Richard Culatta and Charles Waters to Keynote Vermont Fest 2024
Richard Culatta will speak on Thursday, November 7, 2024. As the CEO of ASCD+ISTE, Richard Culatta is focused on creating the next generation of innovative learning leaders. Richard has also served as the Chief Innovation Officer of the state of Rhode Island and was appointed by President Barack Obama to lead the US Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology. His book, Digital for Good: Raising Kids to Thrive in an Online World (Harvard Business Publishing) aims to help create conditions for healthy tech use at home and school.
HARNESSING AI FOR DIGITAL GOOD IN EDUCATION: As we stand at the intersection of artificial intelligence and education, Culatta will explore how we can leverage AI to enhance learning experiences and what we need to do to prepare students to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital world. Culatta will also discuss strategies for creating conditions for healthy tech use at home and school.
Charles Water, author, actor, children’s poet and educator will speak on Friday, November 8. His latest book Mascot (co-written with Traci Sorell) has received multiple starred reviews. His other books (co-written with Irene Latham) include: African Town (winner of the 2023 Scott O’Dell Award For Historical Fiction), Dictionary For A Better World: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A – Z, Be A Bridge and the Charlotte Huck Honor book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship. His poems have appeared in many children‘s poetry anthologies including National Geographic’s The Poetry of Us.
THE LIFE OF AN AUTHOR AND ACTOR: Waters' keynote touches on themes that are threaded in his books and that educators can incorporate into their classrooms: black history, inequality, nature, sports, and tapping into your memory to mine uncomfortable relatable truths in poems. He will also share writing tips he's learned from his journey.