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JoyfulLearningCollaborative.org
Karyn Allee
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Founder and Director, The Joyful Learning Collaborative
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Join date: Dec 18, 2024
About
Karyn Allee is a champion for joyful, effective learning experiences and equitable education. As a teacher educator and researcher, she focuses on how play, creativity, and holistic teaching practices can bridge opportunity gaps and help marginalized students thrive. Her work emphasizes the importance of classrooms that foster curiosity, collaboration, and developmentally meaningful learning beyond the limits of high-stakes testing.
Posts (9)
Jan 8, 2026 ∙ 4 min
What Children and Teachers Learn Before Instruction Begins
Before lessons, standards, or assessments, schools communicate powerful messages about value, pace, and priority. This post explores mattering as the quiet curriculum shaping learning environments—often long before teaching formally starts.
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Nov 14, 2025 ∙ 4 min
How We Played It Forward: Designing Playful Professional Learning at GATESOL 2025
In this post, Karyn Allee and Stephanie Moore reflect on how they used play in professional learning about play—turning research into joyful, hands-on experience at the 2025 GATESOL Annual Conference. Explore their Play Challenge resources, see how they structured the session, and take on their #PlayItForwardJLC challenge to bring playful learning into your own teaching or professional development.
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Sep 1, 2025 ∙ 3 min
Smart, Not Soft: How Play Builds Brains, Skills, and Community
“Smart, Not Soft: The Academic Power of Play” explores what research shows: play fuels the development of key academic and life skills—like self-regulation, language, and executive function. Learn why play belongs at the heart of serious education reform.
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