In many schools, 65 means - "You Passed" (I'm looking at you, Tommy Boy):
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| This also could describe our feelings after getting picked. (courtesy of Reddit) |
In other places, 65 miles per hour is a common speed limit.
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| Does anybody really drive under that, though?(courtesy of Pixabay) |
The greatest baseball player to wear number 65? That would be Cliff Lee. (nobody else is even close)
In late July, 65 extraordinary educators will head out to California to become the next 65 known as "Google Certified Teachers". I can't wait to get to meet each and every one of them in person. We've already formed an awesome community, holding hangouts and exchanging tips and advice. So much excitement already!
Just a note about the list - there are a lot of participants, so I'm providing just a few pertinent details. We are all involved in education somehow, many tech integrators, tech directors, teachers, and some admin. My goal was to make it short and sweet so you could read it without a bathroom break.
Without further ado, here are the 65 participants of the Google Teacher Academy in Mountain View, CA, 2014! (You can view most of the successful application videos here, courtesy of the amazing +Adina Sullivan)
Ryan Archer
Location: San Marcos, CA
G+ and twitter handles: http://plus.google.com/+RyanArcher1 http://twitter.com/ArcherEdTech
Fun Fact: Besides being a successful science teacher for 16 years (with a recent change to tech integrator), he once spent a year testing educational software for Lightspan, Inc. Lightspan recently merged with the popular PLATO software company. He'll be our secret weapon in "testing" out the latest and greatest from Google!
Michelle Armstrong
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
G+ and twitter handles: http://google.com/+MichelleArmstrong https://twitter.com/myarm
Fun Fact: A current Head of Educational Technology, Michele Armstrong brings another 15 years of education experience to the team. She had a wonderful personality from all accounts (I Google "Hungout" with her for like 10 minutes once!). According to a recent blog post I read, she is quite an amazing present as well, and a champion of the underrated Google Drawing! She'll definitely be "drawing" attention to the amazingness of this group!
Jerrad Barczyszyn
Location: Las Vegas, NV
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+RPDPJerrad https://twitter.com/rpdpjerrad
Fun Fact: Another 16 year teaching vet, Jerrad comes to the group having years of experience as a math teacher. Currently, like many others in the group, he has moved on to an educational technology integration role. Interestingly enough, on this Google Site I found from him, he lists his occupation as "Educational Computer Strategist". I like it! He also lists himself as a current athletic director. Wow - hope we can keep up with this guy!
Dan Bennett
Location: Los Alamitos, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/111145046132300432579/posts
Fun Fact: Dan is a high school science teacher currently. His Edmodo profile states that he has a passion for Star Wars and exclaims that "he's your guy" if you "don't mind learning from a geeky sci-fi crazed dad". I'm big into Star Wars myself, but it seems that the force is strong in this one!
Mary Bennett
Location: Clovis, CA
G+ and twitter handles: http://goo.gl/wYkFpm https://twitter.com/marybennett
Fun Fact: With over 20 years of experience in various sectors in the educational field, Mary develops curriculum for CUE and am an Instructional Designer for Fresno State. She appears to be an expert with the Blackboard platform, so it will be great to talk with her about how Blackboard can work with the Google Apps environment (or if her use of Google has impacted her belief in the need for an LMS?)
Mary Berelson
Location: Truckee, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/1/+MaryBerelson/posts https://twitter.com/mberelson
Fun Fact: Besides being part cat, Mary has been a Kindergarten/1st grade looping teacher for nearly 20 years! It will be excellent to see how Google impacts the way she teaches with such young students. She also apparently spent some time at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and has a Bachelor's in Cultural Anthropology. I'm intrigued to see how she ended up there. Must be a great story!
Brian Briggs
Location: Plumas Lake, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+BrianBriggs1 https://twitter.com/bribriggs
Fun Fact: Brian is a Director of Innovation and Technology. I'm not sure how you can direct innovation, so I'm sure Brian has some secrets for all of us. He taught for over 12 years prior to this role and is a fan of collaboration (good for him since I hear we do a little bit of that at the GTA). He appears to have worked with Tynker for teaching coding in the past, so perhaps he's interested in Googley ways we can teach programming.
Rolland Chidiac
Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RollandChidiacWCDSB/posts https://twitter.com/rchids
Fun Fact: Rolland is an elementary school teacher as had been for about 12 years. He is also from a place called Kitchener, so he must be quite the cook. On a side note, Rolland is currently a finalist for a competition sending teachers to the MLB All-Star game in Minneapolis, MN this year. Maybe vote for him? He might have to book another trip to the US in July!
Sandra Chow
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108177708301069450737/about
Fun Fact: Another veteran teacher, totaling over 12 years of educational experience so far at the elementary level. She also had the experience of spending some time teaching in Taipei, Taiwan. In addition, she was involved in a research study on multiliteracies and how students need to be good at more than just reading and writing. Her experience and expertise in SMART software led her to receiving the distinction as a SMART Exemplary educator as well!
Amy Cox
Location: Los Angeles, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+AmyCoxMsCoxTech/ https://twitter.com/MsCoxTech
Fun Fact: Amy has been a technology teacher for the last 5 years and before that, she worked as a computer repair technician. Great news for the team - if any of our devices decide to brick during our time at GTA, she can be our go to! She also appears to have an interest in coding. In "how much more awesome can she get?" news - she won an award called the Golden Dot in her school district this past year for showing respect for others the community. You go Amy!
Lisa DeLapo
Location: Oakland, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LisaDeLapo/about https://twitter.com/LisaTeachesTech
Fun Fact: Lisa is yet another Director of Instructional Innovation (apparently it IS something we need to be directing!) and prior to that was a Director of Technology. Apparently Lisa's love of technology has some deep roots. Although her concentrations in college had nothing to do with technology (one was nursing) - she felt the need to get her geek on and learned Basic and installed a modem in a computer I've never even heard of (XT286). Neat side note - she was a pioneer in internet dating, meeting her husband in a chatroom in 1996!
Chip Dolce
Location: Palmyra, NY
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/ https://twitter.com/gamingnoise
Fun Fact: Despite no apparent ties to fashion giant Dolce and Gabbana, Chip appears to be a pretty cool dude. He's been a Social Studies Teacher, Instructional Technologist, Principal, and director of technology. Not bad for about 20 years of work. While he isn't doing that, he is just being a completely awesome human being. His school contributed to the relief efforts involved in Hurricane Sandy a few years back and he drove the supplies to New Jersey. Just goes to show the amazing company we are in with this cohort!
Dominique Dynes
Location: Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DominiqueDynes/posts
Fun Fact: Dominique joins us as the only cohort member south of the United States border. She does hail from Minnesota (I believe that's what she said in one of our hangouts). She's been teaching for about 7 years, and currently serves a dual role as a 4th grade teacher and tech integrationist. Her favorite things include salsa dancing, tacos (but apparently no salsa "eating") and picture taking. Looks like we could anoint her our group historian? Muwahahaha (I apparently like giving people jobs AND using parenthesis).
Amy Fadeji
Location: Penngrove, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AmyFadejiM/posts/p/pub https://twitter.com/mrsfadeji
Fun Fact: Amy is an elementary school principal and blogs about her experiences over at http://mrsfadeji.blogspot.com/. Although her profile info is limited, I was able to dig up that Amy taught 2nd grade and spent some time volunteering in places like Nigeria and Mexico. However, MY favorite fact about her is that she named a dog she had after Kelly Kapowski from Saved by the Bell. That. Is. Legit.
Kevin Fairchild
Location: Encinitas, CA
G+ and twitter handles: http://plus.google.com/+KevinFairchild6 http://twitter.com/@kfairchild6
Fun Fact: After being a science teacher for 16 years, Kevin has recently begun a "special assignment for technology and learning". It sounds like something out of 24, so I approve. He's begun his own district chat at the hashtag #SDUHSDchat. He's the member of a bunch of organizations, and I assume he is pretty proud of his National Board Certified Teacher status. Couldn't find much else, but he does win Google+ for the greatest skills listing ever - such as bowstaff skills, nunchuck skills and proving that Napoleon Dynamite references are still relevant in 2014!
Josh Gauthier
Location: De Pere, WI
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JoshGauthier/ https://twitter.com/mrgfactoftheday
Fun Fact: This is me (the author of this blog). I will be switching roles in education after 3 years as a Business Education teacher in Denmark, WI to become a Tech Training Specialist in the Unified School District of De Pere. I have been presenting at a few state conferences, including SLATE and WEMTA, and have attended 4 edcamps, while helping plan for SITA (a Green Bay tech conference) and Edcamp Green Bay. Personally, I love gaming, reading, and eating. I ate a burger called the Lambeau Heap (smaller than the one in the picture above) and got a T-shirt. Go me.
Michelle Green
Location: Indianapolis, IN
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MichelleGreen4eLearning https://twitter.com/mrg_3
Fun Fact: Michelle is currently an eLearning Specialist. That sounds mighty impressive. Before that she was an Innovation, Curriculum, and Technology Specialist (so she wasn't directing innovation, she specialized in it!). Adding to the good person resume of this cohort, Michelle is the proud owner of two rescue canines. She also likes to drink tea. I'm sure we'll get along great - nice to have a few other Mid-Westerners on the team!
Dennis Grice
Location: Orange, CA
G+ and twitter handles: http://plus.google.com/u/0/+DennisGrice http://twitter.com/dgrice
Fun Fact: Dennis has been involved in technology a lot. Since 1995, he has been a technology director for a couple different schools. He is also a DEN Star - I think that is a good thing. Goes with his name well, anyway. He's presented on a ton of different topics, including Chromebooks, Making Movies, and Animal Riddles! In his office - he has a great sign that says "Stay Clam and Check Your Spelling". I'll admit I messed up the first time reading it.
Meghan Haselbauer
Location: Edina, MN
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+MeghanHaselbauer/posts https://twitter.com/megsbauer
Fun Fact: Yay! Minnesota. That is a little closer to Wisconsin. She's been teaching for nearly 10 years in grades in Middle School and first grade, specializing in math. It looks like she does an awesome job taking math from everyday life situations and using it in class. She enjoys camping and wants to visit all 73 Minnesota State Parks. I'm sure that's fun, but I'm also sure Wisconsin's are better :)
Catina Haugen
Location: Petaluma, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/116417637340381750206/posts http://twitter.com/chaugen
Fun Fact: After teaching at the elementary level for 14 years, she became the principal of the same building in 2011. She likes to Kayak and Knit (hopefully not at the same time) and has a passion for educational technology. Early posts in her blog indicate she loves to read and will review the books as well. Might be a good resource if you are itching for something new to read!
Susan Herder
Location: Shoreview, MN
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+SusanHerder http://twitter.com/sherder23
Fun Fact: Susan has been a tech integration specialist for 15 years in Minnesota. Her content area is Biology (another science folk). She is also another Star Ways fanatic, so that should make Dan Bennett happy. However, the coolest fact about her is that she won on Jeopardy! baby (sorry Weird Al). Since that is one of my all time dreams, will definitely be picking her brain about that!
Robert Hochberg
Location: Oxnard, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://www.google.com/+RobertHochberg https://twitter.com/rhochy06
Fun Fact: Robert is a Director of Technology AND History teacher at a Lutheran school in California. Must be a challenge to wear those two hats (I'm not referring to the Santa hats!). He really loves his son Elliot and I haven't seen a picture of Robert without Elliot in it. One of his credentials is listed as a Microsoft Innovative Educator, so it will be interesting to see where his loyalties lie after the Google Teacher Academy.
Jeffrey Humphries
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JeffreyHumphries/posts https://twitter.com/itechteach
Fun Fact: His official title is "Itinerant Teacher of Assistive Technology" and I know he definitely has a passion for how technology can help those with special needs. He's also a Google Education and Apple Trainer. Appears to be a quiet, reflective person. Hoping to get to know him better out in Mountain View.
Matt Hurst
Location: Salem, OR
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MattHurst/posts https://twitter.com/MullOverThings
Fun Fact: Matt has taught for over 10 years in the areas of English and Technology, currently running an elective on iPads and Video Production (can I take it?). He's also a Remind101 Advisor and blogs at mulloverthings.com. He has a lot of neat accolades that I hope to learn more about when we meet in July.
Michael Jaber
Location: Sheboygan, WI
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MichaelJaber/about https://twitter.com/NFLSpike
Fun Fact: Michael has the distinction of being 1 of 2 others going to GTAMTV that I've actually met in person. He gave a fabulous tour and overview of the huge rollout of Chromebooks at Fond du Lac. He currently works as an Instructional Technology Coordinator in Sheboygan. When he's not saving the world for technology, he's loving football (having coached for 25 years) and coordinating mustang car shows in the summers. Jaber is bringing the style of Mountain View.
Jimmy Juliano
Location: Lincolnshire, IL
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/109055354154811244829/about
Fun Fact: Jimmy is another tech integrationist and may just be the funniest member of the team. His video includes some awesome green screen effects in which he "tries" to angle himself into GTA with in-region status. It is hilarious - check it out here. I also love his twitter handle and website name - Ed Tech Avenger. I'm not sure what he is avenging, but I hope to find out! His blog is wonderful - reminds me of Cracked.com style list writing, which is so easy to digest. Plus he uses a lot of memes. Definitely a guy to look out for!
Julie Kelley
Location: Wilmington, MA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108935283278014256768/posts
Fun Fact: Julie has been a music teacher at the Wilmington Public School system for the past 14 years. She maintains a blog over at http://musicroom306.kitcreations.com/. She does a very cool "this Week in Music Class Post", bringing in pop culture references, humor, and current events to interest her students in music. By all appearances, she loves exclamation points. I'm hoping, since she lives in Massachusetts, that she is also a Patriots fan. Then she'd be my favorite cohort member and no one else would have a shot. Sorry.
Kylie Kissel
Location: Ponoka, Alberta, Canada
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+KylieKissel https://twitter.com/MrKissel
Fun Fact: Kylie is a media studies instruction and tech coach in Ponoka. He has a pretty sweet looking website over at http://kissel.weebly.com/. It also appears he has done some Minecrafting with students, which is awesome! I am running a summer school class currently, and it is all sorts of craziness and fun. Basically, Kylie is the teacher we'd all want to have, doing fun, cool stuff and going places all the time. Plus he's from a small town, so you know he's down to earth!
Andrew Kramar
Location: Montvale, NJ
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/103672228180610036111/about/p/pub
Fun Fact: Andrew has been a principal for the past 4 years after having taught for 7 years prior to that. He helped bring a 1:1 iPad initiative to Fieldstone Middle School and was involved in revamping their schools website back in 2012. Other than that, he is a quiet guy by all accounts. Glad to see an admin who buys in to tech integration and is willing to get his hands dirty.
Melinda Larson-Horne
Location: Okauchee Lake, WI
G+ and twitter handles: http://plus.google.com/+MelindaLarsonHorne https://twitter.com/melindamlarson
Fun Fact: Bonjour! Melinda is the second of the two cohort members I've met before, I actually sat next to Melinda while eating lunch at a conference. She's incredibly nice and is an expert in French! In fact, she was a French teacher and translator for many years before becoming a tech integrator. She's also taught French and English at the post-secondary level and updates an awesome photo-blog at www.melindalarson.com.
Tina Lauer
Location: St. Charles, MO
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+KristinaLauer https://twitter.com/tnalau
Fun Fact: Tina was an early childhood educator who is now an instructional technologist. It is amazing how many different titles we can create for tech coach! She also finds time to be an adjunct professor at Lindenwood College. She's a Google Glass explorer (of which there are quite a few in this group) and a DEN Star! Tina also is a fan of the tv show "The Voice". Unfortunately, she also is a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. I'll try and get past that.
Tara Linney
Location: Alexandria, VA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TaraLinney/posts/p/pub https://twitter.com/TechTeacherT
Fun Fact: Tara can count herself as the first one to arrive at #GTAMTV. She actually got a summer job as a coding camp counselor and is out in California already! She works in a tough, tough school in DC and has overcome many hardships, like theft of a lot of school technology. In the food realm (one of my favorite topics) she loves blueberries. A lot. In addition to all this, she is amazing individual - her story of donating her own hair to her mother as she battled cancer was moving. Tara is a great person.
Karen Lirenman
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
G+ and twitter handles: +MsKaren Lirenman https://twitter.com/KLirenman
Fun Fact: She's a superstar! After 21 years of teaching, she was awarded the Kay L. Bitter Vision award by ISTE in 2013 for her technology integration efforts in first grade and the global connections she fostered in doing that. She was only the second Canadian to win the *global* award! Nice job. Apparently she also likes the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, but there is no way to be sure...
Jane Lofton
Location: Manhattan Beach, CA
G+ and twitter handles: http://google.com/+JaneLofton https://twitter.com/jane_librarian
Fun Fact: "Jane has been in education for the past 12 years playing the role of superhero (aka Teacher Librarian), with one year in the middle teaching middle school language arts and computer exploratory. She also had a long career before that , first as a public library librarian, and as a technical writer for a variety software companies prior to her work in education, which is a pretty awesome skill to have when you are creating teaching guides for others. For interests, she states reading (of course), travel, cloud-based tech, blogging, and enjoying theater-going and listening to some classic artists, such as Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, and the Beatles."
Chris Long
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://www.google.com/+ChrisLong-hb https://twitter.com/clonghb
Fun Fact: Chris may win the award for highest production value on a GTA Application video. Watch it now. In other news, Chris taught physics for 18 years and during that time transitioned to a Educational Technology Coordinator, which he appears to be doing full time at this point. When he's not pouring his heart and soul into education, he's either playing with a home theater or using a pneumatic t-shirt launcher (umm...you can get and/or make one? Totally need to make friends with this dude pronto!)
Jessica Lura
Location: Los Altos, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JessicaLuraBCS/posts https://twitter.com/msjlura
Fun Fact: Jessica is a 15 year veteran of teaching covering grades 1 through 8. She specializes in English and U.S. History (strange bedfellows). Adding to the already long list of great community contributions by each of these fine people, Jessica coordinates a yearly food drive that helps teach students about civic responsibility. She's been a Fulbright Scholar, a Santa Clara county Teach of the Year, and was one of five finalists for Comcast's All Star teacher contest in 2014. Not bad at all.
Caren MacConnell
Location: Holmdel, NJ
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/102816349399527634805 https://twitter.com/Carenmac
Fun Fact: Caren currently is a K-6 tech coach. She has 20 years of teaching experience at the elementary level, and even took home a district Teacher of the Year honor back in 2005 (we sure seem to have a lot of those in this cohort). Based on my research, the coolest fact about Caren is she appears to be the originator of the increasingly popular "Mystery Skype", where two classrooms video chat without know the other's location, and they use questioning and critical thinking to figure out where the other class is from. Wow - the talent in this group is off the charts.
Darren Massa
Location: Chico, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+DarrenMassa/ https://twitter.com/DMassaCCDS
Fun Fact: Darren is a middle school science teacher in the birthplace of Aaron Rodgers. He graduated from a class of 18 kids (Darren, not Aaron). Naturally Darren joined the water-ski team in college at UC-Santa Barbara. He still will occasionally help out on his father's rice farm. To show you that Darren is the total package, he was also involved in a Sketch Comedy troupe known as Ten West, and holds an Annual Faculty Follies at his school.
Kimble McCann
Location: Honolulu, HI
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+KimbleMcCann75 https://twitter.com/handyside
Fun Fact: Kimble has a wide variety of professional experiences and pursuits that have all led him to research into instructional technology. He was a special education teacher in Los Angeles. Currently, he has an EdTech start up called "Handyside" and works with the IT department at Kamehameha Schools (no, I couldn't pronounce it either). He also likes to make music, so maybe we can form an improptu band when we are together!
Michael McCann
Location: Wentzville, MO
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+MichaelMcCann1776 https://twitter.com/mccann1776
Fun Fact: Michael McCann is an Instructional Technology Coach (yep, another one) from Wentzville School District in Missouri. One cool thing Michael is really spearheading is virtual field trips. He recently "took" a 1st grade class to the St. Louis Zoo. Michael also presents in local conferences. I look forward to getting to know more about Michael at the Academy.
Adam McMickell
Location: Ogden, UT
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AdamMcMickellEdu https://twitter.com/mcmickell
Fun Fact: Adam is an Instructional Technology Teacher in Ogden, Utah. He runs a beautiful tech professional development site over at http://www.osd3t.org/. He presents at many regional conferences. Can't wait to meet him to find out what else he's been up to!
Amy McMillan
Location: Goleta, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AmyMcMillanwriteon https://twitter.com/amyjmcmillan
Fun Fact: Amy is currently a Middle School English teacher who is working towards becoming a library media specialist. She became a National Board Certified Teacher this year and has previously been recognized for her outstanding work as an educator. In addition, it appears she is into YA Fiction. She has a dog named Tulip as well. I love how her goal is to help 13 year-olds LOVE to write. Not just how to, but to love it. Great mindset Amy!
Simon Miller
Location: Kellogg, ID
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+SimonMillerksd391 https://twitter.com/leadedtech
Fun Fact: What can I say about Simon? We've only "tweeted" with each other, but I feel like I know him so well. He is a tech coordinator in Idaho who brought Google Apps to his district and has helped them adapt to meet the needs of students in the 21st century. He is a huge Seahawks fan. He has a huge heart as the father of three adopted children. In fact, he just returned from a trip to China to meet and bring home their third. It takes an unbelievable person to have that kind of commitment to providing a better life for others. Interesting side note - his twitter handle is partly inspired by his upbringing near lead smelters, which has been said to raise the lead levels in the residents' blood.
Allison Mollica
Location: Sunapee, NH
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AllisonMollica/posts https://twitter.com/amollica
Fun Fact: Allison does a wide variety of things, including consulting and teaching middle school computer literacy, among other things. She's been involved in Business, Marketing, and Sales, as well as web design. Safe to say she has a well-rounded skill set making her a great advocate for Google Apps. Her Youtube channel is chalked full of great videos and tutorails (she has almost 60,000 views!). You can check out the services she can provide at amtechnology.org. I believe the AM is for her initials, not for the times she does trainings.
Diana Neebe
Location: Atherton, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+DianaNeebe1 http://twitter.com/dneebe
Fun Fact: Diana is a high school English teacher as well as a tech peer coach in a 1:1 iPad environment. She has utilized flipped learning strategies and Google to take advantage of this technology. The accolades don't stop with becoming a GCT - she was recently recognized as an Outstanding Young Educator by ISTE, where she'll be presenting this year. She's currently writing a book with Jen Roberts about 1:1 teaching that will be out in 2015. Honestly, she has the most professional list of publications and presentations - MLA (or is it APA) cited and everything - I've ever seen. She has written A LOT and presented A LOT.
Bryson Norrish
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+BrysonNorrish/posts https://twitter.com/inorrish
Fun Fact: Bryson is an Ed-tech Coordinator at Fraser Academy in Vancouver. He's also overseeing the schools e-learning and iPad initiatives - no easy task I'm sure. I'm hoping he's enjoying his time there - his picture looks like his neck hurts. I'll be sure to lend him some Excedrin as I get to know him better at the Googleplex. In the meantime, you can glimpse more inside his head over at http://bnorrish.wordpress.com/.
Tim O'Connor
Location: Barrington, IL
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TimOConnor220/posts https://twitter.com/toconnor851
Fun Fact: After about 10 years as a social studies teacher and multi-sport coach, Tim now holds the title of "Digital Age Learning Coach". For real, I swear school districts are trying to one up themselves to come up with the most original title for that position! Anyway, I digress. Tim is a Mid-western guy like me, and he understands that the most valuable resource for teachers is each other. I am lucky to call Tim a resource for me now!
Natalie O'Neil
Location: Ledgewood, NJ
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+NatalieVazquezONeil/ https://twitter.com/TeachNV
Fun Fact: Love her tagline on G+ - she is Always Up for Adventure! She is a high school English teacher and New Jersey who got the Google bug this year and went crazy. The collaborative aspects of Google Docs really helped improve instruction in her classroom. In addition, she is beginning to branch out and present, going as far as North Dakota to present at a Google Summit. Natalie also a Girls Fencing Coach. Watch out!
Jeran Ott
Location: North Fork, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/1/104054567029076214973/posts/p/pub
Fun Fact: Jeran is currently a math and technology teacher. He also appears to really like ice cream. Currently, Jeran is working on his doctoral in Educational Technology at Pepperdine University. We soon will have a Doctor in our cohort. That is pretty sweet. Just like ice cream!
Genevieve Pacada
Location: San Jose, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://www.google.com/+GenevievePacada https://twitter.com/PacadaVision
Fun Fact: Besides being the second person in the cohort who has a profile picture with a shark-type mascot, Genevieve is currently a tech coach after 9 years as a 4th grade teacher. She had a pretty impressive experience getting her master's at Full Sail University, designing games, writing songs, and creating films. Genevieve also became Leading Edge Certified so she can lead professional development in a blended and online environment. She also appears to be a big sports fan - hopefully she's a baseball fan as well!
Sam Patterson
Location: Palo Alto, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+SamPattersonEdD/ https://twitter.com/SamPatue
Fun Fact: In researching this, I finally figured out what #PATUE means. Palo Alto Technology Using Educators. Finally! Sam started the #PATUE chat on Twitter a while back, and he always referred to it as a chat about tech in education. Now, I have my answer. Sam is currently a tech integration specialist and robotics coach (among other things). However, we will refer to him as "The Puppet Master" as he is singlehandedly beginning a trend of puppets in the classroom. Don't believe me? Just watch his GTA Video and give a follow to his alter ego Wokka Patue on Twitter.
Nicholas Provenzano
Location: Grosse Pointe Farms, MI
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+NicholasProvenzano/about
Fun Fact: We should get along fine - he calls himself the Nerdy Teacher. Nick (can I call you Nick?) is a high school English teacher but speaks across the country about tech integration and maintains an amazing blog at thenerdyteacher.com. Nick is open and reflective, which is an awesome quality in an educator. Recently, he held a TEDx at his school. Pretty cool accomplishment Nick! In other news, Nick built his own pond and apparently likes to game. Wonder if we've played some of the same stuff?
Alison Reichert
Location: Little River, SC
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/103432580072535300453/about
Fun Fact: Alison is a math teacher at Horry Public Schools. She recently achieved National Board Certified Teacher status. Her tagline on G+ is pretty straight-forward: Never Stop Learning. Alison is yet another DEN Star, and also has the distinction of founding the #SCed chat on twitter. I'm sure she's been up to plenty of mischief, so I intend to discover more in Mountain View.
Mark Rounds
Location: San Diego, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MarkRounds https://twitter.com/markrounds5
Fun Fact: Very impressed by this guy. Worked for 15 years with educating students going through a juvenile court system. Now he is working on utilizing technology to better individualize experiences for this teens who need to get back on track. He also adjuncts at Azusa Pacific University. In addition to all of that, he also works with the San Diego County Office of Education on helping teachers earn Leading Edge certifications as well as Bilingual Teaching certifications. Wow...talk about a well-"Round"ed guy! *chuckle chuckle*.
David Saunders
Location: Greenwich, CT
G+ and twitter handles: http://www.google.com/+DavidSaunders https://twitter.com/DesignSaunders
Fun Fact: David has an incredibly varied educational history. He taught English to adult Chinese Immigrants way back in 1999. Then, he was a parish outreach coordinator for the Archdiocese of Boston. He also did private music lessons, taught fourth grade, as well as graduate level courses, all up until 2008. After that, David has been a financial advisor, Guest Lecturer, and most recently a media specialist. However, since 2002, David has been a designer, illustrator, and video producer in what appears to be his own side business. The twitter handle "DesignSaunders" suddenly makes more sense now!
Olivia Scott
Location: Los Angeles, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/108187568707295044312/posts
Fun Fact: Olivia is a high school resource specialist teacher in urban Los Angeles, and actually teaches in the same district as cohort member Amy Cox. Amazingly enough - it appears Olivia just finished her first year of teaching and got accepted to #GTAMTV. That must be quite the whirlwind experience for her! She's been involved with Teach for America and has a lot of experience in the journalism field. I think she has me beat for youngest on the team.
Marc Seigel
Location: Middleton, NJ
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/111785189829187708634/posts
Fun Fact: Marc is a high school chemistry teacher at Middletown High School in New Jersey. His G+ profile indicates he is looking to become an administrator at some point and dares us to fail. Marc's school recently become an official TED Ed club which sounds like an awesome accolade. He also is on a mission to help his colleagues become recognized for the little (and big) things they are doing in schools, whether they are Fulbright Scholars (which he mentions), working on PH.Ds, or holding day long professional developments on a Saturday. Selfless and caring, Marc looks to be another great addition to the group.
Shelly Stanton
Location: Billings, MT
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/100522434052198763024/posts
Fun Fact: Shelly works for Billings Public Schools in Montata as a technology integration specialist (as well as a business education teacher I believe). According to her in-progress website, she hasn't figured out who she is yet, but plans to let us know when she does. Hopefully she'll be willing to share at GTA! As a 12 year veteran, she has plenty of great experiences to offer the group. I for one am happy to have another business ed teacher in the group! Oh, and she also has her National Board Certified teacher. Have you been keeping track of how many of those we have here?
Cheryl Steighner
Location: Tacoma, WA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106215628829398105527/posts
Fun Fact: Cheryl teaches grades 2 and 3. She also organized EdCamp Puget Sound. As someone who has helped organize an already established EdCamp, I can only imagine what she had to do to get that off the ground. Kudos to you Cheryl! She also mentions that she plays the tuba. Perhaps we might have a band between the members of this group after all! Cheryl also just completed work on the Horizon Report, looking at the future of educational technology. It is safe to say she's been busy and will be an incredible asset to our team.
Belinda Stutzman
Location: Plymouth, MN
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106429096357681680970/posts/p/pub
Fun Fact: Belinda is currently a tech integrationist in Minnesota and has spent over 26 years in education. She adjuncts at the University of St. Thomas and has been recognized by TIES as an Outstanding Educator. Belinda has created her own TED Ed lessons and creates many videos for flipped classes. I look forward to leaching off her wealth of knowledge and expertise!
Adina Sullivan
Location: San Marcos, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/+AdinaSullivan http://twitter.com/adinasullivan
Fun Fact: Adina is an educational technology specialist in San Marcos. She did an amazing job curating the applications videos for the cohort into a YouTube playlist. She's been heavily involved in CUE, as a Rock Star Teacher and as a board member. Adina was also an organizer for EdcampSD and has presented all over the country, including at ISTE. Prior to her time in education, she actually worked in Public Relations/Marketing for an insurance company. She also really enjoys cooking and is fearful of the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.
Andrew Thomasson
Location: Kings Mountain, NC
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/103222243749486430164/posts
Fun Fact: Andrew is a high school English/Language Arts Teacher/Learner. What is unique is he team teaches his ELA class. Now, maybe some of you do too, but there is one more twist. His partner, Cheryl Morris, teaches in California. Yeah. How cool is that? They really do a great job completely flipping their ELA classes together and utilizing technology to its full potential. Andrew and Cheryl have written about their experiences in a number of places, with Flipping 2.0 being one of them. I'd highly suggest it and I cannot wait to meet Andrew in person to learn a little more about the magic he makes happen. Maybe he'll bring some heirloom tomatoes with him (he apparently loves to grow them!)
Michelle Triemstra
Location: Otsego, MI
G+ and twitter handles: http://www.google.com/+MichelleTriemstraOPS https://twitter.com/mtriemstra
Fun Fact: Has one of the cleanest digital footprints I have seen. Her name is out there, but no pictures come up in a Google Search. She has a short blog that she's written about Kahoot, Augmented Reality, and Minecraft, so I know we'd have some great stories to swap. Based on my findings, I think it would be a good idea to call on her as your Digital Citizen Superhero if you need help on a lesson for kids. Then again, maybe she only exists in cyberspace?
Cari Williams
Location: Tustin, CA
G+ and twitter handles: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101325089509613782413/posts/p/pub
Fun Fact: Cari is a teacher and digital learning coach who has a passion for STEAM (not the gaming platfrom - that would be me who has a passion for that) and integrating technology in the classroom. She also teaches a video production course. Ten years ago, she was awarded a trip by the Toyota International Teacher Program to South America, where she filmed the Galapagos Islands and Machu Pichu, among other places. That is where her passion for video production was born.
There you have it. All 65 of the wonderful educators headed to California this summer. I know I missed out on 99% of what these people are all about, so I for one know I will be spending as much time as I can trying to get to know them better moving forward.
Only 39 More Days!
There you have it. All 65 of the wonderful educators headed to California this summer. I know I missed out on 99% of what these people are all about, so I for one know I will be spending as much time as I can trying to get to know them better moving forward.
Only 39 More Days!
Humbled to be in such amazing company and looking forward to #GTAMTV!
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