Join us for breakfast goodies and custom-made coffee and tea before we start Day 2 of the CoT Summit! Come early in order to mingle with other participants.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 7:00am - 8:30am PDT Open Area
What does a school truly value? The signs are everywhere—from posters posted throughout the hallways to conversations teachers and leaders find themselves in regularly. Building a Culture of Thinking is the aspiration of many schools, yet the journey from good intentions to sustained, deep transformation is fraught with common pitfalls. This plenary session talk draws upon vivid, real-world stories to examine critical challenges that often undermine genuine cultural change. We will explore how to move beyond viewing a Culture of Thinking as a program to "do" and instead cultivate it as a fundamental stance—a shift in collective identity.
If questions drive thinking and learning, how are we creating experiences and supporting conditions to ignite curiosity? Join us to explore the process of artifact analysis with the use of thinking routines. Collaborate with fellow historians to apply a design lens to history and reflect upon the power of these opportunities in our own instruction. Though the example in this workshop is with social studies, the ideas and approach are applicable across subject areas and grade levels.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:25am - 11:50am PDT Room 311
Stories shape how we understand ourselves, one another, and the communities we belong to. They emerge through our dialogue, reflection, and collective meaning-making. In this interactive session, participants will explore storytelling as a powerful thinking practice that helps learners develop perspective, empathy, and a sense of belonging. Together, we will examine how inviting students to share, listen to, and co-construct stories makes thinking visible, strengthens relationships, and supports inclusive classroom cultures. Rather than focusing on polished narratives, participants will experience a simple, adaptable approach to story-building that can be used across age levels and subject areas to foster voice, agency, and connection.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:25am - 11:50am PDT Room 313
What does it mean for educators to foster thinking and understanding in the age of AI, and how can we cultivate both student and teacher agency regarding these emergent and powerful tools for learning? Grounded in the ninth mindset of the Cultures of Thinking in Action framework, this interactive workshop will explore ways we can create intentional opportunities for ourselves and our students to explore, understand, and interrogate AI using Project Zero ideas and a maker mindset. Incorporating AI in our teaching and learning can drive engagement, fuel empowerment, and foster deep learning. No experience with AI necessary, just an open mind! Participants are encouraged to bring a computing device, if available.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:25am - 11:50am PDT Room 305
Deeply listening is challenging, but the payoff is immense! Join us in exploring links between thinking routines and the act of listening to students–-when do we lean in, when do we step back, and how can we tell? We’ll use a mathematical example as a lens, but each participant’s own practice is the true focus. Come consider how your own curiosity can become capital for your students’ growth!
Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:25am - 11:50am PDT Room 316
Join us in an exploration of how powerful teacher-student interactions and a culture of belonging elevate thinking and learning. We’ll examine practical moves that build trust, agency, and deeper intellectual engagement. Grounded in the cultural force of Interactions and the mindset that students learn best when they feel known, valued, and respected, this session invites us to consider how to build relational learning environments where intellectual risk-taking thrives.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:25am - 11:50am PDT Room 321
Come learn about and experience the LAST protocol, designed to assist teachers as they examine the presence of thinking, often from students' use of a thinking routine. The protocol deepens teacher learning and helps develop formative assessment skills. In this session, educators from local schools will facilitate close looking at elementary and secondary students' thinking. This protocol is valuable to use as a whole faculty, in department meetings, or among critical friends.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:25am - 11:50am PDT Room 109
This session will offer perspectives on leveraging the Cultures of Thinking (CoT) Mindsets to inform instructional planning and organizational culture. Drawing upon ten years of experience at Mandela International Magnet School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Principal Randy Grillo will engage participants in an analysis of street data and student work that illustrates how teachers are using CoT Mindsets to guide their instructional decisions. Participants will explore practical ideas for using these mindsets not just as a vision, but as an ongoing tool to illuminate next steps, drive professional growth, and shape a responsive and reflective learning environment.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:25am - 11:50am PDT Room 108
Everyone can relate to the feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to do it. But how can we impact this culture of "busyness" in order to create opportunities for deep learning? This session will explore both the obstacles to and strategies for slowing down and doing less but going deeper by using subtractive thinking. And in doing so, we’ll consider how this adds value to both living and learning.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 10:25am - 11:50am PDT Room 110
Culture lives in the messages we send--even in the school’s physical environment. What does your space say about what you value and think is important? What message does it send to students, parents, and visitors about learning? Join Del Mar Union School District educators for a "Ghost Walk"--a collaborative walk through a school when classes are not meeting. Participants will focus on a specific topic that Pacific Sky School has been working on and will share their observations. This protocol sharpens our ability to examine our own building, or to share observations with a critical friends group when visiting each other’s schools.
One of the reasons we hold this Cultures of Thinking Summit, rather than a "conference," is to promote the coming together of the perspectives, experiences, curiosities, and aspirations you all bring. Our Open Space Summit Café is specifically designed to be a place where we engage with one another -- talking about the kinds of topics and questions that will provide moments to consider other viewpoints, reflect deeply, and perhaps gain some new insights and inspiration. For this reason, conversation groups will form around topics that are of most interest to this year's Summit learners. Coming soon, we'll gather suggested topics you'd like to converse with other participants about, or questions you'd like to chew on most with others that would be helpful to you in your own efforts to create and deepen a Culture of Thinking.
If questions drive thinking and learning, how are we creating experiences and supporting conditions to ignite curiosity? Join us to explore the process of artifact analysis with the use of thinking routines. Collaborate with fellow historians to apply a design lens to history and reflect upon the power of these opportunities in our own instruction. Though the example in this workshop is with social studies, the ideas and approach are applicable across subject areas and grade levels.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 2:50pm - 4:15pm PDT Room 311
Student voices drive a learning community. Being seen, valued, and heard begins with opportunities to make your thinking visible. In this session, we will use art notebooks to slow down and look deeply, and tableaux work to talk, move and create. Come experience contrasting ways of bringing student thinking to life through the arts in a creative and hands-on manner!
Wednesday July 22, 2026 2:50pm - 4:15pm PDT Room 313
Inspired by the Smithsonian Institution’s City of Hope: Resurrection City and the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, this session will examine the Cultures of Thinking mindset that learning is both an individual endeavor and a collective enterprise. Participants will explore how communities of diverse thinkers unite around shared purpose, voice, and vision. Through Project Zero thinking routines and collaborative activities, we will experience how a Culture of Thinking thrives when every learner contributes to collective understanding. We will co-create actionable practices for a "thinking ecosystem," connecting Resurrection City’s spirit of hope and agency to the work of cultivating inclusive, equitable classrooms—transforming them into living "cities” of hope.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 2:50pm - 4:15pm PDT Room 321
What does it mean for educators to foster thinking and understanding in the age of AI, and how can we cultivate both student and teacher agency regarding these emergent and powerful tools for learning? Grounded in the ninth mindset of the Cultures of Thinking in Action framework, this interactive workshop will explore ways we can create intentional opportunities for ourselves and our students to explore, understand, and interrogate AI using Project Zero ideas and a maker mindset. Incorporating AI in our teaching and learning can drive engagement, fuel empowerment, and foster deep learning. No experience with AI necessary, just an open mind! Participants are encouraged to bring a computing device, if available.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 2:50pm - 4:15pm PDT Room 305
Empowering ALL Learners Through a Culture of Thinking focuses on something we are all craving more of in our classrooms: deep, human-centered dialogue that supports learners in feeling known, valued, and seen. Through agreements that shift from a culture of compliance to a culture of engagement, and documentation of language and learning through a culture of thinking, we can create the conditions that help learners move from dependence to greater independenceas thinkers, collaborators, and contributors. When we intentionally design with the cultural forces of time, interactions, and opportunities in mind, we can create space for every learner, especially those who have felt disenfranchised or underestimated, to show us who they are and what they are capable of.
In this session, we’ll explore simple, powerful structures you can use right away through what our students actually named “The Dinner Table.” Grounded in a culture of thinking, this discussion-based approach sparks richer conversations, supports meaningful collaboration, increases student ownership, and nurtures truly independent thinking. You’ll see how these practices elevate student voice, strengthen community, and expand what’s possible in our classrooms.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 2:50pm - 4:15pm PDT Room 316
As educators worldwide strive to cultivate classrooms where thinking is valued and visible, thinking routines have become commonplace in practice. However, these routines are all too often treated as "activities to complete" rather than tools to foster deep thinking habits. To be truly effective, thinking routines must be supported by other essential Making Thinking Visible (MTV) practices: active listening, intentional questioning, and strategic documentation-- positioning us to be students of our students. In this session, Mark will lead participants through an immersive experience that highlights these practices, offering fresh ways to reconsider the power of making thinking visible—both through routines and beyond.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 2:50pm - 4:15pm PDT Room 109
We often use the word “training” when we talk about teacher professional learning. This connotes that there is some skill or practice that we merely want teachers to replicate or add into their practice. However, developing a culture of thinking goes much deeper than merely adding a set of practices. It requires a deep reflection on and understanding of one’s teaching as we engage in the ongoing practice of refining it. Such an inquiry provides a powerful example of in-depth, ongoing professional learning. In this session we will look at the Inquiry Cycle we have used to guide teachers around the world in the Cultures of Thinking Project and hear from local teachers about what this type of learning has meant to them.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 2:50pm - 4:15pm PDT Room 108
The 8 Cultural Forces serve as a vehicle that communicates what matters in a learning space, reflecting value systems that connect to the emotional, ancestral, and identity-based cultural roots that shape how people learn and make meaning. In this session, participants will engage in an exploration of how cultural values strengthen learning environments where thinking is valued, visible, and meaningful. Through interactive provocations and a thinking routine, participants will surface the cultural values within their community, seeing how diverse backgrounds come alive through silent dialogue and shared noticing. Participants will also be guided through a novel way to use the 8 Cultural Forces framework to map their core values into actionable teaching and planning moves. This session grows out of ways the presenters have used Indigenous Hawaiian perspectives to guide their use of the 8 Cultural Forces, bringing you examples of how this work shows up in professional development sessions and instructional coaching—demonstrating a systematic, layered way of supporting teachers, leaders, and students through a cultural perspective. Whether attending as a teacher, administrator, specialist or coach, participants will leave with a tool they can immediately apply to help cultural values live—visibly and intentionally—across classrooms, staff rooms, and entire school communities.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 2:50pm - 4:15pm PDT Room 317
Everyone can relate to the feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to do it. But how can we impact this culture of busyness in order to create opportunities for deep learning? This session will explore both the obstacles to and strategies for slowing down and doing less but going deeper by using subtractive thinking. And in doing so, we’ll consider how this adds value to both living and learning.
Wednesday July 22, 2026 2:50pm - 4:15pm PDT Room 110
As we close out the Summit, Ron and Mark will offer insights and perspectives to support participants as they take home ideas from the weekend and put them into action.
