Written by To say that my brain hurt after this Saturday’s Face 2 Face session at The York School is probably something of an understatement. I am still processing, pondering and reflecting on everything I learned, heard and experienced. I spoke to so many people, yet also managed to find some quiet time to reflect and think. To achieve that in a single day’s PD session is quite unusual, and kudos to our C21 leaders for creating a learning environment in which that can happen!
We followed the Design Thinking process, as outlined by Design Thinking for Educators, from its beginning. From identifying a potential problem or issue, to brainstorming solutions, to sharing, listening and offering feedback, what started as an individual journey at the beginning of the day had turned into something of a group project by lunchtime, and then a very do-able target by the end of the day! The gallery walk-through of ideas was incredibly powerful; some of the problems other Cohort members wanted to investigate were things that had bothered me for years, and others I had never even considered before, but YES! OF COURSE! Seeing this gallery of incredible ideas, and listening to input from colleagues, I realised just how incredibly talented and diverse CIS faculty are, as well as how far teaching and learning has come since I started my job twelve years ago.
I’ll save the specifics of my potential Action Plan for another post, but wanted to reflect on my thoughts on Design Thinking immediately. The Design Thinking process was incredibly useful and is definitely one I’d use in the future when pondering big projects. I tend to be a ‘come up with two potential solutions and choose one’ kind of person, whereas the potential of ‘Crazy Eights’ in Design Thinking is huge! So now, onto thinking about my action plan…
Great post Claire! I always love the vibe of the room during Cohort 21 and always leave invigorated! Such an amazing group of like-minded people. I agree, the Gallery Walk was so powerful – crowdsourcing feedback! I look forward to your next post and learning about your action plan.
Thanks, Tim! I had to separate the F2F and my action plan into different posts – too much to consider in one post!
Claire, I totally agree! So often I find that PD bores and exhausts, rather than inspires and engages. The set up of Cohort 21 exhausted me, but I left so inspired and engaged. I haven’t yet had time to sort through my own impressions of the day, but I think you nailed it!
Jen
Thanks, Jen. My action plan has a real library slant; I’m looking forward to your input!
Claire,
Thanks for your thoughtful reflection on the day. The gallery walk was a new addition to our program this year and it seems like it was a powerful experience. So glad that you enjoyed the process.
If you want more resources on Design Thinking, check out the Cohort 21 Diigo resources – there are dozens of sites that have been tagged Design Thinking. https://groups.diigo.com/group/cohort-21-resources/content/tag/DesignThinking
Les
Thanks, Les. When school gets a little quieter I’m looking forward to taking a proper look at those diigo resources!
Hi Claire,
I won’t echo the comments above other than to say, I echo them 🙂
I strongly encourage you to get down to the How Might We question and start shopping those statements around to either the C21 community, or within your school. If you can craft 2 or 3, you can see which ones resonate for your school, teachers and admin. Check out @tcatallo blog and her different HMW questions using TPACK – it’s a powerful approach!
thanks,
garth.
Thanks, Garth. Off to look at that blog post now!