131: Embracing Non-Traditional Education with Jennifer D. Klein

How do you create meaningful change in education without losing your job?

My guest this week, Jennifer D. Klein, explores the delicate balance of innovation and resistance through the lens of her experiences in nontraditional education. 

Jennifer shares with us her incredible insights about leading change in schools today. From poetry in the wilderness to navigating political turbulence, discover how language, timing, and understanding can help leaders create schools where every student thrives.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE DISCUSS:

• The transformative experience of growing up in alternative education
• How leaders can navigate resistance to change while staying true to their educational vision
• The unexpected ways language choice can impact how communities receive educational innovation
• Creating school environments where each child is celebrated

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Connect with Jennifer:
• https://principledlearning.org
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdeborahklein
• https://x.com/jdeborahklein
• https://www.instagram.com/jdeborahklein/
• https://www.facebook.com/jdeborahklein
• Learn more about the Rebel Project Literacy Curriculum, a fully integrated literacy and project based learning curriculum, at  projectup.us or inkwire.co/rplc 
• Get your copy of Rebel Educator: Create Classrooms Where Impact and Imagination Meet
• Learn more about Rebel Educator, explore our professional development opportunities for educators and students, and check out our project library.
• Visit us at UP Academy to learn more about our personalized and inclusive learning environment.
• Connect with Tanya and UP Academy on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram and learn more about her journey here.

GUEST BIO:

Jennifer D. Klein is a product of experiential project-based education herself, and she lives and breathes the student-centered pedagogies used to educate her. She became a teacher during graduate school in 1990, quickly finding the intersection between her love of writing and her fascination with educational transformation and its potential impact on social change. A former head of school with extensive international experience and over 30 years in education--including 19 in the classroom--Jennifer facilitates dynamic, interactive workshops for teachers, leaders and students, working to amplify student voice, to provide the tools for high-quality project-based learning in all cultural and socio-economic contexts, and to shift school culture to support such practices. Motivated by her belief that all children deserve a meaningful, relevant education like the one she experienced herself, and that giving them such an education will catalyze positive change in their communities and beyond, Jennifer strives to inspire educators to shift their practices in schools worldwide.

Jennifer’s first book, The Global Education Guidebook, was published in 2017, and her second, The Landscape Model of Learning: Designing Student-Centered Experiences fo