Brian Skinner, the 2023 Kansas Teacher of the Year, is available this year through the Hubbard Foundation Kansas Teacher of the Year Ambassadorship to conduct workshops for school personnel, visit with team members of teachers or serve as a keynote speaker for your school district. 

Skinner is an interrelated special education teacher, grades 9-12, for Newton Unified School District 373, as an employee of the Harvey County Special Education Cooperative in Newton. He has been teaching since August 2013 and currently serves as Newton High School’s special education department chair. 

Skinner also has served as the individualized education plan case manager for Project SEARCH, a one-year program that focuses exclusively on vocational skills within the community for students with significant disabilities that have completed their high school academic program. 

Outside of the special education department, Skinner has several other teaching experiences. He was a general education English instructor for Newton’s virtual program from 2016 through 2020 and served as adjunct history professor at Bethel College in 2017. 

Skinner has a bachelor’s degree in history from Bethel College and a master of teaching and learning from Friends University. 

If you would like to invite Skinner to make a presentation at your school, email him at brian.skinner@usd373.org. 

Keynote Sessions Prepared: 

1. Differentiating to Help Your Students Grow: Being able to unlock the puzzle for how a specific child learns is the first step to helping them achieve their potential. As educators, we must constantly change what we do and differentiate to meet each child's needs. Differentiation within a classroom is a proactive way to ensure each student can demonstrate what they have learned.  It is about making minor changes that align with a student's strengths, which in turn helps that child prepare for their future. 
2. The Impact of Social Media on Youth and the Classroom: In a world filled with continually more instant access to information, instant gratification and instant access to others, opportunities for students to become dysregulated have increased tenfold - and with it, the opportunity for them to achieve their best success decreases. This has created a two-pronged issue; youth are finding it ever easier to be drawn into superficial, emotionally dysregulated situations, and educators are finding themselves caught between knowing how to support and encourage struggling students, while also preparing them for postsecondary success. 
3. Leadership and Success Are …: A dive into what being a leader looks like in the education profession, and how those leadership qualities can result in allowing students to experience their own success. Education leaders build inclusive environments within their school, district, or community, increasing connections and relationships. These connections and this leadership move beyond the classroom. 

Breakout Sessions Prepared: 

1. Co-Teaching in the Classroom: Providing more effective learning environments to help at-risk students be successful in their least restrictive environment. This session will provide an analysis of what co-teaching is with a school and how that model can best benefit students of all levels. 
2. Special Education 101:  The ins and outs of special education, as well as how to best ensure all students in your classroom can achieve their best success can be complex. This session will address many of the most fundamental aspects of special education, including core IEP information, accommodations, para usage, and pieces of special education law that help ensure IEP teams can best meet the needs of the child. 
3. Leadership and Success Are …: A dive into what being a leader looks like in the education profession, and how those leadership qualities can result in allowing students to experience their own success. Education leaders build inclusive environments within their school, district, or community, increasing connections and relationships. These connections and this leadership move beyond the classroom.