the last two months. Books and Articles Study shows students in ‘active learning’ classrooms learn… Read More What I’ve Read and Learned: August and September 2019

July was a much busier pace at work than I expected and as a result, much of my time was working…not reading! Here are a few that I ‘squeezed’ in! Intent vs. Impact: Why Your Intentions Really Don’t Matter This article connects with so much I’ve been reading about equity and inclusiveness and racism. Intent… Read More What I’ve Read and Learned: July 2019

Watched When They See Us | Netflix | Ava DuVernay This mini series on Netflix is hard to watch. It tells the story of the Central Park 5, young black and latinx teens who were arrested, interrogated and forced to confess to raping a white woman. They were convicted and sent to prison and were… Read More What I’ve Read and Learned: June 2019