Dylan Ferniany

Brainstormer, Change Agent, Educator/Teacher, Explorer, Global soul, Idea generator, Public servant, Social entrepreneur, World traveler

Dylan is the TEDxBirmingham K-12 Education Liaison, but her day job is the coordination of gifted education in a large urban school district in Birmingham, Alabama. She is the current Collaboration Director for Young Education Professionals-National, and the President- Elect for the Alabama Association for Gifted Children. Dylan taught gifted education for 7 years, at the elementary and middle school level. She has her Ed.D. from Vanderbilt's Peabody College of Education, where she sought to understand the complex landscape of education in the United States and around the world, a topic that she continues to be curious about.

Talent identification and development among students and teachers, education equality, the teaching profession.

I'm interested in the idea of giftedness- what the word means, what defines gifted and how gifted programs might shape student perceptions of themselves and others.

BEST Robotics Competition for students, Education Technology, Educator networking, Formative Assessment, Gifted Education, Leading Young Education Professional chapter, Middle School English, Student News Broadcast, Teacher Labor Market, Teaching Creativity and Innovation to Youth

I became involved with TEDxBirmingham in 2014 as the K-12 Education Liaison. With TEDxBirmingham I facilitate our Educator Fellow program, which invites 20 educators to our event each year free of charge with the hopes that they will connect and share TED talks with one another and their students. Last year I ran a TED-Ed Club, probably one of the most enjoyable experiences of my teaching career. Our TED-Ed Club video-conferenced with other clubs around the world and held workshops with guest speakers from TEDxBirmingham. From this club, other teachers started clubs and this year, the first TEDxYouth events were held in Birmingham, by some of our own Educator Fellows. Currently, the group is working on a workshop for other teachers on how to use TED in the classroom, and a design thinking workshop for teachers. And perhaps the most exciting part of my TED story, is that I met my boyfriend through TEDxBirmingham and we have been together since!

People are always surprised that I can draw.