Sherry Crofut
Independent Education Consultant
Long Bio
Sherry was fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mother until her three sons were of
school age. She had spent many hours volunteering in their school, including substitute
teaching. She felt called to go back to college and receive her teaching degree. Sherry
spent 13 years in the classroom. During that time she achieved her Master’s Degree
and National Board Certification. In 2007, she became a Milken recipient.
For 11 years, Sherry taught at North Middle School in Rapid City, SD. She was
constantly trying to find new ways to engage her students and help them find success.
She was frequently frustrated when she couldn’t reach students or realized they were
so far behind and she had no way to help them.
Sherry became an education consultant in South Dakota and Wyoming for seven years.
It was during this time that she read the book, “Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning,”
and met the authors. She realized the source of her frustration in the classroom and has
made it her mission to encourage schools to a Customized Learning approach to
education. Through this work, she helped manage a $4 million grant to help 19 schools
along the way to customized learning.
In 2017, Sherry became an independent education consultant. She does a considerable
amount of work with Discovery Education and still works to push the concept of
Customized Learning through keynotes and workshops. She teaches master’s classes
at the University of Sioux Falls in Customized Learning.
She has presented at the South Dakota TIE Conference, WYTECC, AdvancED, the
Mass Customized Learning Summit, Podstock, and ISTE. She currently also presents
with the Ignite My Future team, a collaboration between Discovery Education and Tata
Consultancy Service.
Sherry is passionate about technology integration and truly believe education should
reflect teaching our 21st century students with the 21st century skills they are going to
need in this world. She believes that customized/personalized learning is not only
"inevitable"; but essential to improving the education system and giving our students the best education possible!
school age. She had spent many hours volunteering in their school, including substitute
teaching. She felt called to go back to college and receive her teaching degree. Sherry
spent 13 years in the classroom. During that time she achieved her Master’s Degree
and National Board Certification. In 2007, she became a Milken recipient.
For 11 years, Sherry taught at North Middle School in Rapid City, SD. She was
constantly trying to find new ways to engage her students and help them find success.
She was frequently frustrated when she couldn’t reach students or realized they were
so far behind and she had no way to help them.
Sherry became an education consultant in South Dakota and Wyoming for seven years.
It was during this time that she read the book, “Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning,”
and met the authors. She realized the source of her frustration in the classroom and has
made it her mission to encourage schools to a Customized Learning approach to
education. Through this work, she helped manage a $4 million grant to help 19 schools
along the way to customized learning.
In 2017, Sherry became an independent education consultant. She does a considerable
amount of work with Discovery Education and still works to push the concept of
Customized Learning through keynotes and workshops. She teaches master’s classes
at the University of Sioux Falls in Customized Learning.
She has presented at the South Dakota TIE Conference, WYTECC, AdvancED, the
Mass Customized Learning Summit, Podstock, and ISTE. She currently also presents
with the Ignite My Future team, a collaboration between Discovery Education and Tata
Consultancy Service.
Sherry is passionate about technology integration and truly believe education should
reflect teaching our 21st century students with the 21st century skills they are going to
need in this world. She believes that customized/personalized learning is not only
"inevitable"; but essential to improving the education system and giving our students the best education possible!
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Keynotes
Customized Learning - The step beyond Personalized
You've heard of personalized learning, but what is customized learning and why do we need to talk about it? Personalized learning is fabulous, but, like many other ideas from our recent past, is it going to last? It takes a systematic change to make it sustainable.
Gaga for Google
With so many tech tools available, why use Google? Let's start with the fact that it is free. It also has a solid history, proving it is sustainable and isn't looking to go anywhere any time soon. It has mail, classroom, documents, spreadsheets, slides, calendars, and so much more. And did I mention it's free?
Computational Thinking
We know many of our students are not gaining enough higher order thinking skills. There are so many things that need to be covered in school and teachers feel like this is one more thing on their plate. But computation thinking skills are not an extra, they can be simply added into the current teaching! Computational thinking can lead to coding
and that's exciting, too!
Cyberbullying and Social Networking
Our students are navigating the online world and, in many cases, they do it on their own. As teachers, we are often forbidden for friending our kids online. Parents sometimes don't know how to lead their children through this new environment (and sometimes handle this world incorrectly themselves!)
If They Say Creativity One More Time...
Yes, those four C's are important - Creativity, Collaborations, Critical Thinking, and Communication. Teachers have been hearing a LOT of this. You understand and you try, but you only have so many ours in the day. But if we are not incorporating these, education is not as meaningful and students often lose their passion for learning.
You've heard of personalized learning, but what is customized learning and why do we need to talk about it? Personalized learning is fabulous, but, like many other ideas from our recent past, is it going to last? It takes a systematic change to make it sustainable.
Gaga for Google
With so many tech tools available, why use Google? Let's start with the fact that it is free. It also has a solid history, proving it is sustainable and isn't looking to go anywhere any time soon. It has mail, classroom, documents, spreadsheets, slides, calendars, and so much more. And did I mention it's free?
Computational Thinking
We know many of our students are not gaining enough higher order thinking skills. There are so many things that need to be covered in school and teachers feel like this is one more thing on their plate. But computation thinking skills are not an extra, they can be simply added into the current teaching! Computational thinking can lead to coding
and that's exciting, too!
Cyberbullying and Social Networking
Our students are navigating the online world and, in many cases, they do it on their own. As teachers, we are often forbidden for friending our kids online. Parents sometimes don't know how to lead their children through this new environment (and sometimes handle this world incorrectly themselves!)
If They Say Creativity One More Time...
Yes, those four C's are important - Creativity, Collaborations, Critical Thinking, and Communication. Teachers have been hearing a LOT of this. You understand and you try, but you only have so many ours in the day. But if we are not incorporating these, education is not as meaningful and students often lose their passion for learning.
Workshops
Making Personalized/Customized Learning a Reality
Is personalized or customized learning (P/CL) just the new buzzword or an agent for positive change? For P/CL to be effective, districts must have a customizable road map for it to be embraced by teachers, administrators, and community. District planning teams wrestle with structural changes and “weight-bearing walls”, while teachers
implement changes in pedagogy and student learning via professional learning thatactually is a P/CL experience: technology-oriented, self-paced, authentic choice, etc.
This session will examine the possibilities of bringing lasting change to student-centered learning by coordinating the dual roles of district planning and professional development.
Free Digital Resources
How does having technology in the classroom change the pedagogy? There are so many sites with digital content available. We will explore a number of sites/apps that bring curriculum to your device for free!
Cool Tools and Apps
Whether you are using iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, or other mobile devices, there are so many resources to choose from. And we all know there isn't enough time in the day to research all of them! This session will include iPad and web resources that Sherry is currently excited about!
Flipped Classroom
Discover the "flipped classroom" and how it can move you to a customized learning approach. Learn how to increase collaboration while engaging students, increase productivity and one-to-one time with students in the classroom, and decrease student confusion and frustration. Evaluate the technology tools used to flip a classroom, but
more importantly, how are you going to use that classroom time you have now freed up?
Project-Based Learning
We know we need to tie learning to real-world situations. Project-based learning is also often referred to as problem-based or passion-based and it makes learning easy. We will discuss class projects vs. individual projects. We will explore that standards that are covered and discuss assessment of these projects.
Infographics in Your Classroom
We've all seen those cute infographics in the newspaper and online. How can you use these in the classroom? They are a quick and easy way for you to deliver facts to students. They are also a fun way for students to do research and put it together for assessment. Come see how to make and use these in your classroom.
Mindsets in the Classroom
Carol Dweck, Mary Cay Ricci, and others have done much work in this area. We know that to make students more responsible for their own learning, we have to shift their thinking. We will discuss ways to do that and activities that can be utilized in your
classroom right away.
Chrome Extensions, Apps, and Add-Ons
Google Chrome is a powerful tool and many of us are not reaching even a small percent of it's power. I will show you some of my favorite extensions, apps, and Google Apps add-ons. This will be a hands-on session and will work best with a laptop or Chromebook.
Self-Paced Learning
We know that not all students learn at the same pace or in the same way. With technology, we have the opportunity to allow students to move at a pace that makes sense for them (while still encouraging them to keep to a teacher pace) and we have many resources to give them choice in their learning. We will discuss flipping the classroom, online curriculum resources, and project-based learning.
Google in the Classroom
G Suite for Education offers Mail, Drive, Classroom, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Sites, and Calendar. These tools are free and, best of all, easy to use! Let's talk about how they make your classroom collaborative and productive.
Is personalized or customized learning (P/CL) just the new buzzword or an agent for positive change? For P/CL to be effective, districts must have a customizable road map for it to be embraced by teachers, administrators, and community. District planning teams wrestle with structural changes and “weight-bearing walls”, while teachers
implement changes in pedagogy and student learning via professional learning thatactually is a P/CL experience: technology-oriented, self-paced, authentic choice, etc.
This session will examine the possibilities of bringing lasting change to student-centered learning by coordinating the dual roles of district planning and professional development.
Free Digital Resources
How does having technology in the classroom change the pedagogy? There are so many sites with digital content available. We will explore a number of sites/apps that bring curriculum to your device for free!
Cool Tools and Apps
Whether you are using iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, or other mobile devices, there are so many resources to choose from. And we all know there isn't enough time in the day to research all of them! This session will include iPad and web resources that Sherry is currently excited about!
Flipped Classroom
Discover the "flipped classroom" and how it can move you to a customized learning approach. Learn how to increase collaboration while engaging students, increase productivity and one-to-one time with students in the classroom, and decrease student confusion and frustration. Evaluate the technology tools used to flip a classroom, but
more importantly, how are you going to use that classroom time you have now freed up?
Project-Based Learning
We know we need to tie learning to real-world situations. Project-based learning is also often referred to as problem-based or passion-based and it makes learning easy. We will discuss class projects vs. individual projects. We will explore that standards that are covered and discuss assessment of these projects.
Infographics in Your Classroom
We've all seen those cute infographics in the newspaper and online. How can you use these in the classroom? They are a quick and easy way for you to deliver facts to students. They are also a fun way for students to do research and put it together for assessment. Come see how to make and use these in your classroom.
Mindsets in the Classroom
Carol Dweck, Mary Cay Ricci, and others have done much work in this area. We know that to make students more responsible for their own learning, we have to shift their thinking. We will discuss ways to do that and activities that can be utilized in your
classroom right away.
Chrome Extensions, Apps, and Add-Ons
Google Chrome is a powerful tool and many of us are not reaching even a small percent of it's power. I will show you some of my favorite extensions, apps, and Google Apps add-ons. This will be a hands-on session and will work best with a laptop or Chromebook.
Self-Paced Learning
We know that not all students learn at the same pace or in the same way. With technology, we have the opportunity to allow students to move at a pace that makes sense for them (while still encouraging them to keep to a teacher pace) and we have many resources to give them choice in their learning. We will discuss flipping the classroom, online curriculum resources, and project-based learning.
Google in the Classroom
G Suite for Education offers Mail, Drive, Classroom, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Sites, and Calendar. These tools are free and, best of all, easy to use! Let's talk about how they make your classroom collaborative and productive.
What They Are Saying About Me
"Sherry just rocks! She's an energetic, passionate, and fun presenter - but don't let that energy fool you - she also really knows her stuff, and she'll tap into her deep well of creativity to help you reach your goals. Sherry is truly an expert in personalized learning, and her passion is evident in her presentations and consulting work. She's not afraid to tell you what she thinks, but she always has the best interest of students as her focus. Sherry knows educational technology. She was the first person I knew to get a Google glass (remember those?) and she's always aware of the latest trends and how they might be used to enhance learning."
Kris Baldwin
"One of the things that has always impressed me the most is Sherry's ability to meet the needs of a variety of workshop participants. Even though I was more technology savvy than other participants she found things that I could learn about and use in my classroom. Thanks to her I have had the opportunity to improve my skill set and continue to grow as a teacher and technology user."
Rosanne Riley
Kris Baldwin
"One of the things that has always impressed me the most is Sherry's ability to meet the needs of a variety of workshop participants. Even though I was more technology savvy than other participants she found things that I could learn about and use in my classroom. Thanks to her I have had the opportunity to improve my skill set and continue to grow as a teacher and technology user."
Rosanne Riley
My Personal Website
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