My Services
STEM & Innovation
Instructional coaching and advice on enhancing individual STEM lessons and project-based learning (PBL) units.
CRE
Coaching teachers in culturally responsive pedagogy and the capacity to improve student achievement.
Blended Learning
Designing professional learning for effective instruction in remote blended learning experiences for students.
K-5 Education
Learning-focused leadership to make meaningful change in Elementary classrooms.
Learning Experiences
Collaborating with students and educators to create impactful learning experiences.
10x Education
Radically improving public education by engineering a culture of innovation and exponential growth.
About Me
I make dents in the universe.
I thrive on inspiring others to greatness.
I question the status quo.
I mentor students and teachers; motivating them to greatness.
I help teachers create the BEST learning experiences possible.
I am a shaper.
I create inclusive cultures of creativity and innovation.
I am an independent thinker; nonconforming and rebellious.
I ask a lot of questions.
I push the boundaries of what is possible.
Stats
My Impact
570
STUDENTS
250
COLLABORATORS
325
PROJECTS
Creative Confidence
Meet Dr. Neibauer
I am a public school educator in Colorado with 20 years of experience in non-conforming and mentoring students to help them find their voices in order to change schools and society. I am an intellectual thinker who dreams of transformational change. I am a practitioner who helps make change possible for students, teachers and administrators.
I have many stories to tell and lots of change to make happen.
Passionate
Professional
Experienced
I help students design the classroom they want.
I use design thinking as a process for creativity and innovation.
I believe that creativity is using your imagination to create something new in the world.
I structure my classroom so that every student builds their own creative confidence.
Design Thinking Methodology
As teachers, we need to begin thinking of ourselves as designers, not lecturers. Instead of believing that the teacher holds all of the knowledge necessary to complete a task or solve a problem, teachers and students should work alongside each other to design a learning experience that immerses everyone in flow.
It is not surprising that educators still view themselves as content delivery specialists instead of designers. We are working in a 125-year-old educational system. With new learning technologies created to better help students, they too refer to themselves and content delivery platforms or content management systems. Academic content and learning are not things to be managed nor delivered.
Being student-centered is at the core of my innovation process. Design thinking is the process I use for creativity and innovation.
Learning is connected to each individual learner. It involves passion, challenge, and connection to both the real world and relevance to the student. It is a cyclical process. When something doesn’t work, I make modifications and try again. Learning is fun!
I am not a lecturer.
I experiment to learn and engineer learning experiences for each and every one of my students.
The role of the teacher should be one of designing powerful learning experiences. When I co-construct and launch classroom learning experiences with my students they build a creative confidence that helps them impact their world.
This is design thinking in the classroom.
Accomplishments
I create with
love and passion
There is no such thing as a perfect lesson. What works today with one student, will not work tomorrow on the same student.
Instead of lengthy lesson plans, I run learning experiments, collect feedback on what’s working and tweak things that are not. I prototype and use insights from my students to create large-scale learning experiences with love and passion.
Creative Leadership
The Foundations in Creative Leadership Certificate provided me the opportunity to build my skills and mindsets to lead for creativity and collaboration.
TG x SR Design Sprint
How might we shift from curriculum standardization to learning experiences? Let's reimagine what traditional classroom learning could like like!
Remote Learning
Digitizing classroom learning experiences that positively change how my students think about remote learning and visual thinking.
Storytelling
I want to tell a story about innovating public education so that I can influence and impact the current status quo in education.
What I'm
Reading
Reading is a huge part of my life. I know that my mindset is fluid. I look to authors as mentors and reading as a mentorship. I treat the books I am reading as a conversation with the author.
I let books transform my thinking.
Dr. Chris Emdin & sam seidel
Dr. Christopher Emdin is the Maxine Greene Chair for Distinguished Contributions to Education. sam seidel directs the development of products + publications and co-directs the K12 Lab at the Stanford d.school.
Dr. Erica Buchanan-Rivera
Erica Buchanan-Rivera is an educational equity scholar, consultant, community organizer, and fierce advocate for children and liberatory spaces where people can be their authentic selves.
Dr. Susan Blum
Susan D. Blum is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame.
Alex Shevrin Venet
Alex Shevrin Venet is an educator, professional development facilitator, and writer. She is a teacher educator at the graduate level.
Current Projects
What I'm working on
01. X Lab Idea Accelerator for Education
The X Lab is a professional learning experience for teachers and administrators, giving them a place to solve real problems they are facing in their classrooms and buildings. Using design-based problem solving, teachers and administrators work to create impact design solutions and build a culture of innovation in their building. The X Lab is completely opt-in, collaborative, and impactful. The X Lab guides teachers through an iterative process that involves gathering information, developing possibilities and evolving them into viable solutions. We learn together, from each other, and through new insights.
02. Legendary Educators
If you could do something that felt impossible, what would you try? For me, it is transforming public education. Legendary Educators stems from my passion for creating the most innovative and exciting classroom experiences possible.
03. EnCORE
EnCORE stems from my love of reading blog posts and articles about the most innovative things happening in public education. As I continue to create large-scale learning experiences, I want to share my failures, learning, and successes. I couldn’t find a journal or magazine that I liked for sharing teacher and student stories, so I created our own!
From My Blog
My Latest Posts
#Be Fearless in the Classroom
I just can’t wait anymore! There is such a sense of urgency when it comes to innovating…
Innovate Like You Want to Innovate
I love this graphic by John Spencer and I have been using it heavily when explaining innovation…
Unleashing Problem Solvers
When was the last time you believed that you could change the world? I was ten years…
Delorean to Flux Capacitor to the Future
What is the purpose of a curriculum map? Let’s think about that for a minute. The academic…
Check out our work
Take a peek inside Dr. Neibauer's classroom
Now Spinning
Classic Albums
Storytelling
Experience & Perspective
Do Something
community service projects
Design Kitchen
Big Ideas | Simple Prototypes
