Bill Selak Talks

Hear about my plans for ISTE20 Live, and how it’s unlike any other Annual ISTE Conference before. I also share a bit about my presentations that I’m preparing for the conference.

An old friend and an early tech mentor, Pat Fallis, died this past month. In this episode, I share my favorite memory of a bbq lunch from 2008, two laptops, and two lessons that have made me a better educator, a better leader, and a better human.

2020 is the year of podcasts… for me, at least. I’ve noticed a huge uptick in educator interest in podcasts, as well as many more ways to consume content (so many smart speakers!). I tend to undershare projects I’m working on, so this podcast aims to do just that. I’m really proud to part of part of the following 4 podcasts:

Bill Selak Talks

That’s this podcast! Thanks for listening. It’s been ten years. Crazy!

Hillbrook Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE)

Cohosted with Annie Makela, we share EduAwesome things happening at Hillbrook School. This is the fourth season, and we’re sharing out Annie’s work on social entrepreneurship. So exciting, and really important work! Subscribe here!

Heads Down, Two Thumbs Up

Cohosted with Carla Silver, we talk about movies that talk about schools. If there’s ever a podcast that will break into the mainstream and help me be a sellout, this is the one. I’m really proud of the interviews we’ve done so far. It’s also a blast to dig deep into movies that rock. Subscribe here on all the things!

ReMarks and Reflections

Our Head of School Mark Silver has a new podcast! It’s awesome seeing him taking a risk and starting up podcasting. Mark’s blog is extraordinary, and his podcast is on that path, too. I’m rarely (ever?) on this podcast, but I manage and engineer it. It’s a fun way to bring my expertise in without having to worry about creating more content. His blog and links to subscribe on all the things are at http://www.hillbrook.us/.

In this episode, I talk with Annie Makela, Founding Director of The Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Hillbrook School. As promised, lots of links and EduAwesome resources:

* Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship on Facebook* @scott_center_soc_ent on Instagram* Annie Makela contact: email and Twitter (@anniemakela) * Hillbrook CTE podcast on Apple Podcasts, or playable on hillbrookcte.org* United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (The UN SDGs!)* Rodecaster Pro podcast production studio (So rad!!)

In this episode, I talk about trends in ed tech for the 2019-2020 and share my professional goals for the year. Spoiler alert… here are the goals:

* Complete and occupy The Hub!* Advance diversity, equity, and inclusion work. * Design high quality parent education—continue leading parent conversations around technology and students.* CAIS self study (school accreditation) * Continue to upgrade and fine tune Hillbrook’s technology infrastructure.* I’m the Safety Coordinator! Work with Margaret (CFO) to complete and implement recommendations from security audit.

http://billselak.com/podcastupload/bst065-tech-director-goals.m4a

In this episode, I talk about what a makerspace needs. Prompted by a question on Twitter, I talk for an unusually long time (33 minutes!) about the needs of a makerspace. Spoiler alert: it’s more about the mindset than the tools. Also, fair warning: I was walking around Hillbrook School looking at our own spaces on a windy day. You’ll likely hear some wind in the recording.

In this episode, I talk about the Beginner’s Mind vs. the Burden of Expertise. You’ll hear how I used to be a materials engineer, and how playing guitar is just like shooting a 3-pointer, sort of.

There has been a lot of press recently about the negative affects of screen time on kids. And by a lot, I mean a lot! See here, here, here, or here. And that’s just from the New York Times in the last two months. Dude. This episode focuses on what we should be focusing on […]

I sat down with Ann Lathrop, a founding member of CUE, during a reception at the Spring CUE Conference in March 2018. Ann talks about the foundings of CUE and ISTE (NECC back then), and talks about the early days of educational software. My favorite moment is hearing the origin story of Oregon Trail and […]

In episode 29, I talk about the 15th track from my old band Rising Decline’s album Socially Acceptable Disaster. In each episode, I try to connect lessons learned (and just fun stories) to educational technology. Lessons learned in this episode: the power of a deadline, how the immediacy of audio production should fundamentally change schools, and a […]