Episode 99: Interview with Debbie Tannenbaum

Welcome to the Counter Narrative Podcast, a show designed to change the way we talk, and think, about education. By sharing stories of successes and triumphs, we aim to challenge the dominant narrative that often negatively portrays our disenfranchised populations.

I’m your host, Charles Williams. An urban educator for more than 15 years, a current school principal in Chicago, an educational consultant, an equity advocate, and the co-host of Inside The Principal’s Office.

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In this episode, I chat with Debbie Tannenbaum, an educator with over twenty years of experience, who works each and every day to “transform” learning using technology. During her time in education, she has served  both as a classroom teacher in various grades and as an elementary technology coach. Outside of the classroom, Debbie promotes using technology tools to amplify student learning in her work as an educational technology consultant, author, blogger and speaker. You can connect with Debbie at TannenbaumTech.com.

During our conversation, I asked the question that I am sure most tech experts hate, “what tech tool would you recommend for…”. As Debbie pointed out, this is not the ideal way to approach integrating technology into your classroom. Instead we should focus on the objective and the needs of our students and find a tool that matches. We also explored the various ways that technology can be used to propel students forward. If you simply replace your traditional approaches with updated tech, you’re not necessarily going to see the gains that you anticipated. Debbie encourages teachers to instead think outside the box and embrace the opportunities that were not previously available as opposed to simple upgrades.

Want to hear more from this tech guru? Let’s go.

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