Months ago a colleague of mine alerted me to an EdWeek article titled “An Unorthodox Plan to Pay Students to Write Curriculum Is Raising Achievement,” which described some very unusual work being done by Dr. Kate Maxlow, an educator on the East Coast. The article opens with this: “Kate Maxlow admits to being the ‘first person in the room to get bored.’ As a teacher, she worked overtime to keep her elementary students engaged but privately wondered if some content is just destined to be dry. She changed her mind the day her daughter—sick with a 100-degree fever—pleaded to be allowed to go to the last day of summer math camp. The 10-year-old had spent a week learning about patterns and writing code, and the work was set to culminate in a big escape-room challenge. Maxlow, the director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment for the Hampton City schools on Virginia’s eastern coast, wished all students would be so excited by their classwork that a sick day would come as a bitter disappointment. ‘I’ve always thought that schools need to do a better job of being innovative and engaging students, but I figured there were just some subjects you can’t make fun,’ Maxlow said. ‘I realized then that it’s possible to do, even if it’s not easy or obvious.’” So, awesome listeners, what you will hear over the next 70 minutes is a deep dive into Dr. Maxlow’s life, her work, the way she thinks and her hopes and dreams for education. And, I am excited to share, back in 2020, Dr. Maxlow received the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Leadership Award for her work coordinating efforts to innovate the Hampton City Schools curriculum. As always, our episodes are edited by the talented audio engineer, Evan Kurohara. Our theme music is provided by pianist, Michael Sloan. Please leave us a review and rating wherever you get your podcasts.

Article Links:

Hollywood to Hampton

Student Evaluations of Curriclum

The FLEx Program

Kate Maxwell Consulting