Life is a classroom. Let’s humanize it!
At Humanizing the Classroom we create customized, multimedia learning experiences and products for all ages. Our products build sustained competence in emotional intelligence, cultural awareness and responsiveness, and cooperation.
What We Do
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Training
Our experts partner with your team to create customized training in emotional intelligence, cultural awareness and responsiveness, and collaboration. We can deliver the training, or we can train your trainers to do so. In person, hybrid, and fully virtual options available.
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Coaching
Our experts partner with your team to create customized coaching in emotional intelligence, cultural awareness and responsiveness, and collaboration. We can provide coaching, or we can train your coaches to do so. In person, hybrid, and fully virtual options available.
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Curriculum
Our experts partner with your team to create customized curriculum for all ages in emotional intelligence, cultural awareness and responsiveness, and collaboration. We use flexible delivery methods that effectively leverage your tools.
How We Do It
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Empathic Design
We are invested in getting to know you. We listen deeply, incorporate feedback, and refine your vision to ensure our products respect and reflect the identities of your team and fit you like a glove.
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Sustainable Design
We do not confuse information with the application of new skills in real life. So, our products teach learners to build transformational change through sustained practice of new skills over time.
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Engaging Design
We believe in the power of multimedia instructional design to enhance learning. We apply learning styles theory to deeply engage learners in ways that result in measurable improvement.
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Data Driven Design
We incorporate research driven pedagogical concepts during the design, delivery, and engagement processes to ensure quality and allow clients to measure impact.
Examples
Training
We created a multimedia training and coaching program, funded by $8M federal grant, to support teachers in a social and emotional learning program. The final research study from University of Virginia and Fordham University showed robust improvement in social and emotional skill acquisition for adults and students.
Design: custom in-person training followed by documentary style training videos delivered virtually to extend learning.
“Kristin Stuart Valdes is a vanguard in SEL implementation, multimedia instructional design, creative arts, and educational research. “
Marisa Zalabak, Educational Psychologist and participating coach
Coaching
We created a hybrid, culturally responsive coaching program for large urban school district that proved, through teacher data analysis by Southern Methodist University, to be highly effective and led to a grant extension of over $150K.
Design: virtual training created in Articulate/RISE using scenarios blocks, video role plays, and higher order knowledge checks followed by virtual video based 1:1 coaching and group discussions.
“Kristin’s technical and pedagogical expertise as a Senior Program Manager, Instructional Designer, and Multimedia Content Creator were critical to the program’s success, which resulted in a significant grant.”
Andrew Hopun, contributing Senior Instructional Designer
Curriculum
We created custom curriculum, designed to meet the needs of diverse populations, for multiple clients nationwide.
Design: an empathic, needs assessment process guides the agile curriculum design process and is followed by leveraging of client’s LMS for storage and delivery.
“I watched my students authentically incorporate what they learned in and outside of the classroom because the curriculum was designed to meet the challenges of their lived experience.”
Marcella Carling, Learning Specialist and participating teacher
Past Clients and Tools
We have worked with a wide range of non-profits, corporations, schools, universities, and ed-tech companies to create training, coaching, and curriculum for all ages.
We are fluent in a variety of cutting edge, multimedia design tools and will work with your team to build experiences and products that live comfortably within the platforms you use.
Tools include but are not limited to…
Camera Operation : Final Cut Pro : Adobe Creative Suite : Figma : Wireframes : various LMS platforms : Articulate 360 and RISE : Google Suite and Classroom : Scorm : HTML
Humanizing the Classroom, The Book
A comprehensive guide to culturally responsive social and emotional learning, that includes grounding in theory, pedagogy, and over 45 skill based lessons. Humanizing the Classroom is used in schools and organizations across the country to improve classroom and company culture.
“I highly recommend this practical, thoughtful, and wise book that will help teachers- and potentially parents – to further social, emotional, and academic competencies. A foundation for school and life success!” Jonathan Cohen Ph.D., Co-President, International Observatory for School Climate and Violent Prevention
“This book affords tools that will be useful to novice and veteran teachers alike, as well as school leaders, to better understand why SEL should be a critical part of every child’s education.” Joshua L. Brown, associate professor, Director, Applied Developmental Psychology, Fordham University
“Living empathically is something we could all stand to learn a little more about right now. Humanizing the Classroom should be required reading for all of us!” John Cariani, Broadway and TV actor, playwright of “Almost, Maine”
What Our Clients Say
Krystal Thomas, Senior Educational Researcher at SRI International
“I worked with Kristin on the development of a pre and post survey tool for measuring elementary students’ SEL skill acquisition. Kristin applied her deep knowledge related to SEL practices and research to ensure the survey proved, through reliability testing, to be one of SRI’s most effective tools for measuring social and emotional learning skill acquisition.”
Jason Downer, Director of Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at University of Virginia
“This book offers the rare opportunity for teachers to expand their pedagogical toolkit with applied strategies to help students learn and practice SEL skills ranging from persistence to understanding bias.“
Komal Thakur, Director of Marketing and Partnerships at moozoom
“Kristin is a delight to work with. Her talent in research and pedagogical alignment is incredible and her ability to facilitate workshops, manage projects, and develop content is top notch. I am glad my team got a chance to work with her on developing training and content.“
About
Kristin Stuart Valdes
Kristin Stuart Valdes (she/her) founded Humanizing the Classroom to address the diverse needs, across multiple sectors, for high quality EQ learning experiences and products. As a senior trainer, coach, and multimedia learning experience designer and a subject matter expert in the fields of emotional intelligence and cultural awareness and responsiveness she has trained over 10,000 adults nationally in these skills. She has worked in diverse spaces where 53 home languages were spoken, on Native American reservations, and in every borough of New York City.
She has written widely on emotional intelligence in publications including the Huffington Post, Edutopia, and Imagination Matters. Her 2019 book Humanizing the Classroom, published by Rowman and Littlefield, was critically praised by researchers and education professionals alike. She was a contributing writer to the NY State Social and Emotional Learning standards for K-12. Her award winning films exploring power, culture, and the capacity of the human voice to effect change have screened in school and university classrooms and at national and international festivals.
She is certified in mediation and arbitration with the Brooklyn Bar Association, Trauma Recovery with FEMA, Conflict Resolution and Social and Emotional Learning with Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, and CLASS Observation with Teachstone. She holds a BFA and MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Contact
Humanizing the Classroom
Life is a classroom. Let’s humanize it!
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