TEDxKitchenerED took place in 2016 on Saturday May 14th! We examined TED's call for Ideas Worth Spreading and applied it to the educational space to share ideas, foster discussion and move people to make positive change in their lives, our community and the world. Please check out our website and our YouTube playlist to watch the great talks our diverse group of speakers shared!

CIGI Campus
67 Erb St. West
Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 6C2
Canada

Bob Kline

Teacher + speaker

Bob's interest in developing young leaders began when he co-founded his school's grade nine orientation and mentorship program. Since then, his Leadership and Student Council program has tripled in size, and he has led his student council to win two consecutive 'Most School Spirit' awards at the Ontario Student Leadership Conference. Bob speaks about the power behind moments of kindness in schools. He teaches at Huron Heights Secondary School in Kitchener, Ontario.

Brian Aspinall

Teacher

Brian is a grade 7/8 teacher and Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert who develops web applications to support 21st century learning practices and pedagogies. His latest project, edmettle, is a tool to support and develop student feedback to improve learning. Brian speaks professionally on the topics of 21st century education, assessment and evaluation and has given two TEDx talks on education reform. He has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems and is currently completing his Masters of Professional Education in Math & Computational Strategies.

Craig Cardiff

Singer & Songwriter

Craig Cardiff is a Juno Nominated singer/songwriter originally from Waterloo, Ontario. Known throughout Canada, Craig is developing a following throughout North America and into Europe. With guitar in hand, Craig can turn any setting into an intimate affair. Infusing his music and lyrics with an uncompromising humanism rarely seen in today’s production-heavy climate.

Danny Yaroslavski

Founder + videogame developer

Danny Yaroslavski is a videogames developer and a Forbes 30 under 30 EdTech entrepreneur. Combining his passion for games with a Computer Science degree from UWaterloo, he created Lightbot; a series of games that teach kids about coding. Lightbot's games have now been used as a first step to coding for over 5 million students worldwide.

Dina Pestonji

Consultant

Dina graduated from the University of Toronto with a BSc Degree in Psychology. She completed the ‘Bridge to Business’ certificate program at the Rotman School of Management and went on to earn her Masters Degree in business studies abroad in London and Paris at the European School of Business. Since then, Dina has worked in the financial and education sectors as a consultant, manager and sales professional in cities across the globe including New York, London UK, Paris and San Francisco. When Dina was 29 years old, she had a massive stroke requiring emergency brain surgery. When she woke up, she had no voice and couldn’t move the right side of her body. Through intensive rehabilitation, she (re)learned how to talk, walk and eventually regain all brain functionality. Seven months after her stroke she completed her very first duathlon and just 9 months after the stroke and being bedridden, she ran her 7th half marathon.

Holly Painter

Spoken Word Poet

A spoken word artist, public speaker, and certified teacher, Holly Painter has spoken to over thirty thousand youth at school and community events in Ontario, and performed on stages across the country. Holly is an Artist in Residence with the Thames Valley District School Board, a three-time Grand Slam Champion and Director of the London Poetry Slam, the National Director of Spoken Word Canada, and testament to the fact that your biggest fear can become your greatest passion.

Jennifer Moss

Chief Communications Officer + Co-founder

Jennifer Moss is the cofounder and Chief Communications Officer at Plasticity Labs. Named by Canadian Business Magazine as Innovators of the Year, Jennifer and her Cofounders built technology that leverages neuroplasticity and psychological sciences to improve employee sentiment and happiness. They focus on mapping sentiment and happiness to drive the metrics that matter to large enterprises. Jennifer writes for Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post and she was recently signed by Kogan Page to write the book, “Unlocking Happiness at Work”. Jennifer is a recipient of The National Public Service Award from the Office of President Obama and was most recently honoured with the Global Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Kristin Phillips

School principal

Kristin Phillips has a passion for educational change. She works closely with teachers and administrators at the school and board level to bring about pedagogical change based on current research and practices. Her current interest is "recursive teaching" in order to better engage students and promote learning that "sticks". She is currently a principal at a grade 7-8 school in Kitchener, ON.

Kristin Werner

Dance educator + founder

Kristin is the founder and owner of the dance studio Star Performance Academy, where she works as a Dance Educator with recreational and competitive level dancers from preschool to adults. Her love for the stage took her from her home in Kitchener to all over the world including New York City, Las Vegas, Disney World, and finally to Germany where she earned a gold and silver medal for Canada at the IDO World Tap Dance Championships. Kristin's competitive dance team at Star Performance Academy has won numerous awards for Top Studio and Sportsmanship.

Peter LeBlanc

School principal

Peter was recently selected as one of 40 recipients of The Learning Partnership's "Canada's Outstanding Principal.” He has spoken locally and provincially on a variety of topics including "The Past, Present and Future of Education", "The Connected Leader" and "School Visioning for the 21st Century". Peter is currently a principal of a K-8 school and has a strong interest in tech-enabled teaching and learning.

Renu Persaud

Professor + writer

Dr Renu Persaud graduated from the University of Toronto with her BA, MA & PhD. Renu is a renowned Canadian Lecturing Professor at the University of Windsor. Her intellectual work is in the area of arts and social sciences: sociology, education, religion, theory, social life, and social dynamics. As a social scientist, Renu's innovative research has examined the relationship between one's sense of self and its affect on life chances and success. Her work has been published internationally in Taylor and Francis journal publications. As an author and poet, her highly anticipated book The Mastery of You by Waldorf Publishers will be released in 2017.

Royan Lee

Teacher, consultant + blogger

Royan is a teacher, parent, consultant, speaker, blogger, and professional learning facilitator. He is a family man and, in the words of his own children, “very…weird”. When he isn’t blogging, reading his RSS feeds, or tweeting about education and parenting, you can find Royan doing wonderfully mundane things with his three children and beloved wife Janet. He is obsessed with learning relationships and experiences that cause growth and shifts in thinking. He is also easily swayed by delicious, unpretentious foods, and perfectly pulled shots of espresso.

Rusul Alrubail

Education writer + blogger

​Rusul Alrubail is an education writer, consultant, and blogger. She is is also the Chief Education Officer of The Writing Project. Alrubail has taught College English and literature courses to first year college and undergraduate students. She believes in the power of student voice and agency as one of the main elements that can shift education forward and empower others to create positive change in people's lives. Her writing and work focuses on teacher professional development and training, pedagogical practices in and out of the classroom, english language learners, and media literacy as a means for professional development.

Will Gourley

Teacher + TED-Ed Innovative Educator

Will is an elementary school teacher and digital literacy lead teacher at Beckett Farm PS with the York Region DSB. He is a frequent speaker on various topics related to the educational space. Will is a TED-Ed facilitator and was selected to be part of the first cohort of TED-Ed innovative Educators, one of just 28 teachers selected worldwide.

William Zhou

CEO + Co-founder

William Zhou is the co-founder and CEO of Chalk.com, an education software company focused in K-12. William has been passionate about entrepreneurship from a young age, founding his first company in high school. He launched his first Internet business in 2010, which he sold at the age 18 during his first year of computer science at the University of Waterloo. To pursue the bigger challenge of changing education, William founded Chalk.com to create a productivity suite for K-12 teachers. Forbes recently named William to their top 30 under 30 list for Education in 2015. Today, Chalk.com is used by over 125,000 teachers.

Yumi Lee

Student, entrepreneur + blogger

Yumi is a creative grade 7 student from York Region. She has her own blog, is an entrepreneur who started and runs her own online business called yumisdozen.com, and she makes delicious treats and baked goods. Yumi aspires to be a teacher one day and spends much of her time making things inspired by her favourite YouTube creators