PBL World 2022 - Dr. Lisa Delpit's Keynote Address

“The work of changing the world is truly in our hands.”

That is how Dr. Lisa Delpit concluded her PBL World 2022 keynote address, which illuminated “the divine work of teaching,” echoing words from Dr. Asa Hilliard.

To explore that divine work, Dr. Delpit honed in on an interesting dichotomy between Western culture and Black, Brown, and Indigenous cultures. Western cultures are quick to focus on the “what” (e.g. What do you want to be when you grow up?) This is in contrast to a focus on the “who” (e.g. Who do you want to be (now and in the future?).

By focusing on the “who,” we are tasked with creating spaces that make our children feel welcome. Dr. Delpit offers three strategies for ensuring every child feels welcome in our schools and classrooms:

Build relationships and create a sense of belonging.
Identify and appreciate children’s brilliance and their special gifts, and help them realize and develop their own brilliance and gifts.
Connect content to who they are and to what they care about.

Overall, Dr. Delpit emphasized the importance of culturally-informed pedagogy, drawing a parallel to PBLWorks’ 4 Equity Levers, and the power Gold Standard PBL has to honor children’s individual gifts and their natural ability to express agency in their learning.

View this video's full transcript here: https://www.pblworks.org/blog/dr-lisa...