Flourish (verb) 1. grow or develop in a healthy way especially as a result of a healthy environment. 2. to thrive. 3. to cultivate order, beauty or abundance for the common good of others.*
In what ways might we help educators flourish?
“I can’t wait for Professional Learning Community (PLC) today,” shared Val, a fourth grade teacher from Denver, Colorado. “I’m bringing some student work and a big question about what to do with all the ideas students generated when we looked at the newspaper photos of floods.” Val and her students are diving deep into an inquiry on natural disasters, studying a resource collection containing a variety of sources. Meanwhile, she and her colleagues are in the midst of a year-long study of how to enhance student understanding of challenging texts and concepts. As part of their professional learning, teachers are digging into the Thinking Strategies with PEBC coupled with the Project Zero Thinking Routines as ways to scaffold student discourse and meaning-making. Each Friday, the staff gathers for professional development and collegial collaboration; they share artifacts from their classrooms to support their learning.
On this Friday, Val shares how she developed a multi-genre resource collection that included before and after photos from a variety of floods, data on the cost of flood damage today, infographics on flood safety, some feature articles related to flood relief, and an assortment of other intriguing information. She explains how her students first examined the set through the lens of their background knowledge, then shared their inferences or synthesis, and finally generated questions. Students were full of wonder about flood prevention, preparedness, and recovery. If we could take a bird’s-eye-view photo of Val’s PLC group in action, we would see student work and resources spread out across the table and teachers leaning in as they explore the artifacts. The mood is joyful, inquisitive and respectful. After sharing her ‘what,’ Val asks the group to help her think about the ‘now what?’, including: How might she build systems and structures for inquiry that will support her students’ mastery of a variety of standards, and a deeper understanding of content knowledge? Val and her tablemates take turns sharing and receiving feedback and each leaves that afternoon with a pocketful of new ideas, a sense of collective efficacy, and a better understanding of ways to accomplish their goal of supporting student understanding of challenging texts and concepts.
To flourish means to thrive. Teachers like Val are hungry for intellectual challenge, eager to participate in discussions about teaching and learning, and motivated to implement their discoveries in their classrooms. They also crave the collegiality and collaboration that inspires meaningful connection, creativity, and implementation. If we want our teachers to remain in the profession, impact student learning, and thrive: we simply must create the conditions for teachers to flourish professionally, intellectually, and personally.
Flourish also means to grow or develop in a healthy way as a result of a healthy environment. Facilitators of professional learning and collaboration must cultivate systems and structures for learning-focused culture to develop. Just like master gardeners, we must intentionally nurture our soil to promote robust growth. A healthy environment for learning includes joy, trust, curiosity, belonging and purpose for each and every learner.
Our intentional planning allows us to cultivate order, beauty or abundance for the common good of others. How often have you heard or asked (on a Friday afternoon), “What are we going to do for PD next Tuesday?” Without purpose, our attempts at creating meaningful opportunities for learning and collaboration fall flat. Without purpose, we cannot engage in intentional long-term or short-term planning. When we are not “planful,” we can fall into habits like offering sit-and-get presentations or hosting PLC’s that don’t seem to get anywhere. We also lose out on the opportunities to facilitate engagements that foster engagement and commitment. If we don’t know where we’re going, we’ll end up somewhere else. (Thanks to Yogi Berra for that great reminder that intentional planning is critical for success. ).
So as you and your teams gather this summer to plan for your welcome week, PLC’s, professional development days, staff meetings or the like, consider the importance of cultivating learning-focus environments and intentional professional learning plans so that our teachers can thrive. One way to approach planning is through the lenses of inspiration, information and implementation. Here are some planning questions to get the gears turning. In future posts, we will explore the nuances of each in greater detail.
Inspiration: Facilitators spark emotional engagement, foster positive relationships, and fortify commitment.
- How might you cultivate a culture of learning and human connection?
- In what ways are students at the center of our professional learning goals?
- As your system sets system-wide professional learning goals, in what ways are those living and breathing in your classrooms or school?
- What learning structures are you utilizing to tap into teachers’ love of learning?
Information: Facilitators create opportunities for intellectual engagement, develop structures for inquiry, and provide relevant, high quality information, research, strategies and tools…
- What is that we are truly, truly trying to “get smarter” about and why?
- How might we ensure that our teachers have time to fully engage in inquiry?
- What learning structures can we use to convey information that models the best practices we aspire to implement in classrooms?
- In what ways might we incorporate differentiated structures of learning new information? (reading video study, social media, study groups, PLC’s, speakers, conferences)
Implementation: Facilitators provide time to approximate and put new ideas into action, create spaces for sharing & feedback, and create opportunities for goal setting and reflection…
- How are expectations and success criteria conveyed to staff?
- How might we set up a culture of low risk and structures for approximation and implementation of new ideas?
- In what ways are we allowing for voice, choice, and reflection as part of the implementation cycle?
- How will teachers receive feedback on their growth?
- How will teachers learn from their students and one another?
As facilitators of learning, growth and collaboration, let’s commit to supporting teachers to thrive by creating healthy environments that cultivate an abundance of learning for the common good of each and every learner by intentionally planning for inspiration, information and implementation for each and every educator.
*The definitions of flourish included in this blog are not my own. It is used with permission from Tricia Garrett of GarrettHandLettering who synthesized the definitions and phrases from the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary, and a variety of other sources.
