July 9, 2025
Tech Evolution in the Classroom
What happens when a teacher transitions from having zero technology to making it their entire curriculum? Nikki Barnickel shares her remarkable 20-year journey through the educational landscape, revealing powerful insights about what truly matters in the classroom.
Website: spotlight4success.com
00:00 - Welcome and introduction
00:35 - Technology and coding in education
01:52 - Teaching career journey
03:29 - ABC company introduction
04:15 - The heart of teaching
05:26 - Closing thoughts
WEBVTT
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Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company.
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I'm Devin Pintoza, your host.
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We are here at the Alabama Educational Technology Conference in sunny Mobile Alabama.
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I'm here with our special guest.
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This is Nikki Barnicle with St Paul's Episcopal School.
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Hi, how are you today?
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I'm great, wonderful.
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Great.
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So what brings you today to the Alabama ETC?
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My school sent me here to learn more about some different programs that I can implement in my computer lab class.
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My students work on laptops and I'm looking to add more coding into my curriculum.
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That's wonderful.
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So what are you seeing as some things that are effective in the classroom as far as coding and that sort?
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You mean things I've seen here today.
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Well, I spoke with Adventures and they have the same robots that I have in my classroom, except theirs are updated, and that was nice to know that the ones that I have could be replaced with a better, updated version of the same robot that I have.
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So we use an online tool to code the robots and so, anyways, I've spoke with them and that was really helpful.
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That's great, nikki, are you getting to incorporate AI into the coding?
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Not yet.
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Not yet.
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That's something I could probably learn today.
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Oh, okay.
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So yeah, that'll be exciting.
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I hear more and more discussions about that because I've traveled to some of the other ed tech conferences, so I hope, I hope they have some sessions on it, at least today.
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I will look into that.
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Yeah, so tell me a bit about your journey, your career.
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You've been an elementary school teacher for 20 years I've taught second, third, fourth and fifth.
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I currently teach third, fourth and fifth technology.
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I have gone from having zero technology in the classroom to that being my whole curriculum.
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So I feel like I have a lot of experience doing the best I can with no technology and then now having plenty of technology.
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Wow, so I understand you started your career in the public schools, is that right?
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I did.
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I taught for 10 years.
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Oh, okay, public school.
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Where did you teach?
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I taught in Phoenix City for one year.
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I taught fifth grade, and I taught in the Bayou, which is outside of Mobile, for nine years.
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Oh, wonderful.
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Thank you for watching Spotlight for Success.
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I am Devin Pintosi, chief Operating Officer of American Book Company.
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We are located here in our headquarters in Woodstock, georgia.
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All of our materials are printed in USA.
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We have course books, e-books and online testing in grades K-12 in mathematics, ela, science and social studies.
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These materials are all designed to help students achieve higher scores on their state-specific high-stakes assessments.
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We guarantee score improvement.
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You can get free samples of our materials either in print or in electronic formats at abck12.com.
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We look forward to hearing from you.
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And what can you tell us about?
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Do you have any special moments in the classroom?
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You're like this was so great.
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This is why I got into teaching.
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Yes, a lot of my students that I taught in the first 10 years come from a very low socioeconomic environment and when you have a student just really appreciate that you truly care about their success, that that means more to me than any any test score.
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You know any accolade just knowing that these students truly appreciate what you're doing for them oh, that is awesome.
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It's a.
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It's great.
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Uh, you know, that's the bedrock of education is the teachers believing in their students and that's so awesome that you did that for all of those years.
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And I understand, you made a journey switch.
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You moved into private schools, is that right?
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I do.
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I currently teach at St Paul's.
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This will be my ninth year already.
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Wow, it's hard to believe, but it's been a nice shift.
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Again, I went from having no technology, not even a laptop, at my last school to teaching how to navigate laptops, so it's been quite a shift.
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But it's been great.
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That's great.
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Is there anything else you would like to share with the Alabama EdTech community?
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You know, just remembering while we're here Like I said before, I think a lot of times these days test scores get in the way and lack of administration support gets in the way and just remembering why you're there, remembering that sometimes these students the only person that they see that day, that cares about them, is you, and unfortunately, I have a lot of experience with that.
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Not unfortunately, I feel like that makes me the teacher I am, but just remembering why you're there is huge.
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That is so awesome.
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The power of a teacher who cares and making great impacts with students.
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That's wonderful.
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Nikki Barnacle, it was a pleasure speaking with you today.
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Thank you for having me.
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And I hope you have a great conference.
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Thank you.
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