These are the places that I visit and follow to stay current, grow and find inspiration with educational technology, instructional design, and leadership development.
Professional Learning Network
Education Thought Leader Blogs
Following Caitlyn Tucker is a must for me with her knowledge and insight of best practices in blended learning. Knowing what to put online and what to use in the classroom is crucial when designing instruction.
Zaretta Hammond is a world-renowned author and speaker on Culturally Responsive Teaching and Brain Research, literacy, and issues of equity.
Technology in the Classroom
Commonsense media is a great resource for all things digital citizenship including lesson plans and interactive modules for teaching digital literacy in the classroom. As the go-to technology person in my building, I often reference this site for incorporating digital citizenship in the classroom.
Nearpod is an easy way to turn google slide presentations into interactive creative lesson plans. Nearpod also has some really neat features such as matching activities, VR experiences, formative assessments, and game-based learning activities.
I oversee and manage our school’s website which is hosted by Edlio. To stay current on website design and to learn of tips and tricks for enhancing the website I follow Edlio’s blog. The blog's main purpose is to continue the conversation around school communication issues. They write about topics like Accessibility, Enrollment, Web design practices, and management.
International society for technology education is a go-to site for all things technology, innovation, and digital citizenship. This site hosts the standards and competencies for technology integration.
With our district using the google suite, this is a great resource. It provides teaching resources as well as highlighting tools for collaboration, communication, and creativity.
This is a great site for creating engaging interactive presentation slides for the classroom and it's easy to install as an add-on to Google.
Learning on the Go
This is our district’s podcast that helps me stay in the know of what issues are trending in our district and what topics are at the forefront of education.
The Google Teacher Tribe provides new and innovative ways to use the Google Suite in the classroom. As a building, we use Google Classroom so it's important to keep up with all the ways Google integrates into the classroom.
Leadership Development
Edutopia is part of my Monday morning routine. I get to work 30-45 minutes early and spend a few minutes reading through the current articles. Edutopia's two main purposes are to produce content that improves learning and engages students and to "collaborate with researchers, teachers, and curriculum experts."
This is a new site for me but one that I see as essential to promoting and encouraging justice for all. They offer free resources to teachers, administrators, counselors, and other professionals with the goal of informing practices to create inclusive communities where students feel respected and valued.