Speakers & Teacher Leaders

We are pleased to collaborate with professors from Boston College, private sector educational technologists, and  teacher leaders from the Catholic community.

Keynote Address: Will Richardson
Will Richardson is a former public educator with more than 22 years of experience and co-founder of Powerful Learning Practice, a unique professional development program that has mentored over 5,000 teachers worldwide in the last five years. He is the author of three books on the intersection of education, school change, and educational technology. Will's first book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms has sold more than 80,000 copies and impacted classroom practice around the world. He released two additional books in 2011, Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education and Learning on the Blog. Over the past six years, Will has addressed tens of thousands of educators in more than a dozen countries about the merits of online learning networks for personal and professional growth. Additionally, Will is a member of the George Lucas Education Foundation's National Advisory Board and a regular columnist for District Administration Magazine (Richardson, 2013).

Holy Name Parish School
Katie Davis Pobudziej
Katie has been teaching first grade at Holy Name Parish School since 2001. Prior to moving to Massachusetts, she taught kindergarten for four years at a public school in Connecticut. Over Katie's career, she has worked with a wide range of students from nursery school through the eighth grade. She has a B.A. from Simmons College in Elementary Education and Master's Degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from the University of Bridgeport. In 2012, Katie enthusiastically participated in the first Summer Tech Academy and integrated new tools into her teaching. She is passionate about collaborating with other educators and notes, "I love teaching and wouldn't want to do anything else!"

Mission Grammar School
Ali Dutson
Ali is currently the Assistant Principal and School Wide Literacy Coordinator at Mission Grammar School in Roxbury. Ali has been a key support in integrating Mission Grammar School’s 1:1 iPad use in grades 1-8. She has led professional development, coached teachers, and supported instruction with iPad integration. Ali is currently a Fellow in the Lynch Leadership Academy at Boston College. Ali earned her M.Ed. in Education with a focus on Technology, Innovation and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ali completed her B.A. in Elementary Education at Emmanuel College.  Ali looks forward to presenting at the Tech Academy this summer with a focus on Faith Formation.

Sacred Heart School Roslindale
Anne Carchedi
Anne Carchedi is currently the technology teacher and manager at Sacred Heart School in Roslindale, MA. She is skilled in using a variety of educational technologies such as iPads, SmartBoards, and Mimio's suite of tools. In the last 10 years Anne has also taught middle school reading, English, and religion. Anne earned a bachelor’s degree from Bentley College and later earned her Master’s in Elementary Education at UMass Boston. She presented at the 2012 Summer Tech Academy and focused on tools to foster collaboration in today's classrooms and schools.

Anne Heller
Anne Heller is a middle school teacher at Sacred Heart Elementary School in Roslindale. She teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth grade reading and teaches religion to the sixth graders. Anne grew up in West Virginia and went on to earn her Bachelor's degree in middle childhood education with concentrations in math and language arts from John Carroll Univeristy. She is a graduate of the Urban Catholic Teacher Corps and recently earned her Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College. Anne has loved teaching at Sacred Heart and enjoys watching her students become engaged when she incorporates technology in the classroom.

St. Bernadette School
Mary Anne Jezierski
Mary Anne has been a teacher for 25 years. She has taught at both the high school and middle school level. She is currently a 6-8th grade Social Studies teacher at St. Bernadette School in Northboro, Massachusetts. Mary Anne is a Discovery Education Star Educator and serves on the Leadership Council for the state of Massachusetts. She is skilled at using a variety of technology tools to enhance the curriculum including iPads and Smartboard technology. She has earned a B.S. in both Social Studies and Psychology. Mary Anne looks forward to demonstrating how faith formation and technology can be integrated into every subject area.

Saint Brendan School
Mary Goslin
Mary has been teaching first grade at Saint Brendan School in Dorchester
for seven years, with past experience administering reading assessments at Hingham Public Schools. After attending the Technology Academy last year, Mary incorporated use of the iPad in all subjects within her class, as well as established an Edmodo site for parent communication and on-going interaction. Mary has found that the iPad has allowed her students to become all the more engaged in the learning process. She noted, "I discover new possibilities for incorporating technology onto lessons on a daily basis. It's an exciting process for me, knowing that my students will respond with greater enthusiasm. As the teacher, I also benefit from more effective and lasting results due to a deeper level of retention and ownership of ideas and concepts."

Saint Columbkille Partnership School
Rachel Rumely
Rachel Rumely is currently a second grade teacher at Saint Columbkille Partnership School in Brighton, MA. Previously, she taught 3rd grade at Saint Patrick’s School in Roxbury and kindergarten at Saint Matthew School in Dorchester. Rachel completed her B.S. in Early Childhood Education at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. Rachel was a member of the Urban Catholic Teaching Corps and earned her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College in 2007. She presented at the 2012 Summer Tech Academy and focused on integrating technology into the elementary classroom.

Saint Joseph School
Yvonne Boyd
For more than twelve years, Yvonne Boyd has worked as a technology teacher for grades K-8 at St. Joseph School in Haverhill. She has previous experience as a Title I teacher, teaching third grade in St. Louis, Missouri and as a training educator for Digital Computer Corporation. She received degrees in Early and Elementary Education from Benedictine College in Kansas and Hesser College in New Hampshire. She enthusiastically participated in the first Summer Tech Academy and integrated new tools into the school throughout the academic year. Yvonne is skilled in using a variety of educational technologies and applications such as iPads, iPods, Lenovo All-In-ones, SmartBoards, Smart Student Response Systems and netbooks. Her focus is to actively promote and integrate technology into the classroom as well as to empower parents through technology. During school vacations and the summer holiday, Yvonne can be found at Cahner’s Computer Place at the Museum of Science serving as an Educator Presenter.

Saint Mary’s of the Annunciation School Melrose
Matthew Darling
Matthew is a middle school teacher at Saint Mary’s of the Annunciation in School in Melrose. He teaches history and religion to 7th and 8th grade students at the junior high school. After earning a bachelor’s degree in communications media from Fitchburg State University, he discovered that his true passion was teaching and transitioned to education. He is a regular technology presenter both in house and at the Salem State Collaborative. He has since been applying his love of technology to his teaching practice. He is currently working on a master’s in special education at Lesley University in addition to expanding his classroom technology repertoire. He looks forward to revolutionizing education through technology. 

Instructional Technology Specialist
Sean Sweeney
Sean is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist (CCC-SLP) with an additional M.Ed. and experience in the field of Instructional Technology. He has more than ten years of experience as a SLP in a public school setting and more two years as an Instructional Technology Specialist. For the past eight years, Sean has served as a private practitioner at The Ely Center in Newton, a specialized clinic focusing on social communication issues primarily through group treatment. Sean is also an avid blogger; his blog, SpeechTechie, won the the Best New Blog award from Edublogs in 2010. He is also a regular contributor to ASHAsphere, the official blog of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, the ASHA Leader, and the Mindwing Concepts Blog.

Lynch School of Education at Boston College
Margaret Cohen
Margaret Cohen is the Head Librarian of the Educational Resource Center (ERC), a K-12 curriculum library at Boston College. Margaret has been an advocate for the use of technology in education and supports undergraduate and graduate students at Boston College by providing and assisting with a range of educational technology.  Margaret also serves on the Lynch School of Education Committee on Technology. In addition to managing the ERC, Margaret teaches Survey of Children’s Literature in the Lynch School of Education. Within the University Libraries, Margaret has directed library instruction and led the development of a comprehensive instructional program for the Libraries. Moreover, she was a leader in developing and implementing a campus-wide online Academic Integrity tutorial for all undergraduate students at Boston College. The tutorial fosters a common understanding of integrity across the disciplines and makes it a visible, immediate part of the new BC student’s experience.

Christine Power
Christine Power is a doctoral candidate at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. Her research interests include teacher education policy, technology in education, and teaching for social justice. Her recent publications include “New Directions for Teacher Preparation” (co-authored with Dr. Marilyn Cochran-Smith) in Education Leadership (May 2010) and “Preparing Teachers for Tomorrow’s America” (co-authored with Dr. Marilyn Cochran-Smith) in O.L. Davis & M. Kysilka (Eds.), Schools for Tomorrow’s America, Kappa Delta Pi Foundation. In addition to teaching undergraduate and master’s level pre-service education courses at Boston College, she worked with Dr. Alec Peck, Dr. Amy Ryan, and the teachers at the St. Columbkille Partnership School with the recently completed Digital History Project-- a two-year school-wide professional development initiative aimed at developing dynamic technology-infused social studies curricula. Throughout all aspects of her work, Christine draws upon the knowledge gained from her decade long experience as a Boston area public school teacher.

Dr. Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is the Associate Director of Mentoring & Induction for the Lynch School of Education and is actively partnering with the Catholic Schools Foundation on the Summer Tech Academy initiative. She is involved with supporting current and future K-12 teachers and developing webs of professional development through connections with higher education faculty, master teachers, and school administrators. As part of this work, Amy developed the New Teacher Academy, an annual professional development conference held in August for beginning K-12 teachers. She recently completed the Digital History Project, a two-year collaboration with Dr. Alec Peck, Christine Power, and the teachers at St. Columbkille Partnership School. Through this project, the team worked to embed technology into the social studies curricula. This initiative capitalized upon Amy’s previous work as a Professional Development & Research teacher in the Springfield Public Schools.  She taught technology to middle school students and collaborated with content-area teachers to develop standards-based lessons enriched by digital tools. As part of this work, Amy served as the lead mentor for several technology grants funded by the Massachusetts Department of Education and designed after-school professional development sessions around the use of technology for teachers.