Back in 2010, Sarah was a member of a K-12 public school district Technology and Media Team. The team was exploring ways to provide ongoing professional development throughout the year, using teacher feedback to drive their professional learning opportunities. One common piece of feedback teachers shared was the desire for more professional learning opportunities but a lack of time to participate due to other teaching obligations. In response, Sarah decided to create a mid-school year asynchronous virtual professional development option—"The 12 Days of EdTech Cheer!" This initiative was designed for all K-12 teachers (not just those in the district at the time) to explore at their own pace, allowing them to further discover resources for teaching and student learning. Sarah chose to make this professional development available during the holidays—a time when many teachers have a bit more flexibility.

In 2011, Sarah decided to continue the idea, expanding on it to increase engagement. She sought to encourage more teacher conversation around the ideas and resources presented. By 2012 and beyond, she worked actively to promote participation, communication, and collaboration. Sarah believed that everyone had more to offer to the learning experience than just her thoughts and curated resources. Each year, she aimed to build on the previous year's experiences, incorporating teacher input, and researching trends, resources, and methods for using technology as a supportive tool for teaching and learning.

In 2020, after joining the Kent Intermediate School District as an Educational Technology Consultant, Sarah decided to bring back "The 12 Days of EdTech Cheer." with the revised (and inclusive!) name of "EdTech Cheer."  The goal was to spread holiday cheer while sharing strategies, resources, tools, and techniques that teachers could use in their classrooms for instruction, student projects, or as collaboration and productivity tools. The aim was to gently push educators out of their comfort zones to try something new that could benefit both them and their students. Teachers were encouraged to share their thoughts, ideas, and links to resources through daily reflections, building a stronger learning community together.