The influence teachers have on our children has and always will, shape the world. Therefore, logically, the more we invest in teachers, the more our students will thrive, and the more our communities will grow and innovate.
During COVID-19 related school closures, the creative ways in which teachers around the world are bringing excellent online experiences to students is clear evidence of the magnitude of teacher power. They haven’t allowed learning to stop.
So, as teachers focus on students, let’s not forget to focus on teachers.
When our global network at Whittle School & Studios began transitioning our nearly 300 educators and 1,200 students across eight countries into Online Learning over seven weeks ago, we launched these five ideas for Professional Learning that
have resulted in true teacher power.
1. START WITH STRATEGIC STUDIES
When we first transitioned, we wanted a low-risk, efficacious way to engage our communities around academic topics. We wanted to ensure new learning would impact teacher practice, to strike a balance of asynchronous and synchronous engagement, and for colleagues to collaborate.
We launched a variety of Learning Communities. One particularly successful type is a Book Study. These are different from Book Clubs in that they result in specific learning goals which impact instruction. Book Studies require self- paced reading time and routine meetings, striking a beautiful virtual learning balance. They allow colleagues from around the world to intellectually engage each other, deepening relationships during this time of “social isolation”.
But we found that substantive Book Studies resulting in concrete learning applicable to practice require strategic facilitation. So we created this template, a necessary tool for us to ensure conversations are meaningful, participation is robust, and outcomes are efficacious. We’re currently studying Power of Our Words: Teacher Language that Helps Children Learn.
2. PURSUE PROBLEMS OF PRACTICE
Although we are focusing on the present, we mustn't lose sight of the past and future. During this online time, we are solving “Problems of Practice” – issues that have either been a nuisance to teachers all year or may be potential obstacles upon return to school. We’re using Design Thinking to facilitate structured meetings where small groups of teachers work on specific topics. This type of workshopping gets teachers thinking creatively, gives them a breather from their daily grind, and authentically helps the organization optimize operations.
Problems of Practice can be anything from improving use of math manipulatives, marrying unstructured with structured pedagogy, to improving the supply ordering system.
Like Book Studies, this isn’t easy to facilitate well. Through iterations, we’ve created a precise method. Check out this detailed Workshopping template to pursue problems of practice.
3. CURATE TO CONQUER
Online instruction was new to us. To support each other, teachers began sharing resources. But imagine receiving 20 emails from 20 different colleagues with 20 different resources in each email...every day!
Recognizing this over-abundant smattering, we began to curate.
We suggest this: Select one person within each department or grade to curate three relevant resources, weekly. Also ask one person to send three general online learning tips to the whole staff, weekly. This curation saves teachers from rummaging through links, while maintaining quality instruction. As a happy outcome, teachers will use similar online techniques, creating a cohesive user experience for students.
We also learned that ONE introductory online training offering a common set of guidelines is more helpful than overloading on trainings. Our tech savvy teachers eventually moved onto more advanced features and shared with others. We recommendGOA’s FREE Designing for Online Learning Training, as a helpful starting point.
4. ELEVATE THROUGH DOCUMENTATION
We’ve hired talented individuals. Some of our teachers gregariously share their expertise while others quietly create excellent learning within their classrooms. Sharing ideas and lessons online has proven easier for our quiet leaders.
Through newsletters, our teachers have been able to share their expertise with much greater frequency. Our teachers feel recognized, their practices improve, and we now have documentation of amazing work for parents! Here's an example. Of course, there are many ways to elevate the quiet leader – like facilitating Book Studies and Workshops.
5. STRESS WELLNESS
Teacher super-powers rely on strong mental and physical health. We believe the recipe for teacher wellness includes empathy, time, laughter, and bonding.
Empathy: To start, make a list of variables teachers are encountering right now. Specifically, their time zone, the COVID-19 related restrictions in their area, their family situation, number of students in their class, lesson planning responsibilities, etc. And then, brainstorm ways to ease their load that are appropriately in our locus of control.
Here’s what we came up with: We are offering counseling services to our teachers to combat stress. We are empowering our grade level teams to configure their schedules and distribute the work- load based on time-zones and situations, instead
of us assigning schedules. We’re keeping an eye on supply needs. And, as often as necessary, we check in with our teachers both individually and in teams.
Time: Sometimes, it’s better to step back. With all the new changes, giving extra time to figure things out might be the best boost for wellness. We don’t worry about accounting for every hour of the workday. We’re asking teacher to ‘rotate vacations’ so each of them has longer periods of personal down-time to re-energize while our online academy remains uninterrupted. We’re also encouraging time-maximizing routines and avoiding schedule changes.
- Laughter: This may seem silly but ‘scheduled’ humor has contributed to an overall sense of joy at Whittle.
Bonding: We know humans are social beings. But sometimes, we need encouragement to connect. Our campus teams have developed interest groups about cooking, pets, fitness, music, and more. This type of regular engagement has strengthened bonds, which is the hallmark of a strong team.
We’ve learned so much already and we look forward to growing our practice.
Here’s the bottom line: We may not know
when we will physically return to school. But we
do know that supporting teachers’ intellectual,
emotional, and physical wellbeing will ultimately
allow them to support their students’ and make the
most of this difficult time.
About the Authors
Vriti Saraf is the Global Director of Professional Learning
at Whittle School & Studios where she creates programs
and infrastructure to support the growth of all educators at Whittle
Angela Tung is the Early Learning Division head
at Whittle School & Studios, Shenzhen Campus,
where she integrates Reggio Emilia, Language Immersion,
and Project Based Learning, for pre-K and K
