Jane and Leah Raphael provide unique professional development experiences for educators informed by their over 60-years of shared experience working in public schools. They combine a deep expertise in powerful classroom literacy practices with careful attention to the kinds of structures and processes that yield meaningful adult learning opportunities. To truly impact the growth and development of young people, Jane and Leah believe that educators’ professional growth experiences must also be skillfully crafted to focus on the social, cultural, and historical dimensions of learning, honoring the wisdom and lived experience of educators.
Our Work
“This is the best PD I have ever received on any topic, ever.”
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We provide supports for schools to launch and sustain authentic workshop classrooms. Our work includes individualized teacher and leader coaching, as well as small or large group learning sessions to focus on unit and lesson planning, phonics, looking at student work, adult workshop experiences, and practice with other methods that support workshop pedagogy. We also provide in classroom demonstrations and co-teaching opportunities.
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For schools to sustain meaningful cultural and instructional shifts, change must involve site-based, distributed leadership. We work with schools to engage teachers and school leaders in peer observations, instructional rounds, and other networked cross-school supports that build democratic, shared leadership in schools and districts.
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Schools need organizational structures and processes that support equity. We have long served as carriers of RJE circles, a set of relational processes that originates in Indigenous communities. RJE circles can help schools to challenge persistent power dynamics, build authentic relationships, promote dialogue across lines of difference, and practice collective ways of knowing and problem-solving.
Read more about Building Community with Circles.
Meet Jane and Leah
Jane and Leah are a mother-daughter educator team. As a youth, Leah grew up visiting Jane’s primary classrooms in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and later found her own way into classroom teaching and school leadership. Along with droves of teachers in Los Angeles, Jane was Leah’s first meaningful mentor when she started in the classroom; two decades later, in the midst of a global pandemic, they combined their experience and passion to help serve the widespread learning and well-being needs of public school educators.
