Lower School Teachers Travel, Explore & Inquire

Thanks to the Teachers Fund, Christine Oman, Second Grade Teacher, Jessica Ford, Third Grade Teacher, and Colette Husenitza, Fourth Grade Teacher, traveled to California in April 2024 to fulfill a professional development dream. They attended the Youcubed Mindset Mathematics course at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education. Attended by teachers from as far away as Australia, the workshop provided training to break down barriers to student math success, teach ways to develop growth mindsets, and highlight how to make math more visual for students. The inspired teachers returned to Shorecrest with tasks and ideas (backed by research) that will be implemented immediately to help students grow their mathematical mindsets. They already hosted a professional development hour of learning for other Shorecrest Lower School faculty. 

While in California they also stopped at The Nueva School, an independent PreK-12 school in the San Francisco Bay area known as a leader in Design Thinking. There they observed student learning and met with administrators and teachers who gave them a wealth of ideas to bring back to Shorecrest, including ways to make learning visible.

The natural environment of California provided an opportunity to make connections to each of their grade level Inquiry projects.

• Where better to get an understanding of fourth grade's bridge unit than at the Golden Gate Bridge?
• A visit to the state and national parks in a different part of our country provided another opportunity to connect to third grade's wetland study.
• Seeing native plants and pollinators (including butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds) along the rugged coastline gave another perspective of second grade's investigations and curriculum.
• They will never forget living first grade's Ocean Study up close by seeing harbor seals and their pups, sea otters, sea lions, and a whale all swimming in the Pacific Ocean, their natural habitat.

Christine, Jessica, and Colette would like to thank the parents who made the Teachers Fund possible. "Because of their generosity, we will be more mindful and creative teachers," Christine Oman explained. "This in turn will make a direct impact on our Lower School students." 

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