Do School Better: Recent Episodes
Doris Korda
A podcast for people who want to transform education.
Join Doris Korda as she engages in conversations with educators and shares insights about a radical new method of teaching. Learn how their students develop 21st century skills in courses such as entrepreneurship, science, humanities, engineering, global studies, and more.
In this episode, Doris and Alison discuss the themes that emerged from this season's conversations with 62 entrepreneurial educators who have courageously ignited change in how we do school.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Jeremy Wickenheiser, Founder and Director of Entrepreneurial Studies at DSST Public Schools. He shares his journey from teaching high school science four years ago to building an entrepreneurship program that has scaled across the large network of urban schools in Denver, Colorado.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Kesha Conway who has been piloting Korda Method across the Ashtabula Area City Schools District. They discuss a recent project in Lisa Raffa's high school Government class at Lakeside High School, where students found their agency while identifying solutions to community problems.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Nicholas Timms from Hillfield Strathallan College. He shares the story of how transforming a traditional small business course grew into a student-run Design Studio, with high school students creating solutions for local businesses.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Pam Reed, Humanities teacher at Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls. Pam shares how different it is to teach with this radically different method, as students learn history and critical thinking by solving contemporary problems that they find meaningful.
In this episode, Doris and Alison discuss the journey that led to a recent workshop with educators in Slovenia. Also featured in the episode are excerpts from some of the entrepreneurial educators and students who came to the workshop in Slovenia.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Michael Hudecek about the youth entrepreneurship program he developed as Program Manager for St. Clair Superior Development Corporation, an organization devoted to transforming one of the poorest neighborhoods in Cleveland. Michael discusses what he learned in his second iteration of the program. Michael shares his work to spread the method to local schools, including Open Doors Academy, an after school enrichment program for adolescents. Jacquelyn Clemens, Program Manager at ODA, discusses her work to embed this method across the program’s curriculum.
In this episode, Doris talks to Terry Chou, science teacher at Joaquin Miller Middle School in California. Terry shares details about her students learning innovation in her Science Enrichment and Research (SEARCH) class. Listen to what she has discovered about teaching at the intersection of science, business and technology.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Regina Rosi, Assistant Division Director & Dean of Student Life at Marlborough School, an all-girls school in Los Angeles, CA. They discuss the need to modernize leadership education in K12 schools. Regina shares the entrepreneurial approach required to design courses like these and what she has learned from using community partners to create her curriculum.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Dr. Rand Harrington and Phil Klein of Kent Denver School in Colorado. Rand is Head of School and Phil is Instructor of AP Economics, Director of the Hunt Family Institute for Entrepreneurial Education and Director of Development. They discuss creating structures in the school to leverage expertise both in and out of the building to allow for authentic learning. They highlight the importance of teachers acting as curricular architects to design classes for today's students.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Katy Yan, instructor of AP Environmental Science and Honors Biology at The College Preparatory School and former Science Teacher at The Bentley School. Katy explains the shift from research papers to real world problem solving that resulted in meaningful learning about food systems and climate change. She also shares how this led to students developing better research techniques and critical thinking skills in her science courses.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Chad Williamson, Co-founder of Noble Impact. Chad shares his journey to teaching at the intersection of entrepreneurship and public service. He explains how the Sandy Hook School tragedy has influenced their work around social emotional learning. Doris and Chad also discuss the importance of leadership when embedding innovation in schools.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Sarah Jensen, High School Entrepreneurship Teacher at Nichols School. Sarah brings an extensive business background to the classroom and discusses the value of students developing the skills they'll need when they enter the workforce. Sarah and Doris discuss the realities behind the trendy but misleading notion of learning through failure.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Oliver Smith, Business and Economics teacher at Singapore American School. Oliver discusses the depth of learning his students experienced while solving problems for real businesses in his entrepreneurship and AP Economics courses. He describes the liberation that comes from teaching students without an answer key.
In this episode, Doris interviews Sarah Swain, former Science and Entrepreneurship teacher at St. Anne's Belfield School in Virginia and the incoming Assistant Director of Entrepreneurial Studies at Hawken School. Sarah describes the integration of environmental science into her entrepreneurship course and entrepreneurial skills into her core science courses. They discuss the importance of students learning to identify problems, reflect and collaborate.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Adam Lang, a Teaching Chair and Instructor of Economics at Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. Adam shares how his students took ownership over their learning and developed skills by solving problems for community partners in his Design for Social Impact class. He also describes his plan to bring elements of the Korda Method into his AP Economics courses this year.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Julia Griffin, Humanities teacher and Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning at Hawken Upper School. Julia shares how her humanities department adopted a new academic method that transformed the way their students learned ancient world history and better equipped them with skills like writing, research, critical thinking and public speaking.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Mel McGee, Founder and CEO of We Can Code IT. Mel shares how she applied Korda Method in Coding Bootcamps that are making the tech industry more diverse and inclusive by preparing unemployed and underemployed adults to be skilled software developers. She explains how the innovative curriculum is directly impacting student's employability after graduation.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Paul Chiment and Blake Dorfman of Laguna Blanca School in Santa Barbara, California. Paul is a veteran high school Math and Economics teacher and Blake an early career middle school English and Digital Art teacher who created an innovative Entrepreneurship program. Learn how their journey to teach entrepreneurship led to deeper student learning, changed teaching methods and workshops for other educators.
In this special episode, educators who recently attended the Workshops for Entrepreneurial Studies share their inspiring plans to impact students through courses and programs in entrepreneurship, history, economics, math, science and more.
In this episode, Doris speaks with Rachel Mullen, Upper School Spanish Teacher at Hawken School. Rachel shares how her students advanced their Spanish communications, cultural awareness, and collaboration skills by working on a creative project for a multicultural marketing agency.
Doris speaks with Janez Gorenc, an English teacher from Gimnazija Novo mesto in Slovenia. Janez shares his journey to teach entrepreneurship so that his students develop practical, essential skills and knowledge.
Doris speaks with Ben Leslie Bole, environmental science educator at Athenian School in Danville, California. He discusses how his student's work on a water retention project led to collaborative skill-building, meaningful discoveries about science, and informed solutions for their school's CFO.
Doris speaks with Alethea Tyner Paradis, history professor at Santa Barbara City College and Director / CEO of Peace Works Travel, a socially conscious study abroad program where students learn through meaningful local problem-solving designed to foster critical thinking, empathy, and innovative solutions for a more peaceful world.
Doris speaks with Jay Scheurle, Head of School and Entrepreneurship teacher at Miami Valley School. Jay describes how he modeled this method of teaching and learning for his school by implementing a new high school entrepreneurship course.
Can a group of independent schools get colleges to accept a new kind of transcript without grades? In this episode, Doris speaks with Scott Looney, Founder of the Mastery Transcript Consortium and Head of Hawken School. Scott discusses an initiative to bring important change to the college admissions process.
Doris speaks with Kesha Conway, Program Director at Ashtabula Leadership County. She describes her course where students gained skills in collaboration and problem solving by working on a real business challenge from their local community in rural Ohio.
Doris speaks with Anna Delia. She is the Middle School Asst. Director and Science Teacher at Hawken School, a K12 independent school in Cleveland, Ohio. Anna shares how her middle school science students gain skills and knowledge by creating Biomimcry solutions to real problems. She also shares how her students are developing character and leadership skills by solving problems in their school community.
Doris speaks with Dr. Danielle Bomar. She is the Supervisor at Options For Success, a K12 Alternative School Program in the Columbus City School District for students who have been suspended or expelled from their home school. Hear about the entrepreneurship course Danielle and her teachers piloted in this school.
Doris talks to Anne Love of Concordia International School in Shanghai, China. Anne is the High School Academic Innovation Coordinator as well as a teacher of science and social entrepreneurship at her school. They discuss how Anne has changed her social entrepreneurship course using the Korda Method. She shares the shift in her instructional practice, which has changed the way she is teaching skills in the classroom.
Doris talks to David Peden, Chair of the Entrepreneurship Leadership program at Battle Ground Academy, a K12 independent school near Nashville, TN.
Doris Korda and Alison Tanker share updates including what listeners can anticipate in Season 3 and news about their new organization, Wildfire Education.
Doris and Alison talk about the final look at a semester course and how important the reflection on the entire experience is to the learning of the students.
Doris and Alison talk about what happens in this class when students are working on real problems and they're paralyzed because they don't know what to do next.
Doris talks to Terry Chou, a middle school science teacher from a public school in California who attended our first workshop. Listen to what Terry has discovered about teaching innovation and collaboration.
Doris and Alison talk about these final projects where students create their own businesses and will face huge academic challenges in the process.
Doris and Alison talk about what students presented today as their solutions to their second business challenge and why the learning has been transformative.
We're a week and a half in to students' second business challenge. And at this point in the course, things get really, really complicated. And in this episode, we share a lot of our strategies in helping guide students through a very challenging, creative problem-solving process.
Doris and Alison talk about what is happening in this class when the students come out of their first day of their second business challenge and are faced with a problem that is significantly more sophisticated and complicated and challenging than what they faced in the first part of the class.
Doris and Alison discuss where the students are, given that they just finished their first business challenge and they're about to undergo a major shift.
Doris gives an example of her methods of instruction by giving an example of what she did last week in this course.
Alison and Doris discuss trying out new tools in the upcoming semester of Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program. Alison talks about the decision to pilot Slack and incorporate the use of LinkedIn for ongoing student portfolios.
Doris talks with Michael Hudecek of St. CLair Superior Development Corporation. He shares his “overwhelming success” in piloting Korda’s model in one of Cleveland’s most impoverished neighborhoods.
Alison shares how the Korda Method of teaching and learning deepened her understanding of innovative teaching practices, pushing students towards rigorous and meaningful learning.
Doris talks with Renee Bischoff, Director of College Counseling at the Hawken School. Renee shares insights on the impact the entrepreneurship program has had on students, including their personal and academic growth as well as their readiness for college.
Doris and Alison examine the growth of the entrepreneurship education movement and how that has changed both the needs of educators seeking training and Doris’s approach to training them.
Alison and Tim reflect on the 2016 Hawken Educators Workshops in both Cleveland and California. They discuss how the needs of the attendees have changed as Entrepreneurship Education continues to expand and evolve.
In this special episode, Doris hosts a live panel discussion at the 2016 Cleveland Hawken Educators Workshop. Returning attendees Jeremy Wickenheiser, Mel McGee and Sarah Jensen discuss how they used what they learned to build successful programs at Denver School of Science and Technology, WeCanCode IT, and Nichols School.
Tim and Alison recall the poor quality of the solutions presented to the first business CEOs in a semester and why the deliverables were not as important as the process. They also discuss how the use of an electronic portfolio captures student growth and fosters the critical skills of reflection and self-assessment.
Tim and Alison discuss the different types of presentations students experience in this course. They also explain how students shift away from their inclination to prove mastery of content and to the presentation of a compelling story. They discuss the extraordinarily high quality of student presentations in this course and how that develops.
Tim and Doris discuss the critical role of technology in Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program. Tim explains his beliefs on educational technology along with practical ways to get started for the less “technically inclined.”
Tim and Alison discuss the importance of a growth mindset for teachers and students in this radically different kind of learning. They also explain why answering questions with questions promotes critical thinking, problem-solving and student ownership of the learning.
Alison reflects on her experience at the Hawken School Educators Workshops, how she had to learn as much as possible for the fall semester and how she is surviving as a “teacher-in-training.” Doris and Alison discuss why teaching this course requires dynamic and flexible lesson plans and how it is completely different than teaching specific content in a traditional classroom.
Doris explains why all learning must be relevant, meaningful and timely. To illustrate, she describes how she leveraged the shortcomings of student research in a first business problem in order to drive deep learning on the second business problem.
Doris explains the process for building a program and how it can be grown in many different ways outside of a traditional classroom setting. She explains the role of piloting in education and the importance of identifying which resources you have and which ones you need.
Doris explains the role of citizenship in Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program and why she claims “we already have a social entrepreneurship class.” Doris describes how News Circle brings the rest of world into the class and the long-term, positive impact it has on the students.
Doris discusses the state of the American educational system with acclaimed film maker and author, Ted Dintersmith. The educational reformers discuss why we should want our children to ask the hard questions about school instead of accepting a system that rewards memorization and formulaic answers.
Doris defines entrepreneurship as turning ideas into successful realities. She explains why an entrepreneurship class is a powerful vehicle for mastering skills and why the current celebrity of the label “entrepreneurship” threatens the educational quality of entrepreneurship education.
Doris describes the Hawken Entrepreneurial Studies class from the student perspective. She explains how this style of “learning by doing” is different than traditional school and how collaboration plays a critical role in students’ growth.
Doris talks to Steve Blank, Stanford professor and creator of Lean LaunchPad® about how students learn creative problem-solving for today’s world in courses that incorporate the same methodologies Steve designed for use by engineers, graduate school students and entrepreneurs.
Steve Blank interviews Doris for his radio series, “Entrepreneurs are Everywhere.” Hear what Doris learned as an immigrant, engineer and entrepreneur that led her to develop her different models for teaching and learning.
Doris explores her core mission; to do school better. She reflects on past students who did not fit school’s narrow definition of academic success. She shares how an entrepreneurship class can be a model for how students learn and master skills that matter in the real world.
Doris recalls the process of designing and building Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program in a high school and why using real business problems should be core to entrepreneurship programs. Doris and Tim also discuss the role of the Lean LaunchPad Methodology and Design Thinking and why it’s so important to “get out of the building.”
Doris Korda explains strategies for bringing real-world learning into the classroom without the use of guest speakers. She decries the use of trickery or external motivation to get students engaged in their own learning and highlights the value of working on urgent business problems as a way to master skills.
Alison Tanker explains the path that led her to the Assistant Director position at the Miller Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at Hawken School. She explains how she discovered that entrepreneurship can be empowering while working with social enterprises in the United States, the U.K., Latin America and the Caribbean.
Doris explores the “decision filter” she uses for choosing which businesses will work with the students. She discusses the reasoning behind her “rule of three” and explains why students must relate to the problem and see the CEO as a role model.
Tim Desmond explains the path that led him to the Assistant Director position at the Miller Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at Hawken School. He explains how being a risk-taker and divergent thinker led to his epiphany of “learning by doing.” Tim discusses the role of writing in the class and how he strives to improve students’ communication skills in a changed world.
Doris explains how she uses real, local startups in Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program. She details one semester’s line up of businesses, the challenges posed and expectations for the student-designed solutions.
Doris chronicles the journey of two specific students through Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program. She elaborates on those who have not thrived in traditional school and explains what the experience did for them as learners and emerging adults.
Doris elaborates on the shift in the workplace where employers increasingly value skills–like teamwork and collaboration–over the possession of content knowledge. Doris and Alison discuss why “you can’t get an A by yourself” and the role of direct, honest feedback in the classroom.
Doris describes the Entrepreneurial Studies class offered at Hawken School. She explains the role of real business problems in addition to the “final project” and how this highly developed curriculum fosters real-world skills in students.
Doris and Alison discuss the Hawken School Entrepreneurial Studies program and how it is a completely different model for learning and teaching. They reveal how a rigorous, academic program using real and urgent business problems is different than teaching “how to run a lemonade stand” or the traditional business class.
Doris explains why our current educational system doesn’t work anymore and why skills mastery matters more for today’s students than it ever has before. She discusses how her career of teaching and entrepreneurship have led her to create a new model for learning.