Instructional Collaborator: Innovation & Differentiation
Leslie Pralle Osborn is currently an instructional collaborator for innovation and differentiation at Hampton-Dumont-CAL High School, where she previously served as a student advocate working primarily with English Learners. An ASCD Emerging Leader and one of the National School Board Association’s “20 to Watch,” Leslie Pralle Osborn has amassed a unique set of experiences and skills in her decade in education. Before returning to the classroom she worked as a member of the Technology Innovation team for seven years, a Social Studies consultant for six years, and as the consultant for Emerging Bilinguals at Prairie Lakes AEA, serving numerous districts across northwest Iowa. Before joining the AEA Leslie Pralle Osborn spent the early years of her career teaching 6-12 grade Social Studies and 6-8 grade computer at Northeast Hamilton CSD.
Leslie's work has morphed over time to encompass a larger lens on equity and multicultural teaching strategies, blended learning, project based learning, and student voice. In 2021 she took a position as the President of the Executive Board of Iowa's student voice group, IowaSLI. She has received several awards and recognitions during her time in education, including being named both a Bill of Rights Institute Fellow (2010) and C-SPAN Education Fellow (2011). Leslie served as the Vice President and Media Director of the Iowa Council for the Social Studies, who named her Teacher of the Year in 2012. In 2016 she was named an ISTE Emerging Leader. Leslie is a regular local, state, and national presenter, focusing on designing culturally responsive classrooms, equity, and empowering students through global citizenship, creativity, and connected education.
Leslie's work has morphed over time to encompass a larger lens on equity and multicultural teaching strategies, blended learning, project based learning, and student voice. In 2021 she took a position as the President of the Executive Board of Iowa's student voice group, IowaSLI. She has received several awards and recognitions during her time in education, including being named both a Bill of Rights Institute Fellow (2010) and C-SPAN Education Fellow (2011). Leslie served as the Vice President and Media Director of the Iowa Council for the Social Studies, who named her Teacher of the Year in 2012. In 2016 she was named an ISTE Emerging Leader. Leslie is a regular local, state, and national presenter, focusing on designing culturally responsive classrooms, equity, and empowering students through global citizenship, creativity, and connected education.
What my Biracial Daughters Taught Me About the Power of My Whiteness in the Classroom
The kids who are going to find the jobs and have the future that we want them to have are the ones who can see the beauty and the life and the design and the story in the world around them. We need to create well rounded, global students who can tie their liberal arts education into their science and math and engineering and creating. |
In order to leave a legacy, you must first live a legacy. When kids are the ones developing the questions and driving the instruction... is when they are truly engaged and learning really happens. |