About 100 teachers attended the annual Harker Teacher Institute on June 6. The event offered workshops for educators looking to gain new pedagogical skills to bring to their classrooms and curricula. Teachers learned how to use Google Apps to increase classroom efficiency, methods to challenge students while reducing stress, how to use games to teach mathematics and more.

Natalie Richardson, a teacher from Sacramento who attended the Google Apps workshop, said she plans to use Doctopus to share documents with her students. She was also inspired by Eileen Schick’s workshop on Singapore model drawing, a visual method for solving complex word problems. “I even bought several books on Singapore math word problems after her presentation,” Richardson said. “I am already working on implementation in my junior high class.”

This year’s HTI featured a number of first-time presenters, “including several that were low-tech or no-tech, which was a welcome addition,” said Diane Main, upper school director of learning innovation and design.

“I overheard many attendees comment that they wanted to attend all the sessions,” Main added. “There were so many great speakers and topics to choose from.”