How to Ignite Your Students’ Curiosity and Enthusiasm for Learning:
What the Research Says Works
Presenter: Jay Meadows and Bryan Goodwin
Cost: Free
Location: Remote Webinar
Watch On-Demand
Humans are born to be curious, explore their environments, ask questions, investigate mysteries, and solve problems. So, why are so many students presenting as disengaged and reluctant learners?
Recent research offers incites for tangible shifts educators can make in the classroom to ignite students’ curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. Want to hear about it?
In this session, Bryan Goodwin, CEO of McREL and author of New Classroom Instruction that Works, will join Jay Meadows, CEO of Exemplars, to unpack some of this research and explore strategies for boosting student engagement and improving learning outcomes.
This edWebinar will be of interest to teachers, school and district leaders, and math coaches at the elementary and middle school levels.
About the Presenters
Jay Meadows serves as Exemplars’ Chief Executive Officer. He is a former middle school math and science teacher and has been working in education for more than two decades. Jay holds a Master of Arts in teaching from the University of Vermont and a master’s in mathematical pedagogy from Southern New Hampshire University.
Jay is also one of Exemplars’ primary performance task writers and professional development consultants for the middle level. Leading sessions throughout the United States, Jay works with teachers to integrate performance tasks and research-based best practices into their curricula. Through Exemplars, Jay dreams of teaching a generation of students to become powerful problem solvers. Prior to his career in education, Jay coordinated delegations from the former Soviet Union through U.S. State Department grants. Jay has also worked alongside a number of international non-profits and is a former Peace Corps Volunteer.
Bryan Goodwin is President and CEO of McREL International, an education nonprofit that delivers in-depth professional learning and school improvement services to help educators worldwide apply the science of teaching, learning and leading to lift all learners. He has written many books that translate research into practice for educators, including The New Classroom Instruction that Works: The Best Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement (ASCD, 2022), Building a Curious School: Restore the Joy that Brought You to School (Corwin, 2020), Learning that Sticks: A Brain-Based Model for K—12 Instructional Design and Delivery (ASCD, 2020); The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day (ASCD, 2013), and Simply Better: Doing What Matters Most to Change the Odds for Student Success (ASCD, 2011). He also writes a regular research column for ASCD’s monthly Educational Leadership magazine.
About the Moderator
Brendan Scribner, Director of Implementation and Success for Exemplars, began his career in education as a middle school math teacher in Vermont in 1998, before spending the last 20 years as a fourth-grade classroom teacher in Hanover, New Hampshire. He earned his master’s in the science of teaching mathematics from the Vermont Math Initiative. As a passionate classroom educator, he strives to be a mathematical identity builder with a keen focus on learning experiences that cultivate wonder and joy and reveal the beauty of mathematics for all. Brendan supports educators at Exemplars, with a strong commitment to building contextually relevant problem solving into established curricula. An area of particular importance in his work is the power of productive discourse and how “talk moves” within a classroom. When he is not immersed in his work as an educator, he enjoys family time, cycling, hiking, skiing, leisure travel, and crafting unique wood products.
