The Edmentum Educator Network included Jorge as our keynote speaker and facilitator of our workshop. His sessions were insightful and engaging in a virtual world. I really enjoyed working with Jorge and the time he devoted to making sure we got everything exactly right. I appreciate his time and insights. The educators used these themes to drive conversations throughout the two day event.
Jorge Valenzuela
Empowering executives and school teams to achieve success through self-improvement and education
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Jorge Valenzuela
Biography
Jorge Valenzuela is a is a highly sought-after and well-regarded performance and education coach, author, and speaker at Lifelong Learning Defined. He got his start in education and has helped countless educators improve their leadership and instructional innovation skills. Jorge specializes in emphasizing core instruction and is a trusted deliverer of reputable professional training in team building, project-based learning, STEM pathways, and life skills integration across the curriculum. He partners with corporate executives, and superintendents and provides professional development on behalf of ASCD, Corwin, Premiere Speakers Bureau, and Solution Tree. He has authored several books and is the Lifelong Learning Defined podcast host. You can find him on Instagram and X at handle @JorgeDoesPBL.
Jorge Valenzuela
Featured Videos
Jorge Valenzuela
Featured Keynote Programs
Tools for Helping Students Connect Passion to Purpose Within the Curriculum
In today's education landscape, many students feel disconnected and crave opportunities aligned with their interests. This inspiring keynote equips educators with practical tools to rekindle student enthusiasm while meeting curriculum requirements. Participants will gain insights on seamlessly integrating students' strengths, interests, and values into their education, fostering a path to success and fulfillment. The importance of instilling purpose in the curriculum is emphasized, empowering educators to nurture vital life skills and unlock students' potential. The session also addresses ways for teachers to enhance their rapport with students in challenging situations and introduces a straightforward project-based learning framework they can use to define student learning experiences.
Meaningful Connections
Your Elevator to Excellent Relationships
Embark on a journey of connection and excellence, where meaningful bonds with others elevate your life experience. Discover the path to success through empathetic relationships. Foster positive connections among students and staff, infusing joy into both learning and organizational goals. Join us in this enriching session to learn strategies that will revolutionize your journey, guiding you to cultivate robust bonds that radiate positivity across personal and professional landscapes.
Intro to PBL+
Bridging Academic and Personal Success (2 Day Workshop)
This session assists teachers in enhancing the quality of project-based learning (PBL) for their students by providing a research-backed framework and strategies for defining and organizing the student experience. These approaches aim to elevate academic and essential life skills, with a specific focus on emerging AI technologies. The emphasis is on implementing the PBL+ framework, which incorporates authenticity, feedback protocols, and emotional intelligence skills, to establish effective learning environments that enable students to apply their knowledge authentically.
Empowering Aspiring Educators With Tools for Success
(Keynote for Future Teachers)
In today's education landscape, many students experience disconnection from their academic learning. As a future teacher, you can help change that! This keynote provides practical strategies to amplify student engagement while fulfilling curriculum requirements. Delve into ways to align kids' interests and passions with your daily teaching. Moreover, you'll explore the profound impact of providing purpose in learning, empowering you to guide students in cultivating essential life skills and unlocking their full potential. Navigate through challenging classroom scenarios and uncover a simple yet powerful framework for crafting engaging projects that bring meaningful learning experiences to life in your future classrooms.
Jorge Valenzuela
Featured Books
Project-Based Learning+, Grades 6-12: Enhancing Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
by Jorge Valenzuela
Project-Based Learning PLUS Social and Emotional Learning equals student and educator success
Imagine not only helping kids reach their potential academically but as citizens in society as well. In this groundbreaking new book, you will learn how!
Take project-based learning (PBL)―in which students develop educational skills like research, critical thinking, and teamwork―to the next level by enhancing it with personal competencies like self-management, social awareness, and responsible decision-making. Written by an expert in PBL, student well-being, and technology with different levels of educator PBL experience in mind, this guide to harnessing the power of these approaches provides:
- The five elements of the PBL+ Framework
- Tools and rubrics that help you engage all students and assess their projects
- Ways to align PBL with the five SEL competencies outlined by CASEL
- Tips for putting PBL+ into practice to facilitate your own teaching plans
The framework described in this book, grounded by research and supported by practical steps, is replicable in any classroom and provides educators guidance for strengthening their instructional practice to create an empowering student experience.
Environmental Science for Grades 6-12: A Project-Based Approach to Solving the Earth's Most Urgent Problems
by Jorge Valenzuela
Environmental science (ES) education is crucial for hands-on investigations and finding solutions to environmental problems. The COVID-19 crisis limits student access to ES experiences, especially for students of color and low-income communities. PBL, with inquiry and authentic challenges, can effectively teach ES, but teachers may need guidance and examples. This book provides practical guidance for teachers and showcases technology-rich, student-centered projects on cross-curricular topics such as endangered animals, oceans, bees, and air quality.
Rev Up Robotics
by Jorge Valenzuela
Author Jorge Valenzuela lays out the foundational skills of computational thinking required for programming with robotics.
Unlike other robotics books and curriculum, Rev Up Robotics takes a cross-curricular approach, showing educators how to begin incorporating robotics into their content area lessons and in conjunction with other subjects.
You’ll get an overview of standards-based skills that can be covered in English language arts, math, science, social studies and robotics electives. Teachers also get tips for selecting the robot that works for them and for students, and details on the functions of gears, motors and sensors. Also included is a deep dive into more advanced topics like the intersections of computer science, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering with robotics. Finally, you’ll find advice for getting students involved with competitive robotics, and case studies that offer empirical evidence for using robotics successfully in instruction.
The book:
- Shows how to help students recognize and apply the four elements of computational thinking to familiar situations.
- Provides a pathway from working with visual blocks to programming in C++.
- Discusses building and programming robots, with tips for adding your own code and troubleshooting.
- Demonstrates how to manipulate basic movement to better understand the functions of gears, motors and sensors.
With activities and examples for grade levels K-8, teachers come away with easy-to-implement cross-curricular ideas to engage students in computer science and engineering activities.
How to teach coding to kids
by Jorge Valenzuela
This eBook has everything you need to incorporate coding and computational thinking into what you are already teaching by learning where to start and how to scaffold lessons for each student. By applying the included framework for teaching coding, you can level up your coding education skills over time and develop a strong foundation for computational thinking and computer science integration across your curriculum.
Raising Equity Through SEL
by Jorge Valenzuela
Activate social-emotional learning effectively in your classroom with a framework that integrates trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and restorative teaching practices. Raising Equity Through SEL is your trusted source for sound pedagogy that addresses the academic and social-emotional needs of a diverse classroom community. Each strategy, tool, and template is designed to facilitate your practice by making SEL easier to implement.
