Watch JD's Work with Baltimore County Public Schools!
JD's Signature Keynote:
Pedagogical Excellence In The Modern Academy: Wellness, Equity and Technology Literacy As The New Core
In this keynote, Jordan makes a compelling argument that pedagogical excellence in the modern academy entails facilitating learning that’s conducive to student wellbeing, inclusion, and ethical technology use. JD reveals how these areas are connected and, when well attended to, can lead to improved learning outcomes. He pulls from his ed tech and inclusive teaching expertise to illuminate how cold calling, technology bans, and misconceptions of “academic rigor” pose threats to student success. Faculty are challenged to revisit their teaching philosophies to ensure that their views on student wellbeing, DEI, and technologies such as generative AI and smartphones are all student-centered.
Perfect for:
Conferences & Symposiums
Department, School, or District-Wide Faculty Development
New Faculty Orientation
JD's Workshops
JD isn't just an electrifying keynote speaker - he's also a skilled educator and workshop facilitator. Learn about his workshops for educators below
Trauma-Informed Pedagogy: Creating Classrooms That Are Safe Enough To Be Dangerous [MOST POPULAR OFFERING]
What if trauma-informed teaching practices could make classrooms not just more inclusive and conducive to student wellbeing, but also more intellectually rigorous? This workshop shows how care for students and intellectual rigor can reinforce each other. Drawing on evidence-based strategies, participants will learn to design classes that center love, trust, and accessibility. These strategies create environments where students engage with controversial topics, ask challenging questions, and make productive mistakes. Specific strategies in this workshop include collaboratively setting grounding principles with students, trauma-informed grading and assignment policies, trauma-informed discussion facilitation, and supporting students around challenging topics.
Throwing Hot Water on Cold Calling:
Alternative Student Engagement Strategies
Participants will walk away from this workshop with inclusive student engagement techniques that promote active learning in the synchronous classroom. Educators begin by taking inventory of their current student engagement practices and comparing them with evidence-based techniques that are grounded in learning science. Then, they’ll acquire strategies for backward designing classroom engagements that encourage peer collaboration and skill development among students. They’ll see scenario-based examples of session re-designs that replace the traditional combo of lecture and cold calling with new strategies. Lastly, they’ll practice re-designing their own courses and collaboratively brainstorm solutions to pedagogical and logistical challenges to student engagement.
Career-Based Pedagogy: Cultivating Students’ Professional Identity Development In the Classroom
In this workshop, faculty learn to infuse meaningful career development opportunities into their pedagogy. Using his thought leadership in student career development and experience working with CTE educators, Jordan teaches educators how to guide students through design thinking activities that get students to see their career development as an emergent, collaborative process. JD shares how this work leads to stronger professional identity development for students. Faculty gain a framework that helps students reflect on how their personal values and interests align with their professional goals. Attendees will leave with tangible course design, assignment design, assessment design, and mentorship strategies that are grounded in design thinking and align with career development competencies.
Difficult Classroom Conversations – Upholding Equity, Inclusion and Free Speech Principles in Class [NEW]
As classrooms become more culturally diverse, effectively facilitating dialogue across cultural and ideological differences becomes even more tantamount to teaching excellence. Attendees of this workshop will walk away with a better understanding of how the 1st Amendment impacts their teaching and the ways that it poses challenges and opportunities for creating an inclusive classroom. They’ll gain skills in how to design and facilitate classroom dialogue that’s conducive to learning and engages all students, regardless of identity or political stance. They’ll also examine how trauma-informed teaching, accessibility pedagogy, and upholding free speech principles cultivates a classroom environment where dialogue thrives.
Power Mapping: A Tool for Equity-Centered Teaching [NEW]
In this workshop, educators will explore how they can use power mapping—a tool borrowed from the world of advocacy and community organizing—as a pedagogical tool for deeper and more culturally-responsive instruction. Used by activists to de-mystify complex decision-making processes in government, policy, business, education, and other social systems, this practice translates well to the classroom as a perspective-taking tool for students. Power mapping serves multiple purposes, including building students' advocacy skills, helping them find and strengthen topics for projects, and giving them exposure to career fields that often go unseen. Jordan introduces the practice, then facilitates peer reflection and idea generation for how instructors can use power mapping in their teaching.
Custom Workshops
Along with being a skilled speaker and facilitator, Jordan is also a learning designer! If you have a topic in mind that you'd like your educators or staff to receive professional development in that is not listed above, Jordan is happy to design or co-design an engagement just for your group. This engagement may be subject to an increased fee to compensate for additional labor.
"Every Teacher Needs to Hear This"
- Attendee, MD Common Ground Educational Conference
JD holds an M.A. in Learning, Design, & Technology from Georgetown University, and a B.A. in Communication from McDaniel College
