Carl Hooker: Artificial Intelligence, Personal Branding, Creative PD for Engaging Audiences

In this episode of the Jeff Bradbury Show Podcast, Jeff welcomes author, speaker, and digital learning guru Carl Hooker on the program to discuss how he creates dynamic professional learning opportunities that are creative, engaging, and involve a bit of pop culture. If you are a new listener to TeacherCast, we would love to hear from you.  Please visit our Contact Page and let us know how we can help you today!

In This Episode …

• Who is Carl Hooker?
• How to create opportunities for Professional Learning Opportunitities
• How to choose what sessions topics to propose for conferences
• How to name your presentation session
• Weekday PD vs Weekend PD
• ISTE Presentations vs Edcamp Presentations vs Staff PD Presentations
• Favorite Ice Breakers to begin PD
• Presenting as Improv vs being fully prepared and scripted

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• Jeff Bradbury | @JeffBradbury
• TeacherCast | @TeacherCast

About our Guest:

Carl has been an educator for over 25 years. He has held a variety of positions in both multiple districts, from 1st grade teacher to Director of Innovation & Digital Learning.  He’s a father of three girls, Sophia, Lauren, and Caroline and a wonderful, understanding wife Renee, all of which play a large role in any presentations he gives or blogs & books he writes. As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning for the Eanes Independent School District he utilized his background in both education and technology to bring a unique vision to the district and its programs.  During his time in the position, he helped spearhead the LEAP (Learning and Engaging through Access and Personalization) which put 1:1 iPads into the hands of all K-12 students at Eanes. From his start as a teacher to district leadership, he’s always had one common belief – the kids need to drive their own learning. He realizes the challenges in our current educational institutions and meets them head on. His unique blend of educational background, technical expertise, and humor make him a successful driving force for this change. As a speaker and consultant, he brings this background as well as a wealth of practical tools and ideas that teachers can use in their classroom tomorrow. Carl has written 8 books including a 6-part book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset.  His book Ready, Set, FAIL! focuses on how we should embed risk-taking and failure as part of the creative process in the classroom. His latest book Learning Evolution is all about the new era of AI in the classroom. He speaks on a multitude of topics from thoughtful technology integration with mobile devices to strategies on how to utilize flexible furniture in the classroom. He also enjoys talking to students and parents in the community around the topic of digital wellness. Carl is also a podcast host for multiple podcasts including the ISTE Learning Unleashed podcast and is co-host with good friend Dr. Adam Phyall on the Future Ready Podcast called *Undisrupted*. Aside from his speaking and consulting work, Carl also works as an advisor for multiple Ed Tech companies. He’s also a national faculty member for the Future Ready Schools Initiative. He blogs regularly at his blog HookEDonInnovation.com and guest authors a regular blog on Tech & Learning and has written guest blogs for the Huffington Post and...