What does it mean to be a person of color? Last fall, a report from North Thurston Public Schools outraged Asian community members. The problem? The district had grouped Asian students with white students, distinguishing “people of color” as a separate category. Because white and Asian students perform similarly well on tests, the implication was clear: Person of color meant underperforming. Join KUOW producer and three-term Washington State Teacher Leader Kristin Leong, M.Ed. for a look behind-the-scenes of her reporting on the erasure of Asian students. Read the story here: https://kuow.org/stories/whitewashing-of-asian-students-and-the-report-that-launched-a-reckoning The centerpiece of this event will be an interactive conversation with audience members. All are welcome. We want to hear from you: What kind of stories about Asian experiences are lacking from mainstream media coverage? In what ways is the "model minority" myth still alive in 2021? Who should KUOW be listening to in the Asian community? What is the role of our Asian community in the Black Lives Matter movement? What should schools be doing to better serve students who are farthest from educational justice? How do Asian community members feel about their representation (or lack thereof) in diversity and equity discourse? Leong will be joined by KUOW editor Isolde Raftery and Stanford University student Christina Joo. Generous time will be reserved for conversation and Q&A. Register through Eventbrite, and we'll send you a reminder about the program: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-the-newsmaker-a-conversation-with-kristin-leong-on-asian-erasure-tickets-139517491573?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch If you would like to share comments or questions ahead of this engagement, please email engage@kuow.org, or tweet us @KUOWengage. Photo (portrait of Christina Joo): Kristin Leong for KUOW Design: Teo at https://www.instagram.com/teo.__dora/

In this short film, meet Curiosity Club’s 4th cohort, which gathered over Zoom shortly after the 2020 presidential election. Curiosity Club is KUOW’s nerdy supper club founded on one simple question: Can compelling storytelling and a shared meal transform a group of strangers into a community? So far, we’re seeing exciting evidence that the answer to that question is yes. The inquisitive cohort, along with Curiosity Club producer and facilitator Kristin Leong, and KUOW editors Isolde Raftery and Liz Jones, gathered virtually on December 19, 2020 to discuss pandemic roller skating, Black joy, the #MeToo movement, and Seattle’s evolving political preferences. To learn more about Curiosity Club and to find stories from our nerdy supper club experiment, visit KUOW.org/CuriosityClub. To find an FAQ about Curiosity Club, visit https://kuow.org/stories/curiosityclubFAQ To learn more about Curiosity Club’s 4th cohort, the community members featured in this film, visit: https://kuow.org/stories/meet-KUOW-curiosity-club-cohort-four This film was produced by Lit It Ripple studio.

Get a behind-the-scenes look into Kristin Leong's 2017 TED-Ed Innovation Project ROLL CALL. This project is putting a human face to the fact that there is a profound gap separating students from teachers in America’s public schools based on culture, race, sexual orientation, and gender. As a TED-Ed Innovative Educator, Kristin is shooting portraits of local and international teachers and students and inviting participants to respond to two questions: 1) What do you have in common with your students/teachers? 2) Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? This talk will conclude with ways students, teachers, and community members can get involved with ROLL CALL and expand this conversation about representation in schools. Kristin Leong, M.Ed. is a TED-Ed Innovative Educator and is currently serving her third year as a Washington State Teacher Leader. Her current TED-Ed project ROLL CALL (RollCallProject.com) is humanizing the culture gaps separating students and teachers through portraits and interviews. In addition to teaching middle level Humanities, she is also a public speaker and writer focused on equity in education. She once delivered a talk at Town Hall entitled "Nightclub Bartending & Middle School Teaching: A Venn Diagram." Her project HALF on biracial identity in America was nominated for a USA Today Outstanding Academic & Intellectual Endeavor award. She was named a Graduate Already in the Drivers' Seat by the New York Times. Videos of Kristin and information about her upcoming appearances are available at kristinleong.com. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Kristin Leong's finale talk at the University of Washington with the Seattle Times' and KPLU's Why I Teach event on 25 Feb 2015. Kristin shares an inspirational story about a student and an unforgettable poem and explains why she teaches her students to be brave.

What does a portrait series on bicultural Americans, a movement to humanize the culture gaps in our schools and a nerdy supper club have in common? Kristin Leong and a fearless tackling of complex conversations is at the heart of all of them. In this keynote address, Leong will offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into some of her most creative and impactful experiments in community building. She will also share how she brings what she learned as a teacher about empathy and connecting across divides into her current work as a public radio producer.

Surprisingly, there is overlap between nightclub and classroom professional life. This talk aims to clarify some of that overlap with the speed of a bartender and the analysis of a English teacher. ** Kristin Leong is a middle school teacher, writer, and former Seattle nightclub bartender. She does not like people who drink Long Island Iced Teas. She tweets @kristinleong.

Washington State Teacher Leader Kristin Leong compares teaching activism to tweens to the four stages of falling in love. This was the opening talk for Ignite Education Lab presented by The Seattle Times. Town Hall Seattle. Follow her on Twitter @kristinleong.