Last week I had the unique opportunity of teaching two back-to-back workshops for two very different audiences: one was a webinar for 80+ teachers from around the country and the other was an in-person class for 25 roller skaters in a park. The interesting thing is that both workshops were very similar in structure. This …
I’m excited to be leading a session at the National Association for Media Literacy Education virtual conference on July 12 at 12:15pm PT. I’ll be facilitating a conversation with three educators that have led inspiring student media projects across various media formats. You’ll learn how English language learners can gain confidence and skills through audio …
I read this really interesting conversation with Georgetown professor Jeanine Turner on how smartphones have fundamentally changed the dynamic of what students “being present” means, even when the phone is turned off. This section in particular gave me pause: I absolutely believe that every teacher, every presenter in a business situation, if you want people’s attention on you, you …
This past weekend I attended the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) virtual conference as a speaker and participant, along with 500+ other smart and fascinating folks. NAMLE is the place to be if you work in the field of media literacy pedagogy, and I was so pleased I got to attend my first …
After two and a half years of the pandemic, I was so excited to go to my first real education conference for KQED, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in New Orleans, Louisiana at the end of June. ISTE is one of the largest edtech conventions in the country, bringing together industry leaders, …
Thirteen years ago I was a new educator at Global Kids in New York City. I was co-leading an ambitious virtual summer camp called “I Dig Zambia” in collaboration with the Field Museum of Chicago. Along with all the challenges of putting on a science camp with 20+ students in two locations, I had been …
In November, my manager Randy Depew and I gave a lightning talk for the virtual Open Education Conference. Our topic was “KQED Media Academy: Designing Open PD that is Open to All Educators”. It was a great opportunity for us to talk about how we have designed our KQED Media Academy courses to be as …
Today I was reflecting on all the different causes and issues I have devoted my career to over the past three decades or so. On the one hand, they seem pretty disparate and distinct. On the other hand, I can see the links that connect them to each other, and how one organically led to …
This blog post by Maarten van Doorn on education really hit home for me today. van Doorn writes about how the educational system has made learning into a specific set of rote actions designed to pass a specific test, in order to get to the “next level” of your education, and eventually your career. He …
Here’s the bad news about imposter syndrome: it doesn’t get better the older you get. In fact, it can get worse. My first professional job was as a policy analyst on transnational financial institutions for a think tank on Capitol Hill. I was fresh out of college and I had no background in macro-economics. But …