Educators & Staff

This Training seeks to increase the teacher's capacity to navigate the stressors of the profession while strengthening their focus and effectiveness, ultimately leading to job satisfaction and increased performance. Educators learn techniques for self-awareness, self-management, recharging and sustaining their energy, increasing their engagement capacity, and relating positively with their peers and families.

Based on the research by Dr. Bruce Perry and the ACE study (Adverse, Childhood Experiences), trauma-informed teaching starts with understanding how trauma can impact learning and behavior. With this approach, educators think about what student behavior may be indicating, and reflect on their teaching practices to better support students who may be experiencing trauma.

Offered in English and Spanish

Summary: Coaching follows all professional development training focusing on, and further building the skills for implementation and sustainability of the learning acquired.

On Classroom SEL Implementation

Grade and specials teams are coached on the implementation of the social-emotional learning curriculum as well as structures that support building safe, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and thriving classroom communities. This can be set up weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly during planning time so it does not disrupt teachers’ schedules.

On Teacher resilience and Self-Care

Teachers and support staff practice diverse self-awareness, mindfulness, and self-care strategies to increase their own resilience capacity and thus job satisfaction.

An Introduction to Mindfulness for Principals and Assistant Principals

This residential retreat introduces the principles and practices of mindfulness. The course is intended to allow school administrators to reconnect to self, purpose, nature, and the power of community. Like-minded colleagues engage in dialogues and develop networks of support. The course lays the foundation for building relational trust with staff that leads to improved learning and achievement for all students. The course also helps make connections between mindfulness and equity work.

Cultivating our capacity to joyfully and effectively meet the complex demands of the education profession.

Based on the principles and practices in The 5 Dimensions of Engaged Teaching, this course explores each of the five dimensions in depth. Throughout the course, participants engage in core practices and principles that support educators to develop and sustain a reflective teaching practice, manage stress, cultivate their own social and emotional intelligence, and successfully collaborate with colleagues. Through a variety of activities and formats, participants reconnect to their authentic spark for teaching, explore challenges, and further develop resilience and resourcefulness.

A practical relationship-based approach to creating caring, rigorous learning communities where students excel and thrive.

Based on the principles and practices in The 5 Dimensions of Engaged Teaching and The Soul of Education. This course for K-12 educators offers core practices and principles that foster students’ social, emotional, and academic development and support teachers to develop and sustain an intentional teaching practice. Educators experience practical tools and strategies for creating rigorous, relationship-based learning communities that support students to excel academically, think creatively and critically, develop their leadership capacities, manage their emotions, work with others who are different from themselves and communicate effectively.

Practices and Principles for administrators.

As administrators, we work every day with incredibly complex dynamics in our school systems--from engaging with parents, students, and colleagues, to making decisions that impact the lives of everyone in our community. The Engaged Leadership Approach supports us to bring our commitment, competency, and compassion to each decision and interaction. This work also cultivates our social and emotional skills and our cultural responsiveness. The highly experiential course builds on the wisdom and knowledge of participants and includes small group work, leadership exercises, personal reflection, presentation of relevant research, and opportunities for dynamic discussion.

Transforming educator perspectives and practices to create learning environments and experiences that engage students from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The Culturally Responsive Leadership Program is designed for administrators, teacher leaders, and teacher mentors. The program focuses on transforming educator perspectives and practices to help lead their schools in creating learning environments and experiences that engage students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Program participants engage in experiential activities that access knowledge from professional practice and relevant research to address biases related to race, gender, class, language, and other differences that impede teaching and learning.

The program explores the aspirations, attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors that characterize culturally responsive leadership. Specifically, the program supports educators to acknowledge and respond to biases in ways that build relationships with colleagues, students, and families, and promote social justice in the school culture. School teams collaborate on creating new approaches and strategies that engage “all students regardless of their race, gender, ethnic background or learning style.”

Bringing presence and practices to students: An introduction to mindfulness in K-5 classrooms for educators.

This course is for teachers who want to bring best practices in mindfulness to their students and classrooms. Course topics include: maintaining a personal mindfulness practice; bringing a mindful presence to the classroom; skillfully leading developmentally appropriate mindfulness practices with students that focus on attention, emotional awareness, and kindness, and promoting student engagement and leadership in mindfulness practices.

This residential retreat is a program designed for Principals, Asst. Principals, Deans, Teacher Leaders, Instructional Coaches, and PLC leaders.

The retreat program includes support for school teams to create and implement long-term sustainable change initiatives in schools, and to facilitate productive meetings, professional learning workshops, and peer coaching sessions. Transformational leadership starts from the inside out and shows up throughout the day in all the leader’s interactions with staff, students, families, community members, and district personnel.

These interactions are infused with personal values, social and emotional intelligence, cultural responsiveness, and an understanding of interconnectedness. This approach to leadership includes building trust and relationships, addressing conflict with clarity and compassion, cultivating alliances through differences, and balancing empathy and decisiveness.