“My goal is to give ideas to teachers on how to make students work collaboratively and be digital citizens,” said Megan Carr, Carson’s newest School-Based Technology Specialist.

Ms. Carr has taught for 16 years. In her past years at Carson, she was a science and math teacher the Dream Team, Trailblazers, All-Stars, and Legacy teams.

After leaving Carson for a brief stint at Floris Elementary as their School-Based Technology Specialist, Mrs. Carr returned this year, excited to teach a new generation of Carson students about the joys and benefits of technology—as well as common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Mrs. Carr grew up in Herndon and attended Herndon Middle and Herndon High School. After graduating from James Madison University with a major in Psychology and a minor in Middle-Aged Education, Mrs. Carr traveled back to Herndon and started teaching math in Carson.

In middle school, math was her favorite subject, and stayed favorite until she took psychology in high school—she liked learning about how people worked, and that passion translated into her love of teaching and working with students.

Even though Mrs. Carr loves teaching, as time went on, she realized that technology was revolutionizing education, and she wanted to help teachers navigate this tricky new landscape.

“Early on, I didn’t think about technology that much, but I saw teachers using more and more of it and other subject areas doing it,” Mrs. Carr says, “and it just led me into that direction.”

That led Mrs. Carr to transfer to Floris Elementary as a School-Based Technology Specialist.

“While I missed Carson,” Mrs. Carr says, “I really enjoyed all the new experiences that Floris had in store.”

After an exciting year at Floris discovering new opportunities for technological education, Mrs. Carr heard that the old Carson Technology Specialist was retiring, and jumped on the opportunity to reconnect with her old school. Nowadays, she “offers more opportunities for students to collaborate with technology.”

“Mr. Hale does hardware—he fixes broken computers. I work with the teachers, show them new tools, help with training, and come in when they want me to do lessons,” says Mrs. Carr with a smile.

“Just because I left the classroom doesn’t mean I didn’t want to work with students,” says Mrs. Carr. She said she loves working with students and other teachers. She works with classes and shows how to use different computer programs. She said she is really enjoying her time back at Carson.

“I like this job more,” she says. Whether it’s going into their classes and doing lessons or just helping kids in my office, it’s really fun.”