Erin McCandless- Instructional Designer

Erin McCandless

Prather, CA/San Mateo, CA 94403  ●erinmmccandless@gmail.com ●www.linkedin.com/in/erinmmccandless

Curriculum Development ~ e-Learning Technology ~ Instructional Designer 

Tech Savvy Professional Development Leader with 10+ years' experience writing, designing and delivering school wide, Professional Development trainings to teachers and administrators in grades K-8. Led program adoptions for 5 grades, supporting alignment with core curriculum, textbooks, and assessments, resulting academic fluency and scaffolding. Educational Leadership supported by Master of Science in Instructional Design earned in 2023, specializing in needs analysis and innovative learning approaches to accommodate all ages and learning styles, combined with Professional Development Trainings in 3 states. 

Core Expertise

Creative Problem-Solving ▪ Adult Learning Styles ▪ Interpersonal Skills ▪ Coaching/Mentoring ▪ Webinars ▪ Online Training ▪ Teamwork ▪ Organization/Attention to Detail ▪ Written/Verbal Communication ▪ Cross-Functional Collaboration ▪ Multitasking/Prioritizing ▪ Team Leadership ▪ Time Management ▪ Data Collection/Analysis ▪ Curriculum Design ▪ ADDIE Model ▪ Graphic Organizer/ Visual Aids Creator

Professional Experience

Elementary School Teacher (K-8), Pine Ridge Elementary School District ▪ Auberry, CA             Aug 2006 - July 2024

• Developed and implemented various professional development (PD) trainings for teachers, administrators, and support staff on writing, creativity, and best use for core curriculum and technology in the classroom, positively impacting 97 students in grades K-8.
• Provided guidance and support to colleagues in a mentoring capacity, ensuring confidentiality and fostering a trusting professional environment.
• Established 25 formative and summative evaluations to gather data and feedback on learner performance and stakeholder interest.
• Developed and implemented a technology integration training program for educators, leveraging tools like EdPuzzleand Nearpod, which enhanced the digital literacy of 200+ learners.
• Presented trainings to educators, providing guidance and training on program adoption and providing demonstrations on how to align technology software with district adopted textbooks to students in grades K, 3, 6, 7, and 8
• Selected to deliver large scale presentations to Board of Directors and administrators consisting of 8 diverse stakeholders on K-8 educational development including technology, curriculum, assessment, and research.
• Wrote and facilitated a 5-week comprehensive professional development program for teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators, instructing them on how to guide students in creating and gathering evidence for e-portfolios. Delivered technology product demonstrations and created supporting materials. 
• Collaborated with a team of teachers and administrators to develop a comprehensive virtual school program for 110 students and their families, migrating curricula to online platform and virtual classrooms. 
• Committed to proactively learn e-learning systems, research options, and design solutions to support time-sensitive turnaround to virtual delivery. 96% of families successfully met the school's learning criteria.
• Empowered 200+ learners by providing core curriculum, technology, and assessment adoptions to accommodate diverse learning styles. 
• Worked as a team to effectively communicate with 90 stakeholders (parents and administration), write lessons, materials, assessments, and curriculum, maintain schedules, and collaborate to complete research projects. 
• Served as technology coordinator, attended team meetings, troubleshot, managed technology funds, developed digital curricula, and implemented technology for 200+ students' use.
• Project Manager and Educational Leader, overseeing and serving as lead language arts teacher, student council advisor, spelling bee coordinator, and intervention specialist. 
• Participated in 32 professional learning conferences across 3 states.
• Developed and taught 8 STEM projects, that integrated technology for adult use.
• Designed new report cards for 6th to 8th grades, aimed at effectively communicating Common Core standards mastery to parents.

Elementary School Teacher (K-4), Sanger Unified School District ▪ Sanger, CA                        February 1993-June 2006

• Taught 200+ students from kindergarten to grade 4, including Special Day Class K-3, creating customized lesson plans for diverse groups of learners. Earned Certificate of Completion of Staff Development to teach English as second language. 
• Sat on 4 textbook adoption committees, piloted 6 writing, reading, math, science, and social studies programs for 4 classes, sharing results with 6 teachers. 
• Worked with 6 teachers to successfully teach new piloted programs to 120 students with 100% adoption rate and 80% improvement rate within the first year.
• Developed approach to create fully inclusive classroom and serve diverse student populations and cultures. Diversity facilitated creative problem-solving and enhanced productivity when collaborating across faculty to design solutions. 
• Resolved learning gaps existing among English Language Development (ELD) students. By end of school year, 75% of the English learners proactively spoke English and the other 25% ELD students were scoring as high as native English speakers.
• Incorporated technology to create visual aids for 300 students, successfully enhancing learning practices while making it interesting and easier.
• Raised second-grade students from 75% reading far below grade level to 10% within one school year. Made reading fun, facilitating very popular "stop, drop, and read" at unscheduled times of day. Modeled reading methods such as paired reading, choral reading, and listening to audio books.

Education & Credentials

Master of Science (MS), Instructional Design | 2023 | Northcentral University, Scottsdale, AZ

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Liberal Studies / Multiple Subject Teaching Credential | California State University, Fresno

Certifications

Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE)

Certificate of Completion of Staff Development to teach ELD students

Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum (ERWC)

Beginning Teacher Support Assessment (BTSA) Mentor/Coach

First Aid/Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) /Automatic External Defibrillator (AED)

IT Toolbox

MS Office (Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word) ● Adobe InDesign ● Articulate 360 ● Canva ● Audacity ● Zoom Meetings ● Glogster |● Teacher Tube ● YouTube ● Padlet ● Evernote ● Wordle ● Google Slides, Docs, Classroom, Sheets, Meet, Sites, Sheets, and Forms ● Rise ● Storyline  

Professional Development 

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) ● Computer-Users Educators (CUE) Conference ● Social Emotional Learning/Suicide Prevention ● Literacy Connection ● Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE) Model ● Newsela ● Adult e-learning ● Product Management ● California English Language Development Test (CELDT)