This year at ISTE, I had the amazing opportunity to join 90 educators from across the United States as a member of the first cohort of the LEGO Education Master Educator program. The LEGO Educator Master Educator Program is a network of educators who use LEGO Education solutions in their classroom to inspire their students.
On this week's podcast, we share more than a dozen interviews that I had the opportunity to do with these amazing educators and together we share several great ways that you can use LEGO Education products in your classroom. Personally, I have been working with teachers in my district using the Mindstorm EV3 kits and have very much enjoyed watching our students learn some of the building blocks of coding and programming.
Mathieu Campet is a STEAM Teacher and School Based Technology Specialist
in Fairfax County Public Schools. He studied Early Childhood Education at James Madison University (undergrad), Integration of Technology in Education at George Mason University (M.Ed) and has completed many courses in Education Administration at the University of Virginia. He has been a teacher his whole life. From teaching his little brother how to jump on a bed, giving swim lessons at the local pool, to spending the last 15 years in the classroom (K, 1st, Technology & STEAM), it has been his life’s passion!
Brian Lachance is in his 7th year as a school-based technology specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia. He works with students and teachers daily to bring 21st century learning to all. He is married with a 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son. In his free time, he enjoys all sports, particularly running and soccer.
Christopher Colson has been married to his wife, Kelly, for 22 years. They have 3 children: Kayla 20, Sarah 17, and Ryan 13. He is a sports fan, particularly football, baseball and hockey. His hobbies include photography, videography and travel. He is also a youth sports coach, coaching baseball, softball, hockey, and cross country.
Amy Trujillo is the Instructional Coach of a STEM K-6 school, Florida Association for the Gifted (FLAG) Public Relations Chair, and Florida Association of Science Teachers (FAST) Area Five Director. She will become the FAST President Elect at the upcoming annual conference. During her teaching experience, she has taught at the college level and online for adults and has been a grade level classroom teacher, a teacher of the gifted, an ELL teacher, curriculum coordinator, and instructional coach. She has organized and presented at conferences, written articles, and is recognized as a Google Certified Educator Level One, BrainPOP Certified Educator, and PBS Learning Media Digital Innovator. She has worked in education for almost 20 years to ensure that the needs of diverse learners are being met and all students have an equitable educational experience.
Learn how YOU can become a @LEGO_Education Master Educator this year!
Maya Donnelly is an experienced Computer Science Teacher with a demonstrated history of working in the primary/secondary education industry. Maya is skilled
in computer science, robotics, and STEM curriculum design. She is a strong community and social services professional with a master’s degree focused in Elementary Education and Teaching from Washington State University Tri-Cities.
Allen Clupny uses LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 and its software to
help his students learn about and understand technology as it relates to core subject curriculum concepts and technology being used today. He retired from the USAF in 1997 with 20 years of work in Instrumentation and Telemetry, building computers and data acquisition systems for aircraft and laboratory tests and performing evaluations of navigation systems. He has 10 years of experience as a maintenance, operations and process technician and as an INTEL Corp in the automated factory. Allen also has 2+ years as a Robotics Teacher at RRMS.
Laura Knapp grew up in the Midwest and spent most of her adult life in the
St. Louis area. She’s always had an interest in technology and computer programming, even teaching herself programming languages in her spare time in high school. She’s been dedicated as an adult to reach out to children, especially the underserved student population, in order to provide them with challenges and opportunities in science and technology-based learning. In her free time, Laura is an avid board game player.
Jen Gilbert is an educator and STEM Specialist currently working in the suburbs of Chicago, IL. As a lifelong learner certified in Early Childhood Technology and working towards a certification in Engineering Education, Jen loves nothing more than partnering with other educators to develop innovative activities that support learning across all disciplines. In addition to social media integration for schools and nonprofits, Jen often provides professional development on individualized learning for adults and students, computer programming and robotics, infusing maker education activities into the classroom and using technology to tell your story. Jen also loves animals and if you ask her about her research on The Science of Flying DogsTM, she will teach you that dogs can fly and physics is a part of your everyday life.
Gaby Eyzaguirre is originally from Lima-Perú. She teaches the Media and Technology course for pre-service teachers at Northern Michigan University’s School of Education, Leadership and Public Service, and is the Instructional Technology Integration Specialist for the Marquette-Alger Regional Educational Service
Agency (MARESA 2013 – present). Gaby has served as the Technology Readiness Infrastructure Grant (TRIG) Regional Coordinator (2013, 2014) and TRIG Ambassador (2015, 2016) for the Rural Northern Michigan Region and Consultant for EDUPATHS (2017 – present). Before she moved to Marquette, Gaby worked at the American School of Lima-Perú. She has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, ten of them as the middle school technology coordinator and technology integration specialist. She has also been an FLL and WRO robotics coach. While under her guidance her school’s teams ranked among the top three Peruvian National Champions. She has presented on multiple occasions nationally and internationally.
