LinkedUp: Breaking Boundaries in Education

Rich Czyz started his career as a fifth grade teacher, has served as a Basic Skills teacher, instructional coach, elementary supervisor and Director of Curriculum & Instruction. Rich is currently the Proud Principal of the Yardville Elementary School in NJ and Co-Founder of FourOClockFaculty.com, as well as author of The Four O’Clock Faculty: A ROGUE Guide To Revolutionizing Professional Development and The Secret Sauce: Essential Ingredients for Exceptional Teaching. Rich is passionate about engaging all stakeholders in meaningful and relevant learning opportunities. Rich can be found at @RACzyz on Twitter

Schools turn to Classroom Champions for inspiring Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum and mentorship programs to improve engagement, build growth mindsets, and inspire positive classroom culture. Grace Dafoe share with us the terrific program!  For as long as she can remember, Grace has called herself an athlete. First it was figure skating, and from then on, she discovered the sport of skeleton at the age of 18. Now entering her 10th season, and her second on Canada’s National Team, she has competed in over 30 international races, including one World Junior Championship and she has won two North America’s Cup races.   Her time in sport led her to pursue a Degree in Health & Physical Education at Mount Royal University in her hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was here she applied her lifelong experience as an athlete to her classroom studies. Upon graduation, Grace shifted her focus to sport, while searching for an organization that fit her athlete lifestyle.   Enter Classroom Champions! After completing an athlete internship, designed to introduce athletes to the inner workings of the organization, she knew she had to stay involved, and encouraged her to join the team full time. Grace works directly with the teachers and athletes who are implementing the Classroom Champions Curriculum, and loves the feel good moments she sees daily!   Outside of sport & work, Grace loves a good cup of coffee, spending time with her dog Ivy & exploring the city she calls home, Calgary. To find out more about Classroom Champions, visit https://www.classroomchampions.org.

Recognized as a transformational leader in education, Dr. Jennifer Williams has dedicated herself for 25 years to the field of education through her roles as an education activist, professor, school administrator, literacy specialist, and classroom teacher. She speaks, writes, and consults on practices that develop global perspectives and social good through creative uses of technology, and her research interests include innovations in teaching and learning, equity and diversity in education, and social action. As an educator and author of the ISTE book, Teach Boldly: Using Edtech for Social Good, she champions teachers to use educational technology purposefully for the planet and its people. She is a professor at Saint Leo University, the co-founder of TeachSDGs and the non-profit organization Take Action Global, and the President of the ISTE Education Leaders PLN Board of Directors. She is currently a consultant for Adobe for Education, Empatico, and the U.S. Department of State and is working with ISTE and Routledge on two new books. Notable recognitions include being named Top 30 for K12 IT Educators (2020), #8 for Top Academics in STEM (2018), and #9 Top Campaigners in Sustainability (2018). Jennifer is inspired everyday by teachers and students who are catalysts for making the world a better place! Connect with Jennifer on Twitter at @JenWilliamsEdu.

Teach Boldly link: https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Boldly-Using-Edtech-Social/dp/1564847942

United Nations 17 Goals link: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Liz Hamor (she/her) will say that her work isn’t just her passion, it’s her calling. After earning a Masters degree in ESOL and Bilingual education from Kansas State University, she taught in low-income schools in Emporia, KS, and San Antonio, TX. She continually advocated for her students and their families who faced barriers with education, language and income, before starting her family with her husband and moving to Las Vegas. After a brief two-year stint in Las Vegas where she loved the weather and outdoor adventures but missed friendlier people, her small family jumped at an opportunity to move back to Kansas in 2008.  Once back in Wichita, Liz became an “accidental” ministry leader, co-founding a moms’ group at her church that grew into a ministry, prepping her for the next path on her calling journey. In 2013 Liz co-founded GLSEN Greater Wichita (now GLSEN Kansas), a local chapter of a national organization that works to ensure all students feel safe, valued, and respected in K-12 schools regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression. After seven years of working diligently to ensure that Kansas schools are safer and more inclusive for ALL students (and taking years of Kansas Leadership Center courses) she decided to take a leap of faith and expand on the leadership coaching business she started in 2019. This Spring she is transitioning out of her Chapter Director role within GLSEN Kansas to focus on her leadership consulting business, Center of Daring. She’s excited about continuing her work with individuals and people from all sectors to empower and support folks ready to be courageous catalysts in their communities.  She currently lives in a Wichita suburb with her spouse, two kids, and doggo, and volunteers on various site councils, committees, and coalitions. "

Keith R. Krueger is CEO of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a nonprofit organization that serves as the voice of K-12 school system technology leaders in North America.  CoSN’s mission is empowering educational leaders to leverage technology to realize engaging learning environments.    He was selected by Ed Tech for it’s 2019 30 K-12 IT influencers.  In 2016 Technology & Learning selected him as one of the “big 10” most influential people in ed tech, and the Center for Digital Education identified him as a Top 30 Technologist/Transformer/Trailblazer.  In 2008 he was selected by eSchool News as one of ten people who have had a profound impact on educational technology over the last decade.  In 2016 he received a Special Recognition award from the Council of Great City Schools.  He has serves on many Advisory Boards including the Friday Institute at NC State University, the Public Policy Advisory Council for the American Library Association, Ed Tech Digest, as well as previously the Education Committee of the National Park System and Board Member of the National Coalition on Technology in Education & Training (NCTET).  He serves as a co-principal investigator of the Driving K-12 Innovation series.  Keith has a global reputation as a key thought leader and has organized senior level U.S. delegations to visit Australia, Asia, Europe and South America to examine best practice in ICT in education.  In fall of 2015, Keith conducted a Work Study on Digital Equity as an Associate in Practice at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.  As a Certified Association Executive, he has extensive background in nonprofit management and has a Masters from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Evan Whitehead is a seasoned educator that has worked in special education, career and technology education and administration.  In this podcast we discuss the three B’s Evan speaks about often:  Balance, Boundaries and Breaks. Evan connects these 3 B’s to teacher wellness, transitioning back to school in the pandemic, and the servant mindset . Connect with Evan on Twitter @EvanWhitehead00 or email him @ [email protected]

Hans Appel is an educator, speaker, and writer deeply committed to inspiring the whole child.  He’s the author of, Award Winning Culture: Building School-Wide Intentionality and Action Through Character, Excellence, and Community.  Additionally, he’s the Director of Culture for the Teach Better Team, Co-host of the Award Winning Culture podcast, and the Co-Creator of Award Winning Culture.   He’s worked as a counselor in the Richland School District for the past 19 years and at Enterprise Middle School since it opened.  He’s passionate about school culture, servant leadership, and kindness.  In 2018, EMS was awarded the ASCD Whole Child Award for the State of Washington and the Global “Class Act Award” for creating a culture of excellence through kindness, service, and empathy.  Additionally, they were selected as a finalist in the 2019 PBIS Film Festival and took top prize in the Community, Parents, and Staff category.    In 2018, Hans launched his own blog about School Culture and rolled out a student-led leadership podcast called Award Winning Culture: Hosted by Wildcat Nation, which can be subscribed, listened or reviewed on iTunes Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, PodBean, and Libsyn.    Hans’ blogs have appeared on DisruptED TV magazine, CharacterStrong, Teach Better, AIMS Network, and PBIS Rewards.  He’s written social-emotional lessons for CharacterStrong.  Furthermore, he has been featured on numerous educational podcasts speaking his brand of school culture into existence.    He’s been a contributing writer on four educational books: “Teachers Deserve It,” “ Define Your WHY: Own Your Story So You Can Live and Learn On Purpose,” “A Teacher’s Reflective Impact Journal,” and “ALL IN: Taking a Gamble in Education.”

Naaz Modan is an educational reporter. Modan spends her time talking to school leaders across the country and looking at research in order to deternine the key trends that will affect educarion in 2021.  Modan talks about 8 trends that are affecting schools, ranging from teacher and student retentuon to new models of education.  A look at the Biden administration and policies to look for in the coming years concludes this insightful discussion.   

Modan's article on these critical trends can be found at https://www.k12dive.com/news/8-k-12-trends-to-watch-in-2021/592006/

George Couros is an international speaker, professor, social media enthusiast and author. He is most famous for his book, The Innovator's Mindset.  In this podcast George discusses many topics related to education from developing that innovator's mindset, to leadership, to discussing his prior school leadership experiences.  Listeners always walk away with new ideas and thinking about the importance of innovation in schools after listening to George Courcous speak.

Over time, our brains are biologically hardwired with neural pathways and synaptic connections that largely determine our behavior. Once those pathways are formed our brains are pathological about following them. This is both good news, efficiency, and bad news because it actively inhibits new ideas and solutions. Real creativity, real problem solving, always comes from exploring the unknown and the uncertain.  So, how do you go from the way things are… to the way things need to be? Welcome to Thinknado. A Thinknado is the freeing of your brain to act like a tornado to pull random ideas in and spin them around and upside down. Tornadoes do not edit what is right or wrong for a tornado – they just whirl and grab at everything in their path. Thinknados are the same in that they throw ideas – crazy ideas, wrong ideas together pulling them into their vortex, spinning them back to the ground. Co-Founder of Thinknado, designer, entrepreneur and imaginative advocate for a better world, John is recognized for innovative investigations into the practice and understanding of design and leadership in the “design for good” movement. John is founding creative director of Pando Populus and a member of the board of directors and co-author of the book Think Wrong. The thing that John Bielenberg designs best is designers. He doesn’t think much of design as an end in itself, but rather sees its value in its impact on people, and the world. He’s always had a tendency to do something he calls “thinking wrong,” which means, “Whatever you’re supposed to think, or make, or say—do your best to do the opposite, and see where it takes you.”   Co-Founder Thinknado, entrepreneur, connector  of dots and people. Brandt  Williams is a strategist with a knack for transforming ideas into successful ventures. He is a member of the board of directors of Pando Populus. As a serial entrepreneur, Brandt has served as founder/co-founder/CEO for early stage ventures and well as an intrapreneur and CMO for Fortune 500 companies. Brandt cares most about mentoring people and teams to find their true purpose.   Deeply invested in building a better future, Brandt strives to find new paths for creativity, sustainable livelihoods, and fulfillment. Much of his early career was spent at Microsoft, Apple and a handful of early stage companies as a co-founder and senior leader. Galvanized by the entrepreneurial rigor and having built and sold a couple of companies, Brandt joined a Fortune 500 company as an intrepreneur where he was able to launch several successful ventures.    After several years of working at making businesses bigger he pointed his efforts to people. Brandt has been a guest lecturer at Haas Business School, UC Berkeley, St. Mary's College and an Adjunct Professor at California College of the Arts in San Francisco in both Graduate and Undergraduate levels, teaching in several divisions. Brandt is currently an Adjunct Professor at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana teaching design thinking and entrepreneurship.  “Teaching gives a fresh outlook on how best to communicate to motivate. Nothing is more gratifying seeing second career students in grad school find their passion in the process of discovery” -Brandt.    His real success is in building impactful teams and help individuals unlock their creativity to build better: businesses, careers, communities and lives.