Moraga Educator Honored To Join PBLWorks National Faculty

MORAGA, CA — A Moraga resident and educator has received the honor of joining the National Faculty of PBLWorks, an organization dedicated to building the capacity of teachers to design and facilitate quality Project-Based Learning.

This prestigious position places The Saklan School's Linda Lathrop among 75 educators collaborating with PBLWorks to train thousands of teachers across the United States and beyond in Project-Based Learning methodologies — a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and complex question, problem or challenge.

"Linda’s nomination is not only a testament to her hard work but also to the dedication and teamwork exemplified by the Saklan faculty," said David O’Connell, head of school at Saklan, a preschool-eighth-grade campus. "Crafting and executing high-level project-based work demands courage and a willingness to be vulnerable — qualities that Linda and the rest of our faculty possess in abundance."

With Lathrop's appointment, The Saklan School gains direct access to the expertise of PBLWorks. Further, the innovative approaches used at Saklan will influence educational practices worldwide, giving the local school a voice in the global conversation about the future of education.

Lathrop is a classroom teacher for sixth grade, an instructional coach and an arts integration specialist who is passionate about empowering students and fellow educators. After earning her master's degree and teaching credential from the University of California, Berkeley, Lathrop began her teaching journey at an arts demonstration school in Oakland where she designed cross-curricular project units alongside performance assessments.

Currently, in addition to serving as National Faculty, Linda teaches sixth-grade humanities while also facilitating the implementation of PBL units for ECE-eighth-graders at The Saklan School.

Lathrop believes in the transformative power of projects that stem from students seeking to solve a problem or answer a question that is important to them. Her favorite Project-Based Learning units are those that inspire genuine creativity and civic action. For her, there is nothing more powerful than students feeling a sense of agency, extending their learning outside of the classroom walls, and experiencing the power of impacting the world around them.