OUR APPROACH
The Problem
Administators and teachers enter the field of education to nurture and inspire children. In our conversations with them, we’ve learned that they feel obligated to put their focus on adult concerns like children’s academic achievement vs. children’s joy of learning, the execution of specific instructional practices, and the demand of regulatory institutions at the expense of the child. This has created an epidemic in education where schools, the place constructed for children, are not about children.
The Solution
To provide an opportunity to revisit child development in the context of schooling. To act as a thought partner in using developmental knowledge to meet the demands of the regulatory institutions, while honoring the teacher as a professional and empowering them to create the type of classroom they always hoped for. This ensures children’s innate needs are primary to and balanced with adult goals for children and are integrated into the culture, policies, and instruction.
Our Guiding Principles
1
You cannot give what you don’t have.
Most people have not experienced education that is aligned with how they learn best. We align our instruction with learning theory to ensure that teachers have new experiences to draw from when they are teaching children.
2
Never do for someone what they can do for themselves.
We think of teachers as capable educators and classroom makers. So, we don’t tell them how to do their job. As thought partners, we make sure teachers have the developmental knowledge they need to design instruction and interactions that get them the results they want with children.
3
Learning requires risks.
Not all of the interactions teachers design for children get them the result they want. We build hypothesis testing into our professional growth model as an essential part of the learning process.