Tch Talks 23: School Startup to Curio: Redesigning Deeper Learning

When teachers solve problems, they inspire their students to solve problems, too. How can teachers use their best strategies as a launching pad for deeper learning and professional growth? And how can curiosity, co-creation, and collaboration before a lesson idea is formed be a game-changer for classroom practice?

On this episode of Tch Talks, Ashley Lamb-Sinclair, Instructional Specialist and Deeper Learning Coach for Fern Creek High School in Louisville, Kentucky and 2016 Kentucky Teacher of the Year, joins us to talk about her work with School Startup. This pilot program is where three cohorts of Teacher-Founders are engaged in the design process to rethink and redesign deeper learning in their classrooms and professional learning communities.

She also shares her recent adventures as founder and CEO of Curio Learning, an app that helps teachers discover new ideas and curate them in a personalized way. The app also facilitates collaboration with other educators in order for them to grow as professionals and find the ways to best help their students.

Ashley believes that if every teacher woke up to the awesome influence he or she has, there would be a drastic overhaul of the system and that -- bottom line -- it takes a teacher to transform learning.

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Ashley Lamb-Sinclair

Ashley Lamb-Sinclair is an Instructional Specialist and Deeper Learning Coach for Fern Creek High School in Louisville, Kentucky. As 2016 Kentucky Teacher of the Year, she was accepted to the Spotify for Education Advisory Board and received an EF Education First scholarship to study the education system in Finland with other teachers.

Prior to being honored as Kentucky Teacher of the Year, Ashley was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Thailand and Vietnam, and an English Speaking Union Scholarship to study creative writing at Exeter College at the University of Oxford. She is a contributing writer to The Atlantic and The Washington Post, among other publications.

Ashley has also served as Teacher in Residence for the Kentucky Department of Education, co-founded multiple statewide projects, including KYEdPolicy.org, Policy Together, and the Courier-Journal's Classroom Connections, as well as co-founded a national teacher-led organization called Protect Public Ed. A self-confessed luddite, Ashley is founder and CEO of Curio Learning, an app for teachers to discover, curate, and collaborate.

Ashley has been a National Board Certified high school ELA and creative writing teacher for 12 years. 

Resources:

• Follow Ashley Lamb-Sinclair on Twitter
• Explore Ashley’s blog: Beautiful Junkyard
• Ashley Lamb-Sinclair’s work featured in The Washington Post
• Ashley Lamb-Sinclair’s work featured in The Atlantic
• Are You Teaching Content Or Teaching Thought? - Teach Thought
• School Start-Up
• Curio Learning
• Follow Curio on Twitter
• Follow #TeachLikeARebel on Twitter
• Curio Journal on Medium
• Sevenzo
• Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
• True School Studio
• Design Thinking for Educators
• 45 Design Thinking Resources for Educators
• The d.school Bootcamp Bootleg
• Design Thinking Mixtapes
• Tools for Taking Action
• Deep Design Thinking
• Luma Institute

Teaching Channel Resources:

• Pinwheel Discussions: Texts in Conversation
• Tcher's Cut: Pinwheel Discussions
• Tch Talks 22: Intention & Critical Creativity in the Classroom
• Design Thinking, Empathy, and Equity
• Design Thinking, Empathy, and Equity – Part 2
• Critical Friends: Building a Culture of Collaboration
• 4 Big Ideas for Engaging Students (Deeper Learning)
• Deeper Learning Video Series
• Critical Friends: Building a Culture of Collaboration