June 9th-14th and June 16th-21st

What’s the difference between broccoli and boredom?  . . . Some kids like broccoli.

It’s true!  Every kid and every adult I have ever met hates to be bored.  It is naturally within us to want to learn.  Sure, kids might complain sometimes about working, but when presented with genuine learning, more often than not, their enthusiasm is overt, infectious, and inspiring.  You know this feeling.  You’re a teacher, and there has been, at some point, a time when you have been teaching something and a kid cries out, “That’s so cool!”  It’s the greatest feeling.

As teachers, we devote our lives to tilling the earth of the student.  We plant seeds.  We spread a ton of fertilizer.  We give a little water and a whole lot of light, and then we love to watch kids grow into themselves.  But what happens in this process if we don’t feed the farmer?

That’s what the E.E. Ford Summer Teachers’ Colloquium is about.  It’s about feeding the farmers.  It is about giving teachers an opportunity to get in touch with their own wonder and to learn.  It is about opening lines of inquiry that then feed us in our profession.

The colloquium is composed of two, one-week sessions. Each session has a variety of courses from which to choose that are in four basic tracks: culture, writing/literature, art, math/science. The colloquium is intended to provide professional teachers with a chance to explore their subject for an entire week with a diverse group of colleagues at an adult and deep level. Each course will use a community approach that involves seminar-style discussion, field trips and outings, and guest speakers to incorporate the many learning partners and resources unique to Santa Fe. This isn’t a pedagogical professional development opportunity where we are primarily focused on how to teach. This is an opportunity to relearn how to learn and fall in love with it all over again.

So, take a look.  On the left side of these pages, you can find links to the courses that are offered and the spectacular faculty who are offering each.  Each faculty member has a Line of Genuine Inquiry to be tackled throughout the week.  These questions are open questions to our faculty.  They have the expertise to start the conversation and provide fodder and facilitation for discussion, but you and your colleagues will determine where that discussion might lead.  It is our hope that this will provide an organic and exciting community learning experience for all participants in the program and for the instructors themselves. 

Enjoy.