Welcome to the Center for Teaching and Learning

At CTL, children learn that school is a place where they belong. The workshop approach prioritizes student voice and choice, and puts the child at the center of the learning. When children make small choices every day, they learn to think carefully about their own opinions and they learn that they can make change, with their voices and with their actions. 

CTL’s academic program is both rigorous and flexible. Teachers hold high expectations for students. Because students can choose what they read, what they write about, and what specific topics they research within the framework provided by the teacher, they bring more of themselves ~ their interests, their backgrounds, their prior experiences ~ into the classroom. They are known and they are valued. And, because the teacher has set the wider curricular lens of the group’s shared experience, at the end of each project, the team comes together to learn from each other’s explorations. Every member of the CTL community is a teacher and a learner, each and every day. 

CTL focuses curriculum on authentic and practical work. Writers write during their writing class, and readers read when that time in the day arrives. Because science and history often have meaningful hands-on explorations that deepen kids’ ability to authentically participate in those topics, kids collect data, research, examine artifacts, and interact with the world around them through field experiences. In math, students examine both the practices of math and the theories that inform that practice.

Throughout the day, a CTL student is encouraged to see themself as an active, not passive, participant in a collaborative learning community. As a result, CTL graduates achieve success in a wide variety of secondary and collegiate educational environments. 

I hope that you will contact CTL to learn more about joining a community where your child will thrive. 

Katy Inman

Head of School