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SALSA advocates for the Learning Stories approach that enhances intentional teaching, reflective practices, and advances equity and diversity by acknowledging early childhood educators, families, and children as both learners and teachers.

Thank you to everyone who joined us today for An Afternoon at Patagonia's Outdoor Classroom! 🌿A special thank you to our...
10/03/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us today for An Afternoon at Patagonia's Outdoor Classroom! 🌿

A special thank you to our presenters, Karen Ramsey and Dr. Emma Parangi, for sharing their Learning Stories presentations. Thank you also to our co-hosts, CSUCI and Great Pacific Child Development Center, for welcoming us into such a beautiful learning space.

We've spent the past few weeks spotlighting the sessions and presenters who make this year's conference special, and tomorrow, it all comes together! Join us on Saturday, October 3, 2026, as we gather to learn, connect, and celebrate together, in Camarillo and online. đź’›

Final Workshop Highlight: Joanie Ryan & Annalie Sherman🤝 Building Connections – How to Use Learning Stories to Build Con...
10/02/2026

Final Workshop Highlight: Joanie Ryan & Annalie Sherman

🤝 Building Connections – How to Use Learning Stories to Build Connections and Strengthen Relationships

We’ve shared workshops from across this year’s conference program, and today we’re excited to close out our 2026 workshop highlight series with Joan Ryan and Annalie Sherman of Patagonia’s Great Pacific Child Development Center!

The workshop will share methods for using Learning Stories to build connections between school and family, and strengthen relationships that support children’s healthy emotional development. Their session follows those connections through different moments in a child’s experience. Beginning with home visits or orientation and continuing through welcome stories, name origin stories, family culture share stories, group stories, and farewell stories or “love letters” to the child.

Participants will also explore ways to encourage families to respond to Learning Stories and how stories can be written to peers and coworkers, extending the relational possibilities of the practice beyond child focused documentation.

Joan brings nearly a decade of experience using Learning Stories to support children’s learning and family connections, while Annalie brings her perspective as an infant-toddler classroom teacher passionate about creating environments where children can explore, build confidence, and develop a sense of wonder.

đź’¬ The presentation will also include opportunities for group discussion and Q&A.

đź“Ł That officially wraps up our workshop highlights for the 9th National Learning Stories Conference!

After weeks of introducing the incredible sessions and presenters joining us this year, the conference is now only 2 days away!

We look forward to welcoming everyone on Saturday, October 3, 2026, in Camarillo and virtually. đź’›

Workshop Highlight: Dr. Jacqueline McDonoughđź“– Learning Stories 102Our 2026 workshop highlight series is almost complete!...
09/30/2026

Workshop Highlight: Dr. Jacqueline McDonough

đź“– Learning Stories 102

Our 2026 workshop highlight series is almost complete! For our second-to-last workshop highlight, we’re featuring Dr. Jacqueline McDonough once again, this time with Learning Stories 102.

While Learning Stories 101 introduced the foundations of the approach, Learning Stories 102 brings together educators across the full spectrum of experience. The session is designed for those encountering Learning Stories for the first time, educators already putting them into practice, and experienced practitioners ready to consider what comes next.

Dr. McDonough will explore what Learning Stories are, why they matter, and how they can be brought to life within different educational settings. Drawing on her commitment to positive child development and child-first learning, she creates an opportunity for participants to reflect on their own Learning Stories practice and continue developing it in ways that support children.

With extensive experience in organizational leadership, trauma-informed care, nonprofit leadership, and work supporting children from birth to age five, Dr. McDonough brings a perspective grounded in creating environments where children feel safe, valued, and supported.

✨ Learning Stories 102 reminds us that Learning Stories aren't limited to a particular level of experience, there is always room to reflect, grow, and consider what comes next.

📣 We’re almost there! The 9th National Learning Stories Conference is only 3 days away.

đź“… Join us Saturday, October 3, 2026, in Camarillo!

⏰ Today is the final day to register! Registration closes tonight, September 30, at 11:59 PM PST.

👉 Register today: https://www.salsa-global.org/conference-registration

Workshop Highlight: Dr. Annie White, Keli Redd, & Sunny RandelTelling Our Leadership Stories: Autoethnography Through Le...
09/29/2026

Workshop Highlight: Dr. Annie White, Keli Redd, & Sunny Randel

Telling Our Leadership Stories: Autoethnography Through Learning Stories

We often use Learning Stories to notice and document the growth of others. But what might we discover when we turn that same reflective lens toward ourselves?

This workshop shares an innovative use of Learning Stories as an authentic assessment within a doctoral educational leadership program. Dr. Annie White will introduce the purpose and design of the assessment and how it was created to foster reflection, identity development, and educational leadership.

Keli Redd and Sunny Randel will then bring that process to life by sharing excerpts from their own autoethnographic digital stories and reflecting on what it meant to create and share their Learning Stories. Together, the presenters will discuss how the experience deepened self-awareness, strengthened relationships within their doctoral cohort, created empathy across diverse lived experiences, and transformed their understanding of leadership.

Through video excerpts, storytelling, guided small-group reflection, and a whole-group conversation, participants will have an opportunity to think about their own experiences and the stories that have shaped them as educators and leaders. The session offers a different way of thinking about Learning Stories, not only as a way to understand learning, but as a meaningful practice for honoring identity and lived experience.

📣 We’re almost there! The 9th National Learning Stories Conference is only 4 days away!

Join us Saturday, October 3, 2026, in Camarillo or virtually for a day of Learning Stories, reflection, connection, and community.

⏰ Registration is OPEN and closes at 11:59 PM PST on September 30, 2026!

👉 Register today: https://www.salsa-global.org/conference-registration

Workshop Highlight: Julia Koumbassa & Helen Frazier✊ From Malaguzzi to Mamdani: Learning Stories and the Fight for Justi...
09/25/2026

Workshop Highlight: Julia Koumbassa & Helen Frazier

✊ From Malaguzzi to Mamdani: Learning Stories and the Fight for Justice in Early Childhood Education

In this session, Julia Koumbassa and Helen Frazier will look beyond Learning Stories as an approach to documentation and examine their connections to histories of resistance to standardization, colonization, and deficit thinking in early childhood education.

Participants will journey through the ideas and movements that helped inspire the Learning Story approach, including connections to liberatory pedagogies, Reggio Emilia, and global movements for educational freedom. From there, Julia and Helen will consider what these intertwined histories can teach us about power and justice in the work of early childhood educators today.

The conversation then moves from history to the present, with an in-depth look at current resistance work within early childhood spaces in New York City. Throughout the session, participants will consider how liberatory approaches center children’s rights, including their right to play, and how lessons from past and present movements can inform the way forward.

The session will primarily take the form of a lecture and slideshow, followed by time for audience questions and discussion.

đź“Ł The 9th National Learning Stories Conference is a little over one week away!

Join us Saturday, October 3, 2026, in Camarillo, California, or virtually for a day of Learning Stories, reflection, conversation, and connection.

⏰ Registration closes at 11:59 PM PST on September 30, 2026.

👉 Register today: https://www.salsa-global.org/conference-registration

Workshop Highlight: Dr. Jacqueline McDonough📖 Learning Stories 101Whether you’re discovering Learning Stories for the fi...
09/23/2026

Workshop Highlight: Dr. Jacqueline McDonough

đź“– Learning Stories 101

Whether you’re discovering Learning Stories for the first time or looking to reignite your passion for the practice, Learning Stories 101 offers an opportunity to build your understanding, confidence, and inspiration.

Dr. Jacqueline McDonough will guide participants through the background and purpose of Learning Stories and effective methods for putting them into practice. The session will look at Learning Stories from multiple perspectives, including administrators, educators, families, children, and the wider community, to build a fuller understanding of the role they can play in early childhood settings.

Participants will also consider how Learning Stories can become a source of inspiration while supporting children in developing greater self-awareness and confidence.

✨ Attendees will leave with knowledge and practical tools for creating Learning Stories that meaningfully capture and communicate the unique learning journey of each individual child.

đź“Ł Registration is OPEN for the 9th National Learning Stories Conference!

⏰ Registration closes at 11:59 PM PST on September 30, 2026.

👉 Register today: https://www.salsa-global.org/conference-registration

Performance Highlight: Dr. Red Ruby Scarlet & Louise Dorrat🎭🎶 The ^Inter^National Quality Framework – The Musical!Dr. Re...
09/18/2026

Performance Highlight: Dr. Red Ruby Scarlet & Louise Dorrat

🎭🎶 The ^Inter^National Quality Framework – The Musical!

Dr. Red Ruby Scarlet and Louise Dorrat bring early childhood education to life in The ^Inter^National Quality Framework – The Musical!, an interactive performance combining music, movement, humor, and professional learning.

Through the characters of Red, an educator, and Lou, a coordinator, the musical takes audiences through the professional and emotional realities of everyday life in an early childhood setting. Along the way, the performance tackles everything from curriculum design, teamwork and leadership to critical reflection, documentation, inclusion, anti-bias, First Nations perspectives, and the arts.

And for this version of the musical, Red and Lou are moving to California! 🌴

Arriving as migrants in a new place with a new early childhood system to understand, Red and Lou become learners themselves. Drawing on their knowledge of the Australian context, they navigate similarities and differences between the two countries, bringing the Australian Early Years Learning Framework and National Quality Standard into conversation... and dance! with California’s DRDP.

Through their journey of learning, critical thinking, collaboration, and celebration, Red and Lou turn professional development into something you might not expect: a performance designed to get you thinking, laughing, moving, and reconnecting with the joy of the work.

đź‘Ź Toe tapping.
🎶 Hand clapping.
đź«° Finger snapping.
đź’ˇ And plenty to think about.

After 40 performances of the NQF Musical across Australia and New Zealand, Red and Louise are bringing this special ^Inter^National version to the 9th National Learning Stories Conference!

đź“Ł Registration is OPEN!

⏰ Registration closes at 11:59 PM PST on September 30, 2026.

👉 Register today: https://www.salsa-global.org/conference-registration

🎉 We’re just 2 weeks away from the 9th National Learning Stories Conference!Join the SALSA community this October for a ...
09/18/2026

🎉 We’re just 2 weeks away from the 9th National Learning Stories Conference!

Join the SALSA community this October for a day of storytelling, reflection, connection, and professional learning centered around this year’s theme.

✨ Telling Our Way Forward: Learning Stories of Belonging and Resistance ✨

This year’s conference brings together educators, researchers, families, and Learning Stories practitioners for a day designed to inspire new ideas, deepen our practice, and celebrate the power of stories in our learning communities.

đź“š More than a dozen workshops to choose from!

Whether you’re brand new to Learning Stories, looking for practical ideas to bring back to your classroom, or interested in deeper conversations around belonging, assessment, leadership, identity, inclusion, relationships, and educational practice - there’s something for you.

đź“… Registration closes September 30 at 11:59 PM PT!

There’s still time to join us. Come learn, connect, share stories, and help us tell our way forward. 💛

👉 Register today: https://www.salsa-global.org/conference-registration

We can’t wait to welcome you in October!

Workshop Highlight: Dr. Red Ruby Scarlet & Louise Dorrat🎶 Making Music in Early Education“Music is the most important pa...
09/16/2026

Workshop Highlight: Dr. Red Ruby Scarlet & Louise Dorrat

🎶 Making Music in Early Education

“Music is the most important part of our entire existence! Biased? Definitely!”

Get ready for a workshop where early childhood education meets music, rhythm, movement, and a whole lot of creativity!

In this hands-on session, Dr. Red Ruby Scarlet and Louise Dorrat will share creative and accessible ways educators can make music part of everyday learning. Louise will get participants experimenting with raps and rhythms using simple props and resources, while Red will bring reading, writing, and movement into the mix, demonstrating ways to make musical experiences fun, meaningful, and possible with children of all ages.

And when it comes to combining early childhood education with the performing arts, Red and Louise have plenty of experience! With more than 35 years in early childhood education, along with backgrounds in drama and dance, they bring together expertise in early childhood systems, social justice, and the creative and performing arts.

✨ Whether you consider yourself musical or not, this workshop is about discovering practical and playful ways to bring rhythm, movement, and music into your work with young children.

đź“Ł Registration is OPEN for the 9th National Learning Stories Conference!

⏰ Registration closes at 11:59 PM PST on September 30, 2026.

👉 Register today: https://www.salsa-global.org/conference-registration

Have you submitted your proposal yet? The Call for Proposals for the 9th National Learning Stories Conference is still o...
06/01/2026

Have you submitted your proposal yet?

The Call for Proposals for the 9th National Learning Stories Conference is still open and accepting submissions through June 30, 2026. This year’s theme, Telling Our Way Forward: Learning Stories of Belonging and Resistance, invites meaningful conversations about how stories can support belonging, identity, connection, and community in educational spaces. We are looking for presentations, workshops, case studies, research, and reflective practice-based proposals connected to Learning Stories, family and community partnerships, culturally sustaining documentation, multilingualism, creative assessment, and storytelling as a response to deficit-based systems.

Submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Lw68Gu9GTdR6CH2A7, or use the QR code on the flyer.

Please share this reminder with colleagues, collaborators, and community members who may be interested!

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San Luis Obispo, CA
93401 - 93403, 93405 - 93410, 93412

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