The Growing Learning Community in Central California
What do you get when you take a dash of ocean swims at sunrise, a bushel of chopped wood to heat the water for your showers, a spot of student-led TEDx, a scoop of Getty Foundation Discipline Based Art Education, and add an owl mascot named Swoop, a live-in fellowship program for young educators, an…
Read MoreWhy the Horse Remains Central to the Thacher Experience
The nature of the Thacher Horse Program and the gifts it bestows can test the limits of reason and language. As the program’s longtime director Cam Schryver says, “I don’t think that all of the lessons, the things you learn, can exactly get expressed or quantified… there are parts that go out to the limit…
Read MoreStrengthening School Communities through Intentional Relationship Building
As an instructional coach at San Francisco Day School, I often found myself in situations where I was straddling two worlds. With one foot in the teacher world and one foot in the administration world, it felt like I was straddling a fault line, hoping the rumblings below the surface wouldn’t manifest into the Big…
Read MoreLearning by Teaching: Experiential Education in Action for New Educators
At the heart of Crane Country Day School’s mission is experiential education. Teachers are challenged with creating thought-provoking experiential lessons, which often include culminating projects and events. Similar to educators at any institution, creating successful curriculum is constantly balanced with time management and manpower. To enrich the learning environment at Crane School, more educators were…
Read MoreAdult Learning That Lasts
At the CATDC, we deeply believe in the power of bringing people together to share ideas and reflect on their learning experiences. These foundational values and practices are steeped in research and can be most vividly seen in a report compiled by The Learning Institute. Over the years, I have given a great deal of…
Read MoreSeizing the Day Inside and Outside of the Classroom: The Diamond Curriculum
Santa Barbara Middle School offers students in grades 6-9 a profound educational experience, guiding young people as they transition to adolescence. Through ancient traditions and rigorous academics combined with bicycling and expeditions in the outdoors, SBMS aims to teach compassion, kindness, and self-knowledge and solidify a foundation for a child’s self-esteem, self-confidence, and sense of…
Read MoreSupporting Great Teachers to Stay
As a former Dean of Faculty at an independent school and now Executive Director of the California Teacher Development Collaborative (CATDC), I know well the energy and resources that go into recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new faculty. Given the shortage of teachers in California as well as greater attrition and churn, I have been giving…
Read MoreOur Growing Team
The CATDC is thrilled to announce that our team is growing! We have hired two Associate Director of Programs to support our program and membership growth in Southern and Northern California. We have also brought on our Central California consultant, Josie Bahedry, to work with us in an ongoing capacity as our Central California Program…
Read MoreHealthy Sexuality Education
I became the “consent lady” by default. A health educator for 25 years, I value all aspects of wellness–sex education included. While developing the Health program at the Urban School in San Francisco, my colleague and fellow health education teacher, Jenn, and I were both juggling parenting commitments and child care, and trying to create…
Read MoreA Case for Ongoing Professional Development
The CATDC’s Ongoing Programs, series of 3-5 meetings led by local educators, are some of our most agile and responsive professional development offerings and the foundation of our unique approach to growing capacity in California independent schools. Easy access to digital and print resources and online courses make continuing education within reach at all times,…
Read MoreImage of the Child and the Reggio Emilia Approach
Last spring I was invited by New School-West—as a parent—to travel to Reggio Emilia, Italy, on a Five State Educator’s Tour with the entire faculty and one other parent. I have been a parent at The New School-West Preschool for seven consecutive years. One might call me a New School-West expert—not necessarily for raising 3,4,…
Read MoreMaintaining Dignity, Integrity, and Community in the Discipline Process
The word discipline originates from the Latin root discere which means “to learn” and forms other derivatives like disciplina which means “instruction” and discipulus which means “disciple or pupil.” At Turning Point School, the disciplinary process in middle school is rooted in the intention of “learning” rather than “punishment” and lends itself best to personal…
Read MoreWhen It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Your School: Reflecting on and Weathering the Storms of Change
And in the endThe love you takeIs equal to the love you make The Beatles In July of 2019, I will be experiencing a lot of change in my career and personal life. I will have just ended my 14-year tenure at The Bay School of San Francisco. I will have just begun my new…
Read MoreThe Importance of Hiring Well
Head-Royce, along with many Bay Area Independent Schools, prioritizes hiring a top-notch, diverse faculty in order to support our mission, ensure effective teaching and learning, and meet the needs of our student body. This priority is corroborated by trends observed by NAIS, and the fact that over 40 schools from California sent representatives to the…
Read More15 Books (and Anti-Racist Resources) to Add to Your Summer Reading List
Read books written by and listen to podcasts hosted by people whose identities are underrepresented and historically marginalized or different than your own–check your biases, prejudices, stereotypes, and assumptions.
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