16 Jul 2025 PDK Educators Rising conference wrap-up

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to attend the 2025 PDK Educators Rising Conference in Orlando, Florida. PDK International named me as an Emerging Leader back in 2007, which was extremely helpful to me as CASTLE and I got our technology, leadership, and innovation work up and running. This year PDK awarded me one of its five Distinguished Educator Fellowships, which has felt like a wonderful opportunity to close the circle, reconnect with PDK in some different ways, meet new folks from around the country, and give back to an organization which helped my work get launched.

I live in the world of P-12 school administrator preparation, not teacher preparation, so the conference was a unique experience for me. Imagine 3,000+ secondary students in attendance from across the country, all who want to be teachers… The energy and vibe were electric, and youthful energy was everywhere! I spent most of my time hanging out with the other four Distinguished Educators and three Emerging Leaders for this year. We had three days of fascinating conversation together. Everyone is super talented, and I greatly appreciated the opportunity to connect with them and learn about their work, contexts, and successes. 

Additionally, I watched some student competitions (for example, short talks on the duality of AI in schools), witnessed a glorious keynote by 2024 National Teacher of the Year Missy Testerman, and met the student leader, Owen, whom I will be paired with this year. Watch for some podcasting and/or writing from the two of us later this fall! I also was able to touch base with longtime friends Starr Sackstein, John Hendron, Travis Lape (who won a national award!), Michael Conner, and others… A big thank you to Angela Walmsley and Steven Weber for being gracious hosts, activity coordinators, and cat-herders.

If you are involved in high school- or college-level teaching pathway programs, I highly recommend attending next year’s conference in Portland and bringing some students with you!

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to attend the 2025 PDK Educators Rising Conference in Orlando, Florida. PDK International named me as an Emerging Leader back in 2007, which was extremely helpful to me as CASTLE and I got our technology, leadership, and innovation work up and running. This year PDK awarded meNews and Events, Pre-Service Preparation, conferences, events, preservice, Teacher PreparationRead More