Jennifer D. Klein and Jill Ackers-Clayton: Re-Wilding learning, teaching, and spaces

Coconut Thinking

How might we create the conditions and spaces for learning to be wild? Or maybe we need to un-create them for wildness?

I speak to Jennifer D. Klein and Jill Ackers-Clayton. Jennifer has a broad background in global education and global partnership development, student-centered curricular strategies, diversity and inclusivity work, authentic assessment, and experiential, inquiry-driven learning. She has facilitated workshops in English and Spanish on four continents, providing strategies for high-quality, globally connected project-based learning in all cultural and socioeconomic contexts, with an emphasis on amplifying student voice and shifting school culture to support such practices. Jennifer has worked with organizations such as the Buck Institute for Education, the Center for Global Education at the Asia Society, The Institute for International Education, Fulbright Japan, What School Could Be, the Centre for Global Education, TakingITGlobal, and the World Leadership School, to name a few. Jennifer’s first book, The Global Education Guidebook: Humanizing K–12 Classrooms Worldwide Through Equitable Partnerships, was published in 2017, and her second book, The Landscape Model of Learning: Designing Student-Centered Experiences for Cognitive and Cultural Inclusion, was released in 2022.

Jill is an influential educator with nearly three decades of experience across a broad spectrum of the educational sector. Her journey began as a mathematics teacher, evolving into a technology expert after achieving her CCNA & MCSE certifications in Denver, Colorado. Her skills in managing school networks and teaching K-8 technology led her to significant roles in educational leadership. Her publication, "Developing Natural Curiosity through Project-Based Learning: Five Strategies for the PreK-3 Classroom," highlights her dedication to innovative education. As the Director of Education at VS America, her current role focuses on transforming learning environments, a crucial aspect of impacting student lives daily. This role involves collaborating with architectural firms, interior designers, and furniture vendors globally to create adaptable, flexible, and dynamic learning spaces.

We discuss:

🥥 How learning experiences might be gatherings rather than collaborative efforts, to allow for possibilities and emergence;

🥥 How we might consider physical and non-physical spaces in different ways to promote learning, not simply to hold learning and learners;

🥥 How place-based learning flourishes when communities gather to solve problems.

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