BrainPOPstar Andrea Keller, Nominated for TCEA Teacher of the Year

Posted by Andrew Gardner on

Congratulations to Andrea Keller for her TCEA Teacher of the Year award nomination!  The winners will be announced at the upcoming TCEA conference in February. Dr. Kari Stubbs, Vice President of 21st Century Learning at BrainPOP recently interviewed Andrea to find out more about her award winning teaching style!

Kari: Tell me about you. . .

Andrea:  This is my 10th year teaching. For 9 of those years I taught special education in a self-contained classroom.  Before school started this year I had the opportunity to move schools and change positions. I now teach children with varying abilities in a LIFE classroom K-5. I absolutely LOVE it!  It has challenged me in new and meaningful ways.  As a LIFE classroom educator, I find it critical to work with the general education population too.  I am also a team manager for Destination ImagiNation. My passion is leveraging technology for student with a variety of abilities.

Kari: What is your favorite teaching tool?

Andrea: My favorite technology tool is my iPad 2.  I’ve successfully leveraged a variety of grants to bring technology into my classroom. Elaine Roberts, a private donor, made this technology possible for my class. Our class loves to use the iPad2  to Skype.  We also use it during calendar time, independent work, direct instruction, free choice time, and to connect through twitter.  I am able to differentiate my teaching on so many levels with a few very basic apps, like BrainPOP.

Kari: What are your go-to teaching resources?

Andrea: I have to say BrainPOP first.  When talking to other teachers about tech they can use in their classroom I also always mention Photostory.  It’s a great way to get teachers to use tech in a super easy way and have a fun product in the end.  I’d also recommend Pinterest, Twitter and, Wonderopolis.org, and Livebinders.

 

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Filed as:  Kari Stubbs, POPstar, POPstars, TCEA