Dr. Christopher Emdin

Los Angeles, California, US

Robert A. Naslund Endowed Chair in Curriculum Theory & Professor of Education, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California (USC); Scholar / Griot in Residence, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (NY); (previous) Associate Director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education and Director of the Science Education, Teachers College, Columbia University (NY); Creator, #HipHopEd, Science Genius BATTLES, and the CREATE Accelerator; “New York Times” Best Selling Author, “For White Folks Who Teach In the Hood and the Rest of Ya’ll too“

(5) Big Ideas from the Podcast: 

• the ‘A’ in STEAM is more than the ‘Arts’ – it is also ‘Ancestory’ and ‘Authenticity’
• “Every day is your chance to manufacture a piece of magic in the world.”
• advice to schools and school leaders: “When we begin at learning, we devalue curiosity. When we rush to foster learning without invoking curiosity, we end up with a life-long accumulation of empty facts that have no roots. Curiosity provides the roots. It allows you to make meaning.”
• music as the ultimate co-teacher
• why ‘discovery’ may not be as important as ‘recovery: “School at its best is a process for recovery, particularly for the black and brown children I work with” because “school can devalue who you were before you arrived.”