“Tell us how you have transformed your practice…”

I am taking a stab at the Google Certified Innovator application and one of the prompts inspired me to write about how I have transformed my practice in recent years.  While this is a loaded question and I could go on for days, I wanted to share my quick response (restricted to 1,000 characters – lucky you!). It doesn’t got into specifics, but I share how focusing on integrating technology in a meaningful way into my curriculum has changed my overall view on what it means to be a teacher.  It also credits my fabulous colleague, Rebecca Girard, for getting me started down this path…

Rebecca Girard and Myself

“I refer to my colleague, Rebecca Girard, as my EdTech Sensei. Three years ago she encouraged me to dive into the wonderful world of integration of meaningful technology into my curriculum. Since then, I have been engrossed in all things EdTech and inspired by the large community of teachers who work everyday to improve their students’ school experience. This couldn’t have come at a better time as I was right around the teacher ‘5 year itch’. I was in need of some inspiration and reinvigoration of my practice. I have never been so inspired and passionate about what I do than I am today. Since then, I have approached my teaching and classroom through a different lens. While content knowledge is still very important to me, my number one priority it to best prepare my students for college and beyond – for the careers that don’t exist yet. A wonderful side-effect of this change in direction is that I have a lot more compassion and empathy towards my students and their individual strengths”