Hidden Sparks Hosts 18th Annual Retreat
Hidden Sparks, held its annual educators retreat, commemorating its 18th anniversary. The event, which took place on March 18th at the Moises Safra Center in Manhattan, welcomed educators from a wide range of schools from the tri-state area, Texas, Washington D.C., Connecticut and Los Angeles to engage on the topic of “The Hidden Curriculum: Fostering Social Growth”.
“Fostering social growth so that students feel both seen and appreciated for their unique strengths and that they belong and matter is so critically important for their healthy development and for helping them feel part of our community. Teachers and schools have a lot of agency in this regard,” explained Debbie Niderberg, Executive Director of Hidden Sparks. “The energy at the retreat and enthusiasm to learn was palpable as teachers envisioned a whole-school commitment to social growth, language and norms to take back to their classrooms and heard from other school leaders how they were addressing this need.”
One of the sessions was presented by educator and author Lily Howard Scott, who spoke about “The Language of Social Growth” and how to help students identify their emotions and use language to help overcome the challenges that come with those emotions. “Language can be used in encouraging kids to think about themselves and social beings whose emotions matter,” Howard Scott explained.
The retreat provided a platform for teachers from different schools to discuss specific challenges they encounter and how they address them. Pressman Academy’s Director of Wellness Inez Tiger hosted a session focused on an exercise called Council which helps educators teach and practice with children how to become better listeners so as to foster empathy and supportive classrooms. “Sometimes kids can go through the school week and only be heard for 13 minutes a week, which is why practices that encourage active listening for all students are so important.”
“Participating in this retreat was an eye-opening experience,” said Rabbi Garfield, Head of School Yeshiva Torat Emet Houston, Host of Chinuch Today podcast. “It reinforced the importance of integrating social-emotional learning into our classrooms, ensuring that every student feels seen, supported, and empowered to thrive academically and personally.”
