Randall Black Show

Teachers across the world are required each year to complete a specific number of hours of “professional” or “staff development.” Many times they are all funneled into a single room where they everyone is presented with the same topic, strategy, or technology tool. This is a very over generalized way to help educators to grow Read More

West Virginia has made a change in the state law in relation to school instructional days and inclement weather. The changes in the law provide for school districts to provide Non-Traditional Instructional (NTI) days. These days provide for students to complete assignments as part of a “Snow Packet” from home in lieu of attending school Read More

As the Internet has become more and more pervasive in our everyday lives educators from around the world have been looking for ways to harness this to continue their professional growth outside of the traditional professional development that their districts and schools have provided. This has led to the growth of being a connected educator. Read More

Microsoft’s Office 365 Education is an amazing platform that provides a lot of useful features and tools to educators and students. Great tools like Teams, OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Learning Tools, Forms, Skype for Business, Sway, Outlook, and OneDrive provide a robust suite that can have an immediate impact in the classroom for both educators Read More

It’s the time of the year for a short break, but I also have a few announcements in regards to both the Randall Black Show and EdTech Shorts.

#EdCampNSV On September 22, 2018 #EdCampNSV was hosted at Johnson-Williams Middle School in Berryville, VA. Following up the event, I was able to sit down with four other educators at the event and reflect a bit on the things we experienced during the day. The four educators joining me for this discussion are Patrick Hausammann Read More

32 Down & A Lot More To Go Steve Freeman is a veteran educator with 32 years of classroom experience in West Virginia. He currently teaches AP Government and AP Psychology at Huntington High School (HHS) in Huntington, WV. He previously taught at Elkview Junior High/Middle and Capital High Schools in Kanawha County. Outside of Read More

MADPD – Making Tech Disappear On May 6, 2018 I was fortunate to take part in a session as a part of MADPD hosted by Shane Lawrence (Twitter) of The Ed Podcast (Ed – Conversations About the Teaching Life). Joining us in the session were Kasey Bell (Twitter, Website, Google Teacher Tribe) and Brad Shreffler Read More

Believe! Achieve! Motivate! Today’s episode features Part 2 of my discussion with Jimmy Clayton (Twitter, LinkedIn), a retired educator and coach who spent 35 years working for Cabell County Schools in WV. He is the founder of Sports City U, a previous shooting consultant with the NBA’s New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets and Portland Trail Blazers and Read More

Believe! Achieve! Motivate! Jimmy Clayton (Twitter, LinkedIn) is a retired educator and coach. He spent 35 years working for Cabell County Schools in WV at Huntington East, Huntington, and Cabell Midland High Schools. In October 1992 he founded Sports City U, the United States’ first year-round basketball player development academy that he still runs and operates Read More

New Leadership for Wayne County Schools Todd Alexander (Twitter, LinkedIn) is the current superintendent of Wayne County Schools in West Virginia. He was a classroom teacher and administrator with Cabell County Schools for twenty plus years before making the move to Wayne County. Todd was instrumental in the introduction of the Handle With Care program in Read More

What’s in Store for Cabell County Schools Today’s episode features part two of my conversation with Cabell County Schools Superintendent Ryan Saxe (Twitter). We talk about the biggest challenge he has faced during his first year, future initiatives planned for Cabell County Schools, other educators and administrators that inspired him in his career, and what Read More

What’s in Store for Cabell County Schools Today’s episode features part one of my conversation with Cabell County Schools Superintendent Ryan Saxe (Twitter). We talk about his return to West Virginia after a few years in Florida working for Manatee County Schools, the great things he has seen so far in Cabell County as he Read More

4th Grade is Over I’m joined on this episode by my son, Mikey. Mikey is 9, soon to be 10, and is just finishing up 4th grade. We discuss what it was like for him in 4th grade this year. He shares what he liked the most, what he disliked, and what he is looking Read More

Freshman Academies: Today’s episode is a look at freshman academies and the impact they can have in a high school for the betterment of, not just the students, but the school as a whole. My guests are Bekka Atkins (email, Twitter) and Will Totten (email, Twitter, LinkedIn). Bekka Atkins is currently serving as the Academy Read More

Today’s episode features Dr. Randall Sampson returning to the show to share some of the great things he is doing to help educators personalize their professional development. He talks about using Flipgrid and Wakelet to curate reflections and content and how educators can earn graduate credit towards salary advancement and re-certification. Question of the Show Read More

Today’s episode features Phil Strunk (@MrPStrunk). Phil is a 7th grade social studies teacher at Johnson-Williams Middle School in Berryville, VA. He is also the host of the Wins and Losses podcast (https://winsandlosses.podbean.com) and founder of the #waledchat on Twitter. Phil, despite being early in his career, has a tremendous grasp on reflection as a Read More

Today’s episode is the final in a three part series on Coding and Computer Science Education. Today’s guest is Tamara Westfall. She is a Physics and Forensics teacher at Huntington High School in Huntington, WV. She has been working to directly implement aspects of coding and computer science into her classroom while also sponsoring the Read More

Today’s episode is part two in the series focused on coding and computer science education. The guest today is Teena Hine (@STEAMPoweredWV). Teena is a third grade teacher and technology integration specialist at Tomahawk Intermediate School in Berkeley County, WV. She joins the show today to talk about some of the great things she is Read More

This episode is the first of three in a series looking at coding and computer science education by speaking with three educators from West Virginia who are implementing coding into their classrooms and schools. Today’s episode features Cindy Modecki (@ReadingCindy), a Technology Integration Specialist at North Elementary School in Morgantown, WV. She shares her experiences Read More

Coming soon, The Randall Black Show will be sharing three episodes in a series on Coding and Computer Science Education. This three part series will feature three WV Educators sharing their experiences in implementing coding and computer science education into their classrooms and schools. The educators sharing their experiences are: Cindy Modecki – North Elementary School, Read More

Season 2 of The Randall Black Show comes out on January 22, 2018. Be sure you’re subscribed in the pod-catcher of your choice to hear each new episode when it drops.

On today’s episode I’m joined by Mat Deveaney (@TheMrDevizzle). Mat grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania and now teaches 8th grade math at Weir Middle School in Weirton, WV. We discuss how educators can share their story and how that he is doing so daily with his Vlog on YouTube. I share several responses from the Read More

Today’s podcast features a conversation with Jeff Bradbury of the TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network (@teachercast and TeacherCast.net). Jeff also serves as the Coordinator of Instructional Technology at Westwood Regional School District where he works with teachers and students to meaningfully integrate technology into the classroom. We discuss the idea of podcasting in education by looking Read More

Brian Seymour (@seymoureducate) is the Directory of Instructional Technology for the Pickerington Local School District (PLSD) in Pickerington, OH. PLSD is the largest district in the state of Ohio to have a 1:1 initiative providing a device for every student. On this episodes of the show, we discuss the program, preparation, and an upcoming Google Read More

No guest needed today. I look at a few different topics and things on my mind. First is a look at Microsoft Teams and the role it can play in a classroom. Second I’ll be talking about the case of the missing iPads in Kanawha County, WV (WSAZ News story – http://tinyurl.com/KCiPads). I’m going to Read More

Today’s episode of The Randall Black Show features John Shawler. John Shawler is the Band Director at Winfield Middle School in Winfield, WV. He recently presented on Tech Tools in the Music Classroom at the West Virginia Statewide Technology Conference and shares some of that same information on this episode. Also on today’s episode, several Read More

Dr. Michael Martirano (@mjmsuper on Twitter) was the 30th West Virginia State Superintendent of Schools and currently the Interim Superintendent for Howard County Public Schools System in Maryland. On the podcast, Dr. Martirano looks back at his time serving in the State of West Virginia and looks forward to what his future might hold. Randall Read More

Today’s episode features the #BowTieTechGuys, Kevin Sears and Luke Swiney, Technology Coordinators/Coaches for Jackson County Schools, taking part in a discuss on what effective PD should look like. They share the way in which they have begun to build their own PD offerings to better meet the needs of the teachers, and in turn the Read More

Today’s episode looks back at a recent blog posting of advice for new TIS candidates. I also highlight some upcoming events and talk about one of those events, #EdCampLdrOh, with one of the organizers, Mr. Bobby Dodd, To close I share an explanation of why the show is being produced and how the Amazon Associates Read More

Bill Smith is currently serving as the Superintendent of Cabell County Schools in Huntington, WV. Mr. Smith has served in that capacity since 2005, but will be retiring after June 30, 2017. In this episode we discuss his 40+ year career with Cabell County Schools, the achievements he feels occurred under his leadership, and his Read More

Rich Senatore works as a Technology Integration Specialist at Mylan Park and Suncrest Elementary Schools. Rich has background as a physical education teacher but has expanded and included technology topics such as coding, drones, Chromebooks, G-Suite for Education, and others into his area of expertise for Monongalia County Schools. On this episode we discuss his Read More

Dr. Randall Sampson immigrated to the United States from South Africa and has worked to build a career as a strong influencer in education. He was a classroom teacher and administrator in the schools in, and around, the Columbus, OH area before founding Liberty Leadership Development and has become an incredible proponent for personalized professional Read More

Mark Moore is a Coordinator in the Office of Technology Integration and Support at the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE). Mark is one of the primary professional development folks related to technology for WVDE goes all over the state of WV to help prepare teachers to integrate tools and products in their classrooms to Read More

Derek Oldfield is the Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Wirt County High School in Elizabeth, WV. Derek is a former classroom teacher of mathematics and a strong proponent of Personalized PD and being a Connected Educator. Derek and I discuss his journey through education and the #WVEdChat. This Episode’s Links & Info: Derek Oldfield Derek’s Blog Read More

The Randall Black Show will be launching very soon. This trailer it to let everyone know about the show and what to expect from it as I progress in this endeavor. Keep coming back to https://randallblackshow.com for more details and episodes as they begin to roll out on on May 15, 2017.