After teaching for more than a decade, Leah Larson wasn’t sure if teaching was something she could sustain.
It wasn’t until her school administrators brought in Glowmundo, that she saw a way to move forward, re-energized, and re-inspired.
“It really shifted my practice, and it changed the way that I saw education,” said Larson. “I don’t want to leave the classroom now.”
Larson is a second-grade teacher in Aurora Public Schools. She was a part of the teaching program that Glowmundo offers.
“Leah Larson achieves in her classroom and achieves in her personal life,” said Candice Bataille, founder and president of Glowmundo.
Glowmundo collaborates with educators, families, and community leaders to educate and build practices that champion equity, belonging, transformative social-emotional learning, trauma-informed teaching, community engagement, and ultimately academic achievement.
Their training, coaching, and curriculum offer awareness, knowledge, and skills building, that lead to systems changes (Whether the systems are classrooms, schools, families, or communities themselves).
“Our mission is building resilience in children and youth,” explained Bataille. “We do it by supporting children and youth to connect to their inner strength to overcome the difficult situations they face in life.”
“With the support of The Denver Foundation and its donors, we will be able to reach many more schools, many more children, many more teachers, and many more families,” Candice Bataille, founder and president of Glowmundo.
Their programming is a wholesome approach that focuses on the students, the teachers, and their parents. Glowmundo teaches children and youth how to resource within to face challenging circumstances or take opportunities with determination.
Other skills taught are journaling, reflection, deep breathing, empathy, conflict resolution, agency, and stress-coping strategies. This is done through a variety of transformative social-emotional learning curriculums designed for K-12 respectively.
“I’m able to take the stress of my day and not bring it home,” said Larson. “My classroom feels different. There are so many moments where I can be inside my own head and be all over the classroom and remain calm, focused, and attentive to all my students and what they need.”
Larson said the program helped her dig into her personal biases, be mindful of when she sees them in play, and how to navigate through that.
“With the help of Glowmundo, I can continue to prove my practice, which impacts my students, then reaches out and impacts more students, more families, and the bigger community,” said Larson. “It has shifted everything that I do and keeps me excited year after year to get back into the classroom and continue to do that important work.”
The Denver Foundation believes that access to a well-funded and racially equitable K-12 education system is critical for communities in Metro Denver to thrive. That is why we support Glowmundo’s commitment to investing in our future generations. This nonprofit has been a grantee of the foundation and its donors since 2018, including grants from the Community Grants Program and the Critical Needs Fund.
“With the support of The Denver Foundation and its donors we will be able to eliminate bias barriers in the classrooms, and reduce teacher burnout and desertion,” said Bataille. “Increase pro-social behavior of children and youth affected by trauma and increase parental resilience and hope to families whose lives are in distress.”
Photos courtesy: Armando Geneyro