This is one of Dave Orphal’s propositions during his successful TEDxSFED talk in March.

Orphal pitched the idea of a “teacherpreneur”: educational leaders continue to find ways to work in the classroom, while practicing teachers have a say in shaping policy, curriculum, and instructional design.

“We’re already doing it, but we’re doing it in the evenings and on weekends,” Orphal says.

Watch the short, inspirational video to hear more.

http://youtu.be/5LXFVpp3wQ0

Dave Orpha prezi

Re-imagining the institution of education will have to be done from different levels. At TEDxSFED on Saturday, we heard from inspirational speakers who spoke to these various perspectives: a principal who literally handed the keys to his school to a student; a design thinker who recreated the school day based on a student’s interests and passions; a teacher who uses the kitchen as the backdrop to educate students about everything from botany to day-to-day experiences outside school; a program that teaches kids to innovate and build with their own hands.

Consider how the profession of teaching can be re-imagined. David Orphal, one of the speakers at the event, took us through the scenario, scene by scene, and explained the theory behind a “teacherpreneur.”

Based on the work of the Center for Teaching Quality and Barnett Berry‘s new book “Teaching 2030,” the concept of “teacherpreneur” involves giving classroom teachers more of a voice in educational leadership, while allowing current educational leaders and policymakers opportunities to spend a part of each year working in a classroom with students.

In this ideal world, teachers spend part of their time in the class as co-teachers, part of their time researching and writing curriculum and assessments for schools, part of the time mentoring new teachers (who have a reduced work load while they’re being trained), part of their time innovating ideas for teacher development, and part of their time drafting educational policy.

In other words, as Orphal said at TEDxSFED: “What would educational reform look like, if Secretary Arne Duncan took five weeks to teach summer school?”

Take a look at Orphal’s “Prezi” presentation, which includes an interview with Ariel Sacks who spoke to MindShift at Big Ideas Fest about the concept of “teacherpreneurship.” [Just click on the Play arrow.]

And check out more video interviews, photos, blogs, and Tweets on the TEDxSFED site. It was a truly inspiring day.

The theme is mashEDup and will highlight new and different approaches to learning.

The main event will happen at SOMArts, plus there will be three simulcast locations at Envision Academy, Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, and the Urban School of San Francisco.

The lineup of speakers is impressive:

• DALE DOUGHERTY, founder of Make magazine and the creator of Maker Faire.
• TONY DEROSE, Senior Scientist and lead of the Research Group at Pixar Animation Studios.
• SANDY SPEICHER, IDEO’s Design for Learning domain, which brings human-centered thinking to systemic challenges in education (and author of the popular MindShift post “The School Day of the Future is DESIGNED).”
• VICTOR DIAZ, Founder and President of the Board of REALM Charter Schools.
• DAVID ORPHAL, history teacher for the past 15 years for 7th to 12th grade students.
• ESTHER COOK, Chef Teacher in the Edible Schoolyard kitchen since its inception in 1997.
• SUSAN STAUTER, the Artistic Director for the San Francisco Unified School District.
• KAREN BROWN, creative director of the Center for Ecoliteracy.
• BETSY CORCORAN, co-founder of EdSurge, an educational newsletter and former Executive Editor for technology coverage at Forbes magazine and Forbes.com.
• GEORGE WATSKY, writer and performer from San Francisco now based in Los Angeles.

Register for the event and grab your tickets before they sell out!

Tim Olson

Earlier this week, I was inspired by a passionate group of people dedicated to boosting the education system, from inside and outside the system. They gathered at one of the TEDxSFED event here at the KQED headquarters to share their ideas.

One conversation in particular stayed with me long after the attendees had left.

“Why are you still teaching?” asked one educator of another, after an emotional discussion about the high incidents of dropouts.

“Because I believe in public schools,” the other teacher replied, in tears. “These kids are never going to graduate if we don’t try. And it’s not fair to them.”

She said she uses every possible tool at her disposal to keep her kids challenged, their eyes focused, and their curiosity piqued. Most of her textbooks gather dust in the corner of her room, she said, and she hasn’t touched a Scantron in years. She’s broken down the barriers to learning without leaving the system — within the boundaries of her classroom.

A parent chimed in: “We can’t abandon the schools,” she said. “There are things that are working.”

But another former public school teacher said he left after three years when he was offered a job in Silicon Valley. He was frustrated by the confines of his job and those dreaded standardized bubble tests, and thought he could improve the education system from outside the fray.

About the changing relationship between teacher and student, adult and child: “Teachers have fear about not knowing the answer,” one educator said. “But the question is far more important than the answer.”

Another teacher talked about not having access to valuable tech tools because of school administrators’ fears. “They don’t want to put kids at risk of being mugged, or they don’t trust them with the gadgets,” she said.

Beyond the use of technology, they talked about the importance of taking kids out to the natural world and conducting “jailbreaks” — leaving school grounds to get outside.

Before these smaller group discussions, speakers presented their ideas about how they would re-imagine the education system. The ideas ranged from building story-telling time with elders in the community into the curriculum, to leveraging social media, to taking the classroom outdoors to using tactile DIY tools as a way to complement high-tech learning devices.

Regardless of their particular vantage point, they were each there for a reason — to listen to and convey their ideas to improve the education system. Here’s to keeping that torch lit.

Inspiring educators and thinkers are gathering here at the KQED (and MindShift) headquarters next Tuesday, Feb. 22, to brainstorm ideas on re-imagining education at one of the TEDxSFED events.

They’ll be talking about everything from designing learning spaces to balancing technology with real experiences, to using media for learning, to scaling up innovation in schools.

Attendees will also help select speakers for the main TEDxSFED event on April 9 in San Francisco. I’ll be there, helping facilitate the conversations and meeting local leaders in the education community. If you’re in town, please come by (don’t forget to register first — it’s free.) I’d love to meet you!

TEDxSFED

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2011

6 TO 8 P.M.

KQED

2601 MARIPOSA ST.

SAN FRANCISCO