Meet Rachelle Dené

Written By Pursue Persuade

I am an educator, consultant, author, attorney, and keynote speaker. I love the work that I do as a Consultant and as a Spanish and STEAM Emerging Technology Teacher at Riverview High School in Oakmont.

After graduating from Penn State with my Bachelor’s Degree in French and Secondary Education, I could not find a job just teaching French. I enrolled in a Spanish program at Seton Hill and took classes at Pitt while substitute teaching for three years.

While teaching full-time, I attended Duquesne’s School of Law evening program four nights per week for four years and earned my Juris Doctor Degree, and thankfully, passed the Bar Exam! I also have a Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology from Duquesne and I am currently pursuing a doctorate in instructional technology.

Through my LLC, ThriveinEDU, I work with edtech companies as a consultant and enjoy opportunities to work with educators and entrepreneurs from around the world. My passion is working with edtech startups and helping them to build their brand and make connections with schools and educators. I love writing and creating content and I am always eager to learn more.

My accomplishments

I am an ISTE Certified Educator. I served on the leadership team of the ISTE Teacher Education Network for six years. I served as Innovation Lead, President, and past-President. I also served on the leadership team for the ISTE Mobile Learning Network. I am an ISTE Community Leader and stay involved in professional learning networks.

I was named one of 150 Global Women Thought Leaders to Follow for 2022, and one of the K-12 IT Influencers for 2021. In 2017, I was selected as the 2017 Outstanding Teacher of the Year by PAECT (the Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communications in Technology, the PA affiliate of ISTE) and by the NSBA as one of the "20 to Watch" educators.

During the ISTE 2019 Conference, I received the Making IT Happen Award which is an internationally recognized award program that identifies and rewards educational technology leaders around the world for their commitment and innovation to education and the integration of technology. I received three Presidential Gold Awards for volunteer service to education, for having done more than 500 hours each year in 2018, 2019, and 2020. I received two silver awards and one bronze.

My Story

I am currently a student in the doctoral program for instructional technology. I am taking this course as an elective for the program because of my interest in social media and marketing for my consulting work. I also provide professional development for teachers and school districts.

My work ethic

When it comes to projects whether for school or for work, I try to keep myself very organized with a good workflow. I keep track of important tasks on a separate list and I have a weekly planner that I follow and include daily meetings and other tasks that I must get to. With all the areas that I'm involved in, I have found that I need to make sure that I am constantly working on something and making progress even if only a little each day.

When I decide on which tasks to work on first, I always look at the date for when something might be due, the amount of work and time that it will involve, and then tend to do what I call front load, as much as I can so that I am consistently working on different things, can come up with fresh ideas, be focused.

Although they say that you can't really multitask, I believe that I can and that I'm pretty good at it. I have a lot of different hacks that help me to accomplish a lot of different things.

Always learning as I go…Expect the unexpected and be flexible

As a result of the global pandemic, I've learned that you have to be flexible always and not be afraid to take risks, make mistakes, and definitely ask for help when needed. Tying into that it's also important to be connected and to have ways to communicate with others especially when we are separated by time and geographical boundaries.

It might surprise you that…

When people find out that I'm an attorney, they often wonder why I quit being an attorney to become a teacher however, it's the opposite. I had been teaching for several years and when getting my degree in Spanish from Pitt, I took a course in becoming a translator and had an interest in law. I decided to take the LSAT and apply to law school without telling anyone. While teaching full-time, I attended law school full-time and graduated and passed the Bar Exam in 2006.

It might also surprise you that…

I am an author and have written 7 of my own books and have contributed to 9 other books related to education.

I am also a blogger and podcaster and love learning.

It might really surprise you that…

I do manage to find time to sleep.

When it comes to this class…

I want to become better at what I do as an educator and a consultant.

  1. I am looking forward to learning more about SEO, especially with my work as a consultant.

  2. I am looking forward to enhancing some of the skills that I have in the area of social media and marketing so that I can better provide for my clients and also better manage my own personal accounts.

  3. I am excited to make new connections and learn and collaborate with members of the class to build our skills together.

 

What is one thing you’ve learned during the course of this global pandemic that you believe will help you later in life?

As a result of the global pandemic, I've learned that you have to always be flexible and not be afraid to take risks, make mistakes, and definitely ask for help when needed. Having connections and ways to communicate with others especially when we are separated by time and geographical boundaries is critical to our personal and professional growth.

We all need to make sure that we stay connected and check in on others often. We’ve learned how to leverage different spaces and technologies to make that possible.

““Make up your mind that no matter what comes your way, no matter how difficult, no matter how unfair, you will do more than simply survive. You will thrive in spite of it.”

”
— – Joel Osteen
 

Connect with Rachelle

Hope you will connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram Check out my blog, podcast and our Thrive o’clock shows!

 

Join my ThriveinEDU Community on Facebook! We go live on Fridays with guests and have a ton of fun too!

 

A recent discussion via the NewEdTech Classroom podcast about Transforming Language Lessons.

ThriveinEDU Podcast

Podcast

Where learning happens and random thoughts related to all things education are shared. Listen in each week as I talk about some of the emerging trends and topics in education.

This was a great chat about Twitter w/ friends   @jcorippo @acooktweet @SimplySuzy @John_MWalter.

“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience. ”
— Paolo Coelho
Pursue Persuade
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