Dianne is seen here on stage at the Microsoft Global Forum in Seattle in April, 2015. She was part of a group challenge in which participants paired up with those from other countries and tasked with creating a global project involving their schools and students. Dianne’s group won the Overall Group Challenge Prize.[/caption]

by Len Lear 

In June of 2014, Dianne Krause, Instructional Technology Specialist for the Wissahickon School District, was quoted in a Montgomery Newspapers article about an award she had received for teaching excellence: “If you ask anybody, I’m one of the hardest working people in the building, and I work all hours. I work weekends; I work as much as I need to get the job done. I’m not one of those 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. people.”

Apparently someone was noticing. Dianne was invited by President Obama to attend a celebration at the White House earlier this week (May 3) to recognize and thank the National Teacher of the Year, State Teachers of the Year and great educators from across the country. Dianne was one of only 300 educators nationwide invited to this prestigious event.

Dianne was nominated for this honor by Robyn Hrivnatz, Microsoft's Senior Manager of U.S. Education, who has worked closely with Dianne as part of the US Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert program. One thing that apparently has not changed is the number of hours Dianne works every week. “I basically work 24/7 on various things,” she told us last week.

In addition to her high school teaching, Dianne helps her husband run an online role-playing game Medievia.com, for which she does the website and marketing. She also teaches online courses for Eduspire, is a personal health and fitness coach with Beachbody, consults with Microsoft and does trainings around the country for Microsoft in Education. So how many hours does she actually work each week? “All of them!” she insists.

Dianne, 43, went to West Chester East High School and Lock Haven University, where she majored in French, was a member of the Honors Program for all four years and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1995. She proceeded to earn an M.S. in Applied Technology from Chestnut Hill College with a perfect 4.0 grade point average in 2003 and an Instructional Technology Specialist Certification in 2010.

She started teaching French at Wissahickon High School in 1997 but switched to being an Instructional Technology Specialist in 2008. And she taught for the Instructional Technology Graduate program at CHC after for several years after her graduation.

But what was the hardest thing Dianne ever had to do? “Travel to France as a 19-year-old, all by myself, with no other U.S. students going with me, to Mulhouse, France, to study at the Universite de Haute Alsace for the academic year. Although I had taken French in high school and my freshman year of college, I was nowhere near fluent!

“I had to get from the airport, in a taxi, to the dorm in the pouring rain at 10 at night. I had to speak French to the concierge (I asked if he spoke English – no!), carry my luggage up four flights of steps alone (enough for nine months!) and get settled in. Then I had to figure out how to use the pay phones to call home.

“Then I had to get a bank account and get myself settled for the year. Then, of course, I had to make friends and attend the university, where everything was 100% in French!  Although that was MANY years ago now, I still believe that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done but yet one of the most life-changing experiences!”

With Dianne’s advanced technology skills, she could probably write her own ticket in the corporate world. Does she foresee a time when she will leave education for the corporate world?

“I don’t know, to be honest,” she said. “I love being an educator, I love working for Wissahickon and especially Wissahickon Middle School. I truly, honestly LOVE MY JOB.  I don’t think many people can say that, but I can … I have had opportunities to leave the school district and work for Microsoft to be a Microsoft Innovative Educator Fellow, but that would be a life of travelling for training and things, and I don’t want that right now while my son is still young. In the future, who knows?”

In the very limited spare time this workaholic has, she likes to hike, garden, play outside with her family/dogs, read all sorts of fiction, play tennis, practice yoga and spend time on social media (facebook.com/diannekrause; Twitter: @diannekrause)

If Dianne could meet and spend time with anyone on earth, who would it be? “There was recently an event in Dubai where the top 10 global educators were recognized, and the winner of those 10 received $1 million! I would just like to sit with them, speak with them and pick their brains about global education, technology in education and all things education in general!”

Dianne lives in Blue Bell with her husband, Michael Krause Sr., 51;  son, Benjamin, 12; stepdaughter, Jennifer, and stepson, Michael Jr.

For more information, visit diannekrause.com