All PLATO webinars are free and open to the public.

Fall 2023 Webinar
October 26, 7-8:30 pm ET

Classroom Management and Inquiry

A webinar featuring classroom teachers discussing how to manage classrooms to foster both open creative inquiry and orderly, peaceful environments.

Allison Cohen, Teacher, Langley High School, Virginia
Holly Doyle, Teacher, Kent Place School, New Jersey
Sylvie Kovnat, Teacher, John Muir Elementary School, Seattle

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Allison Cohen is an Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Philosophy teacher at Langley High School in McLean, VA. She is dedicated to bringing quality philosophy curricula to high schools across the nation and expanding opportunities for students to engage in philosophical questioning and reasoning. Allison is an adjunct professor at American University where she teaches Essentials of Effective Instruction for the Department of Education.She is PLATO’s Board President and also serves on the Boards of Directors for Street Law, a national nonprofit committed to preserving and enhancing civics education in our schools, and for the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum.

Holly Doyle has over 20 years of experience in education and currently teaches Latin at Kent Place School, where she is also the Director of the Girls’ Leadership Institute. She has a B.A. in Latin and English from Tulane University and an M.A.T. in teaching Latin from Vanderbilt University. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Holly enjoys exploring ways to foster belonging in learning spaces and to bolster leadership skills and self-efficacy, especially for middle school girls.

Sylvie Kovnat is a 3rd grade teacher at John Muir Elementary School in Seattle, Washington. She has been teaching in for 9 years and has been a partner classroom with PLATO forthe past 6 years. Sylvie loves having the philosopher-in-residence program in her classroom. Outside of teaching, Sylvie enjoys cooking, baking, and swimming in Lake Washington in the summer.

Recordings of all of PLATO’s past webinars can be found on this page.

Watch the introductory talks to past roundtables:

November 30, 2023
How High Schools Can Engage More Students
with Richa Shukla and Nava

Richa Shukla is a senior at University High School in Normal, Illinois. She has been interested in philosophy from a young age, and she joined PLATO Student Advisory Council to introduce more philosophy education in her community. Richa hopes to make philosophy accessible for many, because it encourages many to think critically about the world around them.

Nava is a sophomore at Atlanta International School. Her interest in philosophy has grown out of her passion for equity and social justice. She has taken several classes on philosophy, and she hopes to make similar opportunities accessible to other students through the PLATO Student Advisory Council.

November 16, 2023
Cultivating an Ease with Changing Course
with Marisa Diaz Waian & Mitch Conway
Marisa Diaz-Waian is the founder and director of a public philosophy non-profit called Merlin CCC, a speaker for Humanities Montana, and serves on the Academic Advisory Board for PLATO.  A community philosopher and generalist by nature, training, and practice, her work frequently has an interdisciplinary, environmental, and intergenerational bent.  She earned a Masters in Philosophy from San Diego State University and has a special interest in ethics, ancient philosophy, existentialism, humor, and “fuzzy” topics at the intersection of philosophy and psychology. Marisa happily hangs her hat at Merlin Nature Preserve where she lives and serves as its trustee and steward.

Mitchell Conway is a Facilitator at Cottonwood Agile Learning Center, a Community Philosopher at Merlin CCC, and a Philosophy Instructor at Carroll College. He is a student of philosophy, a theater maker, and a teacher who cares ardently about empowering young learners; his work often interweaves education, story, and inquiry. Mitch serves on PLATO’s Academic Advisory Board on the Editorial Board for the journal Questions. He has a Masters degree in Philosophy & Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and he trained at the Institute for the Advanced of Philosophy for Children.

November 2, 2023
The Current Political Climate & Challenges to P4C
with Sarah Vitale

Dr. Sarah Vitale is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, where she teaches classes on philosophy for children, critical theories, existentialism, and social institutions. Her research focuses on Marx and post-Marxism, as well as the scholarship of teaching and learning. She is co-chair of the Radical Philosophy Association and the director of the Philosophy Outreach Project, which promotes philosophy in high schools. Outside of Ball State, Dr. Vitale is the Chair of Muncie Resists, an Indivisible organization dedicated to promoting progressive values in Indiana and beyond.

October 19, 2023
How P4C Can Help Students Develop a Comfort with Failure
with Laurie Grady

Laurie Grady has been teaching English for over 20 years in the Philadelphia area. She is committed to the instruction of critical and philosophical thinking and communication in all of the courses she teaches, including AP Language & Composition and Literature & Philosophy. Laurie serves on PLATO’s Board of Directors, Media Committee, and Program Committee. She is passionate about communicating the potential of philosophical inquiry to other teachers and is dedicated to exploring practical ways of expanding philosophy into more schools, classrooms, and homes.

October 5, 2023
Practices of a Successful Facilitator
with Ariel Sykes
Reference Tools
Ariel Sykes is the Assistant Director of the Ethics Institute at Kent Place School and serves on PLATO’s Board of Directors. She has worked in the philosophy for children community for over ten years and specializes in dialogic teaching strategies, argumentation, and ethics instruction. She received her B.A from Mount Holyoke College and her M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University in the field of Philosophy and Education. Ariel is the co-founder of the New York City High School Ethics Bowl and an endorsed practitioner of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.

June 1, 2023
P4C and Music
with Jack Flesher

Jack Flesher (he/they) is a fifth-year PhD Candidate in Ethnomusicology at UW and has completed Graduate Certificates in Ethics, Public Critical Race Scholarship, and Philosophy for Children. He is also the Philosopher-in-Residence at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Seattle, WA, and has been a judge for the Washington State High School Ethics Bowl for the past two years. Jack’s favorite thing about philosophy is that moment when you feel so sure that you finally understand a big idea only to have someone else offer a completely new perspective that you’ve never considered that completely rocks your world and makes you stop and think anew yet again. 

May 18, 2023
Ethical Dilemmas: Case Studies
with Alex Chang

Alexandra Chang is a middle school English teacher in Michigan. Previously, she taught for four years in Boston Public Schools. Alex studied philosophy and education at Carleton College, where she first began teaching philosophy in local schools. As a teacher, Alex continues to develop philosophy lesson plans for middle school students, as well as consider the intersection between philosophy, social-emotional learning, and restorative practices. Most recently, Alex has collaborated with A2Ethics in Ann Arbor to develop a workshop for local teachers interested in expanding the use of philosophy in their core classes.

May 4, 2023
How can P4C Help US Embrace Failure?
with Dustin Webster

Dustin Webster is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania where he serves as the Co-Director for Penn’s Project for Philosophy for the Young. In addition to philosophy for children and pre-college philosophy, Dustin’s research interests include normative evaluations of using education for social mobility, the relationship of education to work, character and virtue education, and educational ethics. He has a professional background in K-12 education with experience in a variety of contexts, including most recently as a 5th grade teacher. Dustin received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education where he studied the philosophy of education.

April 20, 2023
P4C and Cultivation of Character and the Virtues
with Cassie Finley

Cassie Finley is a PhD candidate in philosophy at the University of Iowa. She is the director of the Iowa Lyceum, a free precollege philosophy summer program run by University of Iowa graduate students. She has published on the Iowa Lyceum and graduate student education, and has current projects in public and precollege philosophy in the works. She also developed (with Jen Foster, USC) the free public philosophy workshop series, “Cogtweeto.” Her research interests include virtue education, metaphilosophy, social epistemology, ancient Greek philosophy, and philosophy of technology.

March 2, 2023
How Can P4C Develop Imagination and Curiosity?
with Wendy Turgeon

Wendy Turgeon specializes in philosophy for children and the history of philosophy, Wendy C. Turgeon is presently the chair of the Department of Philosophy at St. Joseph’s College, where she has been teaching courses since 1991. One of the leading proponents of the freshman honors program, Dr. Turgeon coordinates the program in addition to teaching one of its core courses. She has also incorporated global education into many of the philosophy classes at the College and is a passionate advocate for study abroad. Dr. Turgeon was also instrumental in creating the College’s minor in women’s studies.

Mitchell Conway is a Facilitator at Cottonwood Agile Learning Center, a Community Philosopher at Merlin CCC, and a Philosophy Instructor at Carroll College. He is a student of philosophy, a theater maker, and a teacher who cares ardently about empowering young learners; his work often interweaves education, story, and inquiry. He has a Masters degree in Philosophy & Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and he trained at the Institute for the Advanced of Philosophy for Children. In addition to serving on the Academic Advisory Committee for PLATO, he is also on the Editorial Board for the journal Questions.  

Michael Vazquez is Teaching Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Director of Outreach at the Parr Center for Ethics. He is also a lecturer on the Social Foundations of Education for Penn’s Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in May 2020. Michael specializes in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. He also draws actively on his community engagement efforts to conduct research in philosophy of education and to develop innovative practices for the teaching and learning of philosophy.

Debi Talukdar, PLATO’s Program Director, was previously Program Director at the University of Washington Center for Philosophy for Children before it merged with PLATO in 2022. She has been facilitating K-12 philosophy classes since 2014 and was the Philosopher-in-Residence at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, Seattle, from 2018-2021. She also facilitates educator workshops and organizes a monthly seminar for individuals interested in philosophy with young people. Debi is a former instructor at the University of Washington College of Education and former ensemble member at Theater for Change UW. She currently lives in Oakland, CA. 

November 17, 2022 Roundtable
How does doing philosophy impact your teaching practice?
with Colin Pierce

Colin Pierce has been an educator for 14 years and is a passionate advocate for equity in education and elevating youth voice and agency in the matters most important to them. He taught at Rainier Beach High School in south Seattle for eight years and coached teams in the Washington State Ethics Bowl for seven. Born in Oakland, California, he received his Bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College and his Master of Arts in Teaching from Lewis & Clark College. He currently works for the City of Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning and serves on the Washington State Leadership Board, among other volunteer activities. 

Dan Fouts has been high school social studies teacher since 1993 in the Chicagoland area, teaching US history, AP government, American studies and, most recently, a philosophy elective which he designed in 2011. Outside of the classroom, he has presented extensively at the state and national level on inquiry-based instruction techniques, in addition to working with PLATO and the American Philosophical Association to bring philosophy into K-12 classrooms in the United States. He is a co-founder of Teach Different, a professional development organization which helps teachers and students master the art and science of classroom conversations using a simple protocol which combines quotes, claims, counterclaims and essential questions.

October 20 Roundtable

How can P4C contribute to community building?

with Professor Claire Katz 

 

Claire Katz is Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M, where she currently serves as Interim Department Head of Teaching, Learning, and Culture. A Baltimore native, she majored in philosophy at UMBC. She holds a Master’s of Arts in Teaching (teaching of philosophy to K-12 students) from Montclair State University and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Memps throughout Texas; training for university students in facilitating philosophical discussions with pre-college students, which includes an undergraduate course that teaches students to teach philosophy to K-12 students; and developing and running a week-long philosophy summer camp (Aggie School of Athens) for 6^th-12^th graders.

 

 

October 6, 2022 Roundtable
Who is doing philosophy and who is a philosopher?
With Assistant Professor John Torrey

John Torrey is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and a contributing professor in the Africana Studies unit at SUNY Buffalo State. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Spanish from Morehouse College and an MA and Ph. D in Philosophy from the University of Memphis. His primary research interest is the interconnection between moral arguments and their political limits regarding calls for reparations for Black Americans. He also has done work in applied ethics, philosophy of education, and pre-college philosophy. In addition to his publications on Black reparations, he has published on the theoretical underpinnings of Black Lives Matter and on doing precollege philosophy. He also has participated in precollege philosophy programs since 2010, including organizing the July 2019 Buffalo State Lyceum. He currently serves on PLATO’s Academic Advisory Board. As a public philosopher, he has worked with the City of Buffalo’s Commission to Recommend Police Policy and Advance Social Reconstruction (2020), and was elected to the Board of Ethics for the City of Buffalo in 2022.

PLATO offers customized programs around the world for schools, organizations, teachers, administrators, parents and families, and other adults interested in facilitating philosophical inquiry with young people, including one-on-one coaching and training, workshops, public presentations, demonstration philosophy sessions in K-12 classrooms and other forums, and mentoring.

Programs are developed to fit the needs of each group or individual, and include whole school programs, individual teacher coaching, and a range of support and resources for the development of philosophy programs. PLATO also serves as an ongoing resource for educators, schools, and organizations interested in building a philosophical culture.

Past programs have included all or some of the following:

• Workshops for up to 16 teachers for anywhere from 3-15 hours
  
  
• Individualized coaching programs for teachers or groups of teachers
  
  
• Information evening for teachers and/or parents
  
  
• Public lecture (one hour plus, including Q&A)
  
  
• Demonstration classes (two, in different grades or age groups)
  
  
• Ongoing year-long mentorship for a school or organization (10 months), including unlimited email messages and a monthly online seminar for up to 16 participants

Philosophical Children

Children and youth frequently ask big questions — Can you be happy and sad at the same time? Why do people die? Are thoughts real? Encouraging young people to articulate and discuss their questions opens spaces for them to think critically for themselves about their own experiences and encourages deep and well-reasoned reflection about some of life’s essential questions.

This talk will examine the importance of philosophical thinking in children and consider how adults can help cultivate young people’s wondering and questioning. The talk will also explore ways that children’s literature can be the perfect vehicle for stimulating discussion and critical thinking about the philosophical questions on young people’s minds.

SAMPLE EDUCATOR WORKSHOP: Philosophy in the Classroom

This 10-hour workshop introduces ways to bring philosophy into young people’s lives, which involves reading stories and using other philosophically suggestive prompts, including activities and games, and then leading philosophical discussions with students about the big questions the material raises. The workshop focuses on ways in which to establish communities of philosophical inquiry in classrooms and introduces a conception of what constitutes a philosophical question and a philosophical discussion, basic reasoning tools, and methods for stimulating philosophical inquiry.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped to begin leading philosophy sessions with young students. The workshop emphasizes learning by doing. We will form our own community of philosophical inquiry, and will spend most of the workshop discussing philosophical questions such as: When do we know something? What is the self? What is friendship? What is the mind? The workshop will also provide an introduction to some of the traditional branches of philosophy, including ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, and aesthetics.

Please contact us at info@plato-philosophy.org for more information about options and fees for these programs.