2019 Featured Presenters

Meet your 2019 MASL Spring Conference Featured Presenters:

 

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Samantha Hardesty Knoll – Wentzville School District

Bio:  Sam is passionate about Instructional Technology and leveraging technology to empower teachers and students as learners and creators. Sam serves the Wentzville School District as an Instructional Technology Coach. Sam has served in the field of Education for 22 years as a teacher, specialist and coach. She holds a Master’s in Educational Technology, is a Google Certified Trainer and Google Certified Educator Level 1 and 2 , an Apple Certified Teacher, and a BrainPOP Educator.

Workshops:

  • Bringing Books to Life

Use the power of Google Expeditions to bring literature to life. Expeditions is an immersive app that allows students to explore the world through virtual-reality (VR) and augmented-reality (AR) tours. You can tour the streets of Paris, enjoy the deep sea or stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon.

  • Be a Book Creator

Ready to have your students become their own authors? Book Creator makes it easy for your students to build pages, combine text, images and video letting students focus on creativity. No matter the device or age, students can produce their own books to share with the world.

  • Outside the 4 Walls

Google Hangouts is a powerful tool for making connections with experts, working collaboratively with others and introducing the wider world to your students. Learn how to use Google Hangouts and gain multiple ideas on how to utilize this simple tool to go outside of the 4 walls of your classroom.

 

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Erin Lawson – Orchard Farm R-V School District

Bio:  Erin Lawson is the District Technology Coach within the Orchard Farm R-V School District in St. Charles, Missouri. Prior to being a coach, she was a 6th-grade teacher for nine years. Erin is passionate about technology integration, meaningful professional development, and creating leaders out of teachers and students. She is the co-president of the Educational Technology Association in St. Louis, a Bloxels ambassador, a Google for Education Certified Trainer, and the creator of #StudentPD. Erin was a 2018 METC Spotlight Educator and recently awarded the V.C. McCluer Award for Outstanding Personal Contributions to the Instructional Programs of St. Louis Area Schools. She’s pursuing her Doctorate in Teacher Leadership from Maryville University and is excited to graduate in April 2019.

Workshops:

  • Believe in YourSHELF: How to Lead Beyond the Library

How do you stay inspired? How do you motivate others to get on-board with something new? What is your WHY? We will be exploring ideas of how to push yourself and encourage your colleagues to do the same. It’s time to lead BEYOND the library and not just consume, but be a contributor as well!

  • A Novel Idea: Be Besties with your Technology Coach!

Going 1:1, SAMR, ISTE Standards, Digital Citizenship, MakerSpaces…it’s a future-ready world out there and you don’t have to brave it alone! Learn how collaborating with your technology coach can take all of these topics to the next level and develop a supportive, everlasting friendship.

  • Circulate on Social Media & Beyond to Develop a Booksmart PLN!

Connect. Share. Inspire. Being a “connected librarian” is the best way to hit that Future Ready “Personalized Professional Learning” cog and follow those movers and shakers who are making a difference. Who knows? You might have a book smart team who’s following you back!

 

Amanda Moody

Amanda Moody – Wentzville School District

Bio:  Amanda Moody is an instructional technology coach in the Wentzville School District where she regularly leads professional development and serves teachers and students. Amanda has a degree in Secondary Education with an emphasis in English and a Masters Degree in Educational Technology. Previously, Amanda taught secondary English Language Arts. As a Google for Education Certified Trainer, she loves all things Google and had the honor of attending the Google Geo Teachers Institute at Googleplex, Gooogle’s headquarters, in 2016. Amanda has presented on various instructional and educational technology topics at conferences like METC, MOREnet, and the Missouri Summit. In her personal life, Amanda enjoys spending time with her husband, Brian, and her three-year-old son, Oliver. Some of her favorite moments are at Mark Twain Lake with her family and a good book. Amanda is passionate about her family and helping students and teachers harness the power of technology to improve education.

Workshops:

  • Fresh, Fun Book Talks with Flipgrid

Entice your students to read new titles: make your book talks a social experience with Flipgrid. Completely free and user-friendly, Flipgrid is a trendy tool for a reason. Learn how to set up grids and topics to organize and then share out videos. Get your students excited about books with Flipgrid.

  • Virtual Tour Featuring YOUR Library

Give your students, staff, and community a peek inside your library with Google’s Tour Creator. Learn to create 360 photospheres using just a cell phone. Once inside Tour Creator, you’ll add in sounds, points of interest, overlay images, and other content to bring your virtual library tour to life.

  • Get Going with Google Sites

Library websites are a necessity: curate resources, organize schedules and share important documents. It may seem like one more thing to manage, but not with Google Sites. Sites amplifies the power of the Google tools you already use to keep your website updated with minimal effort.