RCS teachers engage in ongoing professional and personal development aligned with domains education. Training in nonviolent communication, multisensory teaching, ecospirituality, and more are interwoven within best practices for innovative academic instruction. Each year, staff set goals to further evolve as holistic educators and leaders in the field.

Although we seek to foster a well-rounded individual, many people are naturally inclined towards one or two particular Domains, witnessing and engaging the world through their own unique lens.

The concept of the Domains is versatile and can be used not only for educational purposes but also as the understanding of personality archetypes, much akin to Jungian archetypes or Rudolph Steiner’s 4 temperaments.

Each Domain persona perceives and communicates uniquely. Each persona is also presented with innate challenges.

In understanding and respecting these differences, we can gain greater empathy toward others, form a stronger community ,and manage healthier dialogues. We can, as well, better understand and address the needs of our students.

Cultivating a holistic learning environment takes intentional planning. Our teachers use multi-week unit plans and short-term lesson plan frameworks along with assessment and feedback to guide their instruction.

These frameworks encourage thinking and planning through the Rainbow Seven Domains™ while also inviting cross-curricular integration.

RCS takes a balanced approach to assessment. We use multi-faceted methods to create a well-rounded understanding of a child’s mastery of content and habits of learning.

Our conferences, progress monitoring, and narrative reports all highlight a child’s experience of learning within each domain. While the domains are inherently interconnected, this specific reporting helps to clarify a pathway for thriving for every child.

The RCS school day allows for large instructional blocks, physical play, social engagement, spiritual connection, and time in nature. This flexibility encourages depth of learning in all the domains.

While some lessons highlight one domain more than others, all of the domains are often integrated simultaneously into a lesson. For example, a Math class will primarily focus on the Mental Domain. However, students may be practicing math facts through kinesthetic learning games that utilize the Physical Domain.

Students may also ponder the deeper meaning of infinite numbers through the lens of the Spiritual Domain, or they may demonstrate how a math concept, such as the Fibonacci Sequence, is found throughout the Natural Domain, thus making the concept more memorable and relevant.

Students who are skilled in the Social Domain are proactive in asking questions and are adept in working in groups on math-oriented inquiry projects.

Learners are often drawn to one or two particular domains for which they have a natural proclivity or talent. When a student is nourished in the particular domain they resonate with, their success often builds confidence and enhances growth in the other domains.

Reciprocally, the holistic approach allows for learners to explore domains that may be challenging, but in a way that utilizes the strengths they have in other domains.

This method is an intimate and nuanced approach, where the teacher will adjust their instruction and the learning environment based upon the individual needs and innate talents of the students.

Students are encouraged to participate in this process, further bolstering the synergy of the unique learner and the interactive, perceptive teacher.