Jeff sits down with Jessica Johnson, Shira Leibowitz and William King to discuss No Office Day.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Featured Topics

• No Office Day
• TeachMeet/Edcamp/Unconferences
• Bucket Program
• Social Media
• EduCoach

Featured Links

• No Office Day Wiki

Featured Guests

William King has spent over 10 years as an educator.  He began his career as a social studies teacher at Bowling Green High School in Bowling Green, KY.  After five successful years in the classroom he was hired as the Literacy and Curriculum coach at Bowling Green High.  Three years later he was promoted to Assistant Principal over the ninth grade and has invested a great deal of time researching and implementing about a BYOD (Bring your own devices) initiative throughout his district.   He is the co-organizer of TeachMeet Nashville, TeachMeet Kentucky, and is currently working to start TeachMeets in several other states.  Other credentials include: Microsoft Innovative Educator and Edmodo Certified trainer.

Rabbi Shira Leibowitz, Ph.D. is Lower School Principal at Schechter Westchester in White Plains, New York. Rabbi Leibowitz attended Cornell University, graduating with a B.A. in American Studies Magna Cum Laude and with Distinction in all subjects.  Rabbi Leibowitz was ordained as a rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and completed a Master of Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Rabbi Leibowitz held a number of positions in education prior to arriving at Schechter Westchester.  She served as Education Director at Camp Ramah in New England and then as Assistant Director of the National Ramah camping movement featuring both day and sleep away camps throughout the United States as well as in Canada and Israel.  She served as Judaic Studies Department Chair and taught both Bible and Rabbinic Literature at the Solomon Schechter High School in Manhattan during the school’s first two years in existence.  Rabbi Leibowitz then served as Associate Principal at The Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union (now the Golda Och Academy). She was promoted to Lower School Principal at The Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union, the position she held immediately prior to becoming Lower School Principal at Schechter Westchester, where she has served since August, 2000.

Jessica Johnson is the Elementary Principal for the Dodgeland School District in Juneau, Wisconsin.  She has previously served as a teacher, instructional coach, and Assistant Principal in Minnesota and Arizona.  When she made the move from a large urban Phoenix school district to rural Wisconsin she found the isolation of the administrative role to be like an island.  She was fortunate enough to discover twitter and continue to learn from others in her Professional Learning Network, which continues to grow each day.  She has begun presenting the power of twitter to educators/administrators at conferences in Wisconsin (along with other Wisconsin principals she found on twitter).

In addition she is a co-moderator for the #educoach chat on twitter.  You can find her on twitter as @PrincipalJ or follow her blog at www.PrincipalJ.blogspot.com.