Edpuzzle Blog
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Illustration by Edpuzzle Staff

As teachers, there’s one passion that most of us share: curling up with a good book to read. But with the avalanche of books published on the topic of education every year, it can be hard to know where to start and which books are actually worth your precious free time.

We’ve taken the guesswork out of it with our book recommendations, and our first selection is none other than this year’s Tech with Heart: Leveraging Technology to Empower Student Voice, Ease Anxiety, & Create Compassionate Classrooms by edtech legend, Stacey Roshan.

Read on to find out why our Edpuzzle staff thinks that Tech with Heart is a must-read.

Who Should Read Tech with Heart

The book’s synopsis states that “Tech with Heart shows you how to use edtech tools to humanize modern learning and help all learners to thrive.” It’s perfect for:

  • Veteran teachers who have little to no experience with technology in the classroom
  • College students studying education
  • Tech-savvy teachers searching for a more meaningful way to engage their students through technology
  • Any teacher who’s looking for ways to give their introverted students a voice

If you work in the world of education or are a parent or student, chances are you’ll enjoy reading Tech with Heart.

Who is author Stacey Roshan?

To put all of Stacey’s accolades into context, it’s interesting to first take a look at where she came from.

As a student, Stacey had always loved math and ended up in a magnet school for math, science and computer science after elementary school. An introvert herself, dealing with the anxiety of being a student in an accelerated math program set her on a trajectory to one day become the type of teacher she would have liked to have had when she was in school.

She writes, “When I began teaching, I promised myself that I would bring compassion to my classroom. I wanted to let students know that I cared about them as individuals. I wanted my classroom to feel like play, and I wanted students to leave my class loving math.”

Her passion to give each student a voice is a clear theme throughout the book. Today, she’s the director of innovation and educational technology at Bullis School in Maryland, where she puts her passion into practice daily.

All this is to say that she’s not just someone who talks the talk, but has also walked the walk!

What is Tech with Heart about?

In essence, the book’s subtitle tells it all: Leveraging Technology to Empower Student Voice, Easy Anxiety, & Create Compassionate Classrooms. Here you can see Stacey talking about it for herself:

You’ll gain insight into the why behind Stacey’s methodology, as well as get a deeply personal look at her struggles with perfectionism that every teacher will be able to relate to on some level.

For teachers who are interested in the flipped classroom, there’s a chapter on flipping your class for the first time, and another on how recording her own teaching videos turned out to be a game-changer.

Because of Stacey’s extensive teaching experience, reading her book feels like sitting down with one of your co-workers and listening to their experiences and advice over a cup of coffee. Highly readable and down-to-earth, this is the type of book it’s a pleasure to spend time with.

5 Takeaways from Tech with Heart

So what will you walk away with after reading Tech with Heart and why is it worth your time? Here are our top takeaways:

  1. A practical timeline for flipping your classroom over the years
  2. How using video as a vehicle for the flipped classroom will revolutionize your students’ learning
  3. Concrete examples of how to use Stacey’s tried and true tech tools: Edpuzzle, Flipgrid and Peardeck
  4. Student testimonials proving their positive response to technology in the classroom
  5. Insider tips on how to use edtech to personalize learning and empathize with students

We love the book because of its broad appeal for both tech newbies and technophobes alike!

So, without giving everything away, we hope we’ve inspired you to check out Stacey’s book, especially if you use technology or would like to use it with your students (and, of course, we think you should!).

As Stacey writes in her chapter on pedagogy, “These tools allow me to provide a level of personalization and customization that simply was not possible less than five years ago. But it’s not so much about the tools as it is about the why. Technology has allowed me to get to know my students as individuals, deepen the relationships I can build, hear from each and every student in the classroom, and be the most efficient teacher I can be.”

If that doesn’t inspire you to read Tech with Heart, we don’t know what will!