Life is busy, especially in the midst of a school year. Sometimes the only time an educator sits still is for a professional learning meeting. Although they may be sitting still, it is likely that a ticker tape of tasks is running through their minds. Even more likely is they are feeling stressed about something they forgot to do, some students who have had a difficult week, or something from their personal lives. If we want professional learning experiences to be transformational, then we need to recognize and relieve the heaviness on educators’ shoulders and hearts.
Honor Space to Think
Every educator knows the importance of “wait time,” the space we give after asking a question for people to be able to consider an answer. In times of high anxiety, people need more time to think about a question and compose an answer.
Teachers’ brains are full with raging task lists and a harried schedule. Make a commitment to slow down and give time for educators to consider the main ideas in your professional learning session. Here are some ways to honor space to think:
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Offer time to respond in writing before engaging in a discussion.
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Give time to read and annotate an article.
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Hold yourself accountable by setting a timer and allowing silence to permeate the room.
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Be strict with yourself and engage in the task with the group. Don’t participate in side conversations that will detract from the importance of wait time.
Take Time to Connect
It is becoming clear that one of the most pressing post-pandemic needs is time to connect with others. Isolation has taken a toll, and it is necessary to reestablish professional connections. Be intentional about planning time for conversations during a professional learning session. When we give time for participants to talk, it will likely mean delivering less information. While planning for the session, consider the most pressing point and then give time for conversations to happen around that idea.
It is important to establish a vision for the conversation time so that it is productive and meaningful. Consider the number of people in a group, as well as a protocol to follow to scaffold conversations so they are focused and uplifting.
Know the Walls
Walls are built for protection and division. Castles erect walls to protect from an attack. Your house has walls to divide the bathroom from the living room. We raise walls for the same purposes, to protect ourselves from difficulties or to divide areas into manageable spaces. However, in times of stress our walls allow us to hide from issues and can keep out help. As leaders, if we can recognize the walls educators are building, it makes it possible to find a way to dismantle the walls. Here are some common walls:
Binary Thinking: Believing there are only extremes to approaching a problem
Stress: Feeling engulfed by issues and expectations
Perfectionism: Being stymied by getting everything right
Scrutiny: Judging others’ approaches
Take time to identify the wall those around you build and then consider a bridge that will help build a pathway to new learning.
Build a Bridge
Just like there are different kinds of walls to build, depending on the conditions, we can build figurative bridges to help educators break through their walls to engage in professional learning. Here are some common bridges:
Knowledge: Deepen awareness of how students learn and instructional practices.
Empathy: Seek to understand others’ perspectives.
Affirmation: Acknowledge the good that is happening.
Positivity: Highlight progress and joy.
These are intentional pathways to building connections with colleagues. Rather than ignoring or dismissing problems, we can decide to move forward with attitudes that build helpful relationships. If we take time to consider the walls that are hindering engagement, we will often find a bridge to build.
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If your colleagues are building walls of . . . |
A helpful bridge is . . . |
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Binary Thinking |
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Knowledge |
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Stress |
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Empathy |
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Perfectionism |
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Affirmation |
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Scrutiny |
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Positivity |
Angle Toward the Positive
In times of stress it is easy to ruminate on the problems and difficulties of life. Elizabeth Bowen was an Irish-born English novelist born at the turn of the 20th century. She is famous for her outlook on life during wartime London. She penned these words: “If you look at life one way, there is always cause for alarm.”
We have an opportunity to help people see things from a different perspective. Just like every journalist gets to decide the angle for a topic—how they will look at an issue—we get to angle professional learning toward positivity.
Help change perspectives by giving time for self-reflection with questions such as these:
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What need do I have that this information could help solve?
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How will this session/conversation/video/article strengthen my work with students?
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Where could I use this information to strengthen my instruction or relationships?
When we take care to design professional learning experiences that recognize and help lift the heavy load many educators carry, we provide the conditions necessary for educators to learn and use the information.
