“Creating Innovators with Passion, Play and Purpose”

This year’s Opening General Session at the 2013 ACTFL Annual Convention on Friday morning, November 22, 2013, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida will leave you energized, excited and inspired for the remainder of the convention and beyond. Tony Wagner, Harvard University’s first Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center, will deliver the keynote address on the topic of “Creating Innovators with Passion, Play and Purpose”. Come learn how you can view your students as innovators and help them become creative individuals in the 21st century.

Dr. Wagner is a highly sought-after consultant for schools, districts and foundations around the United States and internationally. He was the founder and served as co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for more than a decade. His work experience also includes 12 years as a high school teacher, K–8 principal, university professor in teacher education and founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility.

A frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a widely published author, Dr. Wagner’s work includes numerous articles and five books. His latest, "Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World", has just been published by Simon & Schuster. He will be signing copies of this book following his keynote address. Another recent book, "The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need—and What We Can Do About It", has been a best seller and is currently being translated into Chinese. He has also recently collaborated with noted filmmaker Robert Compton to create a 60-minute documentary, “The Finnish Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System”.

Dr. Wagner earned an MAT and an EdD at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.