Tomorrow, the second annual Students for Innovation Virtual Summit begins, and I have to tell you, this one feels different. For those of you who are new, this work started from a simple belief: students deserve a real stage, not a symbolic one. Over the past few months, I’ve been working side by side with this student team - planning, revising, collaborating, troubleshooting, and watching them grow into the kind of leaders most conferences only talk about. What you’re about to see isn’t a set of polished presentations dropped into a schedule. It’s a full, student-led experience that they built, and I am so proud of what they’ve pulled together.

What You’ll See This Week

You’ll hear students speak about financial literacy, AI, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and what it means to truly rethink learning - and you’ll hear from students as young as elementary school and as far away as Egypt and Dubai, which gives the whole week a global texture that’s hard to describe until you experience it.

A Question Worth Sitting With

I keep coming back to a question I want you to sit with for a minute, because I think it’s the question underneath almost every conversation we’re having in education right now: what does it actually look like to give students the microphone in a real way? Not for a moment, not for a panel, not as a feel-good moment at the end of a unit, but for something that matters - where the stakes are real and the adults in the room are genuinely learning alongside them. Most of us say we want this, fewer of us have designed for it, and I think that gap is where a lot of the frustration in our field lives right now - the sense that school is asking students to perform compliance (especially this time of year, during testing season) while the world outside is asking them to think, build, question, and lead.

Here’s what I’ve noticed working alongside these students: when you actually hand over ownership, the work gets harder, not easier - for them and for us. They start asking better questions, they push back on assumptions we didn’t realize we were making, they bring in perspectives we don’t have access to because we haven’t lived what they’re living. That’s uncomfortable, and it’s also exactly the point. Real student voice isn’t our voice coming out of younger mouths, it’s something different, sometimes sharper, and often more honest than what we would have produced ourselves. Watching this team go from early brainstorming sessions to a fully-built international summit in its second year has reminded me, again, how often we underestimate what students can do when we stop getting in their way.

What You Can Do Right Now

If this idea of student voice is resonating with you, start small:

• Let students present their learning instead of just submitting it, and notice how the quality of the thinking changes when there’s a real audience
• Give them ownership over one piece of a unit - not the whole thing, just one piece
• Make room for their questions, not just your answers, and treat those questions as data about what learning is actually happening
• Design one assignment that feels real instead of compliant - something where the outcome isn’t predetermined and the work could genuinely matter to someone outside the classroom

None of these moves require a new initiative, a budget line, or permission from above. They require a willingness to shift the center of gravity in your room, even just a little. And once you feel that shift, you can’t unfeel it.

One Ask

If you care about student voice, about doing this work better, about where education is actually headed, I think this week is worth your time. If any of this resonates, help amplify it. Forward this to a colleague, share the link, invite someone to watch a session with you. These students have done the extraordinary work of building something real. The least we can do is make sure they’re heard.

So proud of this team and so glad you’re in this with me!

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Speaking and Customized PD 🗓️

If your school, district, or organization is planning a conference, leadership retreat, or professional learning experience this year, I’d love to partner with you. Keynotes and workshops I’m currently booking focus on:

• The Game of Education: Rethinking achievement in an AI-driven world - challenging traditional definitions of success, empowering student voice, and helping educators “level up” learning beyond grades, compliance, and outdated playbooks.
• Beyond the Ban: Rethinking Digital Wellness: Moving past cellphone bans to empower students, engage families, and help communities create healthier digital habits.
• Teaching for Tomorrow: Rethinking instruction, learning, and assessment in a world transformed by AI.
• Leading in the Age of AI: How school leaders can harness AI to streamline administrative tasks, strengthen instructional leadership, and evaluate classroom practice with confidence.
• Empowering Student Voice: Building a Community of Leaders: Practical strategies for amplifying student leadership and giving learners authentic roles in shaping education.

Interested in bringing this work to your team? Simply reply to this email and share what you’re planning - I’m always happy to explore ideas together!

Catch up on recent episodes 🎙️

Recorded live at the NYSCATE annual conference, just moments after stepping off the keynote stage, this episode captures a powerful conversation with Dr. Adam Phyall and student changemaker Amiya. The momentum from the stage carries straight into the discussion as they reflect on what it truly takes to empower students and educators to lead meaningful change in education. From the rise of the internet to the acceleration of AI, the conversation draws compelling parallels between past and present technology shifts and why this moment demands evolution, not hesitation. Centering student voice and shared leadership, they explore what students, educators, and parents can do right now to move beyond adaptation and actively shape the future of learning.

Listen Now!

The Generative Age Book 📚

My book The Generative Age: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Education is available on Amazon and Barnes and Nobel! If you've already bought a copy, thank you! If you're interested in a bulk discount, reach out or reply to this email.

Buy now

Until next time!

Alana Winnick