I spent 14 year sin Burleson ISD, south of Fort Worth. I taught 9th grade English for one year before moving the administration building as an instructional technologies. I later became the Lead Learning Technology Coach for the district and ran a team of four Learning Technologists. When I wasn't working to help the students and teachers in Burleson integrate technology into their classrooms....I volunteered. Here are a few of the projects I was directly involved in.
We created a promotional video for our summer teacher Chromebook Academy - Chromebook Preppers. The academy had a Zombie Apocolypse theme and was the second academy we created/taught.
(Our first academy had a Games of Thrones theme entitled "Google is Coming" and introduced the move to one-to-one Chromebooks with students.)
As Lead Learning Technology Coach I was responsible for creating, staffing, advertising, and crediting attendance for the professional development academies.
2013 BISD Convocation - For Those About to Teach We Salute You
I helped plan the 2013 rock and roll convocation teacher assembly. Our new superintendent wanted to make a big splash so I rewrote the songs for the administrators from central office and our campuses to record and lip sync. I arranged for the superintendent to ride into the event on my husband's Harley (you'll see him take it out of the gym as a "roadie" in the film), and I even had to step in and sing the last song when someone couldn't show up.
BISD Welcome Back Videos
For a couple of years I created welcome back videos for the teachers in collaboration with the Communications department. Eventually they became a tradition and the district hired professional videographers to create much better quality videos. But I'm proud to say that I was a part of starting the tradition.
BISD Convocation Flash Mob
With a zero budget to run Convocation, I was tasked with coming up with something engaging for the event. I sent out secret emails throughout the district recruiting teachers and students...and created a Flash Mob to end the event! I even got to kick it off!
Using the GooseChase app, I have run over a dozen interactive digital scavenger hunts for faculty and students to build a sense of community in the districts I've worked in. Goosechasers work on teams and record themselves doing fun activities, sharing ideas, and generally having a fantastic time! I've run Goosechases for Burleson ISD, Cleburne ISD, the general public during the Covid pandemic for the Burleson, Texas community, and for Tarrant County College Connect Campus.
For our Goosechases, we include a lot of silly fun, we also address items we're focusing on for the year in academics, we support one another, and reflect. Here are a few examples. Every mission is worth points that are automatically calculated in the app - while those of us leading the chase can award bonus points (or take away points if the mission isn't completed correctly). The app includes a leaderboard, and we awarded trophies to the 3 top scoring teams!
We asked for feedback from the district participants as the final mission of the game - you can read their responses for yourself!
And yes - we taught all of our faculty how to use Goosechase and had them actively using them in classes from Band to Math!
Lip Sync Challenge
Chasers had to get their whole team to lip sync to a song and record it in the app! This team earned bonus points for using a song that talks about learning.
Help a Principal Out
Chasers were asked to leave a sticky note on their principal's door thanking them, encouraging them, and getting them ready for the new year.
It's Good to be the Queen
We sent our teams out into the community to interact with businesses, first responders, and to get to know the city they teach in better! Dairy Queen near the high school got a lot of love and a lot of our chasers got some ice cream too!
#ComeWithMeNow
Wanting to get our faculty sharing with social media, teams had to tweet out what they were most looking forward to and use the district's hashtag for the year! They got bonus points if they followed the district account!
Super Selfie
Chasers had to get their whole team into a photo with the Superintendent. He was a pretty good sport considering that we didn't tell him we'd added this challenge...or that it was worth 10,000 points! He was VERY popular at convocation!
Do You Even BISD?
Chasers had to find someone out in the community wearing BISD gear and get them to repeat the phrase with them on video!
EdChat
Chasers had to upload a photo of themselves participating in a Twitter chat event! Using social media to learn and share!
#Hashtag
Chasers had to have a #hashtag conversation about the new school year based on the late night TV bit made popular by Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake. These guys did a GREAT job!