PLP Team
Co-Founders
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
Sheryl is a 20-year educator who has been a classroom teacher, technology coach, charter school principal, district administrator, and digital learning consultant. Currently, she is in the dissertation phase of completing her doctorate in Educational Planning, Policy and Leadership at the College of William and Mary. She is the President of 21st Century Collaborative, LLC, a digital consulting firm. Sheryl is a published writer and regular presenter at state, national and international conferences speaking on topics of homelessness, teacher leadership, community building, educational leadership and 21st Century reform. You can find out more on her blog.
Will Richardson
Will is an internationally respected author, speaker and blogger whose focus is helping educators realize the potential of Web 2.0 technologies in their own personal and professional practice and in their classrooms. He is the author of the best selling Blogs, Wikis Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms from Corwin Press and spent 22 years as a public school educator. Will is a national advisory board member for the George Lucas Education Foundation, is on the New Media Consortium’s 2010 Horizon.K12 Advisory Board, and is the Chief Learning Officer at Connective Learning, LLC. You can find out more about Will on his blog.
Community Development
Robin Ellis
Robin is the Director of Community Development for PLP. Previously she served as the Instructional Technology Specialist in the Quakertown Community School District in Quakertown, PA. She was their the Classroom for the Future coach, facilitating staff development for teachers who have chosen to participate in a statewide initiative focused on moving classroom practices toward 21st century learning environments . She blogs at Connecting Through Conversations
Susan Carter Morgan
Susan Carter Morgan is the Social Network Strategist for PLP. She has been in education for nearly 30 years. With an undergraduate degree in English and a MEd in Instructional Technology, her focus in recent years has been on digital literacy and using social media in the classroom to improve writing and to create opportunities to share. She led her school through a year of Powerful Learning Practice and continues to support other teachers in various cohorts and online. Though she runs at 5 a.m., you will also find her here, here, and here at all hours of the day and night!
Community Leaders
Karl Fisch (ADVIS Cohort)
Karl has been a teacher for twenty years. He has taught middle and high school math and is currently Director of Technology at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, USA. He is the project leader of Arapahoe’s Curriculum Innovation Team, leading the staff development efforts for 21 st Century Learners, a group of teachers exploring constructivism and 21st century learning skills. He invites you to join the conversation at The Fischbowl.
Clarence Fisher (Archdiocese of Philadelphia Cohort)
Clarence has been a classroom teacher for the past 13 years. He blogs professionally at remoteaccess.typepad.com, with his networked, thinwalled classroom at thinwalls.edublogs.org. He has spoken at conferences across North America. Clarence has won several awards, including one of Canada’ highest teaching awards, the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching for his integration of technology into daily classroom life. Clarence’s innovative classroom practices have been featured online, in books, magazines, and newspaper articles. He is an advocate of classroom 2.0, learning spaces that take complete advantage of the tools that are available to learners in their quest to learn rather than having school be something that is done to them.
Lani Ritter-Hall (Ohio Consortium Cohort & PEARLS Cohort)
Lani, a National Board Certified Teacher, cherishes her 35 years in classrooms in Canada and Ohio. She has designed and facilitated workshops for educators for over 15 years. Currently Lani serves as an e-mentor and instructional designer. She blogs at Possibilities Abound.
Dean Shareski (El Paso Cohort)
Dean is a Digital Learning Consultant with the Prairie South School Division in Saskatchewan, Canada. He also teaches pre-service teachers at the University of Regina. He attained his Masters in Communication and Technology from the University of Saskatchewan in 2006. But enough of the formal stuff. Dean’s true passion is providing teachers with the opportunity to create relevant, engaging classrooms. The Read/Write Web offers provides unlimited resources. Dean’s work revolves around helping teachers use these resources effectively by connecting with others with similar passions. You can read about his perspectives at http://ideasandthoughts.org. He is involved in way too many other places to list.
John Pederson (Tristate Cohort)
John is an Educational Technology Liaison with WiscNet, a research and education networking organization in Madison, WI. He works with K12, higher education, libraries, and municipalities with the focus of “building the network around the network”. John graduated college with a degree in Teaching Social Sciences for Secondary Education and jumped straight into educational technology as K12 Director of Technology from 1996 – 2005. Frustrated slinging boxes and wires and wanting to focus on instructional technology, he moved into educational technology professional development for a regional service agency in 2006 and now works on community development in educational technology throughout Wisconsin. A raging introvert, John discovered blogging and Twitter, much like Columbus discovered America. He followed others much more adventurous than himself very early on, settled in, and created a scene. His blog and twitter are an exercise in understanding people networks online, playing with others’ attention, and celebrating the awesomeness of the Internet. Thousands of hours later, here is what he has learned as a result.
Dr. Alec Couros (Ontario International Cohort)
Alec is a professor of educational technology and media and the Coordinator of Information and Communications Technology at the Faculty of Education , University of Regina. Alec works with undergraduate and graduate students to develop their understanding and competencies in working with technology and media in K12 environments. He has given hundreds of workshops and presentations, nationally and internationally, on topics such as open education, social & networked learning, instructional design, digital citizenship and critical media literacy. More about Alec can be found at his popular educational blog, Open Thinking, found at http://couros.ca.
Brain Crosby (Bryan Cohort)
Brian Crosby has been an elementary teacher for 27 years, and teaches grades 4, 5 and 6 in Sparks, Nevada. He has infused technology into teaching since the 1980’s. While piloting a 1:1 laptop program, students in his class utilize many Web 2.0 tools including Skype, Flickr, blogs and wikis. Brian blogs at http://learningismessy.com/blog/
Tony Baldasaro (El Paso Administrative Cohort)
Tony is the Personalized Pathways Administrator at the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS) in Exeter, NH where he helps New Hampshire school’s partner with VLACS to provide personalized learning opportunities for students. Prior to his time at VLACS, Tony spent a dozen years with SAU 16 in Exeter, NH. There he taught science, served as a middle school Curriculum Administrator, was the founding principal of The Great Bay eLearning Charter School and served as the Assistant Superintendent of Schools. While Tony’s formal schooling was at the University of New Hampshire where he earned both his M.Ed and C.A.G.S. in Administration and Leadership, he now finds his time as a networked learner more valuable and relevant to his growth as an educational leader. Naturally shy, Tony has enjoyed finding and establishing his leadership voice through a variety of connective tools, including his blog, where he chronicles his transformation. Tony blogs at TransLeadership http://transleadership.wordpress.com/
Community Facilitator
Cary Harrod ( PLP Year Two Cohort)
Cary has spent 19 years in the elementary classroom, and is in her fourth year as the District Technology Specialist. One of her primary responsibilities is leading a group of more than 100 teachers, grades K-12, in a technology project for our district. Each teacher has been given a tablet pc, projector and speakers. Along with learning about these amazing technologies, they are exploring the ways in which web 2.0 applications can support and enhance teaching and learning.
This is her second year as a fellow for PLP. Cary says, “my experience with PLP has been transformational, both personally and professionally. The power of PLP is the opportunity it affords participants to immerse themselves in a 21st Century learning environment, thus bringing clarity to the vision of what learning might look like in this Century. I now have a robust learning network of people who serve as my any time/anywhere personal professional development.” Cary blogs at Amplifying the Learning.
Program Administrator
Sarah Barkley
Sarah Barkley is a junior attending Old Dominion University. She is working towards her Bachelors degree in education. She will also pursue a Masters degree in education and plans to teach the first grade. Sarah’s past work experiences include retail sales, hospitality and supervision of children in a local gym. In her spare time Sarah enjoys fitness, boating and photography. She is looking forward to meeting and connecting with teachers world-wide through PLP and using the knowledge gained from her PLP network as a way of preparing to become a better teacher in the future.
Content Coaches
Glen Westbroek
Glen Westbroek teaches science at Orem Junior High School in Utah. He teaches grades 7-9 at the school and is in his 23rd year as a teacher. He is his school’s science department chair (has been for 9 years) and in his third year as the Alpine School District Science Specialist. He is also the workshop facilitator and webmaster for Utah’s Sci-ber Text project (an online textbook for science use in grades 3-9.) You can find out more about Glen online at his class website http://www.oremjr.alpine.k12.ut.us/depts/science/gwestbroek or
http://www.classroom20.com/profile/gardenglen
Chris Harbeck
Chris Harbeck teaches grade 8 math to approximately 140 students each year. He has been teaching middle school students for over a decade and is in his third year of using 2.0 applications and “21st Century Learning” in his classroom. Despite the fact (or more realistically because of the fact) that math is one of those subjects students often reflect back on with distaste, fear or indifference, Chris has moved from teaching both social studies and math to the one subject. He has been involved in development of the middle years math curriculum at the divisional and provincial level. With his strong focus on conceptual understanding, Chris has discovered that using 2.0 tools and applications make math fun and interesting. An encouraging trend has emerged: students do not run away and saying “I hate math”; they love to do assignments and have started to see the beauty in math. Chris blogs at makeitinteresting.blogspot.com and his class hub is sargentparkmathzone.blogspot.com
Chad Evans
Chad Evans is an 8th grade Social Studies teacher in Quakertown, PA. Quakertown is a northern suburb of Philadelphia and we are traditionally rural with a growing urban population. He has been teaching Social Studies for 10 years and his curriculum focus has shifted from that of ancient civilizations to the birth of the United States (1492-1860). Chad feels he has been very fortunate to participate in several teaching seminars over the past few years through Gilder Lerhman, National Council for the Teaching of Social Studies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has also been able to expand his ever growing network of teachers and learners online through participating in nings and twitter and other resources. Chad blogs here.
Anne Smith
Anne has been a teacher for eleven years and currently teaches Freshmen English, Spelling and Vocabulary, and English World Literature. She graduated from Concordia College in Minnesota, and received her Master’s in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University. She is a founding member of the Curriculum Innovation Team leading staff development efforts at her school and a participant in the first cohort of 21st Century Learners. Her classroom operates under the belief “Change the World” and under the motto “This is NOT education as Usual.” Her classes seamlessly use technology in order to enhance their learning and understanding focusing on 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem solving. This past year, Anne was recognized by the National School Board Association as a Top 20 Teacher to Watch. She invites you to join the conversation at Learning and Laptops . For a complete listing of her students’ work, visit her wiki and her class blogs: English 9, English 9 Honors, and English Literature
Experienced Voices
We’re proud to have an amazing group of global educators mentoring our PLP participants in our various cohorts:
Kim Cofino
Originally from the US, Kim is an enthusiastic and innovative globally-minded educator. Kim has been teaching internationally for over 10 years, first in Munich, Germany, then in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and currently at the International School Bangkok in Thailand. Her work focuses on helping core subject teachers authentically embed current and emerging technologies in the classroom to create a global and collaborative learning environment. Her inquiry-based, constructivist approach to teaching utilizes project-based learning experiences developed using the Understanding by Design process combined with the MYP Technology Design Cycle. Her professional blog, Always Learning, is an invaluable resource for teachers seeking examples of authentic student engagement.
Anne Smith
Anne has been a teacher for eleven years and currently teaches Freshmen English, Spelling and Vocabulary, and English World Literature. She graduated from Concordia College in Minnesota, and received her Master’s in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University. She is a founding member of the Curriculum Innovation Team leading staff development efforts at her school and a participant in the first cohort of 21st Century Learners. Her classroom operates under the belief “Change the World” and under the motto “This is NOT education as Usual.” Her classes seamlessly use technology in order to enhance their learning and understanding focusing on 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem solving. This past year, Anne was recognized by the National School Board Association as a Top 20 Teacher to Watch. She invites you to join the conversation at Learning and Laptops . For a complete listing of her students’ work, visit her wiki and her class blogs: English 9, English 9 Honors, and English Literature
Elizabeth Helfant
Elizabeth is the Upper School Coordinator of Instructional Technology at Mary Institute Country Day School, a JK-12 institution with a 1-to-1 Tablet PC program in 7-12 that will will soon be expanded to grades 5-6 with netbooks. She has been a teacher for twenty-two years, ten of which have been spent as a faculty member at MICDS. Helfant played an integral role in planning and executing MICDS’s 1:1 program, using tablet PCs and DyKnow. As a strong advocate for technology, Helfant blogs for Digital Learning Environments and participates in conferences pertaining to digital learning. Helfant has done presentations at the International Conference on Education, Midwest Education Technology Conference, Lausanne Laptop Institute and NECC. Helfant has been on the DyKnow advisory board since 2008. She blogs here.
Barbara Barreda
Barbara is the principal of St Elisabeth School in Van Nuys, California. Her school whose mission statement includes the phrases “apply technology as a tool of learning” and “participate in a global community” serves students in pre-school through grade 8. From an administrative perspective, Barbara has focused on blogs, skype, voicethread and Flickr as she models instruction for her staff. She blogs at http://i2dare2dream.blogspot.com/.
Susan Carter Morgan
Susan is a teacher for nearly thirty years, both language arts and technology, with a focus on middle school in both public and private schools. She is currently teaching eighth-grade English and helping teachers integrate technology into their classes. Check out her personal blog and her class blog.
Ira Socol
Ira is a Research and Teaching Assistant and Special Education Technology Scholar in the College of Education at Michigan State University. His primary research interests include Universal Design Technology and the socio-cultural intersection of technology, education, and understandings of disability. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in technology implementation in general education classrooms, and presents globally on technology and education. Ira’s previous experiences include training in art and architecture, service as a member of the New York City Police Department, work in computer networking in schools and universities, a brief stint in journalism, and many other professions. He is the author of one short story collection, A Certain Place of Dreams, and one novel-in-stories, The Drool Room. He blogs at http://speedchange.blogspot.com
Scott Floyd
Scott currently serves as the District Instructional Technology Specialist in White Oak Independent School District in Texas after ten years in the classroom, mostly teaching middle school reading, English, and gifted and talented. He has also taught first grade self-contained. His current focus is on helping teachers integrate technology tools into their curriculum both in instruction and learning. I work with administrators, faculty, and students on creating electronic portfolios to better showcase students to the world outside our school walls. He also spends time lobbying on behalf of education in the Texas state legislature where our recent victory includes adding electronic resources as a viable replacement for paper textbooks with half of the cost savings going directly to school districts. He blogs at A Piece of My Mind.
Kathy Cassidy
Kathy is a Grade 1 teacher at Westmount Elementary School in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, incorporates technology in her daily classroom activities to enhance her students’ learning opportunities. She uses a variety of tools to enhance her students’ learning, including blogs, Skype, wikis, podcasts, video, photos, and other online communication. Her classroom blog includes videos and photos of the students’ learning activities, most of which have been taken by the students. Her professional blog is a record of her own learning.
Tom Barrett
Is currently working in a large primary and nursery school in north Nottinghamshire, England – Robin Hood country!
Year 5 6 is the class that I am teaching (Grade 5/6) and I thoroughly enjoy the challenge.
His responsibilities at school are the class primarily then:
* Assistant Headteacher
* ICT subject leader
* Assessment coordinator
Tom’s digital footprint can be explored here.
John Evans
John is a retired elementary school principal turned Professional Learning consultant with Manitoba Education Citizenship and Youth in the Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. John was the 2006 – 2007 MANACE “Technology Teacher of the Year” Award Recipient, in recognition of exemplary use of technology in education in Manitoba. John’s work can be found at http://joevans.pbworks.com/.
Graham Wegner
Graham is a primary school educator and ICT director at Lockleys North Primary School, Adelaide, SA, Australia. He has spent 20+ years in the classroom connecting students to their future and connecting colleagues to the possibilities. Graham blogs at http://gwegner.edublogs.org/.
Carolyn Foote
Carolyn is a high school librarian in Austin, Texas. Her blog was nominated for “Best Librarian/Library Blog” of 2009 at the Edublogs Awards. Carolyn is “fascinated by how all the new “web 2.0″ tools–tools that allow sharing knowledge with a community–will affect schools and libraries, specifically.”
Chris Betcher
Chirs currently teaches and does ICT Integration support at a school in Sydney, Australia. He was originally trained as an art teacher, but thanks to an interest in graphics and design, he gradually drifted away from that role and into a variety of technology-related areas including the teaching of computing, multimedia and webdesign, staff professional development support in ICT, network administration and IT management, and even some private consulting in educational ICT. Chris also produces a regular podcast called The Virtual Staffroom which looks at issues of relevance to teachers working with technology. He blogs at Betchablog.
Lee Kolbert
Lee is a 4th Grade Teacher in Boca Raton, Florida. She’s a self-proclaimed Geek-Girl who loves to dabble in computers but is actually a teacher by trade. She works with some amazingly creative people who do great work with digital video. Read her thoughts here.
