Cultures of Thinking Summit
Jan 30, 2026—Jan 31, 2026
Location
Pacific Sky School, San Diego
Cost Individuals $750 + fees | Teams of 5+ $650 + fees| Optional Full-Day Observation (Feb 2) +$375 + fees
Categories In-Person, Intensive, Leadership, School Leaders
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Join us as we create a community of educators committed to developing our students as powerful thinkers and learners. This goal sits side-by-side with the support of students’ deep learning, academic preparation, feelings of belonging, and sense of agency.
The Cultures of Thinking Summit (CoT) is an opportunity to immerse yourself in meaningful conversation, rich exploration, and joyous engagements that will equip you to better guide, support, and nurture a culture of thinking amongst the learners you lead. At the CoT Summit you will build a network of support for your ongoing efforts and gather the tools, frameworks, practices, and understanding that will sustain your journey over the long haul. Just like the work of creating cultures of thinking in our school, the CoT Summit is a transformative experience, changing and challenging our assumptions about what constitutes a quality education.
During this two-day conference we will build community around the practices, ideas, and mission of fostering students as powerful thinkers and learner ready to take their place in the world. Extend your learning with optional days of explorations at local museums and through structured observations in classrooms immediately following the main Summit days.
For more detailed information about the Summit, please visit the Summit website at cot-summit.org.
If you have questions about the Summit program or registration, please email us at pzlearn@gse.harvard.edu.
AUDIENCE
This summit welcomes classroom teachers, school leaders, instructional coaches, and museum educators.
The CoT Summit is Sponsored by the Cultures of Thinking Foundation
SCHEDULE
In advance of the Cultures of Thinking Summit you will create your personalized event schedule by selecting Deep Dive and Breakout sessions that best fit your needs and interests. Each day will include times in which we to come together as a community to explore big ideas related to building and growing a culture of thinking. In addition, rich learning will happen through the informal conversations and connections you form with other like minds who are also on this journey to transform their schools and classrooms. Though the Summit official ends on Saturday afternoon, two optional days of learning are provided for those who want to stay on.
SUMMIT LEADERS
Ron Ritchhart is a world- renowned educator, researcher, and author. For over 25 years, Ron served as a Senior Research Associate and Principal Investigator at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where his research focused on understanding how to develop, nurture, and sustain “cultures of thinking” for both students and teachers. After leaving Harvard in 2021, Ron has continued his classroom and school-based research and writing to further the ideas of visible thinking and the creation of schools as cultures of thinking. Ron’s ability to seamlessly merge theory, research, practice, and application together in a highly accessible and engaging manner has made him a sought-after speaker and best-selling author of numerous books including Intellectual Character, Making Thinking Visible, Creating Cultures of Thinking, The Power of Making Thinking Visible, and Cultures of Thinking in Action. Ron is the Director of the Cultures of Thinking Foundation, which supports educators worldwide in the efforts to develop their students as powerful thinkers and learners.
Mark Church works throughout the world with schools that wish to create cultures of thinking in their classrooms. He believes in the difference teachers can make for students when they strive to make thinking visible, valued, and actively promoted as part of the day-to-day experience of their learners. Mark encourages teachers to become students of their students, and more broadly, students of themselves and the choices they make to leverage the power of making thinking visible. Mark is currently a consultant with Harvard Project Zero's Making Thinking Visible and Cultures of Thinking initiatives, drawing upon his own classroom teaching experience and the perspectives he has gained working with educators across grade levels and content areas. Together with Ron Ritchhart, Mark is co-author of the book Making Thinking Visible with Ron Ritchhart and Karin Morrison and The Power of Making Thinking Visible with Ron Ritchhart.
Jim Reese was the founding Director of WISSIT and Professional Development Collaborative at Washington International School. Currently he works as an independent consultant in education. Jim has 30+ years experience as a classroom teacher, school administrator, conference organizer, and workshop leader. He has been affiliated with Project Zero at Harvard's Graduate School of Education since 2001--after finding success using the Teaching for Understanding Framework in his classroom, working both in public and international schools. Jim works to ensure a quality education for all and has spent years bringing educators together from a variety of school settings—traditional public, public charter, independent, international, religious, early learning centers, and museums—through engaging learners deeply in order to develop thinking dispositions and a sense of agency in their own learning; creating a Culture of Thinking in a classroom and across a school; and leading a school to sustain such practices in the long term. Jim also has extensive experience working with efforts to engage young people--as young as three--in developing a sense of civic agency.
Tina Blythe has been a researcher at Project Zero for nearly 30 years. She is part of Project Zero’s online learning leadership team and is the education chair of the Project Zero Classroom summer institute. She is also a Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Central to her research and teaching are how to create and sustain learning environments that support understanding. Collaborative inquiry and the collaborative assessment of student and teacher work are key focuses of her work. She began her career as a middle and high school teacher, and she leads workshops and provides consultation for organizations and schools around the world. She is the author and co-author of a number of books and articles include Looking Together at Student Work, 3rd Ed. (Blythe, Allen, & Powell; Teachers College, 2015); Facilitating for Learning (Allen & Blythe; Teachers College, 2015); and The Facilitator's Book of Questions (Allen & Blythe; Teachers College, 2004). She is the lead author of The Teaching for Understanding Guide (Jossey-Bass, 1998), which has been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Swedish, and Georgian.
Cancellation Policy
Life happens. We understand that there will be times when you cannot attend a workshop that you have registered and paid for. We strive to be as helpful and flexible as possible when things out of your control happen. Please visit our FAQ page for detailed information about our cancellation policy and answers to frequently asked questions about enrollment and membership.