Teacher Talk: Embracing AI for the Classroom

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Facilitator: Dr. Brandon Abdon 

Dr. Brandon Abdon is a former English teacher who has been doing instructional design, school coaching, and professional development around the intersection of composition, literacy, literature, pedagogy, and technology for over a decade. A fellow of the National Writing Project, Brandon believes in the power of writing daily in the classroom.  He also knows that all students have a path to literacy when engaged and challenged suitably.  He likes to read and play sports but does both of them slowly and only one of them well. He has been married to his brilliant wife, Angela, since 2008 and has two sons, Hilton and Dorian.

He has consulted for or served in some capacity with a number of organizations, including the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Writing Project, the Bluegrass Writing Project, the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English, the National Math-Science Initiative, and others.  In addition to consulting and professional development, he has been on staff with the College Board’s Advanced Placement Program and Savvas K-12 Learning Services (Formerly Pearson K-12 Learning Services).  While at the College Board, he led the development of the current course and exam descriptions for both Advanced Placement English courses, including creation of course skills, revision of exam guidelines, and the development of analytical scoring.

Along with experience in an array of organizations, he holds advanced degrees in both English and Education - including a Doctorate in English Pedagogy - and certification as both a teacher and an administrator.  During his full-time work in high school classrooms, he was recognized with the National Council of Teachers of English “High School Teacher of Excellence” award in 2010.  He has also worked at the University of Kentucky and Georgia State University teaching courses including English Composition 1, Introduction to Literature, Literature for Teachers, Composition for Teachers, and others.

Facilitator: Dr. Carl Whithaus

Carl Whithaus is a Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of California, Davis. His research areas include the impact of information technology on literacy practices, writing assessment, and writing in the sciences and engineering. His three books include Multimodal Literacies and Emerging Genres (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013), Writing Across Distances and Disciplines: Research and Pedagogy in Distributed Learning (Routledge, 2008) and Teaching and Evaluating Writing in the Age of Computers and High-Stakes Testing (Erlbaum, 2005).

He was Director of the University Writing Program from 2011 through 2018. He has also served on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Planning Committee for 2011-2019 Writing Standards Framework, the editorial board for Kairos, and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Best Practices for Online Writing Instruction (OWI) Committee (2007-10). He has taught courses ranging from first-year writing to graduate-level classes in traditional, hybrid, and distance learning environments. His articles have appeared in Composition Studies, Technical Communication Quarterly, Kairos, Assessing Writing, and The Journal of Basic Writing. He has served as principal investigator for the journal Splash! milk science update since 2017 and as editor for the Journal of Writing Assessment since 2015.

His current research projects include: exploring potential modifications to microblogs to leverage knowledge produced "swarming" content/users, examining the relationships among claims and evidence in the writing of professional biologists and environmental scientists, "wayfinding" as a metaphor for writing development in early career professional writers, and procedural rhetorics in social media writing environments.

Carl earned his Ph.D. at the City University of New York (CUNY); he has taught at Stevens Institute of Technology, Old Dominion University, and the University of California, Davis.

Facilitator: Matt Cone

Matt Cone has been a teacher at Plano Senior High School in Plano, TX, since 1997.  He teaches AP® US History and American Studies, which combines AP® US History and AP® English.  He has been a College Board consultant since 2001.  He has served in leadership roles for both the short answer question and long essay at the AP® US History Reading.  He has a B.A. in American Studies from Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, and a M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership from Lamar University in Beaumont, TX.