Fran Siracusa
 Educational Technologist and Consultant

Bio Fran Siracusa believes in the power of connections. She is a passionate educator who shares the power of technology to make a difference in the lives of learners and teachers worldwide. As the co-founder of Calliope Global, Fran advocates for students by facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity in the classroom; likewise, through conference workshops and sessions, she advocates for excellence in professional practice by engaging teachers in quality professional growth and development. An innovative teacher, Fran coordinates actual and digital global projects with partnering classrooms across the globe to co-create and produce authentic digital artifacts where students think and work creatively, then implement tech tools to demonstrate quality communication in studied target languages.  
 
 Fran connects international classrooms by teaching through global projects, travel, and professional development. Taking to heart our goal to “connect, create, inspire,” Fran devotes efforts to the Conquistadors Connect experience, an intensive assimilation program for students from Spain and the USA. She affords students with the authentic opportunity to become successful “networked persons,” who alongside global partners will become active, compassionate and lifelong learners, well-equipped with 21st Century skills to learn from and interact with their connected world in responsible ways.
 
 In her 20+year career in Education in previous positions at private Tampa Bay area high, middle and elementary schools, she served as International Programs CoDirector, Educational Technologist, World Languages chairperson and Spanish teacher. Fran holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish with a Minor in Japanese and International Business, as well as a M.Ed. degree in Educational Technology. Fran speaks, blogs and consults on Educational Technology and World Language teaching and learning; she is a synergist for global collaboration and the use of iPad apps and web 2.0 tools in the K-12th grade World Language, English, and STEM classrooms. She has presented most recently at K12 Online Conference, FFLA, ECG, SCOLT, FETC, FLENEF, ISTE, ACTFL, FCIS, EdSurge Summit and GEC. Fran is also the co-founder of EdCamp Tampa Bay, and happily promotes educational excellence by serving as an Edutopia blogger, a Kahoot! Founding Ambassador, an organizer for EdCamp Global Classrooms, and an educator voice for Makkajai.