Michelle Sadrena Pledger

Michelle Sadrena Pledger is the Project Co-director of the Deeper Learning Hub, a national practitioner hub whose mission is to spread deeper learning practices and ensure that more students across the country are achieving deeper learning outcomes. She is co-leading the Share Your Learning Campaign which aims to spread student-centered practices (exhibitions, student led conferences, and presentations of learning) to 5 million students by 2020. She also works for the Center for Research on Equity and Innovation at High Tech High’s Graduate School of Education as lead planner and facilitator of the annual Equity Deep Dive, co-teacher of the Equity, Diversity, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy course, and serves as culturally responsive pedagogy coach for the HTH organization. Michelle earned her Master’s in Pacific International Affairs, with a career concentration in International Development and a regional specialization in Latin America at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego. Prior to entering graduate school, Michelle lived in Bisai, Japan for two years, teaching English and American culture at public junior high schools while engaging in performance dance and theater. Michelle earned her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Irvine, with a major in International Studies and a minor in Clinical Psychology. During this time she also attended La Universidad Católica Pontificia in Santiago, Chile for one semester. Proficient in Spanish and conversational Japanese, Michelle enjoys international travel and leaves the country at least twice a year. While working at High Tech, Michelle has taken students to Washington D.C., the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, the U.K., France, Panama, and Costa Rica. Michelle earned her Certification in Dance at Palomar College and was awarded 2013 Dancer of the Year. A winner of numerous accolades for competitive public speaking through Toastmasters International, her most notable speaking engagements include the 2014 USC Shoah Foundation Gala when Steven Spielberg honored President Barack Obama with the Ambassador for Humanity Award, TEDx Hollywood, and the Past is Present 70th commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz. Michelle earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in social justice at the University of California, San Diego and California State University, San Marcos. Her research centered on the cultivation of culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy, particularly as it pertains to inservice teachers who earned their credential prior to the proliferation of culturally responsive courses in teacher preparation programs. With a dual passion for education and dance, Michelle embraces an energetic teaching and coaching style.

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