After receiving his J.D. from
New York University School of Law in 1993 and passing his
bar exam, Bildner worked for a law firm in Manhattan short term. However, he quickly returned to school to receive a
master's degree in education. After receiving his master's degree in education, Bildner taught in the
New York Public Schools for eleven years, where he taught primarily fifth- and sixth-grade students. In the 1990s, while teaching in the Tremont section of the Bronx, he developed an
English-Language Arts (ELA) curriculum around song and music, through which he invited
Dave Matthews,
Barenaked Ladies,
Blues Traveler,
Lauryn Hill, and
Wyclef Jean into his classroom. While in that school district, Bildner also created a curriculum around HIV/AIDS. In the 2000s, Bilder started work at P.S. 333, the Manhattan School for Children in Upper Manhattan. Teaching middle school English and American History, Bildner continued to incorporate music into the curriculum and worked with the
Lincoln Center Institute, Broadway shows (e.g.,
Wicked and
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), and Off-Broadway shows (e.g.,
Def Poetry Jam, De la Guarda). In 2005, Bildner left the classroom to write full-time. However, he began chaperoning student volunteer trips to New Orleans to help victims in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. Through these efforts, he founded NOLA Tree, "a non-profit youth service organization and served as the co-Executive Director." In 2017, Bildner founded The Author Village to help connect students to authors, artists, and other creative individuals. Through this organization, he visits 50–60 schools annually. == Selected works ==