Ep. 206: Dr. Gene Kerns - Unlocking Student Talent

Full PreFrontal: Exposing the Mysteries of Executive Function

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Indian-American author and wellness expert, Deepak Chopra, says, “Find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.” The big challenge for educators and parents alike is how do developing brains become all that they have the possibility of becoming? Is this simply a mindset or is reaching one’s own full potential a story of building skills with practice? What are sure-fire ways for each and every child to tap into their own human potential and stretch themself to the limit to reach the pinnacle of their performance?

In this episode, Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of Renaissance Learning and co-author of the 2017 book, “Unlocking Student Talent: The New Science of Developing Expertise”, Dr. Gene Kerns, discusses guidelines to help teachers spot and encourage "all" students to attain their personal best despite all the odds and how best to promote greater motivation for learning and success in our young scholars. Since Executive Function skills are essential in enabling children to persist to achieve goals; students need skill building to learn to persist and these same set of skills go into unlocking their true potential.

About Dr. Gene Kerns
Gene is a third-generation educator with teaching experience from elementary through the university level and K-12 administrative experience. He currently serves as Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of Renaissance Learning.
With more than 20 years of experience in leading staff development and speaking at national and international conferences including South by Southwest (SxSW) EDU, London’s Westminster Education Forum, the ASU/Global Silicon Valley (SGV) Summit, the 42nd Annual Mexico TESOL Conference, and the Global Education Technology Forum of China. His former clients include administrators’ associations across the country and the Ministry of Education of Singapore.
Gene received his Bachelor's degree and Master's degree from Longwood College in Virginia, and also holds a Doctor of Education (Ed .D.) from the University of Delaware with an emphasis in Education Leadership.
His most recent work has been focused on assessment and literacy. His first book, inFormative Assessment: When It’s Not About a Grade is published by Corwin Press in both English and Arabic. His second book, Unlocking Student Talent, was released by Teachers College Press in December of 2017. This newest book, Literacy Reframed, was released in 2021 through Solution Tree.
Books:

• Unlocking Student Talent: The New Science of Developing Expertise

About Host, Sucheta Kamath
Sucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.

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