• Design Thinking Workshop at Idea Week

    In late April, I had the chance to attend part of Idea Week, a collaboration between the IDEA Center, on the campus of Notre Dame, and the larger Michiana region. The event brings in many national leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs to share their insight with the students of Notre Dame and the Michiana community at…

  • MACUL 18 Recap

    As the month of March winds down, I am wrestling with a lot of big thoughts in my heads about grading, grades, school culture, design thinking, and school climate. I am really wrestling with it. I can’t quite get it down coherently at this time. So, instead, you get some resources from an event that…

  • Hacking Google Slides – METS VirtuRally Presentation

    I am on the steering committee of an amazing, grassroots organization in the state of Michigan. The Michigan Educational Technology Specialist (METS) Group is comprised of over 600 Technology Integration Specialists and technology using teachers. The group hosts three major events for members throughout the year. In the fall, the METS Group hosts a Fall…

  • Happy Valentine’s Day! Don’t Forget to Show Love to Your Students!

    It’s Valentine’s Day! A day of love. A day of chocolate. A day of flowers. A day of little candy hearts with cute sayings! A day of expressing your feelings! While love is essential for all outside of school, we can’t turn that off when we come to school. While all the above are important…

  • Goal for 2018 – Don’t Be the Sea, Change

    While I am not one to set resolutions that the start of the year, I was able to travel to Eleuthera in the Bahamas over our winter break. We visited a beautiful place towards the north end of the island called Queen’s Bath, a formation that has been carved out thousands of years that has…

  • Response to Ideas That Will Break Education

    About every quarter, a group of tech coaches and integrators meet and discuss current projects, struggles, and what is happening in our schools at the Regional Education Service Agency. One of the county consultants shared Terry Heick’s 12 Ideas That Will Break Education. The goal was to have conversations around some of the items. I…

  • Coach out of Water? The Feeling of Inadequacy of Coaching and Not Having a Classroom

    As an EdTech Coach, I have a unique role within the school. Especially at the beginning of the year as we roll out devices and ensure that all students are set and ready to go. One colleague this week summed my role up as the “catch all of all things tech.” While my job is specifically…

  • STREAM? Why not STREAMMSSFLPE?

    Full disclosure. I am a former social studies teacher. I have also taught math and engineering. I dabble in computer science with my students as well. I recently was invited to a webinar that was focused on STREAM education. Many are familiar with STEM and STEAM. But STREAM was new to me. The second part…

  • The Use of Data and Algorithms in Education

    Whoa! That title is likely a little misleading! This is a reflection on a podcast that I recently listened to that discussed how we use math, data, and algorithms to make decisions that are inequitable and further seclude people in our society. It also relates to a book that I am reading about Building Equity…

  • Tips for Managing a 1:1 Classroom

    As we gear up to start a new year, your district may have new devices for your classrooms. Maybe you have new carts of devices, a classroom set of devices, or maybe your district went fully 1:1 with devices. If you have carts, you have an out. You can’t use the cart all of the…