Buchanan named district’s coordinator of instructional technology

Carmen Buchanan is coordinator of instructional technology for Madison City Schools. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Carmen Buchanan is working in a new district position as coordinator of instructional technology for Madison City Schools.

To join the Central Office staff, she is leaving James Clemens High School as its assistant principal responsible for instruction and fine arts.

In this new job, Buchanan will work “as a bridge between instruction and technology. My duties include professional development, planning in-service and collaboration days and partnering with the media specialists.”

With teachers and administrators, she will plan methods for incorporating the use of technology to meet students’ needs.

From an instructional viewpoint, Buchanan sees a need for school populations to use technology “to connect and collaborate with others across the globe. Our students are using technology without even thinking twice about it.”

She cited a quote that relates to her philosophy for assisting faculties and staff: “Pedagogy is the driver, technology is the accelerator, and passion is the gas.”

Twenty-one years ago, her career in education started at Liberty Middle School as a language arts, social science and performing arts teacher. “I moved into the instructional partner position at Liberty for two years,” Buchanan said.

She then served as Liberty’s assistant principal for one year and that role at James Clemens last year.

Buchanan has been published in “Educational Leadership” professional journal and the book, “A+ Teaching: 180 Ways to Enhance Your Success as a Teacher.” She was a charter member for the Alabama Instructional Partner Pilot.

In 2010, Buchanan was named Madison’s “Secondary Teacher of the Year” and Liberty’s “Teacher of the Year” for 2010, 2004 and 1998. She co-founded EdCamp for the Madison district.

At Athens State University, Buchanan earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a middle-school endorsement in language arts and social studies. She received a master’s degree in instructional leadership at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Her husband Craig works as a real estate broker for Ben Porter Real Estate. Their sons are Taylor, a junior at James Clemens, and Braylon, a first-grader at Mill Creek Elementary School.