There was one student in particular, who I’ll call “Alex.” He excelled in conversations with his peers and often shared his thoughts in class discussions, but his performance on written exams did not reflect the full depth of his understanding.
This episode comes from the Climify podcast, which is hosted by Eric Benson, and produced by the Climate Designers Network. Benson interviews Tish Tablan, senior program director at Generation 180, about how going solar can benefit schools’ budgets and provide opportunities for PBL, as well as helping us all thrive as we face an unprecedented climate crisis.
Ben Krueger talks to cellist, composer, and teacher Okorie Johnson, who performs as OkCello, about music, teaching, and community. And, appropriately, they talk about how all three of those are, themselves, a form of conversation.
Alec talks to Deeper Learning 2025 keynote speaker Dr. Heather Michel about about her difficult experience with school as a kid, her own career as a teacher, and the strategies that she’s developed to help teachers take care of themselves.
In this special live episode from the 2025 Deeper Learning Conference, educator Ron Berger talks to two Japanese educators and their two brilliant children, who have experienced education across cultures in Japan, the United States, and Europe.
They talk about the ways in which schools in different countries unleash student potential, and the ways in which they do not—yet.
It was the week before the exhibition at High Tech Middle Chula Vista. My eighth-grade class had spent the last eight weeks exploring the question “What makes us resilient?”
Alec and Nuvia talk to artist Scarlett Baily about her life, her art, and in particular the process of collaborating with 200 elementary school students
“Grading” for me means more than just marking mistakes and putting a number or letter on an assignment. This is because, for the last ten years, I have used specifications grading in all my classes.
All through my schooling in India, the one thing I learned was to not ask questions. Questions derail the smooth flow of a lesson’s delivery, taking it into unforeseen territories and uncharted waters.
How can assessment practices be designed to best support student learning? In school, the term “assessment” is often shorthand for “grades”—or, perhaps, tests, quizzes, rubrics, and similar evaluative tools. However, thinking of “assessment” as interchangeable with “test” or “grade” limits the potential for assessment practices to lead to meaningful and deeper learning.
In 2009 I began an internship at the Innovation Unit in London. It being an internship, I was doing a little of everything, but my main project was Learning Futures, whose goal was to make school more engaging for students.
Alec talked to 23-year-old keyboard player, band leader, public speaker, and Akron, Ohio native Kofi B mere hours before Kofi kicked off the 2024 Deeper Learning conference with an incendiary set!
At Deeper Learning, Alec just started recording this interview to show Jessica how the mics worked—but once she started talking, he knew it was going to be an episode!
At Deeper Learning 2024, artist/choreographer Aysha Upchurch and Enrique Lugo talk about being artists in school, and the power of the cypher (and cuffed Levis 501s).
Brandon Wiley has been a part of Deeper Learning from the beginning. In this episode he gives his perspective on how the Deeper Learning group came together and developed, and how to bring Deeper Learning into your school.
Rochelle Gutiérrez, a professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Illinois specializing in mathematics, talks about reconnecting math to our lived experience, and sharing the world’s rich history of different approaches to mathematics with kids.
Rapper (and Deeper Learning 2023 headliner) Ruby Ibarra talks about identity, Bay Area hip hop, the legacy of Tumblr, how her mother handles haters, and much more
Resistance Communication co-founder Aisha Bain and Stanford d.School Design Lecturer Manasa Yeturu to talk about how we care for ourselves and live in community with each other
In this keynote from the 2023 Deeper Learning Conference, hear a story from Walter Cortina, 19, founded Bridgemakers when he was still in high school. Check out what he did, how he did it, and who helped him out along the way.
In this keynote from the 2023 Deeper Learning Conference, hear from LA Region South Superintendent Andre Spicer, who tells about what was missing from his own education, and how he’s making sure every kid in his district gets what he didn’t.
High Tech High Graduate School of Education Director of Liberation Michelle Pledger talks to Stanford D.School’s Laura McBain about how the Deeper Learning conference came about, and what it takes to help conference-goers EXPERIENCE deeper learning, rather than just talking about it.
This episode is a live recording of a deeper learning Den Talk, hosted by Michelle Pledger, with guests Suzie Boss and Ken Kay. Suzie and Ken have both done way more in education than I can get into here, but most recently they co-authored the book Redefining Student Success: Building a New Vision to Transform Leading Teaching and Learning.
Anjel and sam met 20 years ago as student and teacher. This co-keynote about deeper learning, hip hop culture, design thinking + community will amplify over two decades of learning together and leave you ready to do the work as you return to your context.
This episode is recorded live from the 2022 Deeper Learning conference with David TC Ellis, who as a rapper is known for his work with Prince, and as an educator is the founder of High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul Minnesota.
Ron Berger interviews three educators of color about their strategies for making their schools into genuinely anti-racist spaces, and the challenges they’ve faced.
This is a recording of the DL2022 opening keynote, in which four educators from around the country told stories of deeper learning from their own lives.
Presentations of Learning (POLs) and other types of performance assessment lend themselves to the teaching of critical thinking, but they are often overlooked for this purpose.
