Carl Hooker
K-12 ConsultingHandcrafted and customized to align with your district goals and mission
Districts today face major challenges when it comes to the thoughtful integration of technology. Carl has more than 10 years experience in leading successful 1:1 implementations at a wide variety of schools and districts.
My background in consulting:
In my 21+ years in education, I often found that working in isolation wasn’t good for my teachers or students. I would often reach out to my network for help and support around our goals of thoughtful technology integration. Having an outside voice allowed me to leverage their honest feedback and take a step back to evaluate the progress we had made. Now as a full-time consultant myself, I bring my experience in both administration and the classroom to the schools that I work with. If you are a district that can’t afford a full-time Director of Innovation or Instructional Technology, but would like some help with vision, planning and execution of educational technology, I’m here to help you.
My Beliefs Around Consulting:
Lead by example
I want to be with you on the front lines of your program. I love to lead think tank and brainstorm sessions with staff geared around activating their growth mindset when it comes to technology integration as well as being along side them in the model teaching when possible.
Goals are important
While it’s important to learn tools and strategies around technology integration, we need to keep aligned with district goals and beliefs. During the process of my consulting, I meet regularly with district leadership to guarantee that any work I’m doing with staff also pushes forth their mission.
Reflection and reporting
It’s easy for me to come in and present an engaging session that your staff will be excited about, but will it have long-term impact? How will you know that any of the strategies I present actually work? I believe one of the most important facets of consulting is reflection and reporting. Getting feedback from staff and putting together an easy-to-read report for administration after my sessions help guide our direction and determine when we’ve ultimately had success.
My Approach
I break down my consulting into three phases:
1) Relationship Building – In order for me to have success with a staff, I need to build relationships and trust. It’s important to have that strong foundation before we move into a change culture.
2) Inspiring ideas and sharing best practices – I have a wealth of ideas and resources at my disposal, but sometimes the best ideas can also be cultivated from within an organization. Encouraging staff to share what works best for them can often be more powerful than an outside idea and help them be a champion for change.
3) Implementation & feedback – Ultimately, we want to have our ideas and strategies put into practice in the classroom. We want staff to be open to new ideas as well as feedback for improvement.
Featured Publications
Articles
- It’s Time to Make Learning Fun Again…Even for Adults Edutopia
- 10 Demands for Summer Professional Learning Tech & Learning
- What’s the Best Model to Support Technology Integration? HookedOnInnovation.com
Mobile Learning Mindset Book Series
- For Coaches – Tons of professional learning strategies that I employ in many of my sessions.
- For Teachers – Tools for teachers to use regardless of device or access to technology
- For District Leaders – Ideas for coordinating district vision and goals with professional learning.