bradshreffAs I announced on Episode 75 of the Planning Period Podcast, I have started a Master’s Program in Educational Leadership. As part of this process, I will be posting to the blog many of my completed assignments, research papers, and thoughts about class.
This, is the first of those posts, my Professional Biography (school names have been removed for legal reasons).
Brad Shreffler is Digital Instruction Coach at a large public middle school in Central Florida. His primary job function is to assist teachers with the implementation of instructional technology in their courses as a part of the Digital One-To-One initiative. In this role, he creates interactive and participant-lead professional development based on teacher needs through a variety of differentiated sessions throughout the year, and one-on-one mentoring.
Brad began his career in education through the Alternative Certification path. He received his degree in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida. After a few years working in various business fields, he found himself called back to teaching, where he had started in college before a degree change. He became a substitute teacher and after a year was hired to teach 7th Grade English at a Title I middle school, where he spent four years. There, he was consistently at the top of the school in standardized test scores, both proficiency in student growth, and was passionate about incorporating any technology he could into his classroom.
After his fourth year, Mr. Shreffler followed his principal to a large high school where he taught 9th Grade English for a year. During that year, he was the English Department representative of the digital curriculum teacher leader group, who were tasked with helping plan for and roll out the beginning phases of the One-to-One program. He became the unofficial leader of the group of teachers, and after a few months realized that if the first year of digital implementation was going to be a success, it would require a coach dedicated to the program full-time. He approached his principal with the suggestion and they agreed to making Brad the Digital Instructional Coach.
During his three years in that roll, he took on more instructional training and mentoring responsibilities, ending his time there as Curriculum Resource Teacher, and a definite leader in the school for teacher support in all aspect.
In 2018, a different middle school principal Andrew Jackson, and Assistant Principal Nicole Mutters asked him to come to their school as the Digital Instruction Coach to help launch their one-to-one program in their first year.
Brad has dedicated himself to innovative instructional practices, supporting teachers in their practice, and reaching the needs of all students.