Laura Thomas

After nearly a decade of teaching high school English, debate, theatre, and speech, I joined the Education Department faculty at Antioch University New England, first as the assistant director/director of what would become the Antioch Center for School Renewal and later as the director of the Experienced Educators Program, which provides MEds and certificates for working teachers. My portfolio includes our PBL/Critical Skills Classroom concentration (a K–12 teaching methodology that combines project-based learning, social and emotional learning, and 21st-century skills in meaningful, authentic contexts) and its related program in Integrated STEAM Education.

My primary areas of study center on the development of teachers’ individual assessment and pedagogical approaches, social justice and equity (particularly in rural schools), resistance to change, and student-centered classroom practice. In 2020 I completed a four-year clinical experience as a school librarian in a 60-student K–6 school. I serve as a community facilitator and consulting editor for Edutopia and am an ISTE community leader. I’ve published pieces in Edweek, Kappan, and the Journal of Staff Development, and am the author of Facilitating Authentic Learning (Corwin Press, 2011). I live in Keene, New Hampshire, with my husband and two children and can be found on social media: @CriticalSkills1.