Vaidehi is an early childhood  educator whose work is grounded in Anti-Bias Education and Supportive Social Learning principles. She holds a Master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education with a focus on the Reggio Emilia approach from the University of Colorado Denver, and currently teaches 4- and 5-year olds at Newtowne School.  Vaidehi also teaches graduate-level courses virtually for the University of Colorado Denver and has presented and published her teacher-research with organizations such as the Boston Area Reggio Inspired Network, the City of Cambridge’s Office of Early Childhood, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Alastair is a music and social justice educator at Newtowne School, Henry Frost Children’s Program, and Summer Street Preschool. He is also a two-time Grammy Nominee for Best Children’s Album, three-time Parents’ Choice Gold Medal winner, recipient of the ASCAP Joe Raposo Children’s Music Award, and co-founder of the antiracist music organization, The Opening Doors Project. As a “grownup” singer-songwriter, he has toured on three continents, playing major folk music festivals like Newport and opening for acts like Arlo Guthrie, Taj Mahal, and Greg Brown. The Boston Globe calls him “one of the town’s best and most adventurous songwriters.” 

Rachel is a somatic practitioner, organizer, and popular educator living in an intergenerational community on Massachusett and Pawtucket land. Rachel has worked for decades at the intersection of social movements, community learning, and democratic change. She is co-creator of Beautiful Solutions: A Toolbox for Liberation, a global storytelling project highlighting community-led approaches to building just and sustainable systems. Rachel comes from people who gather people, who know that no problem is too big for a kitchen table, who find meaning in wild places and wild times and shape change on the side of life in the face of cultures of death. She is a proud Newtowne School parent.

All young children are acquiring language, and many are growing up multilingual—learning more than one language at home, at school, or both. Translanguaging is a strength-based approach that honors the natural, fluid ways children draw on their full linguistic repertoires to communicate, make meaning, and learn. This perspective aligns with the Reggio Emilia–inspired idea of the “hundred languages of children,” valuing multiple ways of expressing understanding across languages, dialects, and modes of communication. In this workshop, we will share stories of multilingual students and their teachers—highlighting classroom successes, exploring real-world complexities, and considering the impacts of translanguaging on peer relationships, families, and curriculum design.

Steve Seidel writes about groups that hold “the individual in their arms with care, respect, and love”… places that “provide exactly the right context for the emergence of strong individual identities.” This workshop will begin with a discussion of Steve’s idea that classrooms can support individual needs rather than be in conflict with them. We will then share some teacher-research from a toddler classroom curriculum about the Go Away/Come Back game, where our goal is to create curriculum that celebrates each child’s ideas. Finally, participants will exchange ideas about how groups in other settings can support strong individual identities.

Is there a book you read to children that always seems to just…work? Or a tried-and-true phrase that consistently sparks engagement? As thoughtful, savvy educators — both visiting and host educators alike — we each bring valuable expertise built through experience. This peer-to-peer workshop centers the knowledge already in the room, creating space for a collaborative exchange of proven practices. Together, we’ll generate a robust collection of classroom favorites that can refresh daily routines and support joyful learning. Participants are encouraged to share something they’re proud of — a book, song, game, phrase, or other practice that has made a difference. The hope is that we each walk away with a new trick (or many) in our back pocket!

The Replay is a reflective practice we use to deepen children’s learning by revisiting real moments from classroom life. In one Newtowne classroom each Thursday, through videos, puppet shows, and role-playing, children and teachers look back on meaningful interactions—celebrating successes, unpacking challenges, and exploring new ways to navigate social situations. In this workshop, we’ll share how The Replay has shaped our classroom community, along with our ongoing questions. Participants will have the opportunity to “replay” together in small groups, working on a social skill, classroom challenge, or piece of documentation from their own practice. Together, we’ll explore how reflection can strengthen relationships, problem-solving, and learning for both children and educators.

The U.S. is in crisis: families are being separated during immigration enforcement, children detained, and activists targeted and harmed. Across communities, people are protesting and organizing for justice. Educators are grappling with how to support and engage children, families, and colleagues around these realities. In response, this collaborative Idea Lab invites teachers to reflect, share experiences, and plan for brave work ahead. Together, participants will exchange ideas and generate age-appropriate, community-responsive strategies for fostering belonging, fairness, and community care. Participants will also contribute to a collective tool filled with prompts, practices, and reflections for classroom use and professional learning, emphasizing side-by-side action across schools. The workshop centers community wisdom, shared responsibility, and preparation for meaningful action.

Have you ever noticed a child who tends to sit on the periphery of classroom life and wondered about ways to pull them in? This workshop explores an approach to fostering an inclusive community by intentionally leveraging individual children’s interests and expertise. Through a series of concrete vignettes, we will provide examples of how Newtowne educators have centered children’s passions to build skills, support challenging behavior, or enhance social engagement. Participants will have time to reflect together about how similar practices could support inclusion in their own school communities. 

Leadership structures are deeply influential—shaping culture, collaboration, and care across a school community—and, over time, benefit from periodic reflection and renewal. This session highlights a reflective, board-led process to review and fine tune a school’s Leadership Team after five years of practice, growth, and change. Led by the Board in partnership with school leadership, the process centers listening, role clarity, and continuous learning as pathways to sustainability and collective strength. Rather than starting with solutions, the work emphasizes shared sense-making and surfaced tensions to better understand how leadership is lived—not just documented. The session invites leaders and educators from varied contexts to reflect on how leadership structures can be revisited, not as fixed solutions, but as living systems that evolve alongside the communities they serve.