Wednesday Speakers
Gerry Brooks (@GerryBrooksPrin)
Gerry Brooks is an educator and a motivational speaker. He has 21 years experience in the classroom and as an administrator. His humorous take on educational situations have helped him gain over 1.2 million followers on social media. He has a desire to help educators focus in on personal climbing culture in order to be the best they can be in the positions that they hold. See Gerry's session schedule.
Eric Curts (@ericcurts)
Eric has been in education for 28 years, and currently serves as a Technology Integration Specialist for SPARCC in Canton, Ohio where he oversees Google Apps for Education implementation, training, and support, as well as other technology integration initiatives. Eric is an authorized Google Education Trainer and Innovator, and provides Google Apps training to schools, organizations, and conferences throughout Ohio and across the country. He is a co-leader of the Ohio Google Educator Group at bit.ly/gegohio and runs the award-winning blog www.ControlAltAchieve.com where all of his Google Apps and edtech resources can be found. See Eric's session schedule.
Robert Dillon (@drrobertdillon)
Dr. Robert Dillon has served as a thought leader in education over the last twenty years as a teacher, principal, and director of innovation. Dr. Dillon has a passion to change the educational landscape by building excellent engaging schools for all students. Dr. Dillon serves on the Leadership Team for Connected Learning, a Saint Louis based organization designed to reshape professional development to meet today's needs. Dr. Dillon has had the opportunity to speak throughout the country at local, state, and national conferences as well as share his thoughts and ideas in a variety of publications. He is the author of four books on best practices in learning, Leading Connected Classrooms Engage, Empower, Energize: Leading Tomorrow's Schools Today, Redesigning Learning Space, and his most recent book on learning space design called The Space: A Guide for Educators. See Robert's session schedule.
Jaime Donally (@jaimedonally)
Jaime Donally is a passionate technology enthusiast. She began her career as a math teacher and later moved into Instructional Technology. Her desire to build relationships has brought about opportunities to collaborate with students and educators around the world. She provides staff development and training on immersive technology as an edtech consultant. Her latest adventures include the launch of Global Maker Day and the #ARVRinEDU community, events and presentations. She works as an author and speaker to provide practical use of augmented and virtual reality in the classroom. See Jaime's session schedule.
Tricia Fuglestad (@Fuglefun)
Tricia Fuglestad, K-5 art teacher from Dryden Elementary School in SD25, has a masters in K-12 technology integration and has successfully integrated iPads into instruction and art production for many years. Her goal is to expand the curriculum, give students an opportunity to explore new media, and find transformative ways for students to demonstrate learning dynamically. Tricia’s classroom is featured in educational publications and higher education textbooks. Her students’ Fugleflicks, student-created, art-related videos have screened at international film festivals and won awards in national contests. See Tricia's session schedule.
Kyla Guru "Student Spotlight Speaker" (@GuruDetective)
Kyla Guru is 17 years old and a senior at Deerfield High School in Deerfield, IL. The summer before her freshman year, Kyla discovered her passion for cybersecurity, startled by the growing threat of human risk. In an effort to combat this vulnerability, Kyla founded Bits N’ Bytes Cybersecurity Education (www.bitsnbytes.us.com), a national 501(c)(3) that distributes open-sourced curriculum to 200+ schools and sustains 20+ partnerships with nonprofits, corporations including Facebook and IBM, and educational platforms like Discovery Education, to increase awareness in cybersecurity. Kyla’s passion has taken her to stages including TEDxChicago, NIST’s NICE K12 Conference, RSAC 2019, and RSAC APJ 2019, where she is an advocate for both cybersecurity education as well as the critical mobilization of Gen-Z youth. Kyla is also the cofounder and co-director of GirlCon Chicago (www.girlconchicago.com), Chicago’s premiere high-school tech conference. For her work, Kyla has been honored as Crain Chicago’s Top 50 in Tech, a Stanford She++ fellow, a 2018 Global Teen Leader, and a 2019 Harvard Book Prize Award winner. See Kyla's session schedule.
Jeff Mao (@jmao121)
Jeff is an internationally known education technology leader. Jeff has keynoted national and international events sharing his experiences and ideas about education technology leadership, policy, use, and implementation. He is the CEO and Founder of Edmoxie, an education technology consulting firm. Jeff served as the Learning Technology Policy Director for the Maine Department of Education (2004-2014). In that role, he provided leadership and education technology policy support to four Commissioners of Education. He was directly responsible for the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI). He oversaw all aspects of the program including vision, implementation, policy, professional development, procurement and contract management. He was a lead author of the State of Utah’s Master Plan: Essential Elements for Technology Powered Learning. Additionally, he was an advisor for Future Ready Schools and has moderated and presented numerous Future Ready’s Summits and Institutes. Jeff was a Senior Director for Common Sense Media’s education division (2014-2017). He was also a Senior Strategic Education Outreach Manager for Wonder Workshop (2017-2019). He has been recognized by EdScoop (EdTech Hero, 2017), SETDA (Leader of the Year, 2013), and Common Sense Media (Educator of the Year, 2012). See Jeff's session schedule.
Jason Markey (@Jasonmmarkey)
Jason Markey was named principal at East Leyden High School starting in the 2012-13 school year after previously serving the district both as an assistant principal and as a social studies teacher. Jason helped lead a district initiative to move the Leyden School District to 1:1, with every student issued a Google Chromebook. In 2012 Jason became a Google Certified Innovator with the goal of continuing his own growth as a learner first. Additionally, Jason was named a 2014 Digital Principal of the Year by NASSP and was awarded the Bammy Educator’s Voice Award for Secondary School Principal. Jason believes strongly in the power of the web as a social connector and continuously looks for opportunities to learn from and collaborate with others. Please connect with Jason on Twitter @Jasonmmarkey See Jason's session schedule.
Natasha Rachell (@apsitnatasha)
Natasha Rachell has been in the field of education for 16 years. Natasha is an alternatively certified high school science teacher. Currently, Natasha works for Atlanta Public Schools where she has served as an Educational Technology Specialist and most recently, the Science Digital Learning Specialist. Natasha has immersed herself into the instructional technology space and has earned several certifications, awards and accomplishments, some of which include: Google Certified Innovator (MentorMeEdu) and Trainer, Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, Apple Teacher, Surface Master Trainer, Flipgrid Ambassador, and Star Discovery Educator. Mrs. Rachell serves as a a member of the International Society for Technology Education and serves on the program committee with the Georgia Educational Technology Conference. She has traveled and keynoted all across the nation working with educators to infuse technology into their classrooms and has been a featured conference presenter for numerous EdTechTeam summits. Natasha was selected to take part in the first cohort of Our Voice Academy through EdTechTeam, a group of minority educational technology leaders from across the nation. She is ecstatic to lead the work as we transition into 21st century classrooms through blended learning opportunities, BYOD, professional learning for instructional technology and digitally connected classrooms. Mrs. Rachell is a wife and mother to two amazingly talented young men, ages 15 and 22. She is a lifelong learner and strives to be the change that she wishes to see. Natasha believes in diving into your why and living with intention both in and out of the classroom. See Natasha's session schedule.
