In Season 1 Doris Korda discusses the core principles of her educational philosophy with Tim Desmond and Alison Tanker, her co-instructors from Hawken School’s Entrepreneurial Studies Program. “It’s not about what you teach, it’s about what they learn.”
In Season 2 we take you behind the scenes into Doris Korda’s entrepreneurship course at Hawken School to discuss the day to day of teaching a rigorous interdisciplinary course where students learn the critical skills they’ll need to be successful in the world.
Season 3 highlights the global community of educators implementing the Korda Method. Doris talks to them about their practice as teachers, the impact on their students and community, and how it is changing their schools and districts.
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Season 1: The Core Principles
Season 2: Behind the Scenes
Season 3: The Firestarters
Firestarters: Patterns for Igniting School Change
In this episode, Doris and Alison discuss the themes that emerged from this season's conversations with 62 entrepreneurial educators who have courageously ignited change in how we do school.
Episode 74
Science Teacher Uses Entrepreneurship to Spark Schoolwide Change
In this episode, Doris speaks with Jeremy Wickenheiser from DSST Public Schools. He shares his journey from teaching high school science four years ago to building an entrepreneurship program that has scaled...
Episode 73
Students Gain Confidence and Embody Citizenship in Rural District
In this episode, Doris speaks with Kesha Conway who has been piloting Korda Method across the Ashtabula Area City Schools District. They discuss a recent project in Lisa Raffa's high school Government class ...
Episode 72
Canadian Students Design Solutions for Real World Clients
In this episode, Doris speaks with Nicholas Timms from Hillfield Strathallan College. He shares the story of how transforming a traditional small business course grew into a student-run Design Studio, with h...
Episode 71
Going Beyond PBL for Middle School Girls in Columbus
In this episode, Doris speaks with Pam Reed, Humanities teacher at Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls. Pam shares how different it is to teach with this radically different method, as students learn ...
Episode 70
Pioneering Education Innovation in Slovenia - Part 2
In this episode, Doris and Alison discuss the journey that led to a recent workshop with educators in Slovenia. Also featured in the episode are excerpts from some of the entrepreneurial educators and studen...
Episode 69
Taking Risks for Students Across Cleveland
Doris speaks with Michael Hudecek and Jacquelyn Clemens. Michael discusses the youth entrepreneurship program he developed as Program Manager for St. Clair Superior Development Corporation, an organization d...
Episode 68
Teaching at the Intersection of Science, Business and Technology
In this episode, Doris talks to Terry Chou, science teacher at Joaquin Miller Middle School in California. Terry shares details about her students learning innovation in her Science Enrichment and Research (...
Episode 67
Using Entrepreneurship to Teach Leadership to Girls
Doris speaks with Regina Rosi, Assistant Division Director & Dean of Student Life at Marlborough School. They discuss the need to modernize leadership education in K12 schools. Regina shares the entrepreneur...
Episode 66
Structuring School to Close the Gap Between Teaching & Learning
Doris speaks with Dr. Rand Harrington and Phil Klein of Kent Denver School in Colorado. They discuss creating structures in the school to leverage expertise both in and out of the building to allow for authe...
Episode 65
Students Tackle Food Systems and Climate Change with PBL
Doris speaks with Katy Yan, instructor of AP Environmental Science and Honors Biology at The College Preparatory School and former Science Teacher at The Bentley School. Katy explains the shift from research...
Episode 64
Teaching at the Intersection of Entrepreneurship & Public Service
Doris speaks with Chad Williamson, Co-founder of Noble Impact. Chad shares his journey to teaching at the intersection of entrepreneurship and public service. He explains how the Sandy Hook School tragedy ha...
Episode 63
Teaching Skills the Workforce Actually Needs
In this episode, Doris speaks with Sarah Jensen, High School Entrepreneurship Teacher at Nichols School. Sarah brings an extensive business background to the classroom and discusses the value of students dev...
Episode 62
Economics Teacher in Singapore Throws Out the Answer Key
In this episode, Doris speaks with Oliver Smith, Business and Economics teacher at Singapore American School. Oliver discusses the depth of learning his students experienced while solving problems for real ...
Episode 61
Environmental Entrepreneurship Course Leads to New Way of Teaching Science
In this episode, Doris interviews Sarah Swain. Sarah describes the integration of environmental science into her entrepreneurship course and entrepreneurial skills into her core science courses. They discuss...
Episode 60
Economics Teacher Engages Students in Design for Social Impact
In this episode, Doris speaks with Adam Lang, a Teaching Chair and Instructor of Economics at Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. Adam shares how his students took ownership over their learning and developed sk...
Episode 59
Students Learn Ancient World History by Solving Modern Problems
Doris speaks with Julia Griffin, Humanities teacher and Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning at Hawken Upper School. Julia shares how her humanities department adopted a new academic method that trans...
Episode 58
Educator Equips Women and People of Color to Succeed in Tech
In this episode, Doris speaks with Mel McGee, Founder and CEO of We Can Code IT. Mel shares how she applied Korda Method in Coding Bootcamps that are making the tech industry more diverse and inclusive by p...
Episode 57
Building an Entrepreneurship Program that Redefines Teaching
In this episode, Doris speaks with Paul Chiment and Blake Dorfman of Laguna Blanca School in Santa Barbara, California. Paul is a veteran high school Math and Economics teacher and Blake an early career midd...
Episode 56
Entrepreneurial Educators Design Courses for Impact
In this special episode, educators who recently attended the Workshops for Entrepreneurial Studies share their inspiring plans for courses and programs in entrepreneurship, history, economics, math, science ...
Episode 55
Students Learn Spanish through Real World Project
In this episode, Doris speaks with Rachel Mullen, Upper School Spanish Teacher at Hawken School. Rachel shares how her students advanced their Spanish communications, cultural awareness, and collaboration sk...
Episode 54
Pioneering Entrepreneurship Education in Slovenia - Part 1
In this episode, Doris speaks with Janez Gorenc, an English teacher from Gimnazija Novo mesto in Slovenia. Janez shares his journey to teach entrepreneurship so that his students develop practical, essential...
Episode 53
Environmental Science Students Create Solutions for their School
In this episode, Doris speaks with Ben Leslie-Bole, environmental science educator at Athenian School in Danville, California. He discusses how his student’s work on a water retention project led to collabor...
Episode 52
Service Learning through Global Problem Solving
In this episode, Doris speaks with Alethea Tyner Paradis, history professor at Santa Barbara City College and Director / CEO of Peace Works Travel, a socially conscious study abroad program where students le...
Episode 51
Entrepreneurship Education: New Model for Teaching & Learning
In this episode, Doris speaks with Jay Scheurle, Head of School and Entrepreneurship teacher at Miami Valley School. Jay describes how he modeled this method of teaching and learning for his school by implem...
Episode 50
Movement to Create a New High School Transcript
Can a group of independent schools get colleges to accept a new kind of transcript without grades? In this episode, Scott Looney, Founder of the Mastery Transcript Consortium and Head of Hawken School discus...
Episode 49
Rural Public School Students Collaborate to Solve Problems
In this episode Doris speaks with Kesha Conway, Program Director at Ashtabula Leadership County. She describes her course where students gained skills in collaboration and problem solving by working on a rea...
Episode 48
Biomimicry and Leadership for Middle School Students
In this episode Doris speaks with Anna Delia. She is the Middle School Asst. Director and Science Teacher at Hawken School, a K12 independent school in Cleveland, Ohio. Anna shares how her middle school scie...
Episode 47
Innovation & Changemaking in an Alternative Public School
In this episode Doris speaks with Dr. Danielle Bomar. She is the Supervisor at Options For Success, a K12 Alternative School Program in the Columbus City School District for students who have been suspended ...
Episode 46
Teaching Social Entrepreneurship in Shanghai
In this episode, Doris talks to Anne Love of Concordia International School in Shanghai, China. Anne is the High School Academic Innovation Coordinator as well as a teacher of science and social entrepreneur...
Episode 45
Scaling Entrepreneurship Education Across a High School
In this episode, Doris talks to David Peden. David is the Chair of the Entrepreneurship Leadership program at Battle Ground Academy, a K12 independent school near Nashville, TN. They discuss the entrepreneur...
Episode 44
Season 3 Intro - Igniting the Next Chapter of Do School Better
In this episode, Doris and Alison kick off Season 3 of the podcast. They share the plan for this new season, which is called The Firestarters. They also share some news about their new organization, Wildfire...
Episode 44
The Final Project & End of the Semester
In this episode, we talk about the final look at a semester course and how important the reflection on the entire experience is to the learning of the students.
Episode 43
What Happens When Students Get Stuck
In this episode, we talk about what happens in this class when students are working on real problems and they’re paralyzed because they don’t know what to do next.
Episode 42
A Conversation with Public School Science Teacher, Terry Chou
In this episode I talk to Terry Chou, a middle school science teacher from a public school in California who attended our first workshop. Listen to what Terry has discovered about teaching innovation and col...
Episode 41
The Final Project: The Student Businesses
In this episode we’ll talk about these final projects where students create their own businesses and will face huge academic challenges in the process.
Episode 40
The Final Presentations for Endemic Solutions
In this episode, we talk about what students presented today as their solutions to their second business challenge and why the learning has been transformative.
Episode 39
Authentic Feedback: More than Just a Letter Grade
In this episode, learn how the feedback we give in this course goes far beyond a letter grade. Doris and Alison discuss how students shift away from extrinsic motivation through self-reflection, as well as g...
Episode 38
“Things Get Complicated” – The Second Business Challenge, Endemic Solutions
We’re a week and a half in to students’ second business challenge. And at this point in the course, things get really, really complicated. And in this episode, we share a lot of our strategies in helping gui...
Episode 37
The Second Business Challenge: Endemic Solutions
In this episode we talk about what is happening in this class when the students come out of their first day of their second business challenge and are faced with a problem that is significantly more sophisti...
Episode 36
The Final Presentations for Peaceful Fruits
In this episode we discuss where the students are, given that they just finished their first business challenge and they’re about to undergo a major shift.
Episode 35
The First Business Challenge: Peaceful Fruits
In this episode, Doris discusses her methods of instruction and how to launch students into the habit of self-guided inquiry through early assignments and activities in the class.
Episode 34
Back to School: The First Week
In this episode, Doris talks to Alison about the first week of this class and the early on exercises that lead to de-schooling. They go in depth into the Business Model Canvas activity describing how it sets...
Episode 33
Tools of the Trade 2: Not Being Afraid to Try New Things
In this episode, Alison and Doris discuss trying out new tools in the upcoming semester of Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program. Alison talks about the decision to pilot Slack and incorporate the use of ...
Episode 32
Using Entrepreneurship Education for Empowerment
n this episode, Doris talks with Michael Hudecek of St. CLair Superior Development Corporation. He shares his “overwhelming success” in piloting Korda’s model in one of Cleveland’s most impoverished neighbor...
Episode 31
First Year Reflections with Alison and Tim
In this episode, Alison shares how the Korda Method of teaching and learning deepened her understanding of innovative teaching practices, pushing students towards rigorous and meaningful learning.
Episode 30
Entrepreneurship Education: Impact & Perspective from College Counseling Office
In this episode, Doris talks with Renee Bischoff, Director of College Counseling at Hawken School. Renee shares the impact the entrepreneurship program has had on students, including their personal and acade...
Episode 29
Evolution of a Movement: The State of Entrepreneurship Education
In this episode, Doris and Alison examine the growth of the entrepreneurship education movement and how that has changed both the needs of educators seeking training and Doris’s approach to training them.
Episode 28
Hawken Educators Workshops 2016: Takeaways with Alison and Tim
In this episode, Alison and Tim reflect on the 2016 Hawken Educators Workshops in both Cleveland and California. They discuss how the needs of the attendees have changed as Entrepreneurship Education continu...
Episode 27
Special Episode – Educators Trained in Model Discuss their Programs
In this special episode, Doris hosts a live panel with Jeremy Wickenheiser, Mel McGee and Sarah Jensen. They discuss how they used Korda Method to build successful programs at Denver School of Science and Te...
Episode 26
Process vs. Product
In this episode, Tim and Alison recall the poor quality of the solutions presented to the first business CEOs in a semester and why the deliverables were not as important as the process. They also discuss ho...
Episode 25
Ladies and Gentlemen, Presenting…the Presentations
In this episode, Tim and Alison discuss the different types of presentations students experience in this course. They also explain how students shift away from their inclination to prove mastery of content a...
Episode 24
Tools of the Trade
In this episode, Tim and Doris discuss the critical role of technology in Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program. Tim explains his beliefs on educational technology along with practical ways to get started...
Episode 23
Growth Mindset - Ballerinas and Firefighters
In this episode, Tim and Alison discuss the importance of a growth mindset for teachers and students in this radically different kind of learning. They also explain why answering questions with questions pro...
Episode 22
The “Teacher-in-Training” – Alison’s Korda Method Training
In this episode, Alison reflects on her experience at the Hawken School Educators Workshops, how she had to learn as much as possible for the fall semester and how she is surviving as a “teacher-in-training....
Episode 21
The Hot Chicken Takeover: Fostering Deep Learning & Research Skills
In this episode, Doris explains why all learning must be relevant, meaningful and timely. To illustrate, she describes how she leveraged the shortcomings of student research in a first business problem in or...
Episode 20
Taking Flight – Getting Your Program Off the Ground: Korda Method Pilot
In this episode, Doris explains the process for building a program and how it can be grown in many different ways outside of a traditional classroom setting. She explains the role of piloting in education an...
Episode 19
Learning Character vs. Teaching Character - Social Entrepreneurship in Schools
In this episode, Doris explains the role of citizenship in Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program and why she claims “we already have a social entrepreneurship class.” Doris describes how News Circle bring...
Episode 18
”Just Because We Covered It, Doesn’t Mean They Learned It.” with Ted Dintersmith
In this episode, Doris discusses the state of the American educational system with acclaimed film maker and author, Ted Dintersmith. The educational reformers discuss why we should want our children to ask t...
Episode 17
The New American Spirit
In this episode, Doris defines entrepreneurship as turning ideas into successful realities. She explains why an entrepreneurship class is a powerful vehicle for mastering skills and why the current celebrity...
Episode 16
“If Your Feelings Get Hurt Easily, Get Over It” – The Student Experience
In this episode, Doris describes the Hawken Entrepreneurial Studies class from the student perspective. She explains how this style of “learning by doing” is different than traditional school and how collabo...
Episode 15
How is Entrepreneurship Education Useful for K12 Students - Steve Blank
In this episode, Doris talks to Steve Blank, Stanford professor and creator of Lean LaunchPad ® about how students learn creative problem-solving for today’s world in courses that incorporate the same method...
Episode 14
It’s Not About Being the Smartest Person in the Room - Steve Blank & Doris Korda
In this episode, Steve Blank interviews Doris for his radio series, “Entrepreneurs are Everywhere.” Hear what Doris learned as an immigrant, engineer and entrepreneur that led her to develop her different mo...
Episode 13
De-Schooling
In this episode, Doris explores her core mission; to do school better. She reflects on past students who did not fit school’s narrow definition of academic success. She shares how an entrepreneurship class c...
Episode 12
“Get Out of the Building.” – Hawken's Entrepreneurial Studies Origin Story
In this episode, Doris recalls the process of designing and building Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program in a high school and why using real business problems should be core to entrepreneurship programs...
Episode 11
21st Century Motivation – Bringing in the Real World
Doris explains strategies for bringing real-world learning into the classroom without the use of guest speakers. She decries the use of trickery or external motivation to get students engaged in their own le...
Episode 10
“The Entrepreneurial Process is Empowering” – Alison Tanker’s Story
In this episode, Alison Tanker shares how her background in social entrepreneurship, international development & female empowerment led to her role at Hawken School. She explains how she discovered that entr...
Episode 9
The Decision Filter
In this episode, Doris explores the “decision filter” she uses for choosing which businesses will work with the students. She discusses the reasoning behind her “rule of three” and explains why students must...
Episode 8
“I’m Not Afraid to Try Things and Fail.” – Tim’s Story
In this episode, Tim Desmond explains the path that led him to the Assistant Director position at the Miller Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at Hawken School. He explains how being a risk-taker and div...
Episode 7
Sequencing the Learning Terrain
In this episode, Doris explains how she uses real, local startups in Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program. She details one semester’s line up of businesses, the challenges posed and expectations for the ...
Episode 6
Student Stories: Transformation
In this episode, Doris chronicles the journey of two specific students through Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies program. She elaborates on those who have not thrived in traditional school and explains what t...
Episode 5
“You Can’t Get an A by Yourself” – Teamwork and Collaboration in the 21st Century
In this episode, Doris elaborates on the shift in the workplace where employers increasingly value skills–like teamwork and collaboration–over the possession of content knowledge. Doris and Alison discuss wh...
Episode 4
A Look Inside the Signature Immersion Course
In this episode, Doris describes the Entrepreneurial Studies class offered at Hawken School. She explains the role of real business problems in addition to the “final project” and how this highly developed c...
Episode 3
This is Radically Different: Hawken School's Entrepreneurial Studies Program
In this episode, Doris and Alison discuss the Hawken School Entrepreneurial Studies program and its radical method of entrepreneurship education. They reveal how a rigorous, academic program using real and u...
Episode 2
School is Broken. Let’s #DoSchoolBetter.
In this episode, Doris explains why our current educational system doesn’t work anymore and why skills mastery matters more for today’s students than it ever has before. She discusses how her career of teach...
Episode 1
