Theme: Making a difference, being the change in your community and the world

As our world becomes more global we must stop and reflect if we are preparing students today for the future. Come and listen to innovative and visionary educators from all around to share their ideas of how we can prepare students for the future. A future we cannot see but a future they can create.

Mashpee Middle High School
500 Old Barnstable Road
Mashpee, Massachusetts, 02649
United States

Amy Glasmeier

Professor

Amy Glasmeier is a professor of Economic Geography and Regional Planning. Department of Urban Studies and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds a Ph. D. and MS from the University of California, Berkeley. City and Regional Planning. She is an active member of the American Association of Geographers and is a Councilor of the American Geographical Society. She runs the Lab on Regional Innovation and Spatial Analysis (LRISA) in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT. Glasmeier is a founding editor of the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy, and Society. Her research focuses on economic opportunities for communities and individuals. The work builds off of her long-running Living Wage Calculator, which analyzes the minimum level of income required for individuals and families to pay for necessary living expenses.

Beth Lawrence

Language/Literacy Expert

Beth is a language and literacy expert who has worked with children of all ages for 25 years, and presents nationally on best practice vocabulary and reading comprehension methods. Six years ago, an 8th grade student became the muse for a brand-new cognitive/educational construct when best practice was not enough. With the goal of sharing this approach, Semantic Reasoning, with millions, Beth co-founded--with Deena Seifert--an educational technology company, InferCabulary. Along the way she co-authored a norm-referenced assessment tool, Test of Semantic Reasoning. Beth received her undergrad degree from Towson University and her Master's degree from Northwestern University. She rows competitively with Baltimore Community Rowing when she is not sharing and learning from educators and students.

David Palmer

Educator

David Palmer has taught Social Studies at Eaglecrest High School in the Cherry Creek School district for over 20 years and currently teaches AP* Human Geography, World Geography and World History. Each year Eaglecrest has nearly 200 students take AP Human Geography grades 9-12. David is a Colorado Geographic Alliance Teacher Consultant, College Board Consultant, 2012 NCGE Distinguished Geography Teacher Award winner and is a table leader during the scoring of AP* Human Geography exams. David has taught and presented at numerous institutes and conferences in the United States, China, India and Japan. He was one of the authors and senior consultant of Human Geography: Preparing for the AP Examination (Perfection Learning). David has an undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado and a Masters from Colorado Christian University.

Forrest Bowlick

Professor

Forrest’s research investigates how students learn GIS, especially in the growing field of CyberGIS. Through analysis of curriculum and instruction in GIS, Forrest aims to build an evidence-based understanding of how GIS programs function, and what knowledge, skills, and practices make up the GIS degree. He has additional research interest in geography education, geography in higher education, resources of the elements, and tropical glaciers.

Greg Hill

Educator

Greg Hill has enjoyed a twenty-four-year career in education. He teaches at Dr. John D. Horn High School in the Mesquite (TX) Independent School District. He is the 2016 recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award: K-12 from the National Council for Geographic Education. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University attaining a Bachelor's and Master's degrees. He was visited countries such as China, South Korea, Japan, Morocco, Germany, Oman, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico. He has received Fellowships from: The University of Southern California, The University of Colorado, the University of Texas, The Ohio State University, the Transatlantic Outreach Program, the Qatar Foundation International and thee American Geographical Society to further his research in Global education. Mr. Hill is a member of the Steering Committee for the Texas Alliance for Geographic Education and the World Affairs Council of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Keith Ratner

Professor

Dr. Keith A. Ratner is a full professor of geography and Chairman of the Geography Department at Salem State University. He has a PhD in Geography from the University of Denver, a Masters of Regional Planning from Penn State University, and a Bachelor’s of Science in Natural Resource Management from Michigan State University. His specialties are in land use and transportation planning, urban geography and geographic information science. For eleven years he worked as a professional planner at the local, regional, and state levels of government. Dr. Ratner’s research has focused on American metropolitan land use change since the reintroduction of rail transit in the 1970s and the land use implications of Transit Oriented Development in Denver, Colorado.

Kim Young

Educator

Kim Young is a National Geographic Explorer and World History teacher at Weston High School in Weston, Massachusetts. She cultivates her students' identities as explorers by bringing the world to her classroom through artifacts, technology, and experimentation. Expanding students' global competence is her core source of passion in teaching. As an explorer herself, Young has traveled to over 30 countries, with a focus on the Middle East. Most recently she was in Germany to study refugee integration and the northern slope of Alaska to study changes in permafrost.

Lisa Benton-Short

Professor

Dr. Benton-Short is a urban geographer with an interest in the dynamics of the urban environment from many angles, including: urban sustainability, planning and public space, monuments and memorials, urban national parks, globalization and immigration. Dr. Benton-Short has authored ten books, including: The Presidio: from Army Post to National Part (1998), Cities and Nature (2013), The National Mall: No Ordinary Public Space (2016) and Urban Sustainability in the US: Cities Take Action(2019, with Melissa Keeley) and A Regional Geography of the United States and Canada (2019). From 2010-2015, Dr. Benton-Short served as Academic Program Director for Sustainability at GW. She led the development of the pan-university sustainability minor for undergraduates. Dr. Benton-Short received her undergraduate degree in History from Stanford University and her masters and PhD in Geography from Syracuse University.

Rebecca Theobald

Professor

Rebecca Theobald has negotiated educational systems in Taiwan, France, Belgium, and across the United States. She holds an appointment in the Geography and Environmental Studies Department at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs where she engages students, educators, and community members in considering ways to explore and explain the Earth. She loves when a class arrives to investigate a National Geographic Giant Map and a student says, “Wow, I didn’t expect it to be that giant.” She is grateful to geographers across the country who are assisting her efforts to encourage people to ask geographic questions about apportionment and redistricting and to incorporate geospatial technology into discussions about gerrymandering. Making connections, leveraging resources, and managing obligations are the hallmarks of her work.

Seth Dixon

Professor

Seth Dixon is the Chief Reader of the AP Human Geography Exam, and runs the website, geographyeducation.org, to share digital resources with other educators. He is a geography professor at Rhode Island College and has earned geography degrees at Pennsylvania State University and Brigham Young University.

Steven Johnson

TeachOSM Organizer

Mr. Johnson serves as an organizer for TeachOSM, a program to foster the adoption of OpenStreetMap to teach geography and spatial skills across all education levels. Steven was an early contributor to OpenStreetMap, and is both a member of the board of OpenStreetMap US chapter as well as an organizer of the US chapter. Through Mapping DC he maintains an active role in local mapping as a tool for community development. He began his career as a GIS analyst/programmer in local government and has consulted on a wide range GIS/geospatial projects for US Census Bureau, NASA, US Department of Transportation, the World Bank, and other large organizations.

Vernon Domingo

Professor

Vernon is a Professor Emeritus at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Born in apartheid South Africa and classified as a “Coloured”. He qualified as a K-12 teacher, 1969 – Dower College, South Africa and was expelled from a segregated university in 1974 for political activism. Vernon was awarded a U.S. Fulbright graduate student grant in 1975 and then studied at Clark University, Worcester, MA; obtained a Ph.D. in 1980. He has taught at colleges and universities: Dower College, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Bowling Green State University, Bridgewater State University. He has been awarded Fulbright Senior Scholar Suriname, Fulbright Senior Scholar, South Africa, Visiting Scholar, University of Malaysia, and he is a Co-coordinator, Massachusetts Geographic Alliance.