Stuffed Animals to Silicon Valley

What happens when a dedicated classroom teacher decides to expand her impact through educational technology? Stephanie Ranieri's story offers a compelling glimpse into the evolving landscape of education careers and the diverse paths educators can take to influence learning.

Website: spotlight4success.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book
Company.
I'm Devin Pintosi, your host.
We are here at ASCD ISTE insunny San Antonio, texas, really
enjoying a wonderful conference.
You are here on day two.
I am here and joined byStephanie Ranieri.
Stephanie Ranieri joins us fromNew Jersey.
She went to Liberty CornerSchools as a teacher and she has

(00:31):
some insights to share today.
Thank you for joining us today,stephanie.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Thank you for having me.
It's a great day to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Wonderful.
Can you tell me a bit aboutwhat brings you here to ISTE?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
So I am a former third-grade teacher.
I've been teaching for fiveyears, started as a fifth grade
teacher, now in third grade, butalso recently decided to want
to switch over to the ed techindustry.
So I thought this would be agreat opportunity for me to come
explore the different companies, learn about their missions and
also just meet some fellowteachers.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
That is wonderful.
And so what brought that changeto say I want to go into ed
tech or go into technology?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
So the best thing about being a teacher is the
impact that we make on thestudents.
So I wanted to take that to abroader scale and I wanted to
make a larger impact oneducators, students and I love
working with teachers.
That's why I got my master's ined leadership to be able to
have that interaction withteachers.
That's why I got my master's ined leadership to be able to
have that interaction withteachers, so just want to make a

(01:30):
bigger impact.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Oh, that's so great.
Can you tell us a bit aboutyour educational journey, why
you chose to become a teacher?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
So I was one of those people when they were very
younger, one of those kids thatwould have a school in their
basement.
They would teach their stuffedanimals and their friends, and
it was just really a passion ofmine.
I loved the teaching aspect ofit.
When I got to college again, itwas something that I was very
interested and passionate aboutdoing and my journey started at

(01:58):
Liberty Corner School.
And again, I've been teachingfor five years and I wanted to
again make a bigger impact.
So I went for my educationleadership master degree to
hopefully become a principal orsupervisor.
But right now I think I'm justheaded in a different direction.
I want to work more on thecorporate side.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Oh, that's awesome.
Thank you for watchingSpotlight for Success.
I am Devin Pintosi, chiefOperating Officer of American
Book Company.
We are located here in ourheadquarters in Woodstock,
georgia.
All of our materials areprinted in USA.
We have course books, e-booksand online testing in grades K

(02:41):
through 12, in mathematics, ela,science and social studies.
These materials are alldesigned to help students
achieve higher scores on theirstate-specific high-stakes
assessments.
We guarantee score improvement.
You can get free samples of ourmaterials either in print or in

(03:03):
electronic formats atabck12.com.
We look forward to hearing fromyou.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
And can you tell us a bit about.
Do you have a special memoryfrom when you were in the
classroom working with thekiddos?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
A lot of memories it's hard to pinpoint one.
I think the best part of beinga teacher again is just the
impact that you're making on thestudents.
And third grade is such apivotal year because students
are coming in and you knowthey're still young and they
don't have too much independence.
But I think that theirtransformation from the

(03:39):
beginning of the year to the endof the year is so large.
They become their progress inmath and reading and all the
subjects just improve.
So I think, just again seeingthe end result of how the
students progressed, just theimpact.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
That is so awesome.
And, stephanie, can you let usknow?
Okay, so you're making thetransition into the ed tech
space, wanting to work on thecorporate side, mm-hmm.
And so how can people contactyou if they're interested in
speaking with you into the edtech?

Speaker 2 (04:10):
space, wanting to work on the corporate side, and
so how can people contact you ifthey're interested in speaking
with you?
If you would like to speak withme, you can contact me in my
email.
It's StephanieS-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E dot Ranieri,
R-A-N-I-E-R-I 97 at gmailcom.
Or you can look me up onLinkedIn.
Stephanie Ranieri, I would bethere, ready to chat with you.
I'm excited to get to know somepeople.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah it's a free to reach out.
Thank you so much Again.
Stephanie Ranieri, joining usas a very recent teacher that is
now exploring the ed techindustry, we're so happy to have
you here today.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
So happy to be here.
Thank you so much, thank you.