A Letter from Incoming Southern California Director, Shauna Davis
I am truly honored to join the CATDC community and energized to continue evolving dynamic programs in partnership with CATDC’s forward-thinking team. As a participant in diverse CATDC workshops over the years, I continue to be impressed by their relevance to educators’ experiences and the resulting impact these programs can have in our schools. I…
Read MoreBuilding Community for People of Color in Independent Schools
The year is 2009. I am a young teacher, eager to change the lives of my students. I have read the books, gained a mentor, and am ready to take on this next chapter of molding young minds. Within my first year, my district assigned me to a committee, a common rite of passage for…
Read MoreCoaching: the Eyes, Ears and Wise Guidance We Need
Education is more than the information we accumulate in our heads. It’s the habits we develop as we keep revising our drafts and the skills we build to keep learning. –Adam Grant, Think Again I began teaching in an independent school with no idea how to best support my students’ learning, despite having a Masters…
Read MoreWhat can jazz teach us about democracy…and our classrooms?
But what can jazz possibly teach us about democracy? One fundamental concept is the importance of process and our place within it. Both jazz and democracy are an approach, one toward music, the other toward governing. Any outcome of that approach–be it the quality of music, or our lived experience in this nation–stems from our integrity of process: how do I balance my individual freedom within what is best for the group?
Read MoreWhat it Means to be White: We’ll Never Know if We Don’t Learn to Sit Deep Within It
I was well into my twenties the first time I was confronted with my racial identity. I’d just begun the Mills College Credential program and I was bubbling with excitement. I’d wanted to be a teacher since early college days. That first term, I took a class called Introduction to the Profession. From the course…
Read MoreThe Social-Emotional Challenges of Returning to Campus
It is hard to believe that it has been over a year since we closed our schools and waved goodbye to our students and families at the start of this pandemic, naively assuming that our separation would be an inconvenient bump in the road and not a long-term situation that would require incredible dexterity, patience,…
Read MoreOrganizational Resilience and Navigating the Cognitive Challenge
Organizational resilience determines not only how an organization navigates through crisis, but also how it recovers. Truly resilient organizations come back stronger following times of disruption, having integrated into their systems, structures, cultures, and beliefs the necessary features for thriving. But how does one cultivate such resilience? A recent study by the See Change team…
Read MoreA Letter from Executive Director, Lisa Haney
In the summer of 2001, two hundred educators gathered to partake in our first ever Summer Institute, a deeply collaborative effort, held in various spaces at the Town School for Boys, Schools of the Sacred Heart and San Francisco University High School. Buses circulated the area to transport participants to presentations and break out room…
Read MoreDEI Audit Tools and Resources for Independent Schools
The resurgence of Black Lives Matter (BLM) this past summer had a visible impact on for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations, including independent schools. Many now agree that taking an apolitical or a neutral stance is not an option. Historically white independent schools have made greater efforts to talk openly about race and white supremacy culture.…
Read MoreBlack Lives Matter: Resources and a Commitment from CATDC
We are angry and sad. The recent horrific murder of George Floyd, coming on the heels of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, has sparked global outrage and we join the collective call: the violence against Black men and women must stop. During this time of grief and protest, john a. powell, Director…
Read MoreHow to Extend and Deepen Learning after Professional Development
Amidst a rapidly changing world, educators are charged with not only keeping abreast with the trends in their subject areas, but also remaining curious and growing in the areas of social and emotional learning, equity literacy, and leadership development. And at the school level, leaders know the research—teachers’ job satisfaction is directly linked to access…
Read MoreExpeditions: Self-Directed Professional Development at Sonoma Academy
Sonoma Academy calls its students to be creative, ethical, and committed to learning. The school nurtures inspiring teachers and engages with the surrounding community, and its students communicate across cultures as they prepare to become leaders in a dynamic world. With nurturing faculty central to our mission statement, we know that it is critically important…
Read MoreCamping and The Pleasure of Small Things at Peninsula School
At Peninsula School, our values include authentic interactions, community, equity, freedom and responsibility, meaningful academics, and play. Keeping these core values in our hearts allows our minds to stay focused on our shared goal, our most important goal: creating a better opportunity for our children and collective future. Peninsula School aims to “create space where…
Read MoreConnecting Education to Community Impact
I am going to begin with a true and uncomfortable statement. The schools where we teach are very expensive. Crazy expensive. In fact, tuition for California independent high schools is often higher than the median income in the cities where the schools are based. Gasp. Sigh. Yet, our schools remain committed to principles of responsible…
Read MoreThe Use of Being Useful
One October a few short years ago, a Midland student named Cruz was visiting a college on his application list and found himself eating alone in the dining hall. Being alone did not bother him, but he was troubled when he saw a group of students leave a significant mess for someone else to clean…
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