Mike Washburn

Passionately Educating, Constantly Learning

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I love connecting with educators through professional development and speaking opportunities. Please reach out below if you are looking for a featured speaker or keynote presenter. I’d love to discuss your event and how I can help you inspire educators so they can inspire their students. My primary areas of focus are content creation, games-based learning, gamification, computer science, coding, and project-based learning.

I also speak in the leadership and motivational realm about growth mindset, failure and adversity and being teachable.

Below you’ll find details on my most recent speaking engagements, and some of the materials that I used to support them. For more detailed information on my sessions and keynotes, see the link in the main menu

PREVIOUS MAJOR EVENTS

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LearnFestatx 2019

As a featured speaker at LearnFestATX in Austin, TX I participated in the Dueling Keynote and delivered two sessions: What’s Your Backflip? and #esportsedu.

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FETC 2020

In addition to a being a major presence with the podcast, I presented three sessions at FETC 2020 all pertaining to esports in education.

 
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CONNECT 2019 | WHAT’S YOUR BACKFLIP?

What’s Your Backflip challenges educators to do the things they’ve always wanted to do, but are afraid to try. We ask students daily to not fear making mistakes and “failing” Educators should have that same approach.

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FeTC 2019 | Esportsedu w/ steve isaacs

The #esportsedu movement is helping to grow the esports pipeline from K-12 to college. Esports provide a wide array of opportunities for our students that extend beyond simply gameplay. Students are learning video recording and editing, livestreaming, shoutcasting (esports commentary), website design, event planning, marketing, and much more! A number of organizations have popped up to support the growth of the industry to provide league management, organizational support, coaching services, financial support, and resources. This session will cover the basics of getting started and joining the supportive communities that exist to help you along the way.

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iste 2018 | the game design challenge

Every year, my grade 8 students embark on a year-long project to create a video game. They design the characters, create their own graphics, write an original story, produce trailers, and code using Scratch by MIT. You will leave inspired to bring game design to your own students.

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iste 2015 | the minecraft makerspace

In this BYOD session, at ISTE 2015. Participants completed a K-8 social studies assignment the Minecraft way. They were asked to create a structure or community that reflects a specific culture and asked to create it within a Minecraft multiplayer server. Along the way, they learned about the pedagogy and theory behind the approach and why students and teachers alike should be playing games in class.