Who Is Coffee Nancy?
I am an Instructional Technology Coach at Beverly Hills High School, part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District, located in Los Angeles County, California. It is my privilege to collaborate with teachers, helping them integrate technology into their lessons in a meaningful way. While I am passionate about technology in education, I don’t believe in using technology for technology’s sake. Both teachers and students should be using it, but there needs to be firm pedagogical reasoning behind it.
I am also one of the hosts of the TLC Ninja podcast. We put out two 15 minute shows twice a month because “ain’t nobody got time for more than that.”
This site was created for two reasons. First, as a place where I could share technologies and best practices with my fellow educators and second, as a reflective space for myself where people could also get to know me. I welcome your feedback.
Why Coffee Nancy?
Many people have asked why I am known as Coffee Nancy. Well, the username I created when I first signed up for a Twitter account had a dozen characters, and two of them were underscores. People tended to leave them out or put them in the wrong place. Even if they remembered them, typing them on mobile devices wasn’t pretty.
A new Twitter handle was clearly needed. It had to be short, memorable, and easy to spell. My last name is none of those, so I couldn’t use that. Finding something that went with Nancy wasn’t very easy. There are quite a few Nancys (Nancies?) on Twitter, so many names I would have liked were already taken. I was going back and forth with a friend of mine, considering different possibilities, and she came up with @CoffeeNancy. It was perfect. I have loved espresso since I first tasted it at 18 in Italy. In addition, many people believe I have caffeine running through my veins. I don’t, but I can’t help it if I have a tendency to jump up and down when I get excited. Once I came up with the tagline “Stimulating Education Innovation,” I knew I had found my true name, the one that reflects who I really am, or at least, who I aspire to be.
Experience
- Instructional Technology Coach since 2012
- Technology teacher, 8 years
- BA in Italian and Special Fields (French), UCLA
- Member, Phi Beta Kappa Society
- Diplôme de Traducteur, English/Italian/French, Université de Génève, Geneva, Switzerland
- Master of Arts, Italian, UCLA
- Master of Education, specialization in Educational Technology, National University, La Jolla, California
- Innovative Educator Advanced Studies Certificate (now called Digital Innovator) obtained through CUE and Fresno Pacific University
- ISTE Certified Educator
- Google Certified Innovator
- Google Certified Trainer
- Google Certified Coach
- Google Educator, Levels 1 & 2
- Leading Edge Certified Online and Blended Teacher
- CUE Rockstar faculty
- CUE Lead Learner
- PLAYDATE L.A. Founder
- Edcamp organizer (EdcampVC, EdcampLAN)
- Better Together CA Edcamp organizer
- Common Sense Education Ambassador
- Google Geo Teacher Institute
- CUE Social Media Champ
- Flipgrid Certified Educator
- Member of CUE LA
