Building relationships is at the heart of what we do at the CATDC, and a fitting theme for this Valentine's Day Buzz.  Research supports what we know in our bones as independent school educators; our students learn best when they feel a strong sense of connection and belonging. It has been a pleasure and honor to be part of so many learning experiences with the CATDC that develop the capacities of educators to provide this kind of environment for our students, while also engendering new and rich collaborations between adults.

Almost 200 women from 63 different schools took part in our Los Angeles and Bay Area Women in Leadership Conferences last month with the theme Building Community: Forging Connections Within, Between, and Beyond our Schools. In their feedback, attendees spoke to the value of understanding more deeply the important role of mentoring and sponsoring in their own careers, highlighting also the value of making contact with women teachers and leaders from other schools and engaging in open and honest conversations.

During the opening day of our Navigating Those Tricky Conversations workshop in the Bay Area yesterday, I was reminded of what Janet McGarvey, founding Executive Director of the CATDC, once said: much of our best work, whether with colleagues, students, or parents, boils down to skillful communication. In our increasingly divisive and diverse society, the ability to hold what the Center for Ethical Leadership calls gracious space becomes ever more important: our facilitators, Rachel Concannon, Upper School Counselor, and Leslie Powell, Head of the Lower School, both at Head-Royce, not only model successful collaboration, but also beautifully create "a spirit and setting where we invite the stranger and learn in public."

These values resounded in the keynote presentation at the recent CAIS Heads and Trustees Conference by Roberto Suro, professor in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the School of Policy, Planning and Development at USC. In his talk, "Educating the Next California: Embracing the Opportunities of Demographic Change," Suro spoke to the growing numbers of second generation children in our state and the implications for independent schools. I especially appreciated the reference Suro made to an article by journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski: "The encounter with the Other, with other people, has always been a universal and fundamental experience for our species." This movement from simply encountering to fully embracing new "others" demands that in addition to working toward greater accessibility, we engage more actively in dialogue and seek understanding across differences, building more intentionally the kind of positive relationships and inclusive communities that help all students thrive.

The offerings in this month's Buzz move from the practical to the profound to the whimsical in support of these outcomes. An article from KQED's MindShift shares ideas for how to teach teens about Love, Consent, and Emotional Intelligence; frequent contributor Lori Cohen, Dean of Faculty at The Bay School of San Francisco, offers a useful framework she developed to help build a more fair and inclusive classroom; the "Three Mile" episode from This American Life soberly reminds us of the disparity between public and private education and the toll this can take; and Annie Makela, Founding Director of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship at the Hillbrook School, shares a delightful video and reflection on the value of storytelling and listening to our younger students. Annie relishes the possibility for cozy moments and storytelling in this midwinter month; I guarantee that the video will chase away any mid-year blues you may be feeling.

Another way to combat the doldrums that sometimes hit this time of year is to dig into your own learning. While they are filling up fast, there is still space in many of our upcoming workshops, including Navigating Those Tricky Conversations with Leslie Powell and Rachel Concannon at Marymount High School in Los Angeles. And, of course, it is always fun to plan for summer: The CATDC is excited to announce a fantastic line up, Summer Institutes. Finally, I want to offer my heartfelt appreciation for all you do for our students and all you have given to the CATDC. I look forward to seeing you at one of our programs soon. 

Over winter break I was re-reading some of my favorite theorists and educators as I was preparing for a workshop on strategies and habits for an inclusive classroom. And in the process I was wondering how to distill this work into some type of framework, a list of criteria that could then be used as a rubric for an inclusive classroom. I also know the brain holds information better when it's in some sort of acronym form-some sort of bite-sized approach. And while creating an inclusive classroom typically is a non-linear process, I settled on a framework I call FAIR² (which stands for Feedback, Assessment, Intake, Rapport, and Reflection). In practice, this means the following: