The South by Southwest Education Conference and Festival (or as it’s known SXSW EDU) is one of the premiere national events focused on innovation in learning. I’ve heard about this legendary gathering for years, but never had the opportunity to attend. My team at KQED has put forward three killer sessions that we want to …
In my social media feed, I saw a recommendation that I watch the documentary Pressure Cooker, now streaming on Amazon Prime. The film tells the stories of three inner-city Black teens entering a prestigious culinary arts competition in Philadelphia, and their tough but loving teacher Wilma Stephenson. Here’s the trailer for the film. First off, …
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 …
I finished up my first week at KQED, as the new Online Learning Manager for KQED Teach. It’s been a really fantastic start. My team has been incredibly welcoming and helpful, getting me oriented to our work and processes, taking me out to lunches and coffees, and answering my many, many questions. I spent my …
I came across this powerful conversation with Esra’a Al Shafei, a young activist, blogger, and entrepreneur from Bahrain. In 2017, she talked about her work in the Middle East fighting for democracy and the rights of oppressed minorities and LGBTQ individuals during a plenary session at the Digital Media and Learning conference. Such a powerful and …
In this ice-breaker, the group has to pick between two contrasting objects, based on their initial gut feeling, and then explain their choice. It’s a fun and active way for people to get to know each other and say something unique about themselves to the group. And it helps people to find commonalities among other …
I Am An Oak Tree is an ice-breaker adapted from an improv game. It’s designed to get people relating to each other, acting creatively, and creating mini-narratives. Activity Youth stand in a circle. Ask one person to stands in the middle and proclaim “I am an oak tree,” while making their body into a tree …
Today is a two-fer in my extended week sharing my favorite ice-breakers. I’m going to share with you two games I like to have students play a lot: “Wah” and “Name Wah.” Wah “Wah” is an quick and energizing game that is about coordination, observation, and timing that lots of student programs use. “Wah” Instructions …
“Robot Factory” is a fun team-building ice-breaker that gets kids creative juices flowing. It scales well for groups of different sizes. It involves no supplies or preparation. I’ve found it engaging for middle school to high school age youth. The objective of Robot Factory is for each team to work together to communicate what their …
Zoom In, Zoom Out is an ice-breaker designed to help students to explore how good stories engage the reader by focusing on tiny details and by telling universal truths. We’ve used it to good effect to get our students creative juices flowing at the beginning of our youth programs. The ice-breaker requires no supplies or …