About:

Spiro Bolos is a 27-year veteran of the classroom, having taught a wide range of courses in Social Studies at New Trier High School (Winnetka, IL) and other institutions. He holds a Master's Degree in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

As a lead sponsor of the Metropolitan Community Project, he and his students partnered with Kelvyn Park High School to lobby successfully for the passage of Senate Bill 1947, a historic piece of legislation that instituted a needs-based formula for funding Illinois schools in 2018.

In 2014, he was elected President of the New Trier High School Association, where he served a three-year term, introducing interest-based bargaining for the most recent contract negotiations. In 2019, he reprised his role as Association President, helping lead the membership through the early months of the pandemic by ensuring that a memo of understanding was quickly negotiated during the period of remote learning. 

In the past he has served as a Technology Staff Developer for both multimedia applications and content-specific curricular technology integration. As an Affiliated Faculty member of the Media Education Lab at the University of Rhode Island's Harrington School of Communication and Media, he has worked extensively with copyright and fair use issues. In that capacity, he testified at the Library of Congress where he succeeded in securing a special exemption to the law regarding the educational use of film clips. 

He has presented at multiple conferences at the state and national level, and was named one of the Top 25 presenters at the CUE Conference in Palm Springs. Finally, he is a Google Certified Innovator, originally one of 50 educators selected to attend a workshop at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA. His specialities include: Copyright and Fair Use, Presentation Design, Blogging, iPhoneography, Social Media, and Multimedia.




Past Presentations:
Past Presentations:
  • ISTE Conference workshop: "Leading the Way on Copyright Clarity" co-presented with Kristin Hokanson and Renee Hobbs in Philadelphia, PA (June 26, 2011)
  • D219 Tech Conference in Skokie, IL: "Google Apps for Educators", "PowerPoint KILLS: Effective Teacher and Student Presentations", "Copyright Clarity", and "Blogging for the Classroom" (April 9, 2011)
  • ISTE Webinar: "Copyright Clarity and Fair Use for Digital Learning", co-presented with Kristin Hokanson and Renee Hobbs (April 5, 2011)
  • learncentral webinar: "Copyright Clarity", co-presented with Kristin Hokanson (March 14, 2011)
  • CASE (Council for American Studies Education) Conference: "Writing Out Loud: Joining the American Conversation Through Blogs" and "TV Tokenism: The Portrayal of Minorities in Network Dramas", co-presented with John S. O'Connor in Chicago, IL (February 18, 2011)
  • "Copyright Clarity" for pre-service teachers at Lake Forest College, IL (January, 2011)
  • Fall CUE 2010: "Copyright and Fair Use" in Napa, CA (November, 2010)
  • Copyright Clarity: "Train-the-Trainers Workshop" at Temple University's Media Education Lab, Philadelphia, PA (August, 2010)
  • Virginia Society for Technology in Education, "Copyright Clarity" workshop in Virginia Beach, VA (August, 2010)
  • NICE (Northern Illinois Computing Educators)
  • ICE (Illinois Computing Educators)
  • IETC (Illinois Education and Technology Conference)
  • CUE (Computer-Using Educators)
  • NCSS (National Council for the Social Studies) 


REVIEWS:
"Perhaps, the highlight of the entire conference was witnessing Spiro Bolos' presentation on Google Apps. Unlike the first presenter that I saw on the same subject, Spiro delivered a...very refined, and well organized presentation that focused on teacher outcomes and how the Google tool helped achieve these outcomes."
— David Chan, "Reflections from the IL-ED Tech Conference"


Anonymous comments from the Spring 2010 CUE Conference in Palm Springs (Copyright Presentation):
"By far the most informative and easily understood presentation on copyright! Would definitely make every effort to hear him again. Well Done!"

"I've been to a number of sessions/workshops on copyright and this was by far the more understandable, best put together workshop I've been to on this topic. I would highly recommend having this presenter come back to a future CUE."

"Excellent content and dynamic presenter! I hope Spiro will come back...Loved his style and design. CUE should film him in the future."

"Very well organized, professionally presented and packed with information. This was an excellent session."
Anonymous comments from Virginia Beach Public Schools (Copyright Presentation):
"Not only was he highly qualified and brought us many new ideas to digest but he actually 'listened' to every comment made by us and expounded... A great teacher.... often workshops just deliver info... and do not take from the audience nor are they able to expound...Very enlightening.... excellent varied approaches... the time passed way too quickly... and that's not often said in a conference... He left me wanting more..."

"The material was timely and presented by someone who is actually 'in the trenches' facing the same issues on a day to day basis like us, rather than from someone who has left the classroom and is on the 'conference circuit.'" 

"It was one of the best lectures I have heard on copyright in a long time." 
 "[T]he Technology infused presentation was just CAPTIVATING." 
"Mr. Spiro Bolos was obviously very well learned about the subject. It was very good that he is from the classroom, not a lawyer or administrator."
Anonymous comments from the Fall 2010 CUE Conference in Napa (Copyright Presentation):
"It is always great to go to a presentation by articulate, passionate, expert presenter. This presentation was exactly the information I hoped it would. Spiro presented clearly, efficiently, and was engaging. I wish more teachers would learn about this!"
"Wow! Very interesting! I'm so glad I came to this one! Well done for the amount of time."
"The presenter was excellent and brought great resources to the table and provided insight to a difficult subject. Wow! What a great presenter!"



Disclaimer

Although this blog is authored by New Trier High School (NTHS) staff, the audience is global and the views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of NTHS as an institution.

Copyright and Fair Use

This site contains images and excerpts the use of which have not been pre-authorized. This material is made available for the purpose of analysis and critique, as well as to advance the understanding of technology in education. 
The ‘fair use’ of such material is provided for under U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with U.S. Code Title 17, Section 107, material on this site (along with credit links and/or attributions to original sources) is viewable for educational and intellectual purposes. 
If you are interested in using any copyrighted material from this site for any reason that goes beyond ‘fair use,’ you must first obtain permission from the copyright owner.