Creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking are the 4Cs at the root of everything I do. As an Educational technologist, my goal is to help teachers create transformative learning environments by weaving digital and analog activities together and utilizing the best experiences from both worlds. As a teacher, I strive to create a student-centered personalized environment that fosters one-hundred percent participation.
During my career, I have worked for a variety of institutions, attended conferences, and participated in professional development. All of these experiences have helped to facilitate my love for technology and learning. I have used, and instructed with, a wide variety of educational technology and blended learning tools. I consider collaboration to be the most important part of being an Ed tech and have developed programs to assist teachers in collaborative PD, sharing and reflection. Working in education has given me so much, and I believe it’s just as important to give back. In this pursuit, I have volunteered to work with a variety of educationally minded organizations.
George Mason University | MEd; BOLS: Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Blended and Online Learning in Schools | Graduated, December 2018
University of Maryland University College | BS; IFSM: Information Systems Management | Graduated, May 2006
Future Enterprises | Netware 4.11 Administration Class, Netware 4.11-5.1 Upgrade Class | 1999, 2000
Smithsonian Institution Training | POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment), EEO for Supervisors (Equal Employment Opportunity) | 1999, 2000
University of Nebraska | Major: Math/Computer Science Education | 1995-1999
University of Georgia | Major: Math Education | 1991-1994
Director of Educational Innovation | The Madeira School, McLean, VA | www.madeira.org | 2020-Present
Educational Technology Specialist | The Madeira School, McLean, VA | www.madeira.org | 2014-2020
Residential Life Dorm Parent | The Madeira School, McLean, VA | ww.maderia.org | 2017-Present
Hebrew/Jewish Studies Teacher: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 7th Grade | Beth El Hebrew Congregation, Alexandria, VA | www.bethelhebrew.org | 2016-2018
Para Educator, Kindergarten, IRR, PreK | Due West Elementary; Marietta, GA | www.duewest.blogs.com | 2011-2014
Lunchroom Monitor | Due West Elementary; Marietta, GA | www.duewest.blogs.com | 2010-2011
Information Technology Specialist | Smithsonian Institution: Office of the Chief Information Officer; Washington, DC | www.si.edu/ocio/ | 2003-2006
Computer Specialist | Smithsonian Institution: National Museum of the American Indian; Washington DC | www.nmai.si.edu | 1999-2003
Media Technician | Westside High School; Omaha, NE | whs.westside66.org | 1997-1999
IT & Computer Instructor | Metropolitan Community College; Omaha, NE | www.mccneb.edu | 1997-1999
Educational Assistant | Westside Alternative School; Omaha, NE | westside66.org | 1995-1997
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society | 2019
ATLIS | 2016, 2018 (Conference Committee), 2019 (Conference Committee and Speaker), 2025
ISTE | 2014 to Present, 2016 (Speaker and Volunteer), 2019 (Community Champion, Volunteer, and Speaker), 2024 (Community Champion, Volunteer), 2025(Community Champion)
ISTE Conference | 2015, 2016 (Presenter), 2019 (Presenter and VR Playground organizer), 2020, 2021, 2023(Volunteer), 2024(Volunteer)
VSTE | 2014 to Present,
ICGS | 2016 (Presenter), 2017, 2024
One School House | 2015-2016 (Collaborator), 2023-2025 AAL member
VAIS Conference | 2014, 2023 (Presenter)
ATLIS 360 Revision | Team Member | 2024-2025
Madeira Faculty Professional Growth Process Taskforce | Committee Member | 2024-2025
Madeira AI Taskforce | Co-Chair | 2024-present
Madeira AI Professional Development | Coordinator/Facilitator | 2023-present
Madeira Owner/Agent/Contractor (OAC) for new STEAM Center | Work with CFO, Facilities Director, and Construction team to bring the STEAM Center online for the Fall of 2023 | 2023-2024
Madeira Head of School Search | Team Member | 2023
Madeira Strategic Planning Committee | Faculty liaison, | 2021-present
Learning Management System Migration Taskforce | Committee Chair | 2021 and 2024 reassessment
Live Record of Pippin | Audio Engineer | Madeira School | 2021
STEAM Experience Trip | Student coordinator, curriculum design, chaperone, budget management($25k) | 2018-2019
ATLIS Annual Conference | Conference Committee | 2018, 2019
ATLIS Annual Conference | Speaker - "How to do more with less" and "Women's Round Table" | 2019
DMV STEAM PLC | Member (2017- present), Co-Chair (2018, 2019 | 2017, 2018, 2019
ISTE Annual Conference | Speaker - "Virtual Reality: Exploring the world one assessment at a time " | 2019
ISTE Annual Conference | Presenter - " How to build a Community wide Showcase of Learning" | 2016
NCGS Pep Talks Podcast | Audio Editor | 2016-Present
NCGS Annual Conference | Registration Volunteer | 2017
AERO Conference | Educational Technology Support | 2015, 2016, 2017
The Madeira School STEAM Taskforce | Technology Representative, Curriculum Design | 2015-Present
Langley High School Class of 2022 Parents | Director of Communication | 2018-Present
AISGW – Technology/Video Consultant and Producer | Emerging Leaders Institute Video | 2015
The Madeira School MadeiraEd Conference | Co-Chair | 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Beth El Hebrew - Religious school | Teacher, Educational Technology Coordinator | 2016-2018
Beth El Hebrew – Religious School | Office Help | 2015-2016
APS Festival of the Minds Presenter | OneNote Class Notebook | 2015
Nova Board Game Group | Group Leader | 2017 to present
NovaPokemon | League, Founder & Leader | October 2014-2017
Due West Elementary | Hospitality Committee, Media center, Classroom Volunteer, Bingo Committee Chair | August 2009 – present
West Cobb Public Library | Children's Library Volunteer | August 2009 – 2010
Smithsonian DPMRT (Data Processing Managers Round Table) | Chairperson | November 2001-2005
Smithsonian ITMC (IT Managers Committee) | DPMRT Representative | November 2001- 2005
NMAI Mall Museum | Technology Team Member | 1999-2003
NMAI Welcome Center Core Team | Technology Team Member | 2000-2001
Smithsonian Institution W2k/E2k Migration Team | NMAI representative | 2001
AI Taskforce: Led Madeira's AI initiative by guiding the team that created the Emerging Technology Policy, which has been adopted for the 2024-2025 school year.
Supervisor: Oversaw and directed the STEAM department from 2019 to 2021. In 2021, at the request of the Head of School, I embraced the challenge of co-chairing the math, science, and STEAM departments, which consist of 14 members.
LMS Taskforce: Led the team that researched, evaluated, and proposed a replacement for PowerSchool Learning, the school’s long-standing LMS. Additionally, designed and implemented a comprehensive professional development program. Three years later led the re-evaluating team. Surveying all stakeholders, researching various options, and presenting the continued use of Canvas.
Pandemic Online/Hybrid Learning: Oversaw the design and professional development for emergency online learning during the final quarter of the 2019-2020 school year. Contributed to the team that implemented a hybrid learning environment for the 2020-2021 school year. Utilized technology effectively to ensure minimal learning loss.
STEAM Building Team: As a member of the STEAM building team, I assist in coordinating technology and educational technology design for the new facility. Additionally, I serve as the faculty liaison to the OAC committee throughout the construction phase.
Madeira Strategic Plan Team: Represented the faculty and staff on Madeira’s 2022 Strategic Plan Committee. Collaborated with the Board of Trustees and senior leadership to develop the school's new strategic plan, guiding initiatives until 2027.
SIS Database Taskforce: As a team member, I researched, evaluated, and advocated for the school's transition from Senior Systems to Blackbaud. I also facilitated professional development sessions for faculty and staff.
Office 365 Administrator and Instructional Designer: Work with the Department of Technology to administer Office 365 including the connection support for Canvas, WeVideo, Flipgrid, and other products. Design professional development for faculty, staff, and students.
Micro-controllers and Coding: Designed the curriculum for this 5-week elective taught during the 2017-2018 and 2019-2019 school years. This course offers an exploration of topics in programming and physical computing while giving students the opportunity to develop the critical 21st-century skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing world. This course is open to students of all coding levels from beginner to advanced. Students will work with the teacher to develop a personal learning path. This course will be taught through a blended learning model, allowing for both face-to-face and online interactions with the teacher and each other, and giving students the opportunity to learn in an environment that sparks creativity and to practice time management and self-motivation skills. This course meets the coding and student life requirements.
STEAM Taskforce Member: I am part of the team that helped create the standards and guidelines for STEAM interdisciplinary courses at Madeira. I also helped to develop and teach the original and redesigned, required ninth grade Fundamentals of STEAM Course. The course design include the use of Agile (Scrum) for project management.
STEAM Experience Spring Break Trip: Lead chaperone for the 2019 spring break trip to Silicon Valley. I managed the budget and logistics to bring 10 students and 2 chaperones to California. The purpose of this trip was for our students to explore the working environments of silicon valley and introduce them potential female mentors in the field.
Student Life Department Member: Design curriculum and teach students course material that will bring them towards meeting the 2016 ISTE Standards for Students. Students learn skills in project management, video editing with WeVideo, online communication and collaboration with Office 365, OneNote and PowerSchool, time management with Outlook, and web design with a platform of their choice. Each student will leave this class with a personal digital portfolio. I created a summer work unit for all incoming new students called Welcome to Madeira. This unit is designed to introduce students to the digital technologies in use at the school, give them an introduction to their new environment, and provide them with a connection to other students before them arrive on campus.
ISTE Standards for Students: Implemented starting with the 2017-2018 School year.
Curriculum Development: In addition to the Fundamentals of STEAM and Student Life summer work courses listed above, I developed a technology elective called “Exploring the Digital Frontier,” and an introductory coding and Arduino elective called “Micro-controller and Coding.” I have collaborated with many teachers to create innovative lessons: AP Human Geography | Video memoir, VR Assessment 9th grade history | VR exploration of Egypt, Sway travel guides of ancient civilizations, Interactive Maps, 11th Grade US History | Interactive images, Political Ads, English | OneNote Integration, Poem of the Week Podcast and video, Sway memoirs, Shakespeare Website, World Languages | VR Exploration and assessment
Student Portfolios: Developed a program, starting with the class of 2021, for every student to leave Madeira with a student owned professional digital portfolio.
Audio Recording Studio: In 2015, I was instrumental in building Madeira’s first audio recording studio for the specific purpose of recording student and faculty generated podcasts as well as for vocal recording of student productions and student written music.
Virtual Reality: Virtual Reality, otherwise known as VR, is a hot topic in education. I have created a VR Studio around the HTC Vive. We are using VR for both formative and summative assessment as well as team building exercises. I am working to develop curriculum using Samsung Gear 360 cameras and Unity to empower our students to be creators instead of consumers.
PD Collaboration Block: I work with teachers during their professional development blocks to collaborate on curriculum design, classroom engagement, and to workshop projects.
Professional Development: Teach innovation and technology classes to faculty and staff throughout the year and during professional development days.
Professional Development Blog: Created an in-house professional development blog to allow faculty and staff to share knowledge learned during their professional development opportunities.
Educational Technology Resources Page: Created an in-house resource for teachers on the school's learning management system that includes inspiration, links to apps, and content usable in their lessons.
Educational Technology Blog: Created an in-house educational technology blog to spark innovation and generate topics of discussion.
MadeiraED Conference Co-Chair: I have been conference co-chair of Madeira’s own MadeiraED conference for four years. This showcase of learning is a one-day conference designed to allow students to get a feel for professional development by being the presenters and the attendees. In 2018, we had 96 presenters and 460 attendees at this Madeira Community event. I presented the conference model at ISTE.
Makerspace and Fabrication Lab | Team Member
ATLIS Conference Committee: Member of the 2018 and 2019 Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools (ATLIS) Conference Committee.
NCGS: Worked with National Coalition of Girls Schools (NCGS) to create the NCGS podcast, “Pep Talks.” I am the current editor of the show.
AISGW: Produced, filmed and edited the Emerging Leaders Institute Video for the 2016 Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington (AISGW).
Club faculty Sponsor: Best Buddies sponsor | 2018/2019, VR Interest Group Club | 2018/2019,
Learning Management Systems: PowerSchool Learning(Haiku), OneNote Class Notebook, Canvas, Blackboard, Google Classroom, Google Sites, Schoology, Moodle
Video Conferencing Tools: Zoom, Google Hangouts, Go-to-Meeting, Adobe Connect, Blackboard Connect, Skype, Microsoft Teams
Screencasting Tools: Camtasia, Screencast-o-Matic, WeVideo, Voice Thread, Office Mix(Retired)
Collaboration Platforms: Padlet, Google, Office 365, Microsoft Teams, OneNote, Google+
Presentation applications: PowerPoint, Google Slides, PowToon, Prezi, VoiceThread
Video Editing Tools: WeVideo, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier, iMovie, Windows Movie Maker
Audio Editing: Vocaroo, Audacity, Recordium, Adobe Audition
Interactive Images: PowerPoint, Google Slides, Thinglink