BY G. FAITH LITTLE

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​​Time moves forward, as it always does. We can take this time to reflect on lessons learned when we unexpectedly and quickly shifted from teaching in the classroom, to teaching remotely, and then into a next normal of blended in-person and virtual learning spaces. One big takeaway from this time of critical reflection is that we aren’t starting with a blank page. Whatever the season, we can adapt tools we already have to meet the challenges we’re facing.

Breathing new life into book clubs 

New tools can breathe new life into our planning and our teaching, and creating a new tool doesn’t need to be done from scratch. By connecting Ten Tips for Successful Book Clubs with our Global Mindset Framework, we can quickly create a new resource that integrates teaching 21st century skills into each reading opportunity we plan for our students. 
 
Book clubs offer many benefits to student readers, including:

• Promoting a love for literature and a positive attitude toward reading
• Reflecting a student-centered model of literacy (employing a gradual release of responsibility)
• Encouraging extensive and intensive reading
• Inviting natural discussions that lead to student inquiry and critical thinking
• Supporting diverse responses to text
• Fostering interaction, cooperation, and collaboration
• Providing choice and encourage responsibility
• Exposing students to literature from multiple perspectives
• Nurturing reflection and self-evaluation

A successful book club for your students will:

• Generate excitement
• Create opportunities for shared decision-making
• Communicate expectations
• Establish ground rules
• Offer opportunities to lead by example
• Gather tools
• Anticipate tough conversations
• Be student-centered
• Celebrate completion
• Tweak what you’ve already tried

Understanding the Global Mindset Framework

​Now that we’ve framed some of the characteristics of book clubs, we can connect each facet to our Global Mindset Framework. This will help us streamline our work when planning for our next book club iteration, or beginning a book club community with our students.

The Global Mindset Framework is the articulation of 21st century skills students need to navigate their present and their future, sorted into five categories of capacities: caring, collaborative, creative, critical, and global. The framework addresses key questions that teachers and school leaders struggle with as they attempt to make key concepts relevant to children in a changing world. 

To understand the Global Mindset Framework, we can look to the Global Learning Alliance (GLA). The GLA is the outgrowth of our groundbreaking research on the features and practices surrounding 21st century teaching and learning. It has evolved from the seeds of a research project and is now a consortium of schools and universities around the world dedicated to understanding, defining, applying, and sharing the principles and practices of a world-class education within a wide range of educational contexts. 

21st century capacities

​Global capacity: The capacity for students to step outside the confines of their own familiar social world to understand distant realities in order to engage productively with the world. 

Critical capacity: The capacity for students to develop their full critical cognitive capacities in order to be discerning and informed citizens of the world.

Collaborative capacity: The capacity for students to develop habits of observation, reflection, and collaboration, and to be able to communicate in multiple modalities such as through images, words, sounds, gestures, or an integration of these modes in order to actively contribute to various discourses in the world. 

Creative capacity: The capacity for students to follow their curiosity by questioning or imagining in order to contribute positive improvements or inventions to their world.

Caring capacity: The capacity for students to explore compassion, empathy, and self-awareness in order to develop caring partnerships with themselves, their communities, countries, and world. 

Activating 21st century skills

​Using the template below, we can imagine how we might combine various capacities from the Global Mindset Framework with our tips for success to generate a profile of a book club that integrates 21st century skills into student learning. We want to keep moving our teaching forward to meet the needs of today’s students, but we don’t often feel we have the time we need to recreate our plans. By layering the Global Mindset Framework over our book club planning, we can revise what we’ve already got going for us instead of starting from a blank page.

Connecting skills to next steps

​Using the template above, we can customize our profile to fit a specific book — in this case, we'll use Malala Yousafzai's I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World. In this model, we start with our to-do list; we imagine some of our options, and what we need to collect to complete our plan.

The task before us all is to educate students today for the world they’re poised to lead tomorrow, and as we recognize that we can no longer sustain a 20th century in a 21st century world, we must remain flexible in order to meet the dynamic needs of our students. As we look for ways to build upon the expertise and techniques already alive in our classrooms, we can easily create opportunities for students to build 21st century skills, shifting from teacher-centered instruction to an environment that puts students at the center of their reading and writing experiences. 
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TAGS: 21st CENTURY SKILLS, G. FAITH LITTLE, LITERACY, READING, RESOURCES

BY G. FAITH LITTLE


​Our personal and professional lives collided during the distance learning, work from home reality these past months. We’ve lost some spaces to breath and decompress. The drive between our classroom and our own front door has been replaced, if we’re lucky, with a one-minute walk from desk to couch. If we’re even luckier, perhaps we can get in a 20-minute walk before we take care of our personal responsibilities, including managing distance learning for our own children. Gone are train rides home when we could people watch and listen to playlists or podcasts, shifting our focus out of problem-solving, answering and asking questions, grading and planning.

Perhaps you, like me, have searched for ways to create more space, and you’ve added a new practice or two to your routine, like taking scheduled walks, meditating before class, keeping a journal, or adding breathwork before dinner. Maybe the ideas you’ve uncovered don’t seem to integrate into your professional life. Sure, they’re great if you have all the time and space to engage in them, but let’s be honest — there seems to be even less time for that elusive self-care now that work days stretch from dawn until well past dark. Reading article after article on how to manage stress may have resulted in a lot of ideas, but little implementation. That’s normal. We all need support to take our next steps, and starting with the smallest thing could make the biggest difference.

K - W - L

As we move deeper into the year, we might look to practices that feel more authentic to our teaching selves. Using a familiar tool can provide a valuable structure, bridging the best of our personal pursuits with our professional realities. We may be familiar with K-W-L (Know - Want to Know - Learned), a reading strategy which serves as a self-propelling guide for students as they read through a text. Students begin by charting everything they know about a topic in the K column. They move on to generating questions about what they want to know about the topic. During and after reading, students document what they have learned. 
We can chart what we know, want to know, and have learned about anything at all, including our own professional development and the self-care habits we need to keep going strong. This process draws on our own prior knowledge, sets a purpose for our routines, reveals obstacles, and documents our progress, giving us the opportunity to both plan for our success and to celebrate steps we take along the way.

Below is my K-W-L example, which is focused on collaboration, because that is an area I want to develop in my professional life during 2021. My “texts” are a combination of reading and action. In one case, I was having trouble maintaining my boundaries with colleagues. I read an article that felt more personal in nature than professional, but when I took action to make self-care a priority, (#7 in the article) I found myself carrying over some practices into my professional life. I began to honor my own feelings instead of pushing them aside in deference to others. My feelings were signaling when my boundaries were crossed, and I could then address that within myself and with my colleagues.

Identifying your how

What it seems we have more than enough of is access to ideas on what to do, like this idea about using a K-W-L in a new way, but we’re short on the how. My how emerged out of my needs and came out in three steps:

• Identify what to focus on: At first, I was frustrated that even though I thought we had clearly articulated and agreed upon expectations at the close of staff meetings, we weren’t following through on them. My frustration turned to anger as I began to imagine others purposefully ignoring our agreements because collaborating felt too slow to them. While I was compassionate as to why they might be compelled to skip permission in favor of asking forgiveness later, I did not subscribe to that method of working together. I felt stuck.

 

• List what I want to learn more about: I trusted collaboration was more fruitful than working alone, but collaborating was becoming painful as I felt disrespected and ignored at the end of the day. I needed to articulate what I already knew or believed about collaboration and what I wanted to learn so collaboration might work for all parties involved, not just one or the other. I wanted to learn more about what to do when my boundaries were crossed. How could I maintain my boundaries without cutting off collaboration?

 

• Circle back: As I tried out a few ideas that emerged from my bit of research, I looked for connections between what I learned and my areas for growth. I asked myself what worked and what questions emerged and what I wanted to research next. They were baby steps since time was short, but I wasn’t stuck any longer.

Simple supports

Even when we know the how, we also need support. Support can come in many different forms. Consider a few of the following simple ways to create support for yourself:

• Be your own coach by setting an appointment to revisit your learning or thinking. Keep it positive. When you notice you’re starting to judge yourself harshly, remember to simply be curious. Ask yourself, “What happened? What do I want to do next?” Write it out, draw it in your sketchbook, paint, or make a video. Look for ways to explore more and judge less.

 

• Send a note to your future self. Treat yourself like you would your closest friends and drop a line of encouragement. You know what gets you down and what lifts you up. When you’ve determined what you want to try, like prioritizing exercise on most mornings, at that moment write yourself a note to read in a week or in a month. Be as encouraging to yourself as you would be to a friend. Put the note somewhere you know you will find it, either as a surprise or because you calendar an appointment to go look for it.

 

• Ask a friend. Look for support from your community. Consider asking a friend to mail you the letter you wrote to yourself or text you an encouraging quote every Monday morning or to meet up for a virtual happy hour to share what obstacles have come up (because they always do) and commiserate. 

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• Paper your walls. Take a marker or crayon and write down the words that encourage you. Short quotes, one word reminders, or visual representations of what you’re working toward go on the page and then up on the wall near your desk, in the bathroom, hallway, or on the fridge. Have fun hiding them in drawers so they surprise you with positive reinforcement.

Using a K-W-L structure is one way to engage in reflection, gain self-awareness, and pinpoint an area you want to develop further. Returning to the "L" column can help you feel a sense of accomplishment, or at least identify a new place to begin work. Whether you want to chart about any of the hundreds of self-care options out there or you want to chart your progress toward specific teaching goals, by using K-W-L as a way to drive inquiry, we can uncover some answers, more questions, and plenty of celebration on the small and large steps we are taking as we continue adjusting to the next normal.
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TAGS: CRITICAL REFLECTION, G. FAITH LITTLE, RESOURCES, SELF-CARE

By G. FAITH LITTLE


​Over the past year, school has been a rollercoaster event filled with openings, closings, virtual connections, and dramatic shifts in teaching and learning techniques and experiences. No matter the grade level or subject area, our learning spaces have been completely redefined. And it isn’t just due to in-person or online learning schedules — many teachers are finding that what worked in person may not be working as well online or in other virtual settings. Additionally, changes to state tests and other accountability measures have created opportunities for teachers to redesign their teaching methods and learning outcomes to authentically engage students in the core elements of their content areas. 

Finding ways to engage students in content can be difficult, particularly when so much teaching and learning is happening remotely. We understand this challenge. Our Literacy Unbound team faced the same concerns about how to engage teachers and students in our 2020 Summer Institute — traditionally a 2-week, in-person immersive learning experience. Rooted in the belief that students learn best through authentic inquiry, curiosity, and through the multimodal embodiment of a text, Literacy Unbound brings teachers and students together with teaching artists to explore the in-depth themes of a shared text, independently.

In a typical summer, we would develop a series of Invitations to Create as a way to invite and entice students into the world of the text. These invitations might prompt readers to journal, draw, collage, create a playlist, or explore some other form of expression related to a key quote or “hotspot” in the text. As readers collect their responses, they traditionally come together for a dynamic experience in which they construct an original performance based on their responses to the invitations. 

While much of the in-person institute needed a complete redesign to fit a virtual institute, the structure of Invitations to Create did not. Invitations provide the perfect setup for virtual reading, writing, and collaboration. And they come with plenty of choice, freedom, and personal exploration, which means that participants can be authentically engaged from the very beginning.

Creating your invitation

Even though Invitations to Create begin as prompts to pieces of literature, they’re extremely flexible and are a promising practice for all content areas and grade levels during remote and/or blended learning experiences. How can we begin to incorporate invitations into curriculum for math, science, and social studies, and beyond? 

To get a sneak peek of the process, we’ve developed the sample below to experiment with Invitations in Mathematics, adapted from A Guide to Crafting Invitations to Create by Dr. Nathan Allan Blom.

Note: As you read, look for the examples in blue of building an invitation for A Mathematician’s Lament.

Step 1: Jot
Whatever the content, there are literacy expectations in your field. What are the reading and writing requirements in your field? In your course(s)? In the exam? Jot down some of your thinking as a warm-up.
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Step 2: Identify
What is a text you go back to over and over again that you want to introduce to your students — or -- what is a text you already plan to use in a future lesson? Have the text handy.

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​Step 3: Choose
Choose a “hotspot” within the text. This is a passage of the text that captures your attention. Typically, it’s helpful if a hotspot contains:

• Character or item descriptions
• Important details
• A significant setting
• Anything else that seems inspiring

 
Explain in a few words the context of the hotspot within the larger text.

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Step 4: Offer
Offer an idea you had or a connection you made during your reading. Share with the voice of a fellow student, rather than an authority on the subject.

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Step 5: Connect
Connect the hotspot to a piece of media to illustrate and/or extend your connections, questions, or ideas. Explore media to find something that connects and inspires you, like:

• Works of visual art (illustrations, graphics, paintings, etc.)
• Audio works (instrumental pieces, songs, recordings, etc.)
• Nonfiction texts (websites, articles, poems, quotations, etc.)
• Historical documents
• Videos
• Anything else you can find

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Step 6: Prompt
Create your prompt, using this structure: In whatever way seems best to you (equation, movement, experiment, poetry, prose, music, art, video, etc.), explore ______.  
 
Let's look at our invitation for A Mathematician’s Lament created from steps 1 - 6:

Include directions about how students will share their creation with you and each other. This process supports students to make their own meaning of the text, and is also a way for you and your students to experience an invitation together, whether you’re in the same concrete or virtual space. If possible, create your own response to the invitation and share it at the same time your students share theirs.

Each invitation offers an opportunity to reflect, analyze, and synthesize the text at hand. Once the invitations have been developed, students are invested in their interpretations and eager to share their ideas. This sharing is a powerful tool, inspiring motivation and encouragement across the community.
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 What can you invite students to create using this simple and effective structure?

​TAGS: CREATIVITY, G. FAITH LITTLE, INITIATIVES, LITERACY, REMOTE LEARNING, RESOURCES, STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

By G. FAITH LITTLE

The sunlight is still Summer while the breeze feels like Fall. Teachers stream in, eager to find their names at check-in and chat with colleagues on their way to hear the keynote speaker frame the day, “It’s not that differentiation is part of the work. Differentiation is the work itself. We all can make progress and we can all grow. Each student deserves a goal that they can work hard to achieve!"
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This excerpt from a previous post about bringing a series of in-person professional development workshops to life evoked memories that seemed to stand in stark contrast against our current teaching and learning situation.

Adapting our plans

​We began our Spring 2020 workshops series on a cold day in February. At the end of the day-long sessions, facilitators reviewed feedback from participants, noted adjustments they would make to their plans, and tucked away sign-in sheets in folders, ready for their next session — a month away. A few weeks later we found ourselves siloed, setting up spaces at home where we could work, on screens, day and night. It felt as if we were living in a snow globe that someone picked up, shook, and set back down, leaving our environment sloshing around us, debris floating through the air, settling at our feet. 

We moved quickly, collaborating from our siloed spaces, pushing one another to reframe our thinking: 

• Instead of, “Can this even work if we’re not all in the same room at the same time?” we asked, “How can this work while we’re in different places with different schedules?”
• Rather than, “I’ll need to start planning all over again for this to work in a new setting,” we wondered, “What can I preserve from this plan?” and “What’s one way I can get this message across with the tools I have?”
• In addition to using high-tech options, like Canvas as a platform for content, we consistently considered what the low-tech and no-tech options would be.

Through connection and communication, we were able to find ways to support teachers who were going through the same process themselves: expanding their classroom from inside the walls of a school building out in the city, across the state, and around the world.

The phrase we're in this together became a mantra not only when it came to wearing masks, washing our hands, and social distancing, but also when it came to our own teaching and learning. Stay-at-home restrictions created an environment in which we needed to open our minds to as many options to meet as many students in need as possible.

As teachers — from early childhood education to graduate school — revised and remodeled their plans, many began to ask, “Why didn’t I think of this before? I could have a distance learning component for each of my lessons.” At CPET, we realized that we could not only offer each of our workshops in an online space, but we could make all of our offerings available at no additional charge to our participants. The limitation of being in a specific session at a specific time was gone, and what was left was the opportunity for teachers to experience as many of the asynchronous offerings as they cared to.
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Our Spring 2020 asynchronous offerings; view upcoming opportunities here

Utilizing practical strategies

​Of course, after plans are adapted into a new space, the work again becomes customizing to our students. What do our first graders need to connect during distance learning? What about our sixth graders? Our seniors? As our snow globe settles and our vision clears, we see that trusted strategies are a foundation we can still hold on to. We can identify practical and adaptable tips we’ve used in the classroom and integrate them into our remote teaching and learning.

• Discussion Strategy: Provide prompts for students to connect to themselves
  • Pose open-ended questions about a text or topic to help students engage in the conversation
  • Turn your questions into writing prompts
  • Support students in asking their own questions through invitation and exploration

 

• Informal Formative Assessment: Peaks & Pits
  • Students articulate one peak and one pit. A peak is something they are excited they now understand or something new they learned during class, invitation, or exploration. A pit is something that’s still troubling them or that they wish they understood more clearly.
  • Possibilities: Pair share, read aloud, or collect through chat, email, Google Doc, or by uploading a picture

 

• Differentiating the way students engage with information: Introduce a topic, concept or theme
  • Step 1: Quote — students interpret a quote about the concept or theme
  • Step 2: Image — students interpret an image that represents the concept or theme
  • Step 3: Question — students answer a questions about the concept or theme
  • Step 4: In groups of three, students compare the quote, question and image; students identify connections between the three

So, we end where we began: differentiation is not simply part of the work — it is the work.

Each student deserves the opportunity to grow, demonstrate progress, and work hard toward an achievable goal.

Each teacher deserves the same. 

​TAGS: DIFFERENTIATION, G. FAITH LITTLE, INITIATIVES, REMOTE LEARNING, RESOURCES

By G. FAITH LITTLE
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In a recent letter to the community, CPET Director Roberta Kang shared her childhood memory of the Challenger Space Shuttle’s explosion, and her experience as a teacher in the classroom during 9/11. She wrote, “As educators, we are not unfamiliar with working through a crisis. We know that some crises are visible, and some are invisible. We know that some are explosive, while others are slow burns that dismantle a sense of safety bit by bit. We know that some have villains attached, and others are just, well, science.”

Our children will have strong memories of this time. They will recall what it was like when their school closed, when they had to wear masks, stand far away from people, or when open air parks were locked to visitors. Already, children are telling stories about when they went to school, “before the virus came” and what they want to bring to school, “after the virus is over.” Having conversations with children about what is happening around them and within them will support their growth and learning during this challenging time.

Although COVID-19 is a new type of coronavirus, talking with children about scary situations is not new. To support our conversations, we can lean on reliable resources and use age-appropriate methods. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) connects their general principles for talking to children to the National Association for School Psychologists guidelines:
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• Remain calm and reassuring
• Make yourself available
• Avoid excessive blaming
• Monitor television viewing and social media
• Maintain a normal routine to the extent possible
• Be honest and accurate
• Know the symptoms of COVID-19
• Review and model hygiene and healthy lifestyle practices for protection

There are many resources online to support our conversations, and it can be overwhelming to sift through for “the perfect one.” During this time of emotional, mental, and physical overload, it’s important to remember there is no such thing as perfect. Using a reliable, science-based option will give you a starting place for you and your kids to generate questions and keep the conversation open. 

Pre-K — Elementary

Support your younger students with ready-made resources from PBS. Sesame Street’s Caring for Each Other page has informative, age-appropriate videos and free e-books to support your conversation about what COVID-19 is and what we can do about it. Use their infographic to prepare for your conversation if you are feeling concerned about what to say.

Older elementary students can learn more about germs and build their vocabulary by reading an article together, like What are Germs? — available in English and Spanish, with an option to listen to the article while you read. 

Middle school

Middle school students are moving into a space where they question the answers they are given. Use this natural developmental stage to engage kids with inquiry cycles. Consider not only a focus on COVID-19, but a student exploration into a simple history of viruses. 

Whether you adapt lessons from online sources, like three lesson plans for science, math and media literacy focused on COVID-19, or you set students on a path to conduct their own research, trying out an inquiry cycle can help students gather information and generate real questions that lead to deeper exploration.

Don’t have a template of your own? Give ours a try — within this template, students can share their findings in discussion groups while you use the written information as formative assessments, make adjustments to lesson plans, and provide supplemental materials or advice for students as they explore. 

During this time of distance learning, we have the opportunity to see what happens when self-discovery and experimentation places learning in our students’ hands. As students get more autonomy, we get to see firsthand what teaching looks like when students are at the front of the class.

High school

Students at this age can do their own research on the topic starting with the CDC’s Coronavirus-19 page (available in at least five languages), which covers symptoms, how to protect yourself, slowing the spread, daily life, and coping and is updated regularly to include subjects like cloth face coverings.

​As new questions arise, students can create a simple art project, like an infographic. With them, you can research to find answers, add them to your infographic and draw, color, or paint for emphasis. If infographics aren't your thing, consider having kids create one of the following to illustrate their research: 

• PSA poster
• Top 10 list
• Illustration
• Graphs & charts
• Slideshow

​Above all, listen to children at every age. Listen to their words. Listen to their behavior. Meet them where they are, in the best way you know how. That will be more than enough for the moment we’re in.


​TAGS: COVID-19, G. FAITH LITTLE, INQUIRY, RESOURCES

By G. FAITH LITTLE


​Fear of change is real and challenging.

Fear manifests itself in different ways for each of us, whether it means becoming defensive in the middle of a coaching conversation, avoiding a colleague you’re paired with, or becoming paralyzed at the prospect of dealing with conflict directly and openly. As Roberta Lenger Kang noted in Don't take it personally: de-escalating conflicts in the classroom, “The more fear we have, the more likely we are to become hyper-vigilant micro-managers in the classroom, which can sometimes magnify small issues and escalate conflicts…”

Whether you’re affected by a change taking place or you’re implementing change that will affect others, treating the process as if you’re training for hurdles is a practical way to address and overcome fear of change in yourself and as you lead others.

This training can be broken into three parts.

Before change: flexibility and preparation

Before enacting a change, stretch, practice, and count. 

Stretch: Whatever the change, find where you already have some flexibility and elongate it.

• Example: You’re tasked with finding a new way to address the social-emotional learning (SEL) needs of your students. Even though the task is daunting and feels far outside your content area, you locate your own practice of writing for full presence before you start the day and connect to that as a healthy investment you make in your own SEL.
• Outcome: You find you're not actually starting from scratch after all.

Practice: When preparing for a change, implement small steps on your way to the starting line or implementation date.

• Example: The announcement is made that your grade level team is going to implement an advanced literacy plan and will start by incorporating I used to think, but now at the end of each unit. You’re anxious to implement another new idea and aren’t sure how your students will respond. Instead of waiting for the end of a unit to jump that hurdle, introduce the I used to think, but now tool after a lesson. Frame the idea as a practice for your students and solicit feedback so you can customize the experience at the unit’s end to be most helpful for your class.
• Outcome: You get to practice and the added bonus of an additional formative assessment built into your lesson plan.

Count: When leading change, you know teachers will have some level of anxiety or fear of change. It’s normal.

• Example: Instead of asking teachers to ignore their fear or push down their resistance, consider what their reasons may be and count them up. Name them. Name them for yourself and for others. Ask your colleagues to add any other reasons they are experiencing discomfort around the change ahead.
• Outcome: Teachers can express their concerns and you'll know exactly what you'll want to address prior to and during the shift ahead.

During change: keep moving forward, but pace yourself

During a process of change, speed up toward the first hurdle, run steady through the middle, and finish strong.

Speed up: After laying the foundation for the change ahead, consider taking the first hurdle of actual change with excitement, energy, and speed. With a little extra energy, you can leap through the discomfort and make it over the first goal.

• Example: If you’re trying a new guided reading technique, you might tell your students how excited you are about something new you’re trying and that even though they might not notice, you are learning and growing just like they are. Then go for it, welcoming any mis-take is an opportunity to learn.

Run steady: After the initial hurdle, move forward steadily, pacing yourself as you go. You’ve already entered into a new way of teaching, so keep the changes to a minimum.

• Example: Consider a simple cycle to help you stay focused when shifting from asking students questions during a discussion to students asking one another questions. Notice that changes aren’t the focus here, but staying steady, encouraging students, and making observations keeps the process moving forward.

Finish strong: As you round the corner toward a natural check-in point, gather some energy.

• Example: If the change you’ve been working toward is implementing weekly formative assessments, what about adding them daily during the final week? At the beginning of the week, have your students start a Know, Want to Know, Learned chart, completing the first two columns (Know, Want to Know) only. Then, each day during the last few minutes of class, have students add to the third column (Learned). This will allow you to get daily information, as well as an overall look at the end of the week.

After change: celebrate and reflect

After implementing change, allow yourself time and space to reflect on your experience and celebrate your successes. 
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Celebrate: Pick a finish line. The finish line may be obvious, like the end of a unit or the semester. It may be decided by administration based on an outside deadline. It could be ongoing, like making a change that lasts the entire school year and beyond. If that’s the case, choose a check-in as your finish line. When you get to the finish line, celebrate. You did it! You engaged in change.

You may or may not feel like it went well, but that doesn’t affect the celebration. To celebrate, you simply share with yourself, and others if possible, that you made it to a finish line! Find a way to concretize the celebration, whether in writing, capturing your success using social media, or sending an email to people who care about you. If you’re leading change, consider making a well-deserved certificate for your teachers or students to commemorate their progress.

Reflect: To make the most of your experience, find the time to reflect. Find ways to adjust your practice going forward, and ask more questions about what is possible. What went well? What would you like to see more of? What questions came up that you’d like to explore? Journal, use a template (create your own or download our What, So What, Now What tool), or make a list of what you want to talk about with your academic coach or colleagues.

Hurdle after hurdle, make a habit of attempting your jumps. Whether you sail over them, tip them, or knock them over, you’ll give yourself the opportunity to learn from every leap and fall.

TAGS: CHANGE, G. FAITH LITTLE, RESOURCES