Written by Thinking back to the first F2F Cohort 21 session, I had no idea what to expect. Colleagues raved about the experience and attempted to explain it to me, but I still didn’t know exactly what I would be walking into. Needless to say, after spending the day meeting new people, learning how to use Twitter (I still don’t really get it….), and reconnecting with former colleagues, I realized what the hype is about. This isn’t your average sit and listen PD session, where you feel like you have a ton of information being thrown at you and you aren’t totally sure what to do with it. It felt a lot more comfortable – and practical at that. This was the big sell for me. Being able to use the tools and skills I learned at Cohort in my own practice has been the biggest benefit of all.
The most important thing I realized at Cohort is that planning to take action and actually putting that action into motion aren’t going to happen over night. It certainly helps to get the ball rolling though. I left each session feeling energized and positive about where this Cohort journey could take me.
During the process, what really worked for me was using a Design Thinking structure to guide me through the process of drafting my action plan. It allowed my to take a deep dive and really wrap my head around what I want to achieve in my classroom. I enjoyed getting down to the core of the steps I could take to meet my goals. Considering my user was an important starting point.
What didn’t work…well I’m not the most social media savvy person. I’m definitely not going to be the next instafamous education blogger, but publishing a blog post for the first time was a risk-taking moment for me.
As for my action plan itself, here it goes.
How might we engage students through inquiry? This is a snapshot of my action plan so far.
To Do List:
- Collaborate with teaching partners and curriculum leader – check
- Establish learning goals and skills – check
- Develop essential questions – check
- Generate student questions throughout the units – check
- Do lessons have real world connections? – check
- Are lessons engaging and relevant to students? – I sure hope so!
Next steps:
- How can I incorporate more design thinking strategies into lessons?
- Reflect on the progress that was made this year. What worked? What didn’t
- Start thinking about next year!
All in all, this was a successful experience for me! I am fortunate that I’m able to collaborate with such dynamic, creative educators who help to inspire and motivate me day in and day out.
Thank you Cohort 21! It has been a terrific season! And maybe one day I’ll figure out what this Twitter thing is really all about.
Action Plan
I feel like I am in a similar boat in terms of the social media.
Your action plan looks great and the work you have done with your students is impressive. Go you!
Love this! I didn’t cotton on to twitter for about a year after I joined (for C21) … perhaps it will hook you later, perhaps not. Different tools work for different people, which is one reason you are introduced to so many different things in the course of the year. Your inquiry focus for this year sounds like it was a success – well done!
@amatera A bunch of small steps all add up to one big one. Reading through your Action Plan reveals a teacher who made some meaningful changes her pedagogical practices that had a deep impact on student learning. From where I am sitting that is no small feat and you should feel really proud of how far you have come. I love how Design Thinking has resonated with you. Once you see its power you can’t unsee it 🙂
I agree with @jmedved and what he wrote above, as well as @nbendle and her action plan reflection – they touch on what you’ve discovered: that this transformation doesn’t happen overnight – and if it did, it wouldn’t have the same impact on you, and your students.
You’ve made great strides for sure, and your reflection on how you might add in more DT to your teaching is a great launching pad. If I could emphasize one thing in DT to you, it would be the empathize piece. Giving students voice and choice is such a powerful thing for your classroom. Check out @dbailey‘s post. A simple survey, or an exit card, etc… can go a long way – as you well know.
Thanks for this post, and hope to see you soon in the blog-o-sphere!
garth.