Dear Colleagues and Friends,
At Power of Place, we are committed to identifying guest faculty from across the country who are second-to-none in their subject matter expertise and teaching acumen.
But we don’t just look elsewhere for our guest faculty: we know that there is a wealth of innovation, determination, and talent that resides right here, in each of you. You have so much to teach one another, but rarely have the opportunity to do so.
That’s why this year we upended our typical Winter Gathering plan and put out a call for proposals, inviting each of you to submit workshop ideas to share with your peers. We were flooded with proposals and chose six that touch on the topics we know matter most to this community. New England weather forced us to reschedule back in February, but luckily all of our presenters are able to join us on April 7, our rescheduled date. We hope you can too!
Here’s a teaser for what you can expect:
- Diana Fullerton (Gloucester) will open the day with a mindfulness exercise to help us center and focus.
- Amy Mitchell (Amesbury) will introduce new tools for leading powerful, equity-focused conversations in The Incredible HELC: Facilitating Dialogue for Highly Effective Learning Communities.
- Gabrielle Montevecchi (Beverly) will offer personal insight and student voices in Supporting Transgender and Gender Expansive Students: What Caregivers and Students Wish You Knew.
- Heather Lang (Lynn) will share practical, visual strategies—including ASL—to make classrooms more inclusive in I Can SEE My Learning.
- Kelly Feurt (Salem) will bring hands-on strategies to make academic content more accessible for all learners in Experiential Learning for Equity.
- Lindsey Polizzotti & Laurie Regan (Swampscott) will explore brain-based strategies for SEL and executive functioning in Unlocking Potential—helping students build independence, organization, and focus.
- Heather Lang, Amber Magin, Allison Nichols & Heidi Wakeman will share their Teacher Action Research Fellow (TARF) research on the intersection of anti-racist practices, student independence, and support systems in We Teach, We Learn, We Lead: Igniting Equitable Change in Education. Heather, Amber, Allison and Heidi are graduates of the second cohort of the Teacher Action Research Fellowship, an 18-month course of study run through a partnership between ECLC and The Teacher Collaborative. Mid-way through the day we will take time to celebrate all of the TARF graduates.
We’re so thankful to these educators for stepping up and sharing their insight, ideas, and expertise with our community. It’s not always easy to put yourself out there, but when educators lead, everyone benefits. Research shows that teaching others deepens our own understanding—a powerful reminder that when we share what we know, everyone wins.
We hope to make this an annual opportunity, and we encourage you to lend your voice and experience when we extend the invitation again next year.
In the meantime, we hope to see you on April 7 to cheer on, connect with – and learn from – your peers.
In connection,
Jane
Read the full newsletter here (pdf).