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Writing The Future
The Philadelphia Writing Project’s annual Celebration of Writing and Literacy, presented by and for local educators, was held this year at the Penn Museum around the theme of “Teaching, Learning, and Doing in the Age of AI.” The event featured workshops on how to creatively and responsibly integrate AI and other technology into schools and pedagogy, a keynote by Stanford’s Antero Garcia, and a poster session (shown here) featuring the work of Philadelphia teachers on topics from creating shadow puppet stories with digital tools to AI-powered simulations for difficult conversations.
Photo credit: Darryl W. Moran Photography
A Fan-tastic Visit
Entrepreneur and startup mentor Fan Deng—founder of Fan Shu, the biggest online reading club in China with more than 120 million followers—visited campus in September. Students in Penn GSE’s Education Entrepreneurship master’s program were eager to meet with the international celebrity (seen here, center right, giving a thumbs up) during their first on-campus intensive of the fall semester, during which Fan Deng talked about low-cost scalability, risk-taking, and the importance of founder happiness to venture success.
Photo credit: Jane Lindahl
PHILLY STAKES
Homecoming brings together alumni, students, faculty, and staff to reconnect and learn, so this year’s event was a fitting opportunity for Dean Katharine Strunk to publicly launch her strategic vision, Together for Good, among an audience of community members who will help bring it to life. School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. was on hand for a fireside chat with the dean that covered the existential threats posed by the national teacher shortage and the ways in which graduate schools of education can partner with local districts to recruit, support, and retain educators so that all students can thrive. Learn more: penng.se/hc24
Photo credit: HKB Photography
Honoring Educational Trailblazers
On November 13, at the Morgan Library in New York City, Edmund W. Gordon, Jody Lewen, and Robert Lerman received the 2024 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education. They were nominated by their peers for their innovative work transforming education. Gordon for his six decades of championing supplementary education for preK–12th graders, including the federal Head Start program; Lewen for founding and leading Mount Tamalpais College, an accredited, degree-granting institution within San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; and Lerman for transforming pathways to acquiring job-related skills and co-founding Apprenticeships for America. Pictured here (from left) Lewen, Harold McGraw III, WG’76, Dean Strunk, Lerman, Gordon, and Michael Golden. Learn more about their inspiring work: penng.se/mcgraw24.
Photo credit: Steve Belkowitz
