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Thank You for 20 Years.

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After 20 years of teaching at Brookfield Central, I am saying goodbye. Although I spent the majority of that time in the physics classroom alongside my learners. That changed for my last 18 weeks. I ended up in a place similar to where I started, teaching chemistry and biology. So, rather than dealing with juniors and seniors at the end of their high school careers, I was in classrooms with freshmen and sophomores still trying to find their place. At the same time, I was learning and teaching a set curriculum I hadn't taught in over a decade. So, we were learning. But, of course, I already knew the content.  The point of this post is to take a step back, take in, and share the gratitude from the last students I had in my 20 years at Brookfield Central High School through the cards and notes they made for me on my last day with them.  I don't take many yay me moments. But after 20 years, I think I'll soak this one in.
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Getting Started with Pear Deck

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I’m excited to announce the release of a handbook I co-authored with Mary Alys Foutz called Getting Started with Pear Deck.

Get access the eBook by clicking here!


I have been using Pear Deck in my classroom since 2015. I’ve watched the tool grow dramatically in its functionality but also its easy to be integrated into the classroom from a teacher and student perspective. The new book is an amazing guide in terms of how to get started with Pear Deck and even introduce you to features that I didn’t know existed until we started work on the book.

But for those who are new to Pear Deck or have several other tech tools that they are using in their classroom, I want to share with you why I continue to come back to it as my number one classroom tech tool for learning.  That reason is the feedback I get from my learners. Since I began using it, Pear Deck has consistently been the number 1 thing my students say helps them learn in the classroom. So rather than me preaching about Pear Deck, here’s what my students have to say in their own words.



The book itself is divided into different chapters associated with a different aspect of Pear Deck. Lots of people know about Pear Deck as a presentation tool, but there is so much more to discover!

  • Collaborate as a class to create flashcards with multiple representations with Pear Deck Vocabulary
  • Encourage students to increase their digital citizenship with Google’s Be Internet Awesome curriculum powered by Pear Deck
  • Search for answers to questions in the Knowledge Base
  • Find ready to use decks in The Orchard
  • Learn how to share your decks with colleagues and the world!
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