Summer Institute for Educators

Each summer, educators gather together at the Academy for the Love of Learning for three full days in order to reflect upon and “let go” of the year that has just drawn to a close, and to imagine and envision the year that is to come. During our Summer Institute, educators of all kinds and from all fields are invited to renew their aspirations and innate sense of curiosity, wonder and desire to learn. Through shared experience, reflective practice, time in nature and artistic expression, participants are able to open up to transformative and positive change within themselves, their organizations and their communities at large.

The word “educate” has two distinct Latin roots: one, educare, meaning “to pour in,” and the other, educere, meaning “to draw out.” These divergent contexts are at the heart of the deeply rooted debate inherent in our education system. The Academy’s learning model brings the two together, drawing upon one’s own experience, meaning and application as well as existing inquiry and theory. It is this intentional blending of the two that distinguishes the Academy’s work and that can provide educators with a new, revitalized outlook.

Fundamental to the Academy’s learning practice is the intentional integration of the more challenging and uncomfortable aspects of our experience as educators with the more noble and heroic. In effect, this creates a living bridge and wholeness that, over time and with practice, can become a deep, intrinsic pattern and support when back in the classroom or professional setting. In this visionary spirit, we offer Archetypes as the theme for this year’s Summer Institute. Archetypes represent the recurring mythological symbols and images inherited from our earliest human ancestors, and can be said to inspire us to step into the most noble expression of ourselves. Specific archetypes such as the Warrior, the Hero, the Teacher and the Visionary are believed to be present in our collective unconscious, potentially as a source of inner empowerment and transformation. Summer Institute facilitators will guide participants in an exploration of such archetypes in order to more consciously draw upon these potent energies inside the inquiry of what it means to be an educator.

When we deeply engage with and reinspire teaching and learning, we are revitalized and drawn to express more naturally our creativity, our joy, and our capacity for productive collaboration. Many of us are in educator roles, both inside and outside of the traditional school setting. Whether you are an administrator, a teacher, a nurse, a counselor, an artist who teaches, or any other kind of educator, we welcome you. We find that bringing together people with different roles and from different contexts can be especially enlivening and enriching. The Academy for the Love of Learning seeks to awaken, enliven, nurture, and sustain the natural love of learning in people of all ages. We hope you will join us at our beautiful campus in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where we recognize teaching and learning as profound and sacred practices.

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And, if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.”

–Martha Graham

The cost for the three day retreat is $150, which includes all supplies, breakfast snacks, lunches and snacks/beverages.

All SFPS registrants should also register on My Learning Plan to receive a Professional Development stipend from the district.

*Please note that the Academy is not able to provide childcare for retreat participants.
**Lodging is available for an additional fee. Please contact Marissa Roybal for lodging information.

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