Tag Archives: education

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WEP 242: Teaching and Learning with the Magic of Artificial Intelligence An Interview with Jeni Long

This is Wired Educator Podcast Episode 242:

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Teaching and Learning with the Magic of Artificial Intelligence, my interview with Jeni Long who has been at the forefront of educational innovation as an EdTech speaker, consultant, and author helping educators. Jeni has a new role as Senior Community Strategist at MagicSchool AI is helping educators in fascinating new ways by leveraging artificial intelligence. Dive in. You’re going to love this episode. 

Click here to listen to my interview with Jeni Long.

Jeni is a seasoned educator with over 25 years of experience in the field. She is a respected EdTech speaker, consultant, and author dedicated to providing unwavering support for teachers both in and out of the classroom. Jeni empathizes with the daily challenges educators encounter and strives to offer guidance, resources, and encouragement to all educators. In her role as the Senior Community Strategist at MagicSchool AI, Jeni’s primary goal is to ensure that every teacher on the platform feels supported, motivated, and empowered to positively impact their students’ lives. She strongly believes in the strength of community and understands that collective collaboration among teachers can foster magic within classrooms. Jeni is actively engaged in organizing events, delivering professional development sessions, fostering community growth, and establishing partnerships with school districts in collaboration with MagicSchool. 

Mentioned in this Episode: 

StreamYard: Our sponsor for this episode. This is the app I use to record interviews with my guests. It’s the best way to record audio and video. Go to www.StreamYard.com and turn your browser into an awesome recording studio.

Magic School AI: This is where Jeni works and it is an amazing tool for using Artificial Intelligence as an educator. More to come on this, but I must say… I am so impressed by Magic School. Check it out.

Wired Wednesday Chat and Live Stream: Follow @wirededucator @kellycroy #wiredwednesday and the entire squad for a unique video live stream and Twitter chat on Wednesday at 9PM.

Here’s the link to ALL of Jeni Long’s social media, website and information: https://www.canva.com/design/DAEbRxl2tN4/AFSz0bNzL9PrPIOVJNod9Q/view

Thanks for taking time out of your busy week to listen to The Wired Educator Podcast.

You are awesome!

Kelly

I would like to speak at your event!

Order Kelly’s books, Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library.

Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
and of course: Facebook.

Sign-up for Kelly’s newsletter here.

Do you like what you heard? Invite Kelly to speak at your school.
Interested in booking Kelly for your Next Event?

 

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Excellent Advice For Teaching 002: Smart Ways to Make Your Money Work Harder

Things I Wish I Knew Earlier in My Career in Education

Smart Ways to Make Your Money Work Harder as an Educator

Lesson: Take Action Early in Your Teaching Career to Put Your Money to Good Work. You can get big results over time with just a little bit of money.

Image created by description from Kelly Croy put into Chat GPT4

Even though teachers might not make as much money as some other jobs, being a teacher is really rewarding and important. But, there are smart things teachers can do with their money right from the start.

When I first started teaching, I used to run out of money all the time. By my third year, when Christmas came around, I didn’t have much money for gifts. That’s when my teacher friends told me about starting a Christmas savings account at our local credit union.

I started putting a little bit of my paycheck into this account every time I got paid, without even seeing the money first. My friends told me to just forget about it and let it grow. And it really worked! Every year, I had money saved up for Christmas and vacations. And when I got a raise, I would save a bit more.

I’ve also learned that teachers have some really good benefits, like retirement plans, that a lot of other jobs don’t have. This is because a little bit of our paycheck goes into retirement savings automatically, which is actually a pretty cool thing. I’ve met people who make three or four times my salary and have nothing saved for retirement. It was sadly ‘something they were always going to get to doing’ but didn’t it. Most people lack the discipline needed to have money.

Even though I wish teachers got paid more, I’ve decided to focus on making the most of what I earn. I was lucky to have friends who gave me great advice.

Here are some smart money tips I’ve learned and you should think about too:

1. Start a Vacation Fund: Put a bit of your paycheck into a savings account that you can’t easily take money out of. Only use this money for special things like Christmas or vacations.
2. Save in a Tax-Free Account: Even starting with a small amount can add up over time. I started an annuity early in my career.
3. Join an Investment Club: It’s a fun way to save money with friends and learn about investing. It inspired me to invest on my own. I had fun. I earned money too, that has really helped my family.
4. Side Hustle: If you can get paid for extra jobs like coaching, use that money for fun activities or to save. Every human should have a side hustle, or two. I chose fun ones for myself like: speaking, writing, artwork and education consulting. Find a fun hobby that can make you some extra money, but remember to save some of it. It’s easier to out-earn financial challenges than out-budget or out-save them. FYI.
5. No Credit Card Debt: Always pay off your credit card every month. Always! No exceptions. So many people get crushed with this one and can’t dig out.
6. Budget: Use a budget to make sure you’re saving money. Know where your money is going. Adjust and adapt. I use Rocket and YNAB.
7. Learn About Money: Read a book or take a class to get smarter about money.
8. Live Within Your Means: Be careful with spending too much on things you don’t need. I see so many people with incredibly high car and home loans! Wowzers! Don’t live like the pretenders on Instagram. This is hard for a lot of people. They want to eat out all the time. Pack your lunch. It pays off.
9. Plan Your Spending: Decide what each part of your paycheck will go towards before you get it. Prepare for upcoming events as best you can. Don’t get alarmed when a surprise expense hits, have some money hidden away for a rainy day.
10. Enjoy Teaching: Remember, being a happy teacher is more important than how much money you make. I know this might tick a lot of teachers off, and I get it. Teachers deserve more money. I agree. My point is that you can’t put a price tag on happiness. If you enjoy teaching, that is priceless. So many people hate their jobs. I don’t.

Remember, saving a little bit at a time can really add up and make your life better.

The following is from Yahoo Finance: 

“However, popular personal finance expert Dave Ramsey recently shared that teachers are becoming millionaires despite having low salaries. According to a study conducted by Ramsey Solutions of over 10,000 millionaires, the top five careers for millionaires were engineer, accountant, teacher, management, and attorney. Feb 18, 2024”

Challenge: Talk to the payroll department at your school to automatically save a small part of your paycheck. Also, start with $20 to $40 each month for an investment in some stock or start a club. At the end of your career, like my 33 years, you’ll be thankful you did. It’s a good start!

Take Action Early in Your Teaching Career to Put Your Money to Good Work. It’s about making good decisions. The more most people make, the more they spend. Use your money smarter!

Always forward,

Kelly

I would like to speak at your event!

Order Kelly’s books, Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library.

Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
and of course: Facebook.

Sign-up for Kelly’s newsletter here.

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WEP 239: Publishing Students Through Creative Collaborations an Interview with Donnie Sorah

This is the Wired Educator podcast Episode 239, my interview with Donnie, Sorah titled “Publishing Students Through Creative Collaborations.”

Donnie is a  musician, educator, composer, and an associate professor of music at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise. He’s amazing and he’s going to share his story as well as inspire us all to publish students’ work in powerful and unique ways to enhance their voice, build connection and provide the best learning experience possible. This episode is perfect for teachers in any content are, teaching any age, educational leaders and YOU!

Click here to listen to Kelly’s interview with Donnie.

Dr. Donald Sorah, Associate Professor of Music at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, boasts a diverse teaching portfolio encompassing applied high brass, conducting, music technology, composition, orchestration, and various other courses. As an Apple Distinguished Educator and recipient of the Outstanding Use of Technology in the Classroom Award (May 2022), Dr. Sorah actively supports students and colleagues as an Apple Learning Coach at UVA Wise, an Apple Distinguished School.

Under his guidance, the college achieved initial accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music in 2019. Beyond UVA Wise, Dr. Sorah has served as Associate Adjunct Instructor at Mountain Empire Community College since 1999 and previously taught at J.J. Kelly High School and L.F. Addington Middle School in Wise, Virginia.

As the Associate Director of the Spirit of America National Honor Band, he conducted and performed as a trumpet soloist across Europe. He co-founded the Guayaquil Summer Music Academy in Ecuador, where he engaged in performances, lectures, and trumpet instruction. Recent teaching and research ventures have taken him to Chile and Spain.

Sorah is a member of the Symphony of the Mountains and the Johnson City Symphony. In 2006, he founded the Winds of the Mountain Empire, a regional wind ensemble comprised mainly of music educators and is a champion for new works, presenting numerous premieres and commissions.

As a prolific composer, Dr. Sorah has crafted works for various ensembles, including piano, organ, chamber groups, wind ensemble, and orchestra. His compositions have been performed by The University of Louisville Symphonic Band, University of Florida Symphonic Band, Nicholls State University Symphonic Band, and Madison Concert Band. Most recently, his orchestral work Rhapsody on In the Bleak Midwinter was featured at the 2023 Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois.

As an advocate for proving free high-quality educational resources for his students he has published four books on Apple Books including Composing with Found Sounds in GarageBand, Everyone Can Create Music With iPad Curriculum Guide, Book of Rhythms and Melodies Vol. 1, and Book of Rhythms and Melodies Vol. 2. Under his leadership, students in his music appreciation course published five introductory books covering eras of classical music.

Dr. Sorah earned his Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Music Education from The Florida State University and holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Morehead State University (KY). He resides in Wise, Virginia, with his wife Kelly, son Brennan, and dog Roamer.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

Mentioned in this Episode: 

Book Kelly to Speak at Your School!

Kelly

I would like to speak at your event!

Order Kelly’s books, Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library.

Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
and of course: Facebook.

Sign-up for Kelly’s newsletter here.

Do you like what you heard? Invite Kelly to speak at your school.
Interested in booking Kelly for your Next Event?

Order Kelly’s books, Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library.

 

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Leveraging the Holiday Season to Empower Educators with Technology

Guest Post by Jason Kathman

The holiday season isn’t just a time for festive cheer and joyful celebrations.  It’s also a great opportunity for educators to infuse their classrooms with the magic of technology. As teachers, embracing this seasonal spirit can pave the way for innovative and engaging teaching practices, ultimately benefiting educators and students.

The holiday season presents an opportunity for educators to embrace technology in the classroom, fostering innovation, engagement, and collaboration. By leveraging the spirit of the holidays, teachers can not only enrich their teaching practices but also empower students with valuable digital skills and a love for learning that transcends the festive season.

As an instructional coach for technology, I am always looking for opportunities to get students to create with technology.  In Jamestown, we are 1:1 with iPad so the options to be creative are limitless.  Occasionally, as in any district, some educators are apprehensive about leveraging technology for learning.  “It takes too much time,” “I don’t have the time to learn how the tech works so I can’t use it with my students,” and “Kids are too distracted on the iPad for learning to happen” are phrases that I hear from fellow educators.  If I can get those teachers to have students use tech in ways that don’t deal directly with their content, then more times than not, they can see how engaged and excited students are when asked to be creative with technology.

Below are a few holiday resources that I use with educators in my district to get them to use iPads in creative ways in their classrooms.  Most resources are iPad-specific but all can be adjusted for any device.  

  1. 12 Projects for the Holidays:  My colleague and fellow Tech Integrator, Jeff Kresge and I built this website.  It asks students to create different holiday-themed products.  Students follow video tutorials to help them along the way.
  2. Susan Maynor’s Imaginarium:  Susan is an extremely creative educator and her monthly Imaginariums show that creativity.  Her December Imaginarium is a 30-page Pages (or pdf) document that is beautifully designed.  Each page represents a task for students to show off their creative genius.
  3. 12 Days of Creativity Series:  This four-volume series is packed full of ideas and resources!!  The genius educators who authored these books give you everything you (and your students) need to complete each task.  This is such a valuable resource!

As educators, let’s unwrap the gift of technology this holiday season and embark on a journey toward a tech-infused, dynamic learning experience for all!

Happy holidays and tech-filled teaching adventures!

 

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Generative AI in Education: An Overview

by Julie Willcott

AI (artifical intelligence) is here – well, everywhere actually.

With the launch of ChatGPT just under a year ago, AI made its presence more known in classrooms. ChatGPT is not the only AI in town, but it currently it is one of the better known generative AI applications. 

ChatGPT, a project of OpenAI,  is financed by Microsoft. Google Bard is a competitor – financed by, you guessed it, Google.  

New applications – including many based on OpenAPI – are being released daily.

What is generative AI anyway?

Generative AI is not taking information “in its entirety” and giving it to you the way Siri or Alexa would.  It is generating, or creating, the content it gives you. This content can include text but it can also include visual works such as images.

Generative AI is based on a large language model (LLM) – meaning it is based on large amounts of text data, mostly taken from the Internet in mid-2020. This text has been scrubbed – in other words, cleaned up to remove irrelevant and inappropriate content. The LLM has also been tested and trained to provide accurate, coherent, and contextually appropriate responses.

ChatGPT as well as Google Bard and other generative AI applications are chatbots – meaning you ask questions and it answers. In other words, it is conversational.

What are important things to consider with generative AI?

With chatbots, it is important how and what you ask in your question – or prompt. The art of writing good prompts, prompts that give you accurate, coherent, and contextually appropriate responses is known as prompt engineering. Prompt engineering is a skill that must be learned and taught to our students.

Even with well-trained LLMs and good prompts, generative AI can create content that is wrong.  These are referred to as hallucinations. Unless the persons creating content with AI has an understanding of the content, these hallucinations can go undetected – or worse, be considered to be “the truth”.

With the release of ChatGPT, red flags immediately went up in the education world about the use of generative AI to complete classroom assignments. Cheating, is, of course, possible.  However, how well a student can use generative AI includes how well they can write prompts and how well they review the content that is created. It is also impacted by the specific assignment given. A number of products have been released that claim they can detect whether or not text was written by AI. But they don’t always work. They can fail to recognize AI output, especially if it is edited, and they can misidentify human-written text as AI-generated.

How can generative AI help you?

Generative AI can be used to save you as an educator time, particularly for grading  and creating instructional materials.

A good source of information about this is “Using AI Chatbots to Enhance Planning and Instruction (Quick Reference Guide)” by Monica Burns.

What do you do next?

Learn more

  • I found “The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education (The Hitchhiker’s Guide for Educators Series)” by Dan Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein to be a great source of information
  • The challenge here can be to learn more without being consumed by the vast amount of information out there.

Test it out yourself

  • Get an account – there are free accounts available for both ChatGPT (openai.com/chatgpt) and Google Bard (bard.google.com)
  • Ask questions, even (and maybe especially) ones you know the answer to

Set goals and expectations

  • Set goals for how you will learn about and use generative AI
  • Set expectations for how your students can – and can not – use generative AI

Prepare for all this to change – fast!

  • Just last month, it was announced that Google Bard can interact with real time flight and hotel information and be enabled to interact with information from your gmail, google docs and google drive.
  • What’s next?



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Making It Into The Tool Kit

Advice For Adding New Tech This Year

Shhhhhh…don’t say it! 

No, no, no, no…

Yes.

Sorry, summer is coming to an end. Many of us will be returning back to school in days or weeks.

It’s ok. We’ve had time to catch our breath, restore our energy levels, and possibly learn about some new tools this summer. Maybe some fun tech tools?

I know that I have run across some pretty cool tech this summer that gave me pause to wonder if and how to integrate the tech into my 8th grade science class. I asked myself, “Is it worth putting this new tool into my edtech tool kit?” Being in education for over 25 years, I have a nice tool kit developed that I love using with students. Some tools are technology based, and some are not. Each tool has a purpose in helping me guide my students in a journey of science education.

Deciding on technology to use in the classroom can be overwhelming at times. There is so much out there! It can be confusing. Technology is always being recommended by various people online, and they are very knowledgeable people. What to use? It can get complicated sometimes, too. Who is involved in deciding tech use in the classroom? Is it a solo adventure? A team decision? Are administrators and tech coordinators and coaches involved? 

Wow! So much to think about!

That all being said…how do we select the tech tools to use in the classroom?

I have some answers!

Whenever I look at new tech, I begin with a series of three questions:

Does it fit you? 

Does it fit your students? 

And, does it fit your budget? ...Click Here to Read More...

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WEP 230: You Are Poetry, An Interview Mike Johnston

How to See and Grow the Poet in Your Students and Yourself.

In this episode of The Wired Educator Podcast Episode, I interview Mike Johnston, educator, author, and poet. Mike is the author of You Are Poetry: How to See and Grow the Poet in Your Students and Yourself.

This is an enchanting, beautiful and helpful conversation for all educators in any grade and in any content area to take students learning and work to the highest level of understanding and expression possible. This interview is awesome and it’s just what you need.

Click here to listen to my interview with Mike.

Mike and I talk about:

  • What He believes poetry is and why he believes everyone is a poet.
  • The value of poetry as emotional literacy.
  • His book and how  it can be used.
  • Poetry in all content and grades.
  • And more!

Mike Johnston is a Metis middle school educator, champion slam poet, spoken word artist, poetry educator and and land-based learning specialist. He was named a National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow and is the author of You Are Poetry; an educational resource book that guides educators and students alike through activities and insights to help them see and grow the poet in themselves. This past year the book evolved into the first International #YouArePoetry Movement during poetry month, in which students and teachers from around the world connected through the poetry possibilities shared in its pages.

Mentioned in this episode: 

• Order a copy of Mike’s book You Are Poetry here.

• Follow Mike on Twitter.

• Follow my “Santa Every Day” drawings on Instagram here. 

• Send our Wired Educator Squad Leader @teachertheresa some get well messages.

• Order my books Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness as a holiday present.

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Do you like what you heard? Invite Kelly to speak at your school.
Interested in booking Kelly for your Next Event?

Join our #WiredWednesday 30-Minute Twitter chats on Wednesdays at 9PM Eastern. They are awesome and fun.

Order Kelly’s books, Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library.

Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
and of course: Facebook.

Sign-up for Kelly’s newsletter here.

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WEP 228: Leading with a Humble Heart, an interview with Zac Bauermaster

Educational Leadership by Putting People First

This is Episode 228 of The Wired Educator Podcast. I interview Zac Bauermaster about leadership, serving in every level of education, and his new book, Leading with a Humble Heart. This is a great interview for all. Enjoy

Click here to listen to Episode 228 of The Wired Educator Podcast.

Zac Bauermaster is an educational leader and author passionate about people. Zac’s mission field is public education. One of his main tag lines is, “It’s all about people.” His leadership style exemplifies a people-first approach as he seeks to glorify God in all he does. Zac has gained humble confidence through his daily pattern of prayer and reading scripture that he aims to share with others to advance God’s kingdom. Zac released a devotional leadership book in July of 2022 titled, Leading with a Humble Heart: A 40 Day Devotional for Leaders. 

Zac currently serves as principal at Kissel Hill Elementary School, located in the Warwick School District in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Zac has the tremendous opportunity to lead teachers, support staff, families, and most importantly, the next generation daily. His greatest joy in education is seeing adults leverage their God-given talents and abilities through inspiring kids to find and use their gifts. Before becoming a principal, Zac served public education in various K-12 roles such as assistant principal, administrator of online learning, teacher, and coach. These experiences have grown Zac’s sphere of influence and allowed him the opportunity to develop and maintain lifelong relationships.

Zac received his undergraduate degree from Millersville University in secondary education and completed his Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from Pennsylvania State University. Zac returned to Penn State, where he earned his Principal Certification. Most recently, Zac earned his Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Superintendent Letter of Eligibility from Drexel University. He is a lifelong learner, always looking to learn and grow. His family jokes that he went to school in Kindergarten and hasn’t ever stopped.

Zac continues to grow his leadership influence and share encouragement and positivity, along with the good news of Christ through various social media platforms, magazine publications, and speaking events.

Most importantly, Zac is a husband to his wife Carly, and father to three young kids, Olivia, Eliot, and Isaac. Zac is a firm believer in leading his family first. The family resides in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Connect with Zac at www.zacbauermaster.com or  on Twitter and Instagram @ZBauermaster

Mentioned in this episode:

Order a copy of Zac’s book: Leading With a Humble Heart

Connect with Zac at www.zacbauermaster.com or  on Twitter and Instagram @ZBauermaster

One of Zac’s favorite’s is a Five Year Journal

Kelly’s favorite journal.

Thanks for listening.

Kelly

Two things to share: I just finished reading this book by one of my favorite authors; don’t let the title shock you, and I just added this to about everything of value to me, including my dog. Add to cart!

(We’re proud affiliates for some of these tools, meaning if you click a link for a tool and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Our recommendations are based on deep experience with and knowledge of these companies and their products, and we recommend them because they are genuinely helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we may receive. Please don’t spend any money on
these products unless you believe they will help you achieve your goals.) Have a great week.

————————————————————

Do you like what you heard? Invite Kelly to speak at your school.
Interested in booking Kelly for your Next Event?

Join our #WiredWednesday 30-Minute Twitter chats on Wednesdays at 9PM Eastern. They are awesome and fun.

Order Kelly’s books, Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library.

Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
and of course: Facebook.

Sign-up for Kelly’s newsletter here.

 

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WEP 226: Curriculum is a Bridge, an Interview with Karen Robey

Curriculum is a Bridge

Welcome to the eighth season of The Wired Educator Podcast!

In this 226th episode of the Wired Educator Podcast, I interview Karen Robey. Karen is an amazing educational leader and innovator. She is one of my immediate go-to’s when I need help, inspiration, an innovative perspective or honest feedback. She is a brilliant and kind. I am so excited to share her message with you!

In this episode Karen refers to curriculum as a bridge. Wait until you hear it and what it means. I love this metaphor!

Click here to listen to this episode.

Karen Robey is the Director of Teaching and Learning at Gibsonburg Schools and brings over two decades of educational experience in Ohio public schools. She holds a Bachelor and Master of Early Childhood Education as well as a Master of Educational Administration. She is passionate about creating a culture of collaborative learning and growth and enjoys planning meaningful professional learning. One accomplishment she is most proud of was being a member of a district team who led a professional learning session hosted by The Ohio Department of Education during the pandemic. Karen is a family girl to her core and the proud mom of three children, ages 17, 13, and 11. During her personal time, you’ll find her at the ball diamond watching her children’s games or winding down at the lake in Port Clinton.

Karen is a leader and expert in: Culture and Relationships, Positivity, Growth Mindset, Power of networking, Curriculum, and Professional Learning.

I took some time off hosting the Wired Educator Podcast. Now I’m back. My mission is to help everyone level-up and make a difference in the lives of students.

Taking a break from podcasting and my other creative outlets was one of the hardest things, and one of the best things I have ever done in my life.

I’m excited for this 8th season. I am excited for you to hear from great educational leaders, like Karen.

Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Kelly

Two things to share: I just finished reading this book by one of my favorite authors; don’t let the title shock you, and I just added this to about everything of value to me, including my dog. Add to cart!

(We’re proud affiliates for some of these tools, meaning if you click a link for a tool and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Our recommendations are based on deep experience with and knowledge of these companies and their products, and we recommend them because they are genuinely helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we may receive. Please don’t spend any money on
these products unless you believe they will help you achieve your goals.) Have a great week.

————————————————————

Do you like what you heard? Invite Kelly to speak at your school.
Interested in booking Kelly for your Next Event?

Join our #WiredWednesday 30-Minute Twitter chats on Wednesdays at 9PM Eastern. They are awesome and fun.

Order Kelly’s books, Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library.

Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
and of course: Facebook.

Sign-up for Kelly’s newsletter here.

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WEP 223: Plan Like a Pirate an Interview with Dawn Harris

An Interview with Dawn Harris

In this 223rd episode of The Wired Educator Podcast I interview Dawn Harris about her new book, Plan Like a Pirate.

Click here to listen to my interview with Dawn. 

I absolutely love our conversation on designing meaningful experience for students, curriculum, fitting everything needed into education, what CRT is and isn’t, and most importantly how to impact the lives of students. Dawn is brilliant and this episode will inspire and enchant you to become your personal best and deliver to students. I love it and you will too. Order a copy of her book: Dawn’s Book: Plan Like a Pirate: Designing Extraordinary Learning Journeys for Every Student

Dawn Harris is a passionate and energetic educator who lives by the motto, “Relationships First.” Her enthusiasm for creating connections is infectious and she thrives on the opportunity to learn about the things that motivate and inspire teachers and students alike.

In her roles as a secondary English Language Arts Educator, Gifted and Talented Teacher, and Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Dawn continually strives to bring authentic and engaging learning experiences to students of all ages.

Throughout her career as an educator, Dawn has taught in urban, rural, and suburban districts meeting the needs of children from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures. In addition to general ELA coursework, Dawn’s classroom teaching experience also includes teaching English as a second language, creative writing, film studies, and response to intervention instruction. Dawn’s professional teaching experiences have been showcased in scholarly journals and at local, regional, national, and international conferences.

Prior to becoming an educator, Dawn spent more than 10 years in marketing and publishing in the private sector. This experience has given Dawn insight into the skills and knowledge students need in order to be prepared to enter into a competitive, global workforce or into college once they leave high school. This insight helps to support Dawn’s work in developing veteran, novice, and pre-service teachers as they seek to educate students for tomorrow’s work today.

As a licensed Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development Specialist, Dawn’s primary goal in all things is to support educators with planning learning that ignites curiosity and that engages and inspires students in a way that impacts their growth and achievement every single day.

About Dawn’s Book:

How do good teachers become great? How do you create magical learning experiences your students will never forget? In Plan Like a PIRATE, you’ll learn that sailing on to greatness starts with vision, intention, and design—planning—inside and outside of the classroom, far beyond any single lesson.

This practical, comprehensive guide is packed with proven strategies for captivating students’ imaginations and interest, leading readers through what it takes to engage and nurture learners with rigorous, equitable differentiated lessons. Designed to launch readers on a journey from “seeing it” to “being it”—and all points in between—Plan Like a PIRATE shows teachers how to harness their passion to create and implement innovative, relevant, student-centered learning opportunities and to  build a detailed, intentional, future-focused plan to attain their dream career. This book will help educators deepen the impact of their teaching practice and power up their professionalism, allowing them to chart a course for themselves and their students to a better, more equitable world.

Endorsements

“Get ready to set sail for an incredible adventure with Dawn Harris!” —Tisha Richmond, student engagement specialist, PD specialist, and author of Make Learning Magical 

“A master teacher herself, Dawn Harris shares stories from the trenches and weaves in practical strategies and frameworks to help make learning accessible and meaningful for students. This is a must-read for all educators!” —Jill Siler, EdD, deputy executive director, Texas Association of School Administrators, and author of Thrive Through the Five: Practical Truths to Powerfully Lead Through Challenging Times

Topics
Antiracism Education
Cultivating Belonging at School
Essential 8 Framework
Gifted Education
Teacher Evaluation Process

Professional Learning Networks

Links

Website: www.educationundone.com

Twitter: @DHarrisEdS

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dharriseds/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dawnmharris/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnmharrris/

Other: Education Undone Educator Network (Facebook Group)

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Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
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