In the summer of 2016, 100 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.

Want to know what makes Traverse so special? See below for participant photos and the detailed play-by-play.

Registration for Traverse '17 is open now. 

Monday, June 6

2:00pm Registration Opens
3:00pm Traverse '16 Kicks Off!
3:30pm Speed networking, connect with home groups, and deep dive into real-world problem-solving with the Boulder-based Human Design Agency
6:00pm Salon dinner on the Future of Education at the one-of-a-kind Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse

Tuesday, June 7

7:00am Short hike in the foothills of the Rockies (optional)
​8:30am Breakfast (including yogurt from our sponsor Noosa) and mixing with the Traverse community
9:00am Gathering
9:30am Expedition 1: Choose from the following three-hour, hands-on workshops both on and off campus (many repeat)

• Do You Want To Talk About It? Practice in the Art of Coaching
• Embodied Leadership at Eagle Rock School
• Learning Service: Helping Our Students Ask Questions About Cross-Cultural Engagement
• Design Thinking Flashlab
• Integrating a Workshop/MakerSpace Into The Life of a School (repeats)
• How Can We Bring Purpose to our Teaching? (repeats)
• Integrating Disciplines Through Real-World Learning
• Stop, Collaborate and Listen: Building Collaboration with Students
  

12:30pm Lunch from local food truck McDevitt Taco Supply and mixing with the Traverse community on the patio and lawn
1:30pm Expedition 2: Choose from 7 three-hour, hands-on workshops both on and off campus (many will repeat)

• What We Talk About When We Talk About Diversity and Inclusion
• Creating Relevant Feedback Tools for Evaluating Authentic Learning (repeats)
• Integrating a Workshop/MakerSpace Into The Life of a School (repeats)
• Teaching Innovation Through Real-World "Consultivations" (repeats)
• The Epic "Future of Learning" Scavenger Hunt (repeats)
• Entrepreneurship: Toolkits, Mindsets, and Habits
• Tweet This Session! (repeats)

4:45pm Reflection in Home Groups
5:15pm Live music and Happy Hour with local microbrews on the patio with a view of the Rockies

Wednesday, June 8

​7:00am Morning Yoga or 5k Group Run (optional)
​8:30am Breakfast (including yogurt from our sponsor Noosa) and mixing with the Traverse community
9:00am Gathering
9:30am Expedition 3: Choose from the following three-hour, hands-on workshops both on and off campus (many will repeat)​

• The Epic "Future of Learning" Scavenger Hunt (repeats)
• Creating Relevant Feedback Tools for Evaluating Authentic Learning (repeats)
• Citizen Science: Engaging Students In Real-World Science Projects
• Teaching Innovation Through Real-World "Consultivations" (repeats)
• How Can We Bring Purpose to our Teaching? (repeats)
• The Diurnal Journal: Supporting Students in Observing, Ideating, Creating and Reflecting on Field Work
• ​Tweet This Session! (repeats)

12:30pm Lunch and reflection in Home Groups
1:30pm Make an action plan to take back to your school
3:00pm Reflections and gallery walk with your Traverse Still Life 
4:15pm Closing circle
​4:30pm Traverse concludes
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Traverse Expeditions

Challenging Students With Real-World Problems

Teaching Innovation Through Real-World "Consultivations"
Led by Bo Adams, Meghan Cureton, James Campbell, Jim Tiffin, Trey Boden,
T.J. Edwards, of the Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation
We talk of real-world projects and authentic audiences for our learners. Where do such projects and audiences come from? At Mount Vernon Presbyterian School and the Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation, in Atlanta, GA, we created the Innovation Diploma program, and we are experimenting with "consultivations." Named by the student cohort, a consultivation provides a 90-120 minute, design-thinking consult with a company professional. The students serve as innovation consultants, and the company gains new perspectives, prototypes, and possibilities to take back to their places of work. We have had such success with consultivations, that we expanded our program to accept community projects or opportunities for even larger time blocks. For example, this year our students worked for 3.5 months on behalf of an architectural landscaping firm to concept a pocket park. In this three-hour Traverse expedition, experience a simulation of a consultivation with a Boulder, CO, company and the MVIFI nucleus team.  Leave with a new process to consider employing at your school or organization that connects learners with real-world projects and authentic audiences!

Citizen Science: Engaging Students in Real World Science Projects
Led by Jen Frickey and Jon Anderson, of Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center
Students have a natural curiosity about science and about nature and educators have a responsibility in connecting students to both of these. Eagle Rock School uses citizen science based classes to partner and participate with outside agencies to collect real data that benefits researchers, students, and the ecosystems. In this hands on, place based, and river centered expedition you’ll have the opportunity to participate in an experience that will have you collecting and identifying macroinvertebrates from a local river. You’ll also have the opportunity to think about how you could institute citizen science experiences in your own institution. Participants will need to be dressed to be outside (and in the water) sandals, notebooks, and pencils.

Design Thinking FlashLab
Led by James Campbell, Jim Tiffin, and Trey Boden of the Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation
Design thinking (dt) is human-centered problem solving. It’s optimistic. Full of empathy. It uses iterative prototyping to learn by doing and to meet the needs of a user — or users — that a design thinker focuses on. You don’t have to be a pro. You just have to care.
DEEPdt, developed at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School and the Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation, provides a phased methodology for design thinking — Discover, Empathize, Experiment, and Produce. The phases — or modes — help a design thinker embrace the messiness of real challenges and leverage a system for honing in on the roots of a problem and meeting the needs of the user(s).
Come experience a DEEPdt FlashLab — our rapid journey through the phases of the DEEPdt method — so that you can build capacity as a design thinker by taking a full lap around the process. Coached by a number of MVPS and MVIFI faculty and staff, you’ll leave with more creative confidence and some even bigger DT muscle!

Integrating a Workshop/Makerspace into the Life of the School
Led by Parker Thomas of MakerStudio and Mirus Labs
In this expedition, participants will undergo a maker challenge, experiencing prototyping and basic workshop tools firsthand. Participants will debrief the exercise, connecting each part of the activity with the innovator’s skills they practiced. As a collaborative, participants in this expedition will build out the culture and goals of a design lab on their campus, and how they will take it back to their school.

Entrepreneurship: Toolkits, Mindsets, and Habits
Led by Greg Bamford of Watershed School
In this expedition, participants will simulate a mini-Startup Weekend Youth program developed by Watershed in conjunction with Startup Weekend Global and Boulder-area entrepreneurs like TechStars. Learn how to have students conduct market research, build a business model canvas, and develop a pitch. In addition to experiencing concrete tools for developing a business plan, participants will discuss tools for managing group dynamics and for building partnerships with your local entrepreneurial community.

Integrating Disciplines Through Real World Learning
Led by Sara Russell and Jeff Osgood of Watershed School
Learning doesn't happen in a vacuum.  Often times a real world problem we plan to explore in our English classroom steps on the toes of science or math.  Sometimes a science investigation becomes more real-world when we connect it to a short story is screaming out for short story.  For many educators, the interdisciplinary nature of real-world problem-solving is both alluring and daunting. Come join Watershed educators for an immersion into the inner workings of inter-disciplinary teaching.  We'll combine science and humanities learning targets to explore a real world problem unfolding in our own backyard.  We will start in the classroom and venture out into the field to seek content from an expert.  This workshop will wrap up with a discussion on how to best apply what we've learned to your unique teaching situation, whether or not your school formally integrates disciplines or not.    

Leading Students Through Field Work and Reflection

The Epic 'Future of Learning' Photo Scavenger Hunt
Led by Christian Long, of Wonder, by Design
Join this active learning and design expedition as we head out into the streets, alleyways, parks, and hidden rabbit holes to creatively photograph the unexpected and wondrous elements of Boulder before we collectively 'co-curate' a living gallery exhibit to celebrate a bold vision of what might be possible in the future of learning. Strategically 'hidden' in this interactive expedition will be all the 'design thinking' elements one can adore without it being a DT 101 workshop. Simultaneously this expedition requires no 'expertise' in terms of photography, although it does require that you bring a device that can a) take digital photos and b) download them to a computer. Walking shoes (or leaping and bounding and exploration footwear) are also a must as we'll be out-n-about most of the time.

The Diurnal Journal: Supporting Students in Observing, Ideating, Creating and Reflecting on Field Work
Led by Chris Carithers of Watershed School
In this workshop we will look at journaling as a means for expanding discursive practices and developing relationships in the classroom and the field. We will practice different writing and art skills to see how journaling can be used to support the learning process and both formative and summative assessments of learning. Be prepared to take some risks, experiment, collaborate and get outside as we explore together the possibilities that exist when we journal. 

Engaging Students Across Culture and Difference

What We Talk About When We Talk About Diversity & Inclusion
Led by Kevin Redmon, of the National Outdoor Leadership School
Diversity. Inclusion. Privilege. Allyship. Microaggressions. Intersectionality. From Caitlyn Jenner to "sensitivity training" to Between the World and Me, our national conversation about diversity and inclusion has never been louder. But how do we develop the cultural competence to lean in to hard conversations about identity, power, and privilege? At the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), diversity is who we are—but inclusion is what we do. NOLS has developed a two-day, in-town training for field instructors to find their voices on common topics in diversity and inclusion, from race to gender to class. This three-hour workshop offers a framework for teachers to explore the many intersecting forms of identity, as well as tools and language for facilitating authentic conversations with students. We'll discuss our "dominant culture" and its oft-unexamined norms; the role of allies in the fight against systemic racism and sexism; and the essential work of building safe, inclusive communities for all our students. 

Learning Service: Helping Our Students Ask Questions About Cross-Cultural Community Engagement
Led by Simon Hart and Jenny Wagner of Where There Be Dragons
How do we encourage a student’s desire to do good in the world, while at the same time ensuring that these experiences actually benefit local communities abroad? Instead of focusing on “service learning” — on the idea that short-term volunteers can contribute to communities abroad — we instead suggest a focus on “learning service.” Learning service is a holistic experience that combines the study of truisms of effective community development while contributing to the work of established community-driven projects. It is the process of living, working alongside and absorbing the culture of those being served while working closely with project managers to understand the trajectory of the project, from inception to completion and transference. We believe that effective, collaborative service work begins when students are guided to ask the right questions.
Part 1 Framing: Experiential Activity - using experiential activities we can do with students, we draw out and discuss some of the common assumptions around service activities for students abroad.
Part 2 Activity: Learning service in Boulder - we will participate in a learning service activity in the Boulder community and use the experience to explore different ways of framing learning service for students.
Part 3 Debrief: How can we problematize the idea of "service" for students while still creating opportunities for meaningful engagement and learning?

Delivering Feedback and Building Leadership

Do You Want to Talk About It? Practice in the Art of Coaching
Led by Kevin Redmon, of the National Outdoor Leadership School
Coaching students, whether in the field or in the classroom, often means helping them build self-awareness and discover their own ability to solve problems. At the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), we draw on the work of humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers and his student Robert Carkhuff to ground our role as educators in the theory of coaching. Rogers spoke to the need for "unconditional positive regard" and "accurate empathetic understanding" between coach and coachee. Carkhuff took Rogers' ideas a step further and articulated seven essential "helping skills" that any lay coach could use in real-world situations. But such skills require practice, even risk-taking. In this workshop, we'll explore the Roger-Carkhuff model of coaching—and then we'll pair off to practice. Participants will have the opportunity to put their helping skills, however new or well-developed, to use in a one-on-one setting, as both coach and coachee. We'll debrief the experience by sharing what we learned in both roles, and develop a comprehensive set of best-practices to take back to our work as educators. 

Creating Relevant Feedback Tools For Evaluating Authentic Learning
Led by Dave Wallace of Principia School
One of our ultimate goals as teachers is to facilitate engaging and meaningful learning experiences that will help students become successful after graduation. Not too long ago, students prepared for future careers as apprentices to master craftsman. They actively participated in a specified field and received real-time feedback from professional mentors. Times have changed, but the necessity for pertinent, real-time feedback is as relevant as it ever was. At the Principia School in St. Louis, MO, we have been exploring ways to integrate assessment with authentic learning experiences in a more fluid way, so that feedback becomes the foundation upon which learning is built. We want our students to think of themselves as professionals-in-training; therefore, the work that they produce must be professional, and it must be evaluated as such. Based on current research in the field of academic assessment and an end-in-mind curriculum framework, we have worked with our students to develop powerful assessment tools that helped create a professional learning environment in the classroom. Participants in this three-hour session will explore multiple ways to design effective assessment tools for project-based learning experiences.

Embodied Leadership at Eagle Rock School
Led by Jesse Beightol and Jeff Liddle, of Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center
As humans have become increasingly disconnected from their bodies, and leadership is often taught as a theoretical concept, we continue to see people struggling to stay centered and lead in a way that is authentic to their lived experience and maintains authentic relationships with others. This workshop will provide an experiential introduction to Eagle Rock School’s current work with Embodied Leadership practices.   We will also introduce our school’s developing leadership framework that intentionally combines leadership and personal growth components for both adolescent development and staff support. This workshop will introduce this model, engage participants in activities they can use in the future, and challenge attendees to find ways to strengthen leadership opportunities in their own programs. Expect to be active in centering practices, movement, mindfulness exercises, and reflection.

Building Your Capacity As A Teacher
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Stop, Collaborate, and Listen: Building Collaboration With Students
Led by Jen Curtis of Watershed School
Collaboration and communication are essential real-world skills learned through practice, success, failure, and reflection. Students need the environment, time, and framework to hone these skills to be ready for the world beyond the classroom. This workshop is designed to explore ways to support students in developing skills in collaboration, and creatively examine and redesign a variety of spaces to encourage collaborative learning. We will tackle a variety of collaboration challenges, starting out in the classroom on the interpersonal aspects of teaching collaboration, and then we will venture out to look at collaborative design of space. Participants will leave this workshop with practical ideas and plans to transform their lessons and learning spaces.  

Retweet this Session!
Creating a Social Campaign in the Education Sector (and Getting it Heard!)
Led by Bonnie Lathram, Getting Smart & Chris Jackson, Big Picture Learning
There’s an intersection between work in education and the world of communications, which often gets taken for granted or gone unnoticed altogether. If you have an inner voice that wants to be heard beyond your immediate circle of educators, this session is for you. Two experts from the education sector communications world will lead you on an expedition that will have you defining an issue you care about and conducting a mini “data dig” using the city of Boulder as the staging ground for your research. Ultimately, you will create  a mini-communications plan, connecting what you learned to a larger audience. Your plan will include key messages, a chosen social media platform and hashtag. You’ll also prototype potential communications collateral such as an infographics, blog, videos and images to post, share and cross connect after Traverse concludes. Oh, and did we mention? In true Top Chef fashion, the best campaign (as voted on by your session peers) will be profiled in an upcoming Getting Smart blog! So bring your creativity, and open mind, your walking shoes, devices, and--of course--your competitive juices!

How Can We Bring Purpose to Our Teaching?
Led by Ross Wehner, World Leadership School
Research shows that adults who have a purpose in life — simply put, a compelling reason to get up in the morning — live longer, heal quicker and have deeper levels of happiness. Adolescents who had a budding sense of purpose meanwhile experience less stress and report higher learning engagement.When students explore purpose, they connect to learning in powerful and emotional ways. Students see learning as a way to explore themselves and make meaning outside of the classroom. As Stanford researcher Bill Damon puts it: “The biggest problem growing up today is not actually stress, it’s meaninglessness.” 
So how can we help students explore purpose? We need to explore and articulate our own purpose first. "Before we can lead others, we must learn to lead ourselves,” says Richard Leider, an expert on purpose-based learning. World Leadership School takes students and teachers abroad each year to explore purpose in immersive community experiences. In this panel, we will dive as deeply as possible in a natural setting into WLS’ learning paradigm of “disconnect, decenter and re-envision.” Through two activities (Story Exchange and Calling Cards) we will challenge each other to identify and articulate our unique purpose. We will also reflect on the purpose-based learning movement and what this means for our classrooms.

Looking for more? Here's the recap of TRAVERSE 15.

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