Kayla Dornfeld is the 2020 Top Educator of the Year, and the 2019 North Dakota Teacher of the Year. Kayla is a two-time (2017 and 2018) Global Hundred honoree, recognizing her as 1 of the top 100 innovative educators in the world. The New York Times named her “one of the tech-savviest teachers in the United States”.
She has 15 years of teaching experience in second grade, third grade, and kindergarten. Kayla holds her master’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of North Dakota. In September 2018, she received the University of North Dakota Sioux Award, the highest honor of achievement offered by her University.
In 2021, she was named the “Youth Volunteer of the Year” by St. Jude Hospital.
She has been recognized as both an “ISTE Influencer” and “HarperCollins Publishing Influencer”. Additionally, in March 2018, she was named 1 of just 30 “All-Star Digital Innovators” in the United States by PBS. Who’s Who in America has also awarded Kayla for her contributions to education by publishing her biography.
Kayla frequently travels around the United States and other countries as a featured and keynote speaker. She has delivered hundreds of keynotes, one of note being at Twitter Headquarters. On July 23, 2015 she delivered her first TEDx Talk, Reimagining Classrooms: Students as Leaders and Teachers as Learners. Her work with classroom redesign and flexible seating has become the standard worldwide.
She is a co-author of the best-selling book Education Write Now, published in December 2017, and 10 Perspectives on Learning in Education, available now on Amazon.