Traverse '15
In the summer of 2015, 80 innovative educators from across the country gathered in Boulder to experience new ways of teaching and learning. They shared ideas over margaritas, experienced innovative programs firsthand, and enjoyed some sunny reflection at the foot of the Rockies.
Our 2015 schedule and expedition descriptions are archived below.
Our 2015 schedule and expedition descriptions are archived below.
2015 Program schedule
Traverse '16 is still in early stages of planning, but you can get a sense of the Traverse experience by reviewing the Traverse '15 agenda, below.
Monday, June 8
2:30pm Shuttle service from Boulderado Hotel to Watershed School (distance is walkable)
3:00pm Kickoff and welcome to the Traverse experience at Watershed School; introduction to the Traverse Still Life Project
4:00pm "What is the world we're preparing students for?" Hands-on problem solving with Boulder-area startups Lassy Project and Patriot Boot Camp
6:00pm Salon dinner: "What is the future of learning? How is school changing?" facilitated by Christian Long, founder of Wonder, by Design at Rio Grande rooftop bar in downtown Boulder
8:30pm Free time and self-organized after-hours gatherings on Pearl Street Mall/Downtown Boulder
Tuesday, June 9
7:00am Optional: Short hike led by Watershed faculty from the Centennial Trailhead; shuttle from Boulderado/Pearl Street provided
7:45am Optional shuttle service from Boulderado Hotel to Watershed School - distance is walkable
8:00am Coffee and light breakfast sponsored by Noosa Yogurt and Boulder Granola
8:30am Traverse kicks off for Day 2 with quick talks and share-outs
9:00am Get on the bus! Select from one of the following hands-on learning expeditions led by educators - experience new ways of teaching and learning firsthand. All learning expeditions get participants off-campus or bring the off-campus world onto campus.
MORNING LEARNING EXPEDITIONS:
Using the City as a Campus: A #trustyouth Approach to Project-Based, Community-Centered Teaching (with George Zaninovich of Catlin Gabel School's PLACE program)
Location: Salberg Park with Boulder Parks and Recreation Department
REPEATS IN AFTERNOON
UPDATE: NO TRANSPORT - WALK TO SITE
Beyond the walls of our classrooms, we have everything we need to teach experientially about real-world problem solving. We know this and many of us are interested in how our teaching can 1) authentically connect students to the world around them and 2) facilitate the messiness that is grappling with relevant issues in our cities – homelessness, income inequality, pollution, environmental degradation, equal access to amenities/services, etc.
BUT, we must ask ourselves two important questions: Do we #trustyouth to address the most pertinent problems facing our communities in a meaningful, authentic way? Asked another way, do we know how to work with students to create a foundation for change by getting out of their way?
This Traverse Expedition, led by George Zaninovich, PLACE Program and Center Director @catlingabel in partnership with the City of Boulder Parks Department, will immerse you in student-led pedagogy for attacking an issue that is currently impacting Boulder. During the three hours together, you will engage community members to understand the problem and work towards fact-based recommendations for city leaders. Then we will reflect on the experience and spend time creating a personal plan for how to incorporate your cities into your classroom by letting the students lead.
Service Learning and Character Development through Integrated Inquiry-Based Education (with Jeff Osgood and Taylor Replane of Watershed School)
Location: Valmont City Park
ONLY IN MORNING SLOT
BOARD BUS #2
How does an integrated curriculum honor both disciplines and address an eclectic blend of learning targets or standards? What opportunities arise from pairing field experiences with service learning? Can educators effectively address a student's character development in tandem with academic needs?
In an effort to explore these questions and more, participants will dive into a mini version of Watershed's "expedition courses" integrating both art and humanities. The model middle school expedition is called Creating Community and its essential question is "How do we build a strong community?" After an introduction to the course and the design process behind it, the group will head out into the field to undertake a short service project. This experience will function as an academic resource to help us expand our answer to the course's themes and essential question. In addition, we will examine how service learning opportunities open the doors for students to explore their own character. We will introduce the character traits that are central to the Watershed community and investigate what role character development plays in the different schools represented at Traverse. As if this wasn't enough, participants will return to campus to reflect on the morning's learning and put the finishing touches on a community art project that will communicate our answers to "How do we build a strong community?"
Curiosity-Based Learning: Teaching Innovation Through Design (with Bo Adams and Meghan Cureton of Mount Vernon Presbyterian's School's Innovation Diploma Program)
Location: Impact Hub Boulder
REPEATS IN AFTERNOON
BOARD BUS #3
We are born insatiably curious. It’s how we learn. In too many cases, though, curiosity can be shoved to the back seat, or even completely tossed out of the vehicle, in environments we call “school.” Yet, we talk of nurturing innovators and being innovative in schools. What if we more purposefully pursued the traits and mindsets that we know are essential to the “Innovator’s DNA?” How might we grow our curiosity muscles and build integrated, real-world learning pursuits through observation, questioning, experimenting, and networking? In this Traverse Expedition, @MVPSchool and @MVIFI Innovation Diploma leaders Meghan Cureton and Bo Adams will share stories and methods from #FSBL, #Synergy, and #iDiploma. They will guide the group through community exploration, observation journaling, and networking with external experts to spur curiosity-based learning and innovation for a variety of learning and school uses. Participants on this journey will construct framing for curriculum and projects that originate from learner observation, develop through DEEP design thinking methods, and culminate in innovations and impacts that respect students for the current resources they are! Together, we’ll expand the very definition of “school.”
Teaching Innovation with the Maker Movement (with Ross Wehner of World Leadership School and Mary Anne Zacek of Maker Boulder)
Location: IBM
REPEATS IN AFTERNOON - DUE TO IBM SECURITY, MUST PRE-REGISTER FOR THIS MORNING EXPEDITION ON MONDAY!
BOARD BUS #4
Join us for a hands-on experience on how teachers can leverage business partnerships and maker spaces in order to make student learning more student-centered and engaged. In our expeditions, we experience two nationally recognized STEM/design programs established by the St. Vrain Valley School District, which is adjacent to the Boulder Valley School District.
Our learning goals are:
Know — to understand a variety of physical maker spaces in addition to virtual and figurative spaces;
Do — to engage in a hands-on design challenge, and come up with an idea for our own school;
Feel — to engage and get lost in the work;
In the morning, we head to St. Vrain’s Innovation Academy at the IBM Campus in Boulder. This summer program, now in it’s fifth year, allows St. Vrain’s elementary school students to work on design challenges around IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative. Our design challenge will be: “How might we leverage partnerships in order to integrate student-driven, real world learning into the classroom?”
In the afternoon, we visit St. Vrain's Innovation Center, a technology-rich maker space that won a $16.6 million Race to the Top Grant in 2012. The Innovation Center is now the launching pad for St. Vrain’s district-wide STEM initiative Our challenge: "How might we redesign a lesson plan around real world problems to make it more engaging and student driven?”
Entrepreneurship and Innovation: How to Start a Company in 3 Days/Hours (with Meredith Goddard of Startup PDX) on campus at Watershed School
ONLY IN MORNING SLOT
ON CAMPUS - NO TRANSPORTATION
Learn the methods behind the most creative and successful startup companies in world. In just three hours, we’ll work together to pitch, build and launch a startup using design-thinking methodology, lean startup methodology and business model canvas. You’ll learn the ins and outs of entrepreneurship and leave with an organizational framework for hosting a startup challenge at your school. Open to all who are interested in starting something new.
To Know as we are Known - Ethnocentrism and Cultural Competency in Experiential Programming (with Where There Be Dragons)
Location: Pearl Street Pedestrian Mall
ONLY IN MORNING SLOT
WALKING EXPEDITION - NO TRANSPORTATION
There is a unique developmental window in adolescence and young adulthood that allows students to look honestly at their cultural biases and personal strengths and grow into the best version of themselves. It is only by experiencing difference and adversity that we can truly know ourselves; in order to know our own home we must go sit in other peoples’ homes; in order to know our own language, we must learn others. When well facilitated, contrast and comparison create connection. This expeditionary workshop will train educators to use each foray into "real world learning" as an opportunity to help students foster a deeper awareness of their own ethnocentric worldview, and in turn cultivate empathy for how they are viewed by others.
12:00pm Farm-to-table food truck lunch cooked by Heirloom and paid for by Blackbaud
1:30pm Get (back) on the bus! Select from one of five hands-on learning expeditions led by educators - experience new ways of teaching and learning firsthand. All learning expeditions get participants off-campus or bring the off-campus world onto campus.
AFTERNOON LEARNING EXPEDITIONS:
Exploding Empathy (with by Co Berry of Stanford d.school K12 Lab/CreatEDU and Garrett Mason of Leadership+Design)
Location: Pearl Street Pedestrian Mall
ONLY IN AFTERNOON SLOT
UPDATED: NO TRANSPORTATION - ON CAMPUS
Empathy is not only the foundation for good design, it is the foundation for good communication, collaboration, and community-building. It is, in short, an essential skill which our students must develop in order to thrive in today’s world. Through this session, participants will be immersed in two design activities which can readily be applied in the classroom and through which you will not only build empathy, but also foster the fundamental mindsets which make design thinking and inquiry-based learning possible.
Using the City as a Campus: A #trustyouth Approach to Project-Based, Community-Centered Teaching (with George Zaninovich of Catlin Gabel School's PLACE program)
Location: Downtown Boulder with Boulder Parks and Recreation Department
REPEATS IN MORNING
BOARD BUS #2
Beyond the walls of our classrooms, we have everything we need to teach experientially about real-world problem solving. We know this and many of us are interested in how our teaching can 1) authentically connect students to the world around them and 2) facilitate the messiness that is grappling with relevant issues in our cities – homelessness, income inequality, pollution, environmental degradation, equal access to amenities/services, etc.
BUT, we must ask ourselves two important questions: Do we #trustyouth to address the most pertinent problems facing our communities in a meaningful, authentic way? Asked another way, do we know how to work with students to create a foundation for change by getting out of their way?
This Traverse Expedition, led by George Zaninovich, PLACE Program and Center Director @catlingabel in partnership with the City of Boulder Parks Department, will immerse you in student-led pedagogy for attacking an issue that is currently impacting Boulder. During the three hours together, you will engage community members to understand the problem and work towards fact-based recommendations for city leaders. Then we will reflect on the experience and spend time creating a personal plan for how to incorporate your cities into your classroom by letting the students lead.
Curiosity-Based Learning: Teaching Innovation Through Design (with Bo Adams and Meghan Cureton of Mount Vernon Presbyterian's School's Innovation Diploma Program
Location: Impact Hub Boulder
REPEATS IN MORNING
BOARD BUS #3
We are born insatiably curious. It’s how we learn. In too many cases, though, curiosity can be shoved to the back seat, or even completely tossed out of the vehicle, in environments we call “school.” Yet, we talk of nurturing innovators and being innovative in schools. What if we more purposefully pursued the traits and mindsets that we know are essential to the “Innovator’s DNA?” How might we grow our curiosity muscles and build integrated, real-world learning pursuits through observation, questioning, experimenting, and networking? In this Traverse Expedition, @MVPSchool and @MVIFI Innovation Diploma leaders Meghan Cureton and Bo Adams will share stories and methods from #FSBL, #Synergy, and #iDiploma. They will guide the group through community exploration, observation journaling, and networking with external experts to spur curiosity-based learning and innovation for a variety of learning and school uses. Participants on this journey will construct framing for curriculum and projects that originate from learner observation, develop through DEEP design thinking methods, and culminate in innovations and impacts that respect students for the current resources they are! Together, we’ll expand the very definition of “school.”
Foresight Studies: The Future of the Teaching Profession (with Meredith Goddard of Catlin Gabel School) on campus at Watershed School
ONLY IN AFTERNOON SLOT
ON CAMPUS - NO TRANSPORTATION
Be a part of the first wave of educators, school leaders and innovators to bring foresight studies into schools. We’ll put our heads together and use foresight tools to develop a “cone of plausibility,” alternatives futures and the preferred future for the teaching profession 20 years from now. We’ll dabble in six different foresight tools to better understand, monitor and develop scenarios around change in the teaching profession. We’ll reflect on what these changes mean for teachers, students, schools, and communities. You’ll leave with a glimpse into the future of education, ideas for implementing foresight tools in the classroom, and methods for learning from the future.
Teaching Innovation with the Maker Movement (with Ross Wehner of World Leadership School and Mary Anne Zacek of Maker Boulder
Location: St. Vrain Valley School District Innovation Center
REPEATS IN MORNING
BOARD BUS #4
Join us for a hands-on experience on how teachers can leverage business partnerships and maker spaces in order to make student learning more student-centered and engaged. In our expeditions, we experience two nationally recognized STEM/design programs established by the St. Vrain Valley School District, which is adjacent to the Boulder Valley School District.
Our learning goals are:
Know — to understand a variety of physical maker spaces in addition to virtual and figurative spaces;
Do — to engage in a hands-on design challenge, and come up with an idea for our own school;
Feel — to engage and get lost in the work;
In the morning, we head to St. Vrain’s Innovation Academy at the IBM Campus in Boulder. This summer program, now in it’s fifth year, allows St. Vrain’s elementary school students to work on design challenges around IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative. Our design challenge will be: “How might we leverage partnerships in order to integrate student-driven, real world learning into the classroom?”
In the afternoon, we visit St. Vrain's Innovation Center, a technology-rich maker space that won a $16.6 million Race to the Top Grant in 2012. The Innovation Center is now the launching pad for St. Vrain’s district-wide STEM initiative Our challenge: "How might we redesign a lesson plan around real world problems to make it more engaging and student driven?”
4:30pm Traverse Talks by attendees: what are you passionate about? What would you like to share? (sign-ups on site)
5:30pm Colorado microbrew tasting (and apps!) on the porch at Watershed School, with live music performed by Watershed alumna Cara Keyser
Wednesday, June 10
7:00am Optional: Early morning gentle yoga on the Watershed School lawn (beginner-friendly)
6:45am and 7:45am (Optional shuttle service from Boulderado Hotel to Watershed School - distance is walkable)
8:00am Coffee and light breakfast sponsored by Noosa Yogurt and Boulder Granola
9:00am Making An Innovative Action Plan facilitated by Gretchen Morgan, Executive Director of Choice and Innovation at Colorado Department of Education
10:00am Action planning with cohorts: "how do I take this back to my school?"
11:00am Closing and sharing of the Traverse Still Life Project
12:00pm Traverse formally concludes - head to the airport or stay longer to enjoy Boulder
Monday, June 8
2:30pm Shuttle service from Boulderado Hotel to Watershed School (distance is walkable)
3:00pm Kickoff and welcome to the Traverse experience at Watershed School; introduction to the Traverse Still Life Project
4:00pm "What is the world we're preparing students for?" Hands-on problem solving with Boulder-area startups Lassy Project and Patriot Boot Camp
6:00pm Salon dinner: "What is the future of learning? How is school changing?" facilitated by Christian Long, founder of Wonder, by Design at Rio Grande rooftop bar in downtown Boulder
8:30pm Free time and self-organized after-hours gatherings on Pearl Street Mall/Downtown Boulder
Tuesday, June 9
7:00am Optional: Short hike led by Watershed faculty from the Centennial Trailhead; shuttle from Boulderado/Pearl Street provided
7:45am Optional shuttle service from Boulderado Hotel to Watershed School - distance is walkable
8:00am Coffee and light breakfast sponsored by Noosa Yogurt and Boulder Granola
8:30am Traverse kicks off for Day 2 with quick talks and share-outs
9:00am Get on the bus! Select from one of the following hands-on learning expeditions led by educators - experience new ways of teaching and learning firsthand. All learning expeditions get participants off-campus or bring the off-campus world onto campus.
MORNING LEARNING EXPEDITIONS:
Using the City as a Campus: A #trustyouth Approach to Project-Based, Community-Centered Teaching (with George Zaninovich of Catlin Gabel School's PLACE program)
Location: Salberg Park with Boulder Parks and Recreation Department
REPEATS IN AFTERNOON
UPDATE: NO TRANSPORT - WALK TO SITE
Beyond the walls of our classrooms, we have everything we need to teach experientially about real-world problem solving. We know this and many of us are interested in how our teaching can 1) authentically connect students to the world around them and 2) facilitate the messiness that is grappling with relevant issues in our cities – homelessness, income inequality, pollution, environmental degradation, equal access to amenities/services, etc.
BUT, we must ask ourselves two important questions: Do we #trustyouth to address the most pertinent problems facing our communities in a meaningful, authentic way? Asked another way, do we know how to work with students to create a foundation for change by getting out of their way?
This Traverse Expedition, led by George Zaninovich, PLACE Program and Center Director @catlingabel in partnership with the City of Boulder Parks Department, will immerse you in student-led pedagogy for attacking an issue that is currently impacting Boulder. During the three hours together, you will engage community members to understand the problem and work towards fact-based recommendations for city leaders. Then we will reflect on the experience and spend time creating a personal plan for how to incorporate your cities into your classroom by letting the students lead.
Service Learning and Character Development through Integrated Inquiry-Based Education (with Jeff Osgood and Taylor Replane of Watershed School)
Location: Valmont City Park
ONLY IN MORNING SLOT
BOARD BUS #2
How does an integrated curriculum honor both disciplines and address an eclectic blend of learning targets or standards? What opportunities arise from pairing field experiences with service learning? Can educators effectively address a student's character development in tandem with academic needs?
In an effort to explore these questions and more, participants will dive into a mini version of Watershed's "expedition courses" integrating both art and humanities. The model middle school expedition is called Creating Community and its essential question is "How do we build a strong community?" After an introduction to the course and the design process behind it, the group will head out into the field to undertake a short service project. This experience will function as an academic resource to help us expand our answer to the course's themes and essential question. In addition, we will examine how service learning opportunities open the doors for students to explore their own character. We will introduce the character traits that are central to the Watershed community and investigate what role character development plays in the different schools represented at Traverse. As if this wasn't enough, participants will return to campus to reflect on the morning's learning and put the finishing touches on a community art project that will communicate our answers to "How do we build a strong community?"
Curiosity-Based Learning: Teaching Innovation Through Design (with Bo Adams and Meghan Cureton of Mount Vernon Presbyterian's School's Innovation Diploma Program)
Location: Impact Hub Boulder
REPEATS IN AFTERNOON
BOARD BUS #3
We are born insatiably curious. It’s how we learn. In too many cases, though, curiosity can be shoved to the back seat, or even completely tossed out of the vehicle, in environments we call “school.” Yet, we talk of nurturing innovators and being innovative in schools. What if we more purposefully pursued the traits and mindsets that we know are essential to the “Innovator’s DNA?” How might we grow our curiosity muscles and build integrated, real-world learning pursuits through observation, questioning, experimenting, and networking? In this Traverse Expedition, @MVPSchool and @MVIFI Innovation Diploma leaders Meghan Cureton and Bo Adams will share stories and methods from #FSBL, #Synergy, and #iDiploma. They will guide the group through community exploration, observation journaling, and networking with external experts to spur curiosity-based learning and innovation for a variety of learning and school uses. Participants on this journey will construct framing for curriculum and projects that originate from learner observation, develop through DEEP design thinking methods, and culminate in innovations and impacts that respect students for the current resources they are! Together, we’ll expand the very definition of “school.”
Teaching Innovation with the Maker Movement (with Ross Wehner of World Leadership School and Mary Anne Zacek of Maker Boulder)
Location: IBM
REPEATS IN AFTERNOON - DUE TO IBM SECURITY, MUST PRE-REGISTER FOR THIS MORNING EXPEDITION ON MONDAY!
BOARD BUS #4
Join us for a hands-on experience on how teachers can leverage business partnerships and maker spaces in order to make student learning more student-centered and engaged. In our expeditions, we experience two nationally recognized STEM/design programs established by the St. Vrain Valley School District, which is adjacent to the Boulder Valley School District.
Our learning goals are:
Know — to understand a variety of physical maker spaces in addition to virtual and figurative spaces;
Do — to engage in a hands-on design challenge, and come up with an idea for our own school;
Feel — to engage and get lost in the work;
In the morning, we head to St. Vrain’s Innovation Academy at the IBM Campus in Boulder. This summer program, now in it’s fifth year, allows St. Vrain’s elementary school students to work on design challenges around IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative. Our design challenge will be: “How might we leverage partnerships in order to integrate student-driven, real world learning into the classroom?”
In the afternoon, we visit St. Vrain's Innovation Center, a technology-rich maker space that won a $16.6 million Race to the Top Grant in 2012. The Innovation Center is now the launching pad for St. Vrain’s district-wide STEM initiative Our challenge: "How might we redesign a lesson plan around real world problems to make it more engaging and student driven?”
Entrepreneurship and Innovation: How to Start a Company in 3 Days/Hours (with Meredith Goddard of Startup PDX) on campus at Watershed School
ONLY IN MORNING SLOT
ON CAMPUS - NO TRANSPORTATION
Learn the methods behind the most creative and successful startup companies in world. In just three hours, we’ll work together to pitch, build and launch a startup using design-thinking methodology, lean startup methodology and business model canvas. You’ll learn the ins and outs of entrepreneurship and leave with an organizational framework for hosting a startup challenge at your school. Open to all who are interested in starting something new.
To Know as we are Known - Ethnocentrism and Cultural Competency in Experiential Programming (with Where There Be Dragons)
Location: Pearl Street Pedestrian Mall
ONLY IN MORNING SLOT
WALKING EXPEDITION - NO TRANSPORTATION
There is a unique developmental window in adolescence and young adulthood that allows students to look honestly at their cultural biases and personal strengths and grow into the best version of themselves. It is only by experiencing difference and adversity that we can truly know ourselves; in order to know our own home we must go sit in other peoples’ homes; in order to know our own language, we must learn others. When well facilitated, contrast and comparison create connection. This expeditionary workshop will train educators to use each foray into "real world learning" as an opportunity to help students foster a deeper awareness of their own ethnocentric worldview, and in turn cultivate empathy for how they are viewed by others.
- Part 1 Framing: Experiential Activity - Pandis and Chispas, the inevitability of ethnocentrism
- Part 2 Activity: Cultural Immersion in Boulder - An ethnographic approach to experiential education - how do we fame intercultural experiences for students?
- Part 3 Debrief: How can we actively invite deeper levels of cultural awareness in our students?
12:00pm Farm-to-table food truck lunch cooked by Heirloom and paid for by Blackbaud
1:30pm Get (back) on the bus! Select from one of five hands-on learning expeditions led by educators - experience new ways of teaching and learning firsthand. All learning expeditions get participants off-campus or bring the off-campus world onto campus.
AFTERNOON LEARNING EXPEDITIONS:
Exploding Empathy (with by Co Berry of Stanford d.school K12 Lab/CreatEDU and Garrett Mason of Leadership+Design)
Location: Pearl Street Pedestrian Mall
ONLY IN AFTERNOON SLOT
UPDATED: NO TRANSPORTATION - ON CAMPUS
Empathy is not only the foundation for good design, it is the foundation for good communication, collaboration, and community-building. It is, in short, an essential skill which our students must develop in order to thrive in today’s world. Through this session, participants will be immersed in two design activities which can readily be applied in the classroom and through which you will not only build empathy, but also foster the fundamental mindsets which make design thinking and inquiry-based learning possible.
Using the City as a Campus: A #trustyouth Approach to Project-Based, Community-Centered Teaching (with George Zaninovich of Catlin Gabel School's PLACE program)
Location: Downtown Boulder with Boulder Parks and Recreation Department
REPEATS IN MORNING
BOARD BUS #2
Beyond the walls of our classrooms, we have everything we need to teach experientially about real-world problem solving. We know this and many of us are interested in how our teaching can 1) authentically connect students to the world around them and 2) facilitate the messiness that is grappling with relevant issues in our cities – homelessness, income inequality, pollution, environmental degradation, equal access to amenities/services, etc.
BUT, we must ask ourselves two important questions: Do we #trustyouth to address the most pertinent problems facing our communities in a meaningful, authentic way? Asked another way, do we know how to work with students to create a foundation for change by getting out of their way?
This Traverse Expedition, led by George Zaninovich, PLACE Program and Center Director @catlingabel in partnership with the City of Boulder Parks Department, will immerse you in student-led pedagogy for attacking an issue that is currently impacting Boulder. During the three hours together, you will engage community members to understand the problem and work towards fact-based recommendations for city leaders. Then we will reflect on the experience and spend time creating a personal plan for how to incorporate your cities into your classroom by letting the students lead.
Curiosity-Based Learning: Teaching Innovation Through Design (with Bo Adams and Meghan Cureton of Mount Vernon Presbyterian's School's Innovation Diploma Program
Location: Impact Hub Boulder
REPEATS IN MORNING
BOARD BUS #3
We are born insatiably curious. It’s how we learn. In too many cases, though, curiosity can be shoved to the back seat, or even completely tossed out of the vehicle, in environments we call “school.” Yet, we talk of nurturing innovators and being innovative in schools. What if we more purposefully pursued the traits and mindsets that we know are essential to the “Innovator’s DNA?” How might we grow our curiosity muscles and build integrated, real-world learning pursuits through observation, questioning, experimenting, and networking? In this Traverse Expedition, @MVPSchool and @MVIFI Innovation Diploma leaders Meghan Cureton and Bo Adams will share stories and methods from #FSBL, #Synergy, and #iDiploma. They will guide the group through community exploration, observation journaling, and networking with external experts to spur curiosity-based learning and innovation for a variety of learning and school uses. Participants on this journey will construct framing for curriculum and projects that originate from learner observation, develop through DEEP design thinking methods, and culminate in innovations and impacts that respect students for the current resources they are! Together, we’ll expand the very definition of “school.”
Foresight Studies: The Future of the Teaching Profession (with Meredith Goddard of Catlin Gabel School) on campus at Watershed School
ONLY IN AFTERNOON SLOT
ON CAMPUS - NO TRANSPORTATION
Be a part of the first wave of educators, school leaders and innovators to bring foresight studies into schools. We’ll put our heads together and use foresight tools to develop a “cone of plausibility,” alternatives futures and the preferred future for the teaching profession 20 years from now. We’ll dabble in six different foresight tools to better understand, monitor and develop scenarios around change in the teaching profession. We’ll reflect on what these changes mean for teachers, students, schools, and communities. You’ll leave with a glimpse into the future of education, ideas for implementing foresight tools in the classroom, and methods for learning from the future.
Teaching Innovation with the Maker Movement (with Ross Wehner of World Leadership School and Mary Anne Zacek of Maker Boulder
Location: St. Vrain Valley School District Innovation Center
REPEATS IN MORNING
BOARD BUS #4
Join us for a hands-on experience on how teachers can leverage business partnerships and maker spaces in order to make student learning more student-centered and engaged. In our expeditions, we experience two nationally recognized STEM/design programs established by the St. Vrain Valley School District, which is adjacent to the Boulder Valley School District.
Our learning goals are:
Know — to understand a variety of physical maker spaces in addition to virtual and figurative spaces;
Do — to engage in a hands-on design challenge, and come up with an idea for our own school;
Feel — to engage and get lost in the work;
In the morning, we head to St. Vrain’s Innovation Academy at the IBM Campus in Boulder. This summer program, now in it’s fifth year, allows St. Vrain’s elementary school students to work on design challenges around IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative. Our design challenge will be: “How might we leverage partnerships in order to integrate student-driven, real world learning into the classroom?”
In the afternoon, we visit St. Vrain's Innovation Center, a technology-rich maker space that won a $16.6 million Race to the Top Grant in 2012. The Innovation Center is now the launching pad for St. Vrain’s district-wide STEM initiative Our challenge: "How might we redesign a lesson plan around real world problems to make it more engaging and student driven?”
4:30pm Traverse Talks by attendees: what are you passionate about? What would you like to share? (sign-ups on site)
5:30pm Colorado microbrew tasting (and apps!) on the porch at Watershed School, with live music performed by Watershed alumna Cara Keyser
Wednesday, June 10
7:00am Optional: Early morning gentle yoga on the Watershed School lawn (beginner-friendly)
6:45am and 7:45am (Optional shuttle service from Boulderado Hotel to Watershed School - distance is walkable)
8:00am Coffee and light breakfast sponsored by Noosa Yogurt and Boulder Granola
9:00am Making An Innovative Action Plan facilitated by Gretchen Morgan, Executive Director of Choice and Innovation at Colorado Department of Education
10:00am Action planning with cohorts: "how do I take this back to my school?"
11:00am Closing and sharing of the Traverse Still Life Project
12:00pm Traverse formally concludes - head to the airport or stay longer to enjoy Boulder
who should attend?
Traverse is for public school educators and independent school educators. It's for Coloradans and for folks flying in from across North America. It's for classroom teachers and the administrators who work directly with them.
But as diverse as our attendees may be, Traverse is for educators interested in re-imagining school. It's for educators who want to come and do hands-on work, not educators who want to sit and listen. It's for people with opinions who want to learn from others. It's for educators interested in taking some risks and trying something new. It's for creative educators who want to meet other creative educators - and kick off a dialogue that continues well past the event.
The most important thing is that you come ready to try new things, to connect with educators you've never met, and to share what you've learned along the way.
Appropriate job titles for this experience include:
But as diverse as our attendees may be, Traverse is for educators interested in re-imagining school. It's for educators who want to come and do hands-on work, not educators who want to sit and listen. It's for people with opinions who want to learn from others. It's for educators interested in taking some risks and trying something new. It's for creative educators who want to meet other creative educators - and kick off a dialogue that continues well past the event.
The most important thing is that you come ready to try new things, to connect with educators you've never met, and to share what you've learned along the way.
Appropriate job titles for this experience include:
- Teachers
- Principals/Division Heads
- Academic Deans
- Department Heads
- Global Education Directors
- Service Learning Directors
- Design Thinkers
- School Designers
- Education Technologists
- Experiential Education Leaders
- Any educator interested in experiencing new ways of teaching and learning!
2015 sponsors
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