Dreamer and Doer- Derek Tangredi’s P3
Derek Tangredi
Derek Tangredi is an educator, researcher, maker, and consultant seeking to inspire kids. He is currently an award-winning teacher with the Thames Valley District School Board in London, Ontario . Derek is also an instructor at Western University where he has received an Award of Excellence for his work around STEAM & Maker Education, Computational Thinking, and Empathetic Design. He is also a curriculum designer and professional development creator & facilitator with hopes of transferring more agency to the learner in order to take learning beyond the walls of the classroom.
Derek is the founder of Hacked Education, a non-profit venture to give students the access and ability to use technology and equipment ordinarily unavailable to them at home or through their schools.
Derek has a diversified background where teaching is a second career and is a speaker on several subjects including STEM/STEAM, Makerspaces, Empathy, Mathematics, Design & Computational Thinking. Derek will be the closing keynote speaker at the upcoming BIT Conference (Bring IT, Together) from November 6-8th in Niagara Falls.
BIT 2019 Education Conference
As the current host of the weekly OnEdMentors show on voicEd.ca, I invited Derek to help build a panel for an episode on STEAM/STEM. He brought an incredible team with “diversified backgrounds”, and I joyfully stepped aside to let him host the episode. He spoke about the strategic choices for the panel to reflect different aspects of education and levels of readiness to engage in STEAM/STEM. Referring to the panelists, Derek said that, “Each one offered something really different and unique to the experience.” It was a wonderful catalyst for further conversation and connection. Derek continues to look for synergies to bring different people onto a panel to “inspire learners and lead to something greater.” You will be able to hear him on future episodes, but you can listen to this episode with Lee Martin, Laura Fleming, Lisa Floyd, Yolanta Krawiecki, Ryan Matthews, and Doug Braden (will link their Twitter handles on the post).
In reference to preparing for his P3 (link to come), Derek was speaking to a few former guests. They told him that, “ This was the hardest thing to plan for.” They spoke about the deep thinking and connections related to selecting and explaining each of the song choices, which hooked him even deeper. “I was so excited to be able to share.” Derek prides himself on doing things a little differently, so he chose songs that made lasting imprints on him in relation to where he was in his life when he heard that song. Each of his songs send him back to, “… a fixed point in time, and I can remember exactly how I felt in that moment.”
Derek’s nostalgic song is one from a famous underdog film. When Derek was young, going through school, he was drawn to this film, and he pictures himself as similar to this archetype. He was compelled by the movie and the true story of the protagonist on which it was based. He just had to go deeper and learn more. While this song has no words, “It literally gives me goosebumps every single time.” Many students that he has encountered share this story of being told that, “…they aren’t good enough and that they can’t overcome anything because of who they are.” This song is from the movie Rudy, and, “This is just such a story of overcoming every single odd thrown at you and that you can triumph when you care about something so deeply and so passionately.” Before all of his exams, Derek watched this movie to inspire and motivate him to “push harder”, and he still watches it to this day. Derek has an “out of body experience” when he hears this song. This is Rudy (Main Title) by Jerry Goldsmith:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcLWLCUD00I
Derek’s identity song is the most successful of this famous artist’s solo career. “Within this song, when he talks about being a dreamer…” Derek is going back to the classroom this year after two years of working outside of school, and he is excited to teach a bit differently. He put Dreamers welcome on the door because he wants his space to be a creative one. Derek referred to Seymour Papert’s research that going to school diminishes creativity. Derek asked, “If we are not dreaming, what are we really learning?” Derek is driven by the belief that we can create something great if we believe in ourselves. “I teach Grade 7 and 8, and by then you are kind of already started developing frameworks and thinking constructs in your mind about what’s achievable and what’s not” He imagines being able to give students a limitlessness, and he knows that he can help his students create and achieve their dreams, as a result. He wants his children and his students to believe that they are bound by nothing. Here is aspirational and inspirational, Imagine by John Lennon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOgFZfRVaww
Derek’s pick me up song begins with a movie that he considers, “The greatest film in this series.” This song, though, is even bigger for Derek than this motivational film. After a severe health scare when he was young, Derek went through a difficult time, This song and movie really spoke to him. At his lowest points, he would look to this song and this film and think, “If these people can do something and overcome insurmountable odds, then maybe so can I.” Films like this can help us step outside our comfort zones, even though this an action-based film. For him, it means something far greater. This song is about a point in his life about overcoming an obstacle, and he is truly grateful for it. This song was written for the 1985 film Rocky 4, where Rocky fights the Russian, Ivan Drago. This is the song that is played during Rocky’s training montage. There is a famous line from the movie where Rocky says, “If I can change and you can change, everybody can change.” Here is Hearts of Fire by John Cafferty:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swo51-CG9Ss
Derek Tangredi is available to connect through Twitter. You can also connect with him through Western University. They provide a lot of PD options for both person and virtual professional development including webinars. These are open sources that are easily accessible. You can also reach out to him through hackededu.com. Look for him on future episodes of OnEdMentors, as well.