Our Wildwood, Volume 51

can then be shared with fellow Wildwood teachers, as well as educators at public and other independent schools. “The idea is that Outreach Center fellows will be at the forefront of shaping educational practices, both in their own classrooms and beyond,” said Steve Barrett, director of the Wildwood Outreach Center. “They are not just participants, but emerging leaders within the field of education.” Key topics for future fellows include Global Education, Technology and AI, Standards-Based Assessment, Systems Thinking, and themes of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB), as well as Social Justice. “Innovation is central to who we are. The kind of teachers who are drawn to Wildwood are learners themselves, who recognize that—because they’re at Wildwood—the impact of their work goes beyond the experiences of the students with whom they work,” said Head of School Landis Green. “This kind of work—via the Outreach Center—was one of the foundational ideas when the school expanded to K-12 a quarter century ago. The Cynthia and George Mitchell Family Foundation gift is helping to secure that vision and take it to the next level, not just for our kids at Wildwood—but for children and teachers in other schools, both public and independent.”

workshop on her research before further honing it as an offering of the Wildwood Outreach Center to other independent and public schools. As she continues with the fellowship, her goal is to dive deeper into curriculum development and classroom instruction skills. “What makes this fellowship so gratifying is that not only has it been transformative for my own professional growth, but the fact that I can share it with the entire Wildwood community,” Melanie said. “It amplifies the impact we can make as teachers, and I can’t wait to see the effects as it ripples through Wildwood’s classrooms and beyond.”

huge part of how students acquire new skills,” Melanie said. “Nobody is born without the ability to learn something—it all boils down to how they are able to identify and integrate new knowledge into their existing cognitive framework.” A lifelong learner herself, Melanie has spent the 2023-2024 school year studying best practices around metacognition, executive functioning, and how to enhance classroom learning. Her research not only contributes toward her current pursuit of a doctorate at George Fox University (Newberg, Ore.), but serves as a primary focus of her Outreach Center fellowship. In November 2023, Melanie led a workshop for fellow Wildwood elementary educators on best uses and practices around Mood Meters, a key aspect of the RULER approach to social-emotional learning (see page 22 for more). For fall 2024, Melanie is planning another faculty

MEET Melanie Boonstra , Wildwood’s Inaugural Outreach Center Fellow For 5th grade teacher Melanie Boonstra, how students learn is just as exciting a subject as what students learn. “Metacognition is essentially ‘thinking about thinking,’ and it’s a

OWW SUMMER 2024

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