I was one of three externs that worked with NCCE – an EdTech nonprofit that had us writing blog posts, newsletter content, and designing social media posts for their yearly communication with their readership and community. We also helped the Conference Program Director review proposals for the 2027 conference presenter sessions.

The goals were to promote, educate, and advocate for education technology, best first instruction practices, and artificial intelligence use within the education sector. We did this through experts (teachers) writing front facing social media, blog, and newsletter content to help be the voice of NCCE through the rest of 2026 and into 2027.

The intended outcome is that the voice of NCCE remains the voice of the classroom teacher. This is done expertly through the extern-NCCE connection and tasks assigned to us as externs and classroom experts alike.

I have always been in language arts and in foreign language education positions and I had to learn a lot about education technology before I was able to have anything to say (that was worth reading!). I spent the first month of my externship almost exclusively researching the tips, tricks, and tools out there in the EdTech world.
I was able to learn about many skills, resources, and strategies that I had forgotten about or never tried before! It was eye opening and helped me have a larger perspective on my own profession. My career knowledge was impacted positively and my teaching style has been morphed into something that is more exploratory with new technology.