Spear Center for Excellence in Teaching Holds Annual “Crafting Inquiry” Conference
Did you know that ISP has a professional development center for educators?
At our Spear Center for Excellence in Teaching, we bring high-quality professional development (PD) to Portland! Through workshops, conferences, and networking events, we aim to support our ISP community – and others around the world! Ongoing Educator Professional Development supports engaging and connected learning experiences for ISP students and beyond.
We have had an exciting few weeks! Each fall we hold our annual Crafting Inquiry conference, bringing in world-renowned presenters and hosting educators from across the country and world. This year was all about math. All ISP teachers attended as well as educators from over 20 public and independent schools and organizations. We even had one teacher fly in to join us all the way from Switzerland!
We were honored to have Dr. Jo Boaler and Cathy Williams join us at The Nines Hotel as our presenters. Jo and Cathy are cofounders of youcubed.org, an incredible organization dedicated to promoting a conceptual and equitable approach to teaching mathematics. Jo’s research focuses on fostering a growth mindset in mathematics, and her recent work with equitable mathematics continues to focus on breaking down barriers that limit students’ access to high-quality math education. Cathy has worked side by side with Jo to develop accessible, research-based resources that help educators implement these innovative strategies.
Throughout the day, Jo and Cathy spoke of the need for a conceptual and connected approach to teaching math, and led us through engaging and challenging activities, sharing research and stories to inspire a shift in how we approach math education. Teachers walked away with new ideas, and many have already begun to implement these in their classrooms. As one participant shared: “This is PD Disneyland!”
Occurring simultaneously, ISP’s Library, Arts, Music, and English teachers engaged in training designed just for our school with Andy Vasily, an international educator who specializes in transdisciplinary learning – connecting across various disciplines. He worked with our team to find authentic ways to connect the learning happening in all of the classrooms so that our students receive an engaging and connected learning experience.
We have many more exciting events planned for this year! Check out the Spear Center website to see what’s next.