Hemingway to Manga: Welcoming All Kinds of Books and Genres in the Classroom

Presented by Cathlin Goulding, Ed.D., Co-Director of YURI Education Project, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Advisor for It’s Lit!; Freda Lin, Co-Director of YURI Education Project, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Advisor for It’s Lit!; KJ Vanderiet, Associate Content Producer, The WNET Group; and Kristina Kirtley, Senior Producer, Content and Youth Engagement, The WNET Group

Sponsored by The WNET Group

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Ready to ignite your students’ love of all kinds of literature? View this edWebinar to enjoy an introduction to It’s Lit! from The WNET Group and PBS LearningMedia. It’s Lit! is a series of smart, funny video essays from PBS Digital Studios about our favorite books and why we love to read.

The series covers everything from young adult fiction to War and Peace to Afrofuturism and everything in between. This series will spark interest, engagement, and enjoyment for your students, and get them enthused about literature in a range of genres. The presenters introduce the series and its accompanying teacher resources, show video clips, and share helpful, practical strategies for enlivening literature experiences for your students. Ready. Set. It’s Lit!

This recorded edWebinar is of interest to middle and high school teachers, librarians, and school and district leaders. 

About the Presenters

Cathlin Goulding, Ed.D. is the co-director of YURI Education Project. As the daughter and granddaughter of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II, the history and reverberations of the camps are key areas of her research, curriculum work, and writing. She teaches in the Adolescent Social Studies program at the City University of New York and lives in Queens.

Freda Lin is the co-director of YURI Education Project and creates educational resources through an Asian American lens. This work focuses on developing curricula, youth workshops, and professional learning for organizations and K-12 schools. Her professional goal to transform people’s perspectives on marginalized stories began as an undergraduate of Northwestern University, where she led a campus-wide, community-supported movement for an Asian American Studies program. Freda was a history and leadership teacher in Chicago and San Francisco Bay Area middle and high schools, where she implemented new curricula and diversity programs to support more equitable schooling. After leaving the teaching field, she consulted with UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project on teacher coaching, curricula and grants research with the Center for Asian American Media, and social movement history tours with Freedom Lifted. Freda also served as the education program director of the nonprofit organization, the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, where she designed and implemented new projects and programming.

KJ Vanderiet is a former educator with a passion for educational development. She is a former AmeriCorps VISTA and Peace Corps Volunteer and has worked with NYU’s Teaching and Learning Department to research and develop curricula in NYC public schools. As an associate content producer at The WNET Group, KJ helps create resources that help teachers effectively use media in the classroom.

Kristina Kirtley is a senior producer in Kids’ Media and Education at WNET New York Public Media, New York’s flagship PBS station. She creates education resources for PBS LearningMedia and manages outreach to support WNET productions like Mission US, American Masters, and Films BYkids. She also leads WNET’s Youth Collective, a youth media and engagement initiative that aims to amplify youth voice and provide a platform for young people to engage in the important work of building a more ethical world. Previously, Kristina worked for eight years as a project manager at International Cinema Education, an NGO at the United Nations that uses film to teach students about global issues, and she also taught high school English for five years in the Bronx as part of the New York City Teaching Fellows Program. Kristina holds a BA in English from Stanford University and MA in education from City College.

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The WNET Group’s award-winning Kids’ Media and Education Team produces the PBS KIDS series, Cyberchase, interactive Mission US history games, and resources for families, teachers and caregivers. A leading public media producer for nearly 60 years, The WNET Group presents and distributes content that fosters lifelong learning, including multi-platform initiatives addressing poverty, jobs, economic opportunity, social justice, understanding and the environment.