Ashleigh Blomfield
Cary Gitter
Christopher St. Clair
Eric Liu
Guest Blogger
Linda Miles
Scott Noppe-Brandon
In three weeks, more than 10,000 North American educators will converge on the Hilton New York for WNET’s seventh annual Celebration of Teaching & Learning. The Celebration is a major professional development conference that includes over 40 featured speakers and 100 interactive workshops, as well as two exhibition halls full of education resources. This year, as in 2011, I’ll have the privilege of presenting there, on a panel with Madeleine Holzer, director of educational development at Lincoln Center Institute, and 2010 National Teacher of the Year Sarah Wessling.
Our session, titled “21st Century Teaching: Fostering Inquiry and Imagination,” will take place on Friday, March 16, from 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Among the many leading lights also slated to speak are renowned Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Sal Khan, founder of the online Khan Academy; Yul Kwon, host of America Revealed on PBS (and Survivor winner); and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten. The two days of the conference are sure to be packed with ideas and debate.
On the Celebration’s website, former WNET Vice President for Education Ron Thorpe highlights creativity as one of this year’s focuses. He writes, “creativity is not a topic or something that belongs to the arts: it is a habit of mind.” This is exactly what Eric Liu and I argue about imagination, creativity’s first principle, in our book, Imagination First. Thorpe continues, “No country surpasses us in [this area]….We have tried to make the Celebration a rallying place for educators who not only refuse to cede that territory, but want to make it even more vibrant.”
Well, I am one of those educators, and I look forward to rallying with my peers in March, thanks to WNET.
To register for the Celebration—you can purchase one- or two-day tickets—click here.
Filed under: Announcement Tagged: | 21st century education, 21st century skills, 21st century teaching, America Revealed, American Federation of Teachers, Celebration of Teaching & Learning, creativity, Eric Liu, Henry Louis Gates, imagination, Imagination First, innovation, inquiry, Khan Academy, Lincoln Center Institute, Madeleine Holzer, National Teacher of the Year, Randi Weingarten, Ron Thorpe, Sal Khan, Sarah Wessling, Teacher Laureate, WNET, Yul Kwon
