Growing Professionally
Growing as a professional means moving beyond basic career expectations and independently learning how to best improve yourself professionally and stand out from your colleagues.
Throughout my first eight years of teaching, I used my growing technology skills to not only improve how I worked as an educator, but also how I communicated with my classroom stakeholders. I taught myself how to develop a website and then took on the challenge of how social media could help me tell the stories of my classroom to not only families within my class but also other classes in our district, state, and eventually classrooms across the globe.
Once I learned how to successfully use these tools, I started teaching other educators how to do the same things. Through presenting at district, state, and national conferences, I was able to reach an audience and share my learning with an audience much greater than I ever imagined!
Current Work
In my current job as an Innovation Coach, I create many instructional, promotional, and tutorial videos helping my audience engage in the content I'm sharing. I am continually challenging myself with new tools to improve my video creation skills.
iPad Alternative to Notability 1.movUploading Files to Google Drive.movExtensions Overview.movDeveloping
As the Director of Instructional Technology in Greenwood School District 50, I was responsible for all marketing and social media stories for our district's new digital initiatives. Prior to coming to the district, very few educators used social media to share the stories of their classrooms and schools. I worked with district leadership starting with the superintendent and principals on how to use Twitter to effectively share students success as they encountered it throughout the day (@DrDJSpeaks). Today, even as a retired educator, my former superintendent still understands and uses the power of Twitter!
GWD 50 Cohort Reflections.movJoining the Reading and Writing Google Hangout.webmMy students and I have had a blast creating videos to represent our learning. Below are a few sample of these exciting experiences.
Getting Started
In my tenth year of teaching I joined a professional learning network call Smile Scholars. We share ideas and collaborated with one another on how to improve as an educator. Below are a couple videos that were created from topics I presented to this group about.
Starting with Twitter in 2010
Technology Integration From the Beginning