Welcome On March 7th, 2018, Jessica Falkenthal, John Baldo, and I presented Growing an Education Innovation Community at SXSW EDU, one of the country’s most influential education innovation conferences. We wanted to support, inspire, and learn from fellow education innovation community builders so that together, we could work towards that better future for all. This post…
Category: Scalable Solutions
Scalable solutions to systemic problems can come in three forms: Systems & Processes, Policy & Politics, Community Organizing & Movement Building. The most powerful solutions combine all three.
My Spanish Learning Journey
In this post, I live blog my Spanish Learning Journey so that I can look back and see my progress, but also so that I can be helpful to anyone else who may share my learning style and context! This may be especially useful if you: Are learning Spanish from scratch (though many of the…
My Quarter in Review: Summer 2017
I spent much of this last quarter in deep contemplation, both with other people and in my own writing and reading. Questions I grappled with included: What does it take to create a process towards equity that in and of itself is equitable? How do I determine, as the Founder and Executive Director of #NYCEDU, where we…
Learning is Fundamentally Human: Cornell BigRed//Hacks ‘17 Keynote Address by Deborah Chang
Cornell BigRed//Hacks is the oldest student-run hackathon in the country. This year, 40+ teams worked on hacking together a technology solution for an education problem. I was invited to give the keynote speech as an educator, serial entrepreneur, and community builder. This is a transcript of my speech.
To Whom I Owe the Greatest Gratitude
I recently wrote “Tales of a Serial Entrepreneur (Part 5): How To Build a Safety Net When You’re Born with None.” In writing it, I realize that there are many organizations that are building safety nets for people like me, people who wouldn’t otherwise have any. This post is for them. Deerfield Elementary School, Vista Verde Middle…
Why It’s Not Enough to Not be Racist; Why We All Need To Be Actively Anti-Racist Instead
I once read an article that attempted to highlight people in the education space. Of the people who were highlighted, 0% appeared to be non-white and only 36% appeared to be women. I chose to email my disappoint to the author of the article and founder of the publication. Unfortunately, he was dismissive of my…
Help! I’m a Teacher– How Do I Get Into Education Technology?
When I first started teaching fifth grade science at KIPP Academy in Houston, Texas, I had no idea that I would end up parlaying that experience into my current role as a consultant to education technology companies. I was simply a teacher on a mission to do right by my students, and that drive just…
Designed for Teachers: Lessons Learned from Designing the Buzzmath iPad App
Most recently, I worked with the team at Buzzmath to redesign their iPad app. It was (and continues to be) an incredible experience because the team at Buzzmath really care about teacher and student feedback and work to make sure Buzzmath creates the best possible experience for them. The specific features I want to highlight…
5 Surprising Books All Educators Should Read
The following is a list of books that have fundamentally changes the way I view education. They are not titles that will come up in a typical search of “books on education,” some of them don’t even mention education at all, and yet, they’ve undeniably shaped who I am and what I believe as an…
Deborah Chang 