Rethinking Learning Podcast

Ross Cooper is the Elementary Principal of T. Baldwin Demarest Elementary School in the Old Tappan School District in New Jersey, co-author of Hacking Project Based Learning and was the Supervisor of Instructional Practice K-12 in the Salisbury Township School District in Allentown, PA at the time of the podcast.

I have been following Ross on Twitter for years and was lucky to meet with him face-to-face at EduCon last year.  Planning on meeting up again this year in Philadelphia. He along with Erin Murphy his co-author even hosted a twitter chat for Personalize Learning. Since our conversation, Ross became principal of a new school so that information is not in the podcast but we added it in this post. Below are some excerpts from the podcast.

 

Ross, tell me about you, your family, and your background

I grew up in Trumble, Connecticut and went through the Trumble school district which was a typical school system. For the most part, it wasn’t for me. I was one of those creative students who thought outside the box, but was not as good at school work. To me, it seemed like school only offered one way to learn, and I had to fit in the system. My grades were okay, but the school did not bring out my full potential.

One example is the way I hold my pencil which is a weird way but it works for me. Specialists worked with me to change the way I hold my pencil, but I could never change it. They kept telling me I would have problems when I got older. I didn’t. It’s a perfect metaphor. Instead of saying go with what works best for you, they spent way too much time trying to change how I hold a pencil They wanted me to be like everyone else.

In middle school, I decided I wanted to be a teacher, mostly because I wanted to do things differently for children and be the teacher that the young Ross needed. My friends know me as a huge foodie especially dry age steak and pizza preferably from Connecticut or New York. I also was thinking of going to culinary school. I ended up going into education where I did some special ed full-time for 6 months in 3rd grade, then 6 years in 4th grade. I became an assistant principal for a year then 3 years as a curriculum specialist in Allentown, PA [Note: Ross is now principal at T. Baldwin Demarest Elementary School in the Old Tappan School District, New Jersey].

 

Share why you and Erin decided to write your book.  

A lot of creative people are the outliers who have the confidence to do things their own way. They do not listen to the naysayers. You see educators who are outliers are writing more books than ever before because they use social media to share their writing immediately to attract people to their work. There are also more opportunities to publish with independent publishers. Project-based learning was a natural topic to write about. One of the lines I love is “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”  This is when you know a topic so well that you are able to communicate it in a very simple way so people can grasp it. Erin and I wanted to frame PBL in a simple way so it was very accessible so people would want to read it.

 

Structure and Design of the 10 Steps to PBL and Inquiry in the Classroom?

A lot of discussions around PBL are pie in the sky ideas like working on real-world problems or bringing in experts around a topic. We believed that could intimidate teachers. The work we do around PBL is using the Understanding by Design framework. Thinking about the different steps, we wanted to make the book as linear as possible. We structured the book around the 10 Hacks. Here are the first two hacks:

Hack #1: How can teachers develop a space that promotes risk-taking?

We start with building the culture in the classroom by bringing creativity. Culture is not an initiative.

Abbie Forbus is the Director of Teaching and Learning for KnowledgeWorks. She taught for 15 years in Lindsay Unified School District in California starting in K-2, then high school counselor and eventually became Dean of Culture. In her new position, Abbie works with learning communities across the country to coach them in redesigning learning structures toward personalized learning.

I have participated in several convenings with KnowledgeWorks since 2009 and learned about Abbie who is Director of Teaching and Learning and the Back to School Toolkit. I was excited to have a conversation with her and even met her in person at iNACOL. Below are excerpts from the podcast.

 

I read that you worked with Lindsay USD for 15 years. Can you share your experiences there and what it meant to be the Dean of Culture?

I taught K-2, then became a high school counselor, and eventually Dean of Culture of Lindsay USD. Lindsay implemented the Performance-based System during my high school counselor role. I remember going through transcripts of incoming freshmen from their 8th grade year and encountered three transcripts in a row that had a 0.0 GPA.  After starting PBS, where every learner was required to show mastery before being promoted, I was embarrassed about some of the things we had done in that traditional world…like a 9th grader failing English 9, then putting them in English 10 the next year…because they could take English 9 in their senior year when they had more room in their schedule.

My former Kindergarten Students at their HS graduation (Lindsay HS)

 

Your role as Director of Teaching and Learning for KnowledgeWorks?

I get to work with various learning communities around the country who are working to create personalized, competency-based learning environments. At KnowledgeWorks, we are passionate about helping educators create learning environments that truly enable success for every student.

One of my favorite parts of this work is that we work with districts who are ready for this work, and we personalize it for them. Our teaching and learning team jokes sometimes about the idea of slidedecks…since we tailor everything to the district, none of our professional developments are ever the same. We do a lot of research on our districts and get to know them really well which was one of my hopes coming in to this job.  I worked in a rural community for all those years and would love when we had visitors come learn from us. I wanted to know what was happening “out there!”  These districts we work with love their students and want to do what’s best for them.

We use what we call the 10 district conditions for scale, which are things like learning environments, data systems, instruction, student supports, learning environments, professional development, leadership development, curriculum, assessment systems, technology, and partnerships. We know that when a district transitions to Personalized, Competency-based Learning, you can’t just talk about curriculum in isolation, We help districts create a system-wide plan to achieving their vision, understand opportunities for growth and build capacity for sustainable alignment in all critical areas.

 

You had an integral part in developing the Back-to-School Toolkit from KnowledgeWorks. Can you share the toolkit?

This culture toolkit is something that should be used throughout the year. Culture is something that learning communities and environments have to re-establish every year, but we all know we don’t just work on culture in August. We’ve drawn on the experiences of school leaders: superintendents, principals, teacher leaders who have done this work of Personalized, Competency based learning.

http://www.knowledgeworks.

Eric is an author, innovator, and speaker. He is a Senior Fellow and Thought Leader on Digital Leadership with the International Center for Leadership in Education and before that he was Principal at New Milford High School in NJ. Eric formed the Pillars of Digital Leadership, a framework for all educators to initiate sustainable change to transform school cultures.

 

Eric is making change happen. The book he co-authored with Tom Murray, Learning Transformed, really opened my eyes about changing culture with the 8 keys. I”ve read most of Eric’s books and attended many of his keynotes. I have looked forward to talking to Eric and was so honored when he said yes to our conversation. Below are a few excerpts from the podcast along with resources and links:

 

Share about you, your family, and your background

I was born and raised in New Jersey, lived in New York for 13 years, and was a principal New Milford High School in New Jersey where we did some pretty amazing things. I was very fortunate to be surrounded by a dedicated staff and student body who was willing to embrace different and better to improve results. I played a small role to get everyone to see the part that they could play. I might have got the ball rolling in 2009, but the majority of my teachers didn’t change because they had to, they changed because they wanted to.When everyone in our community understood how we were changing, why were getting results along with the process and tools we used, it just became a celebratory culture of excellence.  Through that we had visitors from all over the world, and then I got asked to scale the work.

Right after moving to Houston

Now I am working with the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE) so my family and I moved from New York to Houston, Texas. We are now residing in Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD), an amazing school district. My son, Nicholas, is in middle school and my daughter, Bella, is in 5th grade where they are doing some incredible things transforming their learning.

 

Houston had a rough go being hit by Hurricane Harvey. It was a challenge, but we saw the best of people. We saw empathy, selflessness, and people rising up. I saw people organizing relief efforts using social media and on local Facebook pages. We were using push-to-talk applications sharing where demolition crews needed to go and where help was needed the most. I’ve used social media for my professional practice, but I saw it as a means for humanity to rise. My home was threatened but not  damaged so social media gave me the avenue to give back and help people in need. If it wasn’t for social media, we wouldn’t know where the help was or who needed help. We’ve rebounded and rebuilt. Thank goodness for the human spirit and technology to support each other when we needed it most. In fact, the experience helped my children look beyond their privilege.

[I’m including this article by Eric, Humanity’s Gift, written during the relief efforts about his and his family experience. Powerful!]

“Life can’t always be about what we do for ourselves. It has to be equally about what we do for others.”   Eric Sheninger

 

Change Begins by Believing in Ourselves

In our book, Learning Transformed, we say that “you” are the solution. The only way we can transform teaching and leadership if we all believe in our own abilities to initiate and sustain change. When we think about motivation and mindset, change begins with us.

Michael Mohammad, a high school science teacher in Elmbrook School District in Wisconsin, is passionate about personalizing learning for all learners. Mike writes a blog post, Mo Physics, Mo Problems about his own journey to personalize learning and building his PLN.

Mike shares what happens in his class on social media. I’ve been part of Mike’s PLN for several years and have enjoyed what he shares with the world. When he first learned about personalized learning, he decided to try it right away with his kids. I was pretty excited about the results and just wanted to learn more what his kids were doing in his class. So it just made sense to invite Mike to join me in a conversation. Below are excerpts from the podcast:

 

Can you share a little about you and your background? Why did you go into teaching?

I grew up in Wisconsin. I live outside of Milwaukee, WI with my wife and my new puppy who is a Golden Doodle named Georgia. My parents are immigrants from Pakistan and they pushed me to be a doctor. My mother never went to school and my father became a pediatrician. I actually did work that would take me down the path to become a lawyer or doctor. I always loved school, because it came easy. I was good at “doing school”, but enjoyed English because it allowed me to create and be imaginative. Science was sit and get, English was creative thinking. It was a big leap for me to push to become a teacher. I found in college that I really liked science education and it really made that connection to who I am. There was no push back once they saw I was happy. My parents are very happy with my career choice.

What are the best things about teaching science and high school for you?

I teach 10th through 12th grade Physics. The best thing about science is that you can really make it hands-on. It’s not that hard of a leap to make learning hands-on for students and it’s a great place for students to take risks. When we talk about engineering and designing, it is fantastic. I see the world through science. I am able to take risks without fear. This is science at its best: when we are challenged to think, do, and learn.

Why is it important to personalize learning? Can you share how you are creating a space for every learner?

Learners have passions and aspirations. I need to bridge their passions and aspirations to the content.

It comes down to my Why statement. When I think about when I was a kid doing things just to do them. I cannot tell you a single thing I did in my physics class in high school except the day we went to Great America. When I polled my students to see if they knew what physics was, 90% had no clue. I wanted my students to know how physics connects to their lives not just the world at large. I live physics and want them to experience it the same as I do. Students have to do hands-on with physics or it is not personal to them. Everyone is different. They need to talk about who they are.  It doesn’t matter what subject you teach or population, there is a spectrum of abilities and preferences. It is about removing the obstacles from learning and building the “why” for learning. Teaching learners to know how to learn for themselves rather than simply absorbing information.

What are some strategies you are using to build a culture of learning in your classes?

On the very first day, I ask students to build portfolios using Google Sites starting with a passion page. They are asked to find four videos that talk to you about who you are, your passions, what you want to do, etc. and embed those on the page. Then they write a paragraph about the videos and how they connect to you as a person. This post talks about the portfolio and how it changed over the last term.   

Krista Moroder is co-founder of NonQuixote, LLC, a video production company & brand storytelling agency. She is an educator, district-level administrator, and former project director on a storytelling & technology program at Digital Promise.

 

I met Krista in 2013 when she was at Kettle Moraine SD in Wisconsin and then followed her to Digital Promise. I’m really excited to find out more about her new venture in storytelling with her production company. I have to say I learned so much about Krista and even cried during the podcast. What an amazing story! Don’t miss Krista’s story and read excerpts from the post below from the podcast.

 

Can you share your story about you, where you grew up, and your family?

I grew up in Wisconsin in a big family and am a first-generation college student. My parents are very self-driven learners and set a great example for me. I spent a lot of time in the library and still check out books every time I want to learn something new.

 

What is your background in teaching and using technology?

This is kind of a strange story. I didn’t actually intend to become a teacher. I was constantly sick for the first few years of college. After a bone marrow biopsy, I found out that I don’t grow white blood cells on my own. It’s a random blood disorder called neutropenia sort of like the movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. If I get sick with a cold, it will turn into a life-threatening situation within days. I have a medical bracelet, carry a card with me, and give myself shots in the stomach twice a week to jumpstart white cell production in my bone marrow overnight.

Because of that, I had a very different college experience. My sole focus was getting a job so that I could immediately support my very expensive medical issues. In the last decade, I’ve been to the hospital hundreds of times, had four bone marrow biopsies, and given myself thousands of shots.  So the real reason I chose to become a teacher had absolutely nothing to do with me wanting to make an impact in education. I needed a stable job with really good health insurance. Despite all the craziness happening in politics, teaching is still pretty stable. And at the time, teachers in Wisconsin had some of the best benefits in the state.

The technology was added to the equation once I was in the actual classroom. I immediately started getting sick from touching student papers (germs can live up to three days). I started using technology to put a buffer between me and my students and ended up seeing a lot more benefits – like giving feedback throughout the whole writing process. I started sharing what I was learning, got an award from ISTE, eventually took a job as the Director of Education Technology for another school district, and ended up with an entire career that really spawned out of a very logical, unpassionate decision.

 

When and how did you get involved with Digital Promise?

I became interested in the idea of competency-based professional development while I was working in the Kettle Moraine School District in Wisconsin. My superintendent (and one of my mentors!) Pat Deklotz was all about challenging the status quo, and we agreed that it didn’t make sense to have hourly-based training for a teacher when we were trying to move away from seat-based time for kids. I did some research, saw that Digital Promise was planning on starting a micro-credentialing program, and realized that I could potentially help us shift that model by getting involved.

I was hired at Digital Promise as the project manager for the initial launch of micro-credentials, and Kettle Moraine became one of the biggest pilot users of that program. After we launched the micro-credentials program, I moved to another program called the “Verizon Innovative Learni...

Darren Ellwein has been principal of Harrisburg South Middle School, Harrisburg, South Dakota for eight years. He has always had a passion for technology. Darren believes technology and personalized learning has a transformational potential for growth in learning, for teachers and students.

I’m very fortunate to have met and spent time with Darren in Minnesota at the TIES conference and in California when he was at a Google event. I love sharing his stories and videos with schools and am excited to share excerpts from the podcast with you.

 

Why are you so passionate about transforming education?

We all know at some point that time is pretty short with what we feel like we’re called to do. For me, I want to make a dent in changing education before I’m done. You have to start sooner rather than later because changing education is so difficult at times. When we go to conferences, I meet people like you, and it seems like everyone is ready to change education. But then when you step back and you come back to the real world of education, you realize there is still a very small percentage making those changes. I think the goal is how do we get to the point where our thoughts and our proven research on what we’re doing in our schools and what you’re doing can scale so more people see the value in it. I think a lot of it is that people are scared. The risk-taking component is so hard. That’s one of the things from day one I’ve preached. I want educators and kids to take risks. You need to be able to step out there and to say I’m doing this because I know where my kids are at today and it is not where education is. So we really have to look and value where the learner is at right now.

Why is it so important for students to be creators and to inspire them to greatness?

I’ve been talking with a really good friend of mine in North Carolina, Derek McCoy@mccoyderek a lot lately and we’ve been in middle school for a long time. We talked about Middle School as the forgotten area, and so I’ll talk about middle school and then go bigger picture. There’s so much power in a middle school kid. It just came to me yesterday when we had some people visiting our personalized learning framework. I said to Derek that I realized Middle School’s one of the best places you can bring about change because kids are changing themselves. I think there’s something because of the fact that their bodies, their emotional being, everything is changing, then we can grip on to some things to help them understand why this change is important. I think when it comes to students if we talk about greatness and if we talk about creativity, they’re going to do it. A lot of times, we get so stuck into “okay” or here’s “a, b, c, d” of my lesson. What’s more important is what experiences they are getting from their education.

We spent time with the staff for a couple hours and talked about what is our purpose. This purpose is going to define everything else that we do. It came down to deciding as a staff that our purpose is relationships. So then if we’re doing personalized learning. does personalized learning fit relationships?

If we can prove it does, then it’s a part of what we do. Even starting this year, I was less concerned about the logistics of our district policies. I was more concerned about the culture of my teachers, and the fact that I can have a sixth-grade teacher hardly ever talk to an eighth-grade teacher in the hallway. So we did kind of a speed-dating question time for about a half hour just so people could talk and get to know each other. I want people to love what they do and to know that they have a purpose and drive.

Leigh Hynes is from Taupo, New Zealand. She has been employed by the University of Waikato as a Digital Fluency Facilitator since 2013, and her role is working in schools to build capability in using digital technologies. Her long background in secondary school teaching and leadership have led to a commitment to enhance learning using digital technologies.

 

Over the last few years, I have developed a special relationship with Leigh. First she had to make sure I pronounced where she lives correctly “Toe Paw” for Taupo. I had so much fun being able to get know Leigh where she lives, about her family, her team and New Zealand. I am excited to share her story or what is called a Mihi with you. Below are excerpts from the podcast.

 

Can you share with me about you, your family and your background in New Zealand?

In New Zealand, we have a ceremony that we call a “Mihi” where we introduce ourselves starting with our mountain on the North Island. My mountain is Ruapehu that I identify with and where I’ve been brought up. We then go to the Mangowhero River. We start with the biggest things and then go to the smallest significant things in our lives. It is a cultural discourse about your family and where you come from. It’s very important to share that with the Maori culture and New Zealand. New Zealand is a bi-cultural nation. When the Europeans came to the island, they had an agreement with the Maori people to acknowledge both cultures.

I have two beautiful daughters and a granddaughter who lives in Perth. I have a lovely husband, Dan, who is from Wisconsin. I was trained to be a microbiologist working in Wellington and then I ended up married to someone in the middle of nowhere where I asked the schools there if they needed a scientist to teach in their schools. That’s how I started teaching. From that strange entry point, I worked my way through the years to become deputy principal at Ruapehu College.

I’ve been in Senior Management for the last 12 years. In 2012, I was offered a job to work as a digital technology facilitator when I was at the college at that time. By the way, our secondary schools are called colleges. Ruapehu is an isolated school pretty much in the center of the north island where there are very few connections to other schools. I was very lucky to be part of the VPLD (Virtual Professional Learning Development). I had a mentor and learned a lot about digital technologies by setting my own goals with her and moving forward in that way. I realized the power of video and started having my students make videos which helped them understand the content of science.

 

I’ve known you for some time on social media and met you at ISTE. Share how that happened.

I got into Facebook and never really been a huge twitterer – not sure that’s a word. Eventually, I learned a lot through social media. When I started working for the University of Waikato, someone presented us with your Personalization vs Differentiation vs Individualization chart. That was so helpful in getting schools and teachers to understand the difference between the terms. When I saw your name at ISTE, I really was hoping to meet you in person and there you were sitting across from me in one of the first workshops I was in. I took a secret photograph of you and then put it up on Twitter about the famous Barbara Bray sitting right across from me. I was so excited. I was so privileged to meet so many people I know on social media actually in person. In fact, the first person I met was Daniel Rezac. Here are a few of the pictures I took at ISTE in Denver and I included the one with you, me and Anne Kenneally.

 

Tell about some of your projects at the University of Waikato

For the past 4 years, I have been working in schools across New Zealand to help build capacity for eLearning.

Starr Sackstein is Director of Humanities K-12 in West Hempstead Union Free School District in New York.  She is Social Media Manager of ECET2 and manages the Twitter account to build the brand as the voice of @ECET2natl. She is the author of several books on education, on topics such as going gradeless, peer feedback and blogging.

I met Starr on Twitter years ago and learned more about her through reading several of her books. She moderated a chat, wrote a blog on the Power of Questions and even wrote a section for both of my books. I really was honored that Starr was able to take time to have a conversation with me and I learned so much more about her.  Here are a few excerpts from our conversation below:

 

Can you share your story about you, your son, and being a teacher?

I have been in education for 16 years and it has been a learning adventure every day. I’m super proud to be a teacher and educator. This is the first year that I’m an administrator. Being a school leader is very different than being a teacher in the classroom. I miss my kids every day. I’m just hoping that the transition is one that is smooth and that I begin to love working with teachers the same way I love working with kids.

Even though I am a central district person now, I am housed in the high school and around kids in the building and get to stop into classrooms to see what is going on. That’s my favorite part of every day. If there is anything that is a big change for teachers such as student-centered classrooms, or if they are going to take a risk with something, I’ve offered my services to support them in their classrooms. I’m back in grad school getting an advanced certification in education administration. My son just started middle school and is in 7th grade. 

 

What are your job and responsibilities now?

I am responsible for several K-12 departments: English, Social Studies, World Language, and Business departments. Instead of keeping them as separate departments, the idea is to create one Humanities Department and the idea is to start with one interdisciplinary unit so kids can make those connections more concretely as they are learning. Hopefully, the ultimate goal is the shift to a project-based atmosphere where teachers are collaborating so the kids get those benefits of the collaborations. A lot of these ideas are new so it is going to be new for many of the teachers and students. We plan to take baby steps. I hope I can get them to think in terms of student-centered learning first before I start to really integrate the bigger steps of getting the more integrated content area. Especially in the high school where there are so many exams that they have to adhere to still. That’s going to be a challenge for a lot of the teachers.

My district knows my background with gradeless classrooms, assessment, and ideas about homework. When I got hired, they knew about my books and my focus. The district is very traditional. When I have independent conversations with people and we talk about assessment, I usually drop it in a little bit. We do have a very large ELL population at the school so homework seems less of an issue because they don’t have the support they need at home anyway. A lot of teachers aren’t giving homework, and the ones that are, are going to be encouraged to do a little less of that especially on the middle and high school level. They have started talking about changing the report cards in the elementary schools to be more standards-based. New York state just changed their standards so we’re waiting until those standards are available. Then we can start the process.

 

How do you balance your life, your work, and writing?

I am not really good at balancing my life. I got engaged this summer. Basically, having someone I want to spend time with at home aside from my son forces me to shut the books once in a while and put my p...

Linda Ullah is an Online Instructor at Krause Center for Innovation, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA and has been a coach for Friday Institute in NC, New Tech Network, and Personalize Learning, LLC. 

I’ve known and followed Linda for over 20 years. What I love is Linda’s passion for kids and why it is important to bring curiosity and wonder to learning. Every time I have time to talk with Linda, I feel that sense of wonderment she mentions in the podcast and post. Below are a few excerpts from the podcast and at the bottom of the text is a link to a blog she wrote that provides more details of global projects. Enjoy and feel the wonder!!

 

Beginning with Linda’s Journey

I grew up in New Jersey and went to school in Ohio.  When I was a young woman backpacking in India and Bangladesh, I met my husband, and we are still married. My travels started back when in grad school for sped and I had a chance to study Renaissance Art in Italy so I took it. When I was there, I hitchhiked through Europe and since then I have the travel bug.

You and I met when I lived in the Bay Area in San Jose, CA. Then, I followed my grandchildren to North Carolina and then moved to Spokane, WA to follow them again. I have two grown sons. One works here in Spokane for the Better Business Bureau. The other one is an Archeologist now in Kazakhstan doing his field work. I have 3 grandsons, 10, 9, and 4, who are the loves of my life and my inspiration right now.

 

Let’s talk Education

I’ve been an educator for 50 years. This has been my life’s work and passion. I’m not ready to retire. Like I said this is my passion. The last place  I visited was Croatia when we did this podcast and will be going to South America. I teach a course on project-based learning and encourage teachers to collaborate with other teachers even if that means with the teacher in the class next door. I worked with Paula Ford and coached her with the Kenya project. [Episode #4] When I travel, I visit schools and try to see what ‘s going on in the world in terms of education. It’s definitely a lifelong passion. I bring back to my grandsons’ classrooms a travelogue to try to inspire them to want to travel and see the world.

 

Can you share how real learning inspires a sense of wonderment?

Do you ever wonder about things? My grandsons wonder about everything. When I work with kids I see them wonder about all kinds of things. If we think of life through the eyes of a child, children are full of wonder as they grow up. The questions I get asked by my grandsons are just amazing. Last year, the eight-year-old came to me and asked me what fossa is. From the movie Madagascar, he got interested in learning more about it. He did the research on his own, capturing pictures, learning how to do PowerPoint. He now wants to go to Madagascar, and that came from his sense of wonder from a movie he watched. It was his interest and what he wanted to do. This makes me think of a fabulous quote:

“The world is full of a number of things. I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

If we tap into kids curiosity and their inspiration, then we develop that sense of wonderment in children and it doesn’t go away. What I worry about is all too often it’s sit down, be quiet, and do what I tell you to do rather than allowing children to explore and learn what they want to know about. If we help children discover their interests and talents and what they really want to know, then we can tie it to what they need to know. We can help them that way. That’s what wonderment is all about and I don’t want to see that go away. That’s why I travel and I learn so much.

Ken Shelton has been an educator for over 14 years and holds an M.A. in Education in Educational Technology as well as New Media Design and Production. Ken regularly gives keynotes, presentations, and leads workshops, many of which are hands-on, covering a wide variety of Educational Technology, Creative Expression, Visual Storytelling, and Instructional Design topics. Ken is currently the Global Keynote Specialist and Educational Technology Strategist for the EdTechTeam.  

I am very fortunate to have known Ken for many years and to call him my friend. We even have a collection of selfies over multiple years at ISTE so I have to include at least one here. I always attend his sessions because he keeps coming up with new and exciting ideas that I need to learn especially about visuals, storytelling, and equity. Below are excerpts from the podcast.

 

Can you share a little about you and your background?

I grew up and live in Los Angeles. I went to college at UCLA. Growing up in LA has exposed me to several things. I played sports in college and also learned how to surf in my teens. I spent a number of years in the acting and modeling industries. That, in addition to my athletic background, supported a lot of opportunities that shaped how I am now. I started working in education early on as a substitute teacher back when I was in between jobs whether it was a commercial or a modeling job. I recognized that education was an important component of my life. I came from a family of educators. My father was the chief business officer and assistant superintendent for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. He also was at the Santa Clara County Office of Ed and Solano County as well. One of my grandfathers and my maternal grandmother were educators. We have a long history of educators because of the importance of education was instilled in my family on both sides many generations ago. My great grandfather made sure all of his nine children went through school to college.

When I was in high school, one of the things I wanted to do when I grew up was not only to play professional football but after that, I wanted to teach and coach football in high school. I knew I needed to get the credential and then eventually the master’s degree. The doctorate was put on hold, but I’ve been encouraged by a number of folks recently to get into a program.

(Ted Talk) Using the past https://youtu.be/ORsevBbNFwE

I have three girls. I want my girls to have the opportunities I had so they can be diligent and committed to performing well in an education setting. My oldest is Alice (17), Kennedy (11), and Kyana (9).

 

Why are you so passionate about educational technology?

When technology is utilized with the appropriate degree of access, that can be a significant pillar in the bridging of an achievement gap or equitable divide. If you take the socio-economic status at a Title I school versus a school that has a 10 million dollar endowment most students in either situation have access to some technology like a Chromebook, and that bridges the gap. The Internet is free and open. You can’t access things on the Internet based on your economic status. For me, a big part of that was looking at how does technology provide transformative learning experiences for teachers and students. How can we capitalize those experiences to allow students and teachers to do things that if it wasn’t for the technology they wouldn’t be able to do?

When I used to teach history, there were a number of glaring omissions in the social studies textbooks. Now, if you have access to the Internet, you can fill those gaps or you can vet the breadth and quality of the information in the textbook. I would love to see school districts take the thousands of dollars spent on textbooks and use that to...