The Top #EduWin!

"Emmy has worked diligently to engage in professional learning via Twitter. She is a leader and active participant in #PBLChat and #MichEdChat along with others when she has time. She often contributes to topic ideas and has co-moderated. Emmy is a sophomore in high school. Additionally she has been blogging for New Tech Network, weighing in on what's wrong with school, creative, and project based learning."

Tiago Forte redefines who we are calling an educator for the #EduWin Awards. His body of work is dedicated to workflow and productivity and has been featured in TechCrunch, Forbes, and ReadWrite. He was nominated by one of his students from a course that he hosts on Skillshare.com.

"I took Tiago's class on workflow design on Skillshare (http://gtdlab.com) and found that my productivity went through the roof. I also found myself with increased focus and clarity about what I wanted to accomplish with my time. Tiago led us step-by-step through creating our own personalized workflow, using videos, well-designed slides, text instructions, links to other resources, and interactive exercises."

Isaac Raya is an 8th grade history teacher and wrestling coach, and has recently developed a 7th grade digital media elective program. He has also worked tirelessly before and after school and at lunch to co-produce the school's daily news broadcast. He trains students to run the tri-caster, teaching them valuable digital broadcasting skills.

From his colleague:

"I have seen Mr. Raya give up so much of his time (like that precious lunch "hour" - more like lunch 1/2 hour) to help students learn to run the broadcast studio, to give his wrestlers extra training time, to find the best ways to integrate technology into his history classes. He is an inspiration to his students as well as his colleagues."

See more about Isaac here.

Jake Duncan is an extraordinary, creative, and innovative education thought leader who hails from Splendora, TX. He's working to make great changes in his district and state.

"This year he returned to the classroom after working for the Regional Education Service Center as a Tech Integration Trainer for teachers. Engagement of his students is high, and they are even creating technology products on their own. He's using BYOD, his old devices, and some of the school's technology to make his classroom a place of collaboration, creativity, learning, engagement, and fun. "

Over the past year and a half Glenn has helped lead numerous positive changes to the Northfield Community Middle School. Glenn's tireless efforts have helped make the Northfield Community Middle School on of the premier schools in the state. Glenn was hired in August 2012.

"In just under a 1 and half years Glenn has transformed an average school into on of the leading learning environments in the state. His dedication to the school, students, staff, parents and community should not be over looked."

Colorado educator Kevin Slick embodies an educator who is not afraid to put things out there and share with the greater education community. Judging from his blog and his efforts to let the world know about the fantastic work his student are doing, Kevin is definitely taking education forward.

Check out what his nominator said about him:

"Mr. Slick is our new art teacher and he is expanding our students' view of art at our STEM school. Our #EduWin was Mr. Slick not only teaching about the Gettysburg Address for the 150th anniversary, but making student montages of the Address and uploading them to PBS. Our students not only integrated technology & history, but broadened their view of art into the visual arts/digital arts. "

Dr. Jenny Grant Rankin is an educator, researcher, and proprietor of Over The Counter Data. She's been dedicating her life to changing the system of education through better and more efficient ways of looking at and interpreting data, so that teachers, administrators, and school districts can make better-informed decisions.

*"She is a tireless advocate for ways edtech can better support educators in helping students. She writes and presents on this topic at conferences on an ongoing basis and helps edtech companies - all for free - simply because it's the right thing to do to share her research for the benefit of students." *

Simone is a passionate advocate for service learning and empowering youth to create positive change in the world through volunteer service, Simone has made an impact on middle school and high school student's lives through the 501(c)3 organization she co-founded in 2009, http://volunTEENnation.org a resource and platform promoting youth volunteer opportunities. The goal of volunTEENnation.org is to teach youth empathy and help guide them with the tools to effectively problem-solve challenging issues faced in the world.

Austin educator Tracy Kriese redefines what it means to collaborate. With her multi-cultural and lateral collaborative iEARN project, her and her students have created something completely "magical." You can check out the final product here: https://www.smore.com/yf2a

Here's what her nominator had to say about her:

"7th grade Pre-AP English classes put together something magical for their iEARN project partners in Russia, Romania, Belarus, Pakistan, Indonesia, Colorado, and Tennessee! The kids created and took a survey to find out more about themselves as a group. Then Tracy and colleague Lorie Schoch combined their classes in the computer lab to use Haiku Deck and ThingLink to make a Smore. Teams of kids collaborated to decide just what to include and how to put the pieces together. It was incredible to watch the energy and excitement of the kids as they worked!"

Mrs. Canul has embraced Social Media with a passion. She uses a backchannel (Todaysmeet) to incorporate student voice in the classroom. Most recently she's added the use of Schoology in her room.

From her colleague:
"Angie is an exemplary role model for her students, peers, and parents. |She is the Social Studies Department Chair for Francis Howell Middle School. |The students were excited to have this tool to use."

Tony had multiple nominations- by his students- and is described as a "forward thinking educator." This is the first time we've seen students hand out #EduWin to their teachers.

"Tony Tepedino is a forward thinking educator, educational technology specialist who is staying ahead of the fast paced world of digital citizenship and digital media. Tony has single handedly changed our middle school and helped develop an involving and thoughtful 1-1 iPad program. He has developed his own Tech Tuesday sessions for faculty in order to enhance their professional development and he currently educates our middle school students on all things technology. His blog is highly respected among our community, and Tony has been instrumental in bringing TEDx Allendale Columbia School to a reality."
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