Mary Kadera
Interim Executive Director
Mary is Inspired Teaching’s interim executive director and oversees the organization’s work to support teachers and their students as changemakers in education and in their communities. Mary has more than 25 years of experience in the education field, working in a variety of capacities to support educators and students and to transform K-12 teaching and learning so that it is more engaging, effective, relevant, and joyful. She has most recently worked as a consultant with nonprofits including The George Lucas Educational Foundation, Learning Forward, TED, PBS, and others, where she’s led strategic planning, audience needs assessments and market research, program and product development, financial modeling, operations planning, and grant proposal development. Prior to her consulting work, Mary was the vice president for education at PBS, where she managed PBS’s portfolio of national digital education services and coordinated the educational initiatives of PBS and its local member stations. She began her career as a high school teacher of English and Biology in Virginia’s public schools.
What is your favorite lesson to teach and why?
As an English teacher, I loved reading Craig Raine’s poem “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home” with my students. It’s all about metaphor and is a terrific example of seeing everyday things with an entirely fresh perspective–something we could all use from time to time!