"Traverse is like no other professional development that I've experienced in my 17 years of teaching. It is the most engaging and inspiring conference. It allowed me to talk with people from all different walks of education and to get and share ideas on how to make my teaching better and to inspire my students' learning in new ways."  - Traverse Participant

​Sample Traverse Portland Expeditions List (from 2018 conference)

For Traverse Portland 2018, attendees will choose two expeditions - one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday - in addition to participating in small group, large group, and individual activities during the conference. There are two categories of expeditions - six-hour and three-hour - to allow for deep dives, relationship building, and opportunities to really explore the city.

 TUESDAY 6-hour Expeditions:

Immigration and Migration: Stories of Portland with Lauren Reggero-Toledano of Catlin Gabel School in Portland, OR
​In this expedition teachers will learn about Portland's story of migration and immigration. We will use oral histories, visual art, maps, and demographic data to analyze the processes whereby immigrants are either absorbed into a new city, or siloed into particular neighborhoods. Teachers will be given time to collaborate and brainstorm how they can recreate this experiential learning model in their home cities. To experience what this learning can look like beyond the walls of the classroom, we will take a field trip to Woodburn, OR, a nearby rural, agricultural town shaped by its many Russian and Hispanic immigrants.

The Hunt for Hidden History: Piecing Together the Story of Portland's African-American Community with Sarah Anderson of Cottonwood School of Civics and Sciences in Portland, OR
Participants will travel to significant locations in NW, N, and NE Portland in order to better understand the city's history from an African-American perspective. At each location, participants will receive a packet of primary documents (photos, newspaper articles, maps, letter, etc).Using the place and the documents, the team will act as historical detectives to construct a narrative. Leaders will help participants piece it all together to see how each event or location plays a part in the larger story. The expedition will also include open and honest exploration of questions such as: How does this history connect to current events? Why does local history matter? Who is telling these histories? Who should?  

Experiences for Democracy: Exploring City Parks with Dawn Isaacs and Sia Haralampus of Catlin Gabel School and Presence O'Neal of Reed College in Portland, OR
To be active members of a democracy, children need to develop agency, a sense of their own voice, the ability to be in community with those similar to and different from themselves, and the knowledge necessary to consider multiple perspectives. Participants will learn how to utilize the Kolb Cycle-Experience, Reflection, Idea Development, and Active Experimentation-to frame experiences for young children promoting democracy. Participants will immerse in an example experience--an exploration of city parks--and be guided in utilizing the structure of the Kolb Cycle to create experiences for their own students. Through the park study they will learn how to facilitate their students exploring: What is a Park? What is it for? How do we know? Who decides? Where are parks and why? Where are parks in Portland and why? Who goes to parks? What does a park need?

Designing and Building Empathy with Krystal Wu of Catlin Gabel School in Portland, OR and Matthew Miller of Newberg High School in Newberg, OR
In our polarized world, most educators agree that it’s important for students to develop the interpersonal skills necessary to successfully learn from and collaborate with those who are different from them. But how do we actually teach students to cultivate empathy? In this learning expedition, participants will engage in a collaborative design thinking process to explore this very question. Through a range of guided activities and processes (some introspective, some hands-on, some silly), participants will harness their own knowledge and experiences to design and prototype an empathy-building experience that they can then take home and execute in their own communities. Participants will leave with several exercises, strategies, and frameworks that they can use to 1) help students develop empathy as they collaborate with others, and 2) use the design thinking process with students and community members.

Food Justice: Unearthing Connections between Land Use History, Race, Class, Health, and Environmental Science with Jenny Cooper of The Northwest School in Seattle, WA and George Zaninovich of the Catlin Gabel School
What are the social and environmental forces that mediate our relationships with food--growing it, eating it, and thriving from its nutrients? This Expedition will use food justice as a lens through which to understand environmental justice more broadly, and the connections between race, class, land use history, soil contamination, food access, health, and social justice. We will ground our learning by engaging deeply, both individually and collectively, on issues of identity and race, and by conducting an on-the-ground study in 2 Portland neighborhoods. Participants in this Expedition will also learn about local history, have hands-on experiences in environmental science and mapping, and participate in field trips that include neighborhood studies and possible visits to Portland organizations focusing on urban agriculture.

Collaboration in Times of Intensity: Tools for Practicing Adaptive Leadership with Dan Leahy and Jeff McAuliffe of Saybrook University in Bellevue, WA, and John Harnetiaux of Catlin Gabel School in Portland, OR
As educators (and humans), when faced with a challenge, our first response is often to rely on proven methods of meeting that challenge. This is a rational response when it comes to solving problems that require a technical solution, can be solved by an authority figure, or have known answers. An adaptive challenge, by contrast, is a particular kind of problem where applying current technical know-how or routine behavior cannot close the gap. Keeping up with the ever-changing demands of our educational landscapes, meeting the diverse needs of our communities, and collaborating with colleagues on complex tasks are all examples of adaptive challenges. In this expedition, we will examine and test various applied behavioral science models through experiential small-group work. We will leave equipped with practical and lasting tools to amplify our abilities to collaborate in times of complexity, ambiguity and, yes, intensity.

Get Zine-spired: Inspiration For Using Zines In Experiential Learning with Doug Blandy of the University of Oregon and Holly Amoako of the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, OR
Zines (pronounced zeens) are inexpensive, accessible, and often free literary and visual artifacts created to distribute information, thoughts, emotions, and opinions about any topic. Though Zines have a rich countercultural history in the punk and DIY worlds, they are becoming more mainstream in their popularity, often used as an analog form of communication for politicians, hipsters, and pre-teens alike. Simple to put together, zines are also powerful tools that can be easily employed in any experiential learning environment: they can be used for assessment, guided note-taking, reflection, or simply as a grassroots method for students to share ideology, rumination, or cold hard facts. In this expedition, participants will experiment with different ways to make both individual and group zines, examine variations of how to use zines as educational tools, and will culminate in a “distro” (i.e. distribution) where the zines are released into the wilds of Portland!

WEDNESDAY 3-hour Expeditions:

Educating Activist Allies Through Local and Global Experience Programming with Melanie Belore of York University in Toronto, Canada
Conventional local and global service learning programs can inadvertently reproduce structural inequalities and undermine the goals of a social justice pedagogy. On this expedition, we’ll share different ways that we as educators have tried, succeeded and failed with students to disrupt the dominant narrative through experiential learning, as evidenced by how students interpret their involvement and their encounters with the 'other'. Participants will leave with a collaborative toolkit of resources for educators and administrators committed to helping students foster an ‘activist ally’ identity through their programming.

The Art of Educational Equity with Shauna Adams of Portland State University in Portland, OR
This hands-on, creative, and interactive session will explore the emotional territory that educators face as they address the dynamics of diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools. The power of story, imagery, and art will illustrate the impact of oppression and privilege on teaching and learning, and illuminate practices that promote self-reflection, honest dialogue, and collaboration.

Facilitating Talking Circles: A Restorative Approach with Lauren Trout of Jefferson Parish Public Schools, New Orleans, LA
Talking Circles, a tool of Restorative Practices, create structured spaces for building community and thinking critically, and underpin relationships as the basis for learning and growth. In this interactive workshop, educators will learn the importance of talking circles and how they connect to the larger paradigm of Restorative Practices; how to participate and facilitate talking circles in their classroom; and how to use circles to build community, problem-solve, make decisions, incorporate into academics, celebrate, goal-set, and assess needs and strengths.  

Modeling Agency: Pathways Toward Capacity, Optimism, and Reality-Based Teaching with Paul Kim and Thom Thorpe of Colorado Academy in Denver, CO                     During this three-hour session, participants will engage in a learning expedition that begins with self-assessment coupled with empathy work and ends with the delivery of rapidly prototyped lessons and feedback. Along the way, participants will build a tool kit to (1) empower a sense of agency (both teacher and student agency), (2) develop skills to practice culturally responsive teaching practices, and (3) design deep and meaningful learning experiences for students in any discipline. In order to learn and practice the design thinking process, participants will use design thinking to create a rapid prototype of a community-focused project that helps their students develop a more active, optimistic learning identity. At the end of the session, participants will teach their lessons to the group with the intention of iterating based on feedback from fellow participants.

Learning from the Brave Heart: How to Release Fear-Based Thinking from our Bodies and Minds with Rachel Nelson of Hollins University in Roanoke, VA
This hands-on workshop lets educators and community members into the secret life of the brain: how do our identity-based fears keep us from seeing ourselves, each other, and our communities authentically? We will be doing writing, body work, and exploration of each other and our own identities to explore releasing fear and embracing bravery. This is a great workshop for anybody engaged in issues of difference around race, class, gender, sexuality, and/or culture. There will be some light movement.

Building a Better Learning Experience with Hannah Nelson of Watershed School in Boulder, CO
During this workshop we will explore how to design curriculum using place based experiences and interdisciplinary expeditions, and how to tie those to real-world problems, as well as national standards. This workshop will introduce the concepts of backwards design, using design thinking in the classroom, and how to incorporate the values of your school into assessments.  Weather permitting, we will be doing observations and journaling outside, brainstorming with colleagues, and creating a plan for how to implement an "expedition" in your own classroom. Hopefully you will leave this workshop energized and excited to think about how you can bring your students out into the world around your school and how you can bring real-world challenges into your classroom.

We can't wait to see you at Catlin Gabel and the CENTER this summer!

Traverse Portland Program Partners

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What Participants Say

"Traverse is a conference with 100 people who care the most about education and how to transform their instruction to meet the needs of all kids.

I would most definitely recommend this conference to any other educators who want to grow themselves and push themselves to be the best they can be. This conference is full of forward thinkers, and any and all educators could benefit from this experience."
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​- 2016 Participant

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