CSW Participates in National PEN Conference
The Progressive Education Network (PEN) held their biannual national conference October 5–7, welcoming hundreds of educators with an interest in progressive education and issues of social justice to the Boston area. A number of CSW faculty members participated in the event either as attendees, volunteers, or presenters, and the school itself was one of five local institutions to open up its campus to conference attendees for immersive site visits.
The Progressive Education Network (PEN) held their biannual national conference October 5–7, welcoming hundreds of educators with an interest in progressive education and issues of social justice to the Boston area. A number of CSW faculty members participated in the event either as attendees, volunteers, or presenters, and the school itself was one of five local institutions to open up its campus to conference attendees for immersive site visits.
In conjunction with these site visits, the conference hosted hundreds of workshops and talks, two of which were led by CSW’s own Mandarin teacher and director of the International Creative Arts Program, Po-wei Wang, and visual arts teacher Alison Safford.
Po-wei’s workshop titled, “Speaking Percussion and Playing Language: Dialogue between Music and Language in the Mandarin Classroom," tackled issues of cultural diversity and competency, demonstrating “how an integration of language and music in the classroom can evoke students’ self-motivated learning of different cultural concepts and facilitate further cultural interaction.” In the workshop, Po-wei introduced participants to Peking opera percussion and taught them how to play traditional instruments, in doing so illustrating “how language and music intersect in Chinese culture, and how this practice reflects the difference in cultural perspective.”
Alison co-led her workshop, “Mapping Meaning — Students as Psychogeographers,” with former CSW history teacher Doug Healy. The workshop offered strategies for helping students be more aware of their environments, using mapmaking and psychogeography to make observations and draw informed conclusions. “We want to empower them with their own knowledge—to be more aware consumers of stories and, most of all, better, more alert and involved consumers and citizens,” share Alison and Doug.
CSW thanks and applauds conference organizers for an enriching and stimulating weekend!
To learn more about the Progressive Education Network and its biannual conference, please visit https://progressiveeducationnetwork.org.
The Cambridge School of Weston is a progressive high school for day and boarding students in grades 9–12 and PG. CSW's mission is to provide a progressive education that emphasizes deep learning, meaningful relationships, and a dynamic program that inspires students to discover who they are and what their contribution is to their school, their community and the world.