WKAR Announces Lansing Educator As PBS Digital Innovator All-Star for 2020

LaDonna Mask is the principal at Kendon Elementary in the Lansing School District and is one of 19 educators from across the country selected for the PBS Digital Innovator All-Star Program. She’s a 2020 PBS Digital Innovator All Star and was supported and recommended by WKAR. Mask's career in education has spanned 40-plus years within the Lansing School District.   The PBS Digital Innovator All-Star program brings together a community of PreK-12th grade educators who are innovators and leaders both in and outside of the classroom. Each of the Digital Innovator All-Stars was selected from a cohort of educators who are doing extraordinary work in their local communities, supporting student learning by integrating media and digital technology in their teaching environments, inspiring students to use these tools in responsible, effective and empowering ways.   “COVID-19 has provided teachers with the time, impetus, and the support of each other to try some new things and get support from one another” says Mask. “I want to help and support our teachers to be willing to try new things and put themselves out there to see what’s possible.”   She played a vital role with the PBS KIDS Playtime Pad Research Project that WKAR is just about to complete. The project was 3-year collaborative research and engagement project that brought together WKAR, College of Communication Arts and Sciences, College of Education, Lansing School District, and PBS to distribute more than 3,600 playtime pads to all Lansing kindergartners since 2017.  “Nothing will take the place of a teacher in front of her students. There’s a magic that happens there that just can’t be replaced. It’s hard to see in a Zoom lesson when someone just doesn’t understand. You get that when you’re face to face.   “I don’t think we’ll ever get to the point where we completely take away the idea of face-to-face classrooms. You can read a lot in a child’s body language when they walk through the door in the morning. But we definitely use technology as a support.”   As a graduate from Michigan State University with a degree in Special Education and certification in Elementary Education, Mask has devoted her life's work to empowering students to realize their greatest potential and ability to achieve.  “I loved my time at MSU and will always be a Spartan. I love ‘Spartans Will’ because it really does embody the mindset we get at MSU. I see the training that MSU education students are getting now and how wonderful it is and how much it will really help to change the lives of people forever. I’m proud to be a Spartan for certain!”  MSU Today airs Sunday mornings at 9:00 on 105.1 FM, AM 870, and your smart speaker.