Seeking to fully align the school’s teaching and learning environment with best practices in neuro-education, Gunston has partnered with the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) for a series of professional development workshops.
“One of the most exciting developments in the field of education has been the broad acknowledgement that every student brings a high degree of individual neurodiversity into the classroom,” noted Gunston’s Head of School, John Lewis. “This understanding, coupled with the ever-improving research and understanding regarding how brain-friendly teaching can enhance every student’s learning experience, continues to be a central priority for Gunston as a school.”
Gunston teachers participate in Mind-Brain activities.
“As a school, we’ve always honored each child’s unique intellectual strengths, but our formal neurodiversity training began more than a decade ago with a series of All Kinds of Minds workshops,” continued Lewis. “However, CTTL’s unique expertise in how to translate Mind-Brain Education research into a rigorous, college-preparatory academic environment is the reason we’ve decided to partner with them.” The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, founded at St. Andrew’s School in Potomac, Maryland, is an international leader in the field of Mind, Brain and Education Science research to allow teachers to maximize their effectiveness and students to achieve their highest potential.
This past summer, a four-member delegation of Gunston’s faculty attended CTTL’s “Science of Teaching and School Leadership Academy”, and as a follow-up on August 30th, Glenn Whitman, CTTL’s Director and author of the bestselling book NeuroTeach, spent a full day leading a hands-on workshop with Gunston’s full faculty. Whitman will return for a series of follow-up workshops over a two year period.
“Our entire faculty has embraced this process,” shared Mrs. Christie Grabis, Gunston’s Assistant Head and academic program coordinator, “and all of our students will benefit from some of CTTL’s key areas of focus like academic mindset training, multi-modal instruction, the effective use of formative and summative assessments, the impact of the socio-emotional experience on learning, and the explicit teaching of metacognitive skills.”
“My work with CTTL has inspired my work as as teacher-researcher,” shared Dr. Mariah Goodall, a science and math teacher at Gunston, “and the integration of this research has transformed my daily classroom practices. Every day I come to school, I remind myself that teachers are brain changers!”
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