CLI News

Two young students celebrate next to a paper plate with packing peanuts stacked under a glass with marbles.
Alice Baggett, CLI Coordinator

Preschoolers and PreK students recently built structures with biodegradable packing peanuts. Playing with materials to discover their capabilities is developmentally appropriate and helps students gain valuable information they can apply to future, more structured projects. 

Forest Habitat Project in PreK
Alice Baggett, CLI Coordinator

PreK students, after studying forest animals and their habitats, embarked on a project to create their own forest habitats. The knowledge gained in their homeroom focused their iterations as they designed, built, collaborated, and rebuilt.

Minecraft 201: Lesson Building: Beginner
Monica Reese

Tuesday, May 14, 2024  |  5:15 – 8:45 p.m.

$140  |  dinner included  |  3 Washington State Approved STEM Clock Hours provided

Step into Minecraft Education 201, tailored for K-12 educators in all subjects who have already dipped their toes into the Minecraft world and are now eager to refine their skills in making basic modifications and lesson design. The workshop includes dinner, offering a relaxed setting for networking and idea exchange among fellow educators. 

Minecraft 101: First Blocks: Novice
Monica Reese

Tuesday, May 7, 2024  |  5:15 - 8:45 p.m.

$140  |  dinner included  |  3 Washington State Approved STEM Clock Hours provided

Explore the fundamentals of Minecraft Education, discovering its benefits and the transformative potential of game-based learning. Enjoy a delightful dinner while networking and collaborating with fellow educators, fostering a supportive community. For K-12 educators in all subjects.

A cardboard cutout resembling a golden retriever cookie cutter.
Jess Saulzallito, CLI Coordinator

5th grade students crafted custom cookie cutters using cardboard prototypes to conserve time and cost. Students experienced the entire fabrication process, from digital design through 3D printing and final testing with real cookie dough.

Boy holds a paper plate with structure made of plastic straws and masking tape.
Alice Bagget, CLI Coordinator

A partnership with kindergarten classes taught 21st-Century Learning Design precepts with The Three Little Pigs.

National Park Project
Ryan MacLeod, CLI Coordinator

In the dynamic landscape of education, fostering interdisciplinary skills has become a crucial aspect of preparing students for the future. One inspiring example of this is the 4th Grade National Park Visitor Center Project, where students seamlessly integrated humanities, science, and technology to create a comprehensive learning experience. This initiative not only engaged students in diverse subjects but also incorporated Microsoft's 21st Century Learning Design, ensuring a forward-thinking approach to education.

teachers work remotely using video-chat software
Kimberly Mecham, CLI Director

Good professional development always adapts to the times, but that belief is an understatement during the pandemic.  I’d like to review some of our most important developments in remote learning professional development (RLPD) in hopes that it will continue the conversation around remote and hybrid learning.

glasses-sit-on-top-of-stack-of-books
Dr. Alpha DeLap, Librarian at St. Thomas School

Outside of our families, our place of work is where many of us find friendships and a sense of community. Maintaining a vibrant, thriving community during a prolonged campus closure isn’t easy, but faculty book clubs are a good place to start. I believe that fundamentally, book clubs build community.

computer-on-desk-with-plant
Kimberly Mecham, CLI Director

In the past, teachers could fall back on their own experience if they didn’t get a lot out of a professional development course. However, COVID-19 has nullified that safety net. Teachers are braving a foreign frontier with new hurdles to overcome every minute. Now more than ever, they need effective, relevant professional development that helps them succeed, and is worth their increasingly limited time.

Kimberly Mecham, CLI Director

I think people are focusing a lot on what we’re doing and what our actions mean, rather than how we’re acting. All of these questions are important, and I plan to address them all in the coming weeks. But today, I’d like to give a name to how educators have acted during this pandemic.

Kimberly Mecham, CLI Director

We’ve been conditioned by self-help publishing and TED Talks to think that celebrities are the only ones who can deliver trustworthy advice. So what makes this small school in the suburbs think it has the credentials to build an organization devoted to promoting better leadership and innovation in our community? Dig a little deeper and you’ll discover just how naturally the CLI grew from STS’s foundation.

Kimberly Mecham, CLI Director

Many lessons students learn in the average school setting may not be useful five, ten, or fifty years down the road. While educators are aware this fact means a complete restructuring of our schools, many are at a loss as to how to implement a plan with longevity and applicability to today’s youth. Today, we'll talk about a solution that the CLI has found most effective in shaping life-ready students for the future.

Center for Leadership & Innovation

“Group project.” If a shudder went down your spine at that term, you’re not alone. Working in groups can notoriously lead to toxic behavior and leave us feeling frustrated or disappointed. However, there are ways to improve your employees’ or your personal experience with group assignments when you identify and approach these common problems intentionally.

Center for Leadership & Innovation

Professional development (PD) is essential to every school and teacher’s success. However, anyone who has given a PD course for teachers knows it can easily become a disaster area if you’re not careful. If you’ve struggled with providing an experience that teachers appreciate, these methods may help you create professional development classes that your teachers will love.

Monica Reese, Program Manager at the Center for Leadership & Innovation

As a globally recognized leader in innovative education, St. Thomas School regularly hosts delegations from around the world who travel to STS to see how we integrate technology in our classrooms. Last week, KING 5 News joined visitors from Japan and Germany to hear our presentation from CLI Director Kimberly Mecham and tour the school.

Monica Reese

Friday, January 25, 2019  |  9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
St. Thomas School  |  8300 NE 12th St  |  Medina, WA 98039
6.5 Clock Hours

Early Bird (ends December 10, 2018) Registration: $190
Group Registration (3 or more): $190 each
Registration (Begins December 11, 2018): $230

Disrupt conventional patterns in how we work together, making it possible to immediately include, engage, and unleash everyone using Liberating Structures. Learn how to structure generative interactions among your co-workers, administration, and students in ways that enliven engagement and inquiry, and help us lead better without relying on methods that are top down, or too loose and unstructured.

More Information + Register 

 

Kimberly Mecham, Director of the Center for Leadership & Innovation

Assessing data collected in the classroom has had a transformative impact on educators' abilities to inform instruction, differentiate learning and identify students' strengths and weaknesses. According to the Data Quality Campaign – the nation's leading voice on education data policy and use – when teachers use data from classroom learning patterns to inform instruction, they are better positioned to support improved educational outcomes for students.

Children hold hands
Kimberly Mecham, Director of the Center for Leadership & Innovation

Empathy is becoming a central component to classroom instruction and rising to the top of many school's curriculum, as well as a timely topic of discussion within the corporate world. Applying empathy not only helps raise intentional thinkers that can ask tough questions, it also empowers individuals to think creatively and deliver meaningful impact to the world around them.

Monica Reese

March 3, 2018  |  9:30 a.m. - noon

St. Thomas School  |  8300 NE 12th St  |  Medina, WA

Do the children you care for exhibit concerning behaviors? A developmentally appropriate framework for defining a child's behavior will be used to help teachers structure changes in the environment and focus their interactions in the classroom. You will leave with some practical solutions to promote positive behaviors in your classroom.

A man & women speak together below a screen with Kimberly Mecham, 2017 Inspired Leader written on it
Kimberly Mecham, Director of the Center for Leadership & Innovation

We are deeply invested in the intangible tools as well as the tangible and technical ones. It has been this approach which has guided our launch of the Center for Leadership and Innovation. I want to ensure all students' learning experiences are enriched by embodying empathy each day.

Students listen closely
Kimberly Mecham, Director of the Center for Leadership & Innovation

 

At St. Thomas School, we're striving to create the next generation of social transformers that will launch a new wave of innovation and progress.