Works for Children

Let’s prepare children to become heroes of their own stories.

kids jumping.jpg

My goal: Give kids the mastery they need to write the future they want.

Kids are exposed to curriculum and online media as much as 8-10 hours a day, making them a powerful influence on their development. That’s why I’ve focused much of my professional career working to ensuring that students receive solid education about the topics and issues that will shape their futures. In partnership with universities, nonprofits, and foundations, here are a few of the educational initiatives I’ve worked on:

Advisor, WGBH/PBS Kids

Since 2015 I’ve served as Advisor for Plum Landing and Loop Scoops, multimedia children’s environmental programs produced by PBS Kids/WGBH Boston.

  • LOOP SCOOPS are short, funny videos that tell the “life story” of everyday products, including a juice box and electronics. As script and content consultant, I worked alongside a team of animators, researchers, and educators to develop engaging, entertaining content to get kids “thinking about the stuff in your life and what this stuff can do to the environment.”

  • Plum Landing combines animation, live action videos, and community-based activities to help kids explore their local environment and share their findings in an online community. For this show, my role again focused on working with the dynamics folks at PBS Kids to review scripts, refine the educational content, and develop evaluation tools

curriculum for sustainability and social justice

As founder and Executive Director of Creative Change, a nonprofit consulting firm, I’ve led the development of these and other curriculum projects

  • An anti-discrimination curriculum and professional development program for the United Nations Global Teaching and Learning Project. Curriculum addresses racial, gender, class, ethnic, and religious discrimination. (2003)

  • A series of science and social studies lessons on the economic- and environmental aspects of Fair Trade for Fair Trade Campaigns. (2016)

  • A series of geography and science lessons on the cultural and scientific dimensions of climate change developed for The Changing Earth at the University of Minnesota. (2016)

  • A complete course on brownfields redevelopment (the remediation of contaminated properties) in collaboration with the Purdue University College of Engineering. (2009)

  • A suite of lessons on the science and economics of ecological design in partnership with Eastern Michigan University. (2007)

My methods have been published in my book, Reframing the Curriculum: Design for Social Justice and Sustainability.

still under wraps

An active member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), I’ve got several fiction projects in the works, including a picture book; a chapter book; and The Shape of Change, a middle grade novel that was runner-up in the Michigan SCBWI Novel Mentorship competition. Stay tuned!