Interdisciplinary, San Mateo County, 2025, Elementary School, Funded Projects
Our school aims to grow a generation of students from all backgrounds with a foundation in Mandarin Chinese language, literacy and knowledge of Chinese culture, which affords them to be multilingual global stewards . Establishing a global professional learning community (PLC) with those who share our vision and goals toward a student centered, social and environmental justice 21st Century Transdisciplinary Mandarin Dual Language Immersion (DLI) Curriculum will support our aim. The Light Award will be instrumental in cultivating a continuous, collaborative, cross cultural, cross linguistic learning community while also developing our leadership skills.
Alameda County, Social & Emotional Learning, 2025, Elementary School, Funded Projects
Our team of six elementary educators will work with The Teaching Well to obtain a two year cycle of wellness coaching. The program will include both self and collective care practices, and will also teach us how to model healthy SEL habits for our students. By integrating mindfulness into our teaching practice, we will develop tools to better manage our stress and build emotional resilience. Our students are still developing their prefrontal cortexes and rely on us to offer a regulated presence they mirror through co-regulation. Engaging in Mindful Mentoring and Group Coaching, the teachers on our team will not only grow individually but also as a cohesive group, equipped to mentor others and sustain this professional learning approach within the Garfield community.
Alameda County, Language, 2025, Elementary School, Funded Projects
The purpose of this project is to establish a system of support for students who are multilingual learners, also known as English Learners. At Marshall Elementary, there has been an upsurgence in the number of multilingual learners. In this project, selected teachers from general education, special education, and Response to Intervention will work together to create units of study and implement common instructional practices in English Language Development (ELD) in our classrooms. In this community of practice, we will engage in job-embedded professional development to ensure long term, sustainable implementation of ELD practices.
Language, Alameda County, 2025, Elementary School, Funded Projects
Four elementary ELD educators at three schools in our district will pursue training in Guided Language Acquisition and Development (GLAD) strategies to enhance and revitalize our own teaching. During the second year of our project, we will co-plan content-integrated units with classroom teachers at our schools. This project will make our teaching richer and more interactive, and will enable students to learn science and social studies content as they learn English. It will also create more support for English learners in the general education classroom, meet a need for teacher collaboration, and amp up instruction for all students.
Sonoma County, 2025, Reading/Writing, Elementary School, Funded Projects
Our project was born out of a desire to acquire the necessary skills and tools to help our struggling readers. Orton-Gillingham’s multisensory training will provide our team of cross grade level elementary educators with the tools and protocols to deliver an effective Tier One and Tier Two intervention that will support students with dyslexia, multilingual students, and students struggling with foundational reading skills. We will work with an on-site consultant, share our learnings with site staff and district educators, and form a PLC to assist teachers who are learning how to implement these new strategies.
2025, Santa Clara County, Elementary School, STE(A)M, Funded Projects
Participating teachers will engage in course work focused on Cognitively Guided Instruction in Mathematics, trainings led by a math facilitator, and conferences designed to provide teachers with the necessary skill-set to tailor instruction to align with how students think. During release days teachers will design mathematical units of study, the cornerstone of each unit will be student work with a goal to progress conceptual understanding. Once participating teachers have mastered these skills they will lead Professional Development at both the site and district levels to share their learning.
