In this episode of The Wired Educator Podcast, Kelly talks with Phil Cristofaro, a distinguished educator and coach from Victoria, Australia about coaching, leadership and an amazing #EveryoneCanCreate project his students published. You will love everything about this episode including Phil’s incredible insight into education from 30+ years of service, and his Austrailian perspective and accent. What a great interview.
Phill Cristofaro has thirty years experience as a classroom teacher, Leader and Instructional Coach. He is an Apple Distinguished Educator and is an accredited Apple Professional Learning Specialist. In 2007, Phill was a finalist in the Herald Sun Teacher of the Year Awards and in 2005 was a finalist in the Outstanding Primary Teacher category of the Education Excellence Awards (Victoria, Australia).
Phill works part-time as a Digital Learning Coach at Mackellar Primary School in Melbourne, Australia. Phill supports schools and education across all levels of the system as a part-time consultant. He has published more than twenty iTunes U courses which showcase his expertise in high-level instructional practice and creativity. Phill recently published a student project in the form of an interactive Apple Book titled, “Convergence: April 13th, 1945”.
Phil and Kelly discuss: The importance of teaching to the child, not the level, how the interactive book was produced and published, what the project represents in terms of learning, creation and differentiation as well as collaboration, creativity and a strong female role in learning, student agency, and more!
I love hearing Phil say, “Mate” and he explains why his nickname for me is ‘Bear.’
- Planbook.com is the sponsor of this podcast. It’s the best way to plan and share your lessons.
- Ask Kelly: This is a new feature for all listeners! Listeners can now ask a question about education that can be shared on the podcast. One click from any device and you can record and send Kelly your audio question about education. Say your name, where you’re from and your question. Kelly will choose from the questions to share on the podcast. I hope you’ll give this a try. Thank you.
- The Future Focused Podcast: This is my other podcast for those interested in leveling up their leadership and designing a dynamic life.
- Phil’s favorite book: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
- Phil is excited about Augmented Reality Apps for iOS.
- Phil’s favorite app is Keynote by Apple.
- Everyone Can Create by Apple: Bring creative expression to every subject!


Tom Cruise is one of my favorite actors. He may not be your’s and that’s okay, but to me he really seems to go out of his way to make a great experience for everyone that sees his movies. He said as much in a recent public service announcement about viewing movies on a smart TV and the problem of video interpolation, which is when the TV smoothing out the picture, which actually degrades high definition action movies. You can watch him talk about it
Educators are my favorite species. They not only work incredibly hard all hours of the day to make an impact in the lives of those they teach, they are also constantly working to improve themselves as well.
My first year of teaching was 1991. I was fresh out of college and excited to make a difference in the lives of students.



In this episode of the Wired Educator Podcast, I interview Apple Distinguished Educator, Mike Yakubovsky. We talk about the importance of teaching Cyber Security and App Development in schools. We also discuss his engineering class, technology standards, Swift Playgrounds, smishing, vishing, and so, so, so much more! You are going to love this interview.

In this episode of The Wired Educator Podcast, Kelly interview Apple Distinguished Educator, Jon Smith. Jon and Kelly talk about the importance of using technology to help students create. Jon shares his experience helping students author digital books and become published writers. The pair also discuss: digital book creation, Twitter Chats, Things That Must Die in Education, Learning at Lunch, Computers & Cronuts, and so much more! Jon is brilliant and fun, and… you are going to love this episode.




