Artificial Intelligence will revolutionize education. It's not only important to be ready for it, but to use it as a canvas to create the future learning opportunities for our students. As part of the A.I. Taskforce, I am leading the charge of innovating with A.I. for our students and faculty, working toward the Responsible AI in Learning (RAIL) certification for our school. 

This year finds me building out a whole new K-8th STEM program for the Independence School. This amazing opportunity to start a program from the ground up has been an amazing experience. I have been building two labs, a makerspace for K-3rd and a fablab for 4th-8th. What amazing things will we discover this year? 

The St. Stephen's students were back at City Hall this week to present their Black History Projects to the mayor.  Led by our 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Baldwin, our students discussed their amazing Racial Literacy sessions and how to continue Black History all year round.  Watch the presentation here. 

Just before we left for Spring Break, I got the chance to pump up the students and faculty at our buddy even during Spirit Week. The week ended with a pep rally celebrating St. Stephen's AMAZING year so far. 

St. Stephen's Middle School students competed in the Future City competition. "Middle school students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future that showcase their solution to a citywide sustainability issue." See the news story here. 

The SSES crew participated in the Holiday Parade this year. We escorted Waldo around the city streets and gave out candy to hundreds of kiddos watching. It was great to see so many families out for an amazing time! 

At St. Stephen's we ultilize our city as a classroom. Recently, we took our Middle School students to the Capitol Building where they got to speak with lawmakers and learn how to be advoctes. 

On the first day of school, students and faculty commemorated the March on Washington with our own March on Harrisburg. The Mayor recevied us and it was a great event to kick off the school year. Watch the video here. 

This week, I had the privilege of presenting  a PD opportunity to current and future school leaders on Culture and Climate.  Culture and Climate is not only a passion of mine, but I feel it is paramount to creating the best learning environment. There were many great conversations and questions and it was clear there was some deep thinking going on.  Thank you to UPenn for hosting me! 

The 2022 Turkey Hunt is in the books! Our teachers scoured the campus looking for all the chocolate turkeys that got loose this week. Each person that finds one is entered into a drawing for a King Sooper's gift card. The teacher that finds the most gets the coveted, Golden Turkey trophy. Thanks to all the students and teachers that participated. Have an amazing Turkey Day!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! Though I have been known to dress up in costume for the book fair or other fun events, Halloween is a time where I can share the experience with my students and colleagues. Though our costume left many of the Lower School students asking "what are you?" my Middle School Head and I were a hit with our families and faculty as Ted Lasso and Coach Beard. 

As part of our implementation of Responsive Classroom, representatives from each grade level brought their classroom rules to our Kid Congress. The students synthesized their classroom rules into one universal set for the entire school. Each representative "ratified" the new rules by signing their name. "It's kinda like the Declaration of Independence" Zoe from 4th grade said as she signed her name. All of the students pledged to uphold these rules to make help make it an awesome year! 

This year at SES, we implemented a Lower School Leadership program for the 5th Grade class. Not only do the 5th graders learn the many skills of leadership but they also get to put them into practice by leading school events, servicing the greater community, and serving on the MS student council. On Fridays, our Lower School Leaders give a helping hand to any teacher that needs something. To the right is a picture of our leaders building a new habitat for our 3rd grade class guinea pigs, Reed & Wright.  

September 19th was Talk Like a Pirate Day at St. Elizabeth's. The faculty and students dressed up as pirates , participated in special events and activities,  and of course spoke in the famed specialized vernacular. 

One of the things we lost to COVID were a lot of rituals and celebrations. Driving through Florida this summer made me think back to my student teaching days and a ritual the South Florida teachers had drinking Cafecito together in the afternoons. I loved it and looked forward to the ritual every day. It gave me a sense of belonging in the community and of course, some delicious Cuban Coffee. 

This year, I decided to implement this tradition for my faculty and I must say, they love the little slice of Miami in Denver. School leadership isn't just about academics or behavioral plans. It's about creating an amazing (and highly caffeinated) culture and climate. A community that people want to be a part of and love to share. Feel free to stop by anytime and ask for un cafecito! 

CBS News stopped by our Lower School to feature our Day of Service project in the 4th Grade. So proud of my students and teachers! 

The 2022-2023 off to an amazing start! Here I am hanging with our new third graders. They were telling me about all the amazing things they are going to experience in the third grade. I can't wait to ride along with them on their journey. 

With an emphasis on community building, the team at SES Lower School is prepared for the new challenges we are about to face and the excitement of implementing Responsive Classroom and MBE Science to better inform our practice and service our students. 2022-2023 is going to be an amazing year full of growth and comradery! Batter-UP! 

I am so proud of all of my 5th grade students! They will go on to great things. Thank you for letting me be a part of your journey. 

St. Elizabeth's welcomed Glenn Whitman, author of NeuroTeach to usher in a new era of education in the Denver area. St. Elizabeth's staculty will be trained in Mind Brain Education and use it to inform our practice. 

Mr. Cloud and Ms. Murphy (HOS) got new hairstyles to support St. Baldrick's Foundation in fighting childhood cancer. Though Mr. Cloud wasn't planning on shaving his beard, he was coaxed with an extra $1,600 donation to take it all off. While he says he is "much colder now" without the hair, it was all for a good cause. 

Author Sil Spence beamed into SES to read her new book Bella the Scientist Goes to Outer Space! Sil, and her daughters, read the book to our K-2nd graders and spoke about the wonders of space travel through the characters. It was a great way to support diversity in children's literature and have our students see themselves as characters and writers. 

Even in leadership, literacy is important to me. To give my students extra time with great books, I began a Bedtime Stories with Mr. Cloud series. Virtually, I would invite our families to come and listen to me reading selected books and stories to the community. Make a cup of Hot Cocoa and pull up a chair! 

COVID has many schools re-evaluating their curriculum. As an instructional leader at St. E's, we are formulating and implementing a process to continuously evaluate how we are serving our students. This includes the training and implementation of Rubicon Atlas and the debut of Responsive Classroom.  Both will be good building blocks to critically examine our content areas starting with math next year! 

It's been a rough few years for teachers. That's why they need to be valued, supported, and understood as the people they are. At St. Elizabeth's, I helped institute the #bringbackthejoy initiative. This purposeful plan was to meet the teachers where they are to increase engagement and retention. This included tokens of appreciation, increased community building, and a collaborative voice for all the stakeholders. 

Many Lower School students left school on Monday with dreams of becoming paleontologists. That is thanks to a virtual visit from Dustin Growick, a dinosaur expert, educator at the American Museum of Natural History, and host of The Dinosaur Show on YouTube. He spoke with Lower School students via Zoom on Monday, April 5 as part of the Clare Foundation STEM Speaker Series. 

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Students were tasked with making a birdhouse at home out of recycled materials. "Each house must start with a half gallon container. This allowed the student to design a house as grandiose as they wanted, but within certain parameters that any designer might face," explained Mr. Cloud. "We always want the students to look at recyclable materials as something more than trash. While we always try to teach the Engineering Design Process with our challenges, we feel it's paramount that the students understand that they can create with any materials, even ones that are destined for the dump." 

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Lower School students learned about the science of sound and pitch, and got to rock out to their own environmentally-friendly instrumental creations with the help of Bash the Trash. The experience was livestreamed into each classroom, kicking off the 2020-2021 school year's Clare Foundation STEM Speaker Series. 

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This year has been a difficult start with all the COVID restrictions.  Operation: BringOnTheFun! is a purposeful initiative that tries to help us all remember the joy in education. Fun activities and events keep everyone smiling even if it is behind a mask.  

With a focus on design and innovation, the EA Shark Tank was a course that Middle School students were able to take this summer.  The students were able to create and idea or innovation and pitch it to professional sharks. 

"I thought this course was fun and exciting and will be really helpful in the future."

"I absolutely loved it, and I really liked how Mr. Cloud broke down the IDEA process."

Established in 2012 by the Hirtle family, the purpose of this prize is to recognize a faculty member or group of faculty who exemplify best practices in innovative teaching and who are driven to create more innovative curricula and programming.