About
About Kristine
(M.Ed: Educational Leadership; Curriculum and Instruction)
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Kristine is an education consultant specializing in social-emotional learning (SEL) and leadership. She serves as the Learning and Development Coordinator for the International School Counsellor Association (ISCA) and teaches aspiring school leaders as an adjunct professor at The College of New Jersey.
An experienced facilitator, coach, and curriculum designer, Kristine helps schools create coherent, learner-centred approaches that intentionally address students’ social and emotional needs alongside academic growth. Her work focuses on embedding life skills within and across the curriculum – not as an add-on, but as an essential part of everyday learning.
With two decades of experience in U.S. public schools and international schools, Kristine most recently served as Director of Learning at Benjamin Franklin International School in Barcelona and as Curriculum and Professional Learning Coordinator at International School of Beijing. She is based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Kristine is the author of The Leap Year: Practical Advice and Insights for Those Navigating Career Transitions. Her book offers guidance for those considering new pathways such as consulting and entrepreneurship.
About the Name
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The year was 2017. I was the new Director of Learning at an international school where collaboration among staff was limited. I was introducing a formal curriculum review process that we knew would affirm the many strong aspects of teaching and learning at our school. We also knew that if done well, the process would inspire us to revise, enhance and innovate our curriculum, assessment and practices for teaching and learning. All of this would require true collaboration and a spirit of inquiry. I wondered if the current culture (or lack thereof) of collaboration was due to the limited and less than optimal meeting spaces for teachers. Or perhaps it was due to lack of collaborative planning time built into the schedule. Maybe it was more than lack of space and systems. Were meetings and professional learning sessions designed and facilitated in a way that promoted collaboration? Were school leaders modeling this? Were we building capacity in teachers as learning leaders?
I then developed a vision. I imagined teams of teachers coming together to question the status quo, push each other’s thinking, reflect, design, problem solve, take risks, innovate, make mistakes, and make decisions. One night at dinner, I was describing this collaborative and lab-like environment to my husband Casey, and…the name was born. He suggested we call our (not yet secured) space, The Collaboratory.
And so, you might imagine that to my delight, a year later the Head of School came to me with blueprints for a new building project and pointed to a large space, labeled The Collaboratory.
Collaboratory Consulting embodies these values of collaboration and connection, creativity and innovation and I bring these into the work I do with schools.
