The most meaningful professional development opportunities we’ve had have been ones where we’ve learned effective practices to use with kids by doing the work of a reader or writer myself. Experiencing the work builds empathy in us for what we’re asking kids to do, and transforms our teachers. Speaking to readers and writers as a reader and writer ourselves does indeed mean taking a stance different from that of a teacher of reading and writing.
We also know that it feels good when there are chances for connection with colleagues, just like it feels good for our kids when we create intentional chances for connection with classmates.
With these two things in mind—the value of doing the work of readers and writers and the importance of creating opportunities for connection—we’ve begun implementing soft starts to professional learning meetings.
We used inspiration from two of Stephanie Affinito’s ideas in her Coaching Sketchnote Book: Sharing Our Reading (or Writing or Learning) Lives and The Interactive Community Board.
Choosing a Focus
We’ve recently had PLC meetings with each grade level to thin-slice data for an upcoming reading or writing unit of study. Using the focus of the unit, we brainstormed some ways that teachers could share some of their lives as a reader or writer as it relates to the unit or to engage in the work we’ll be inviting students to do. The platform we used for this was Jamboard (part of Google Workspace), but you could use chart paper and sticky notes, a physical whiteboard, or the chat box in Zoom or Google Meet.
We chose a question for teachers to respond to, which provided an opportunity for them to reflect on their reading or writing lives as well as connect with and learn about their colleagues in a new way. The question helped to build empathy and connection between colleagues, but also empathy for the work we were asking our students to take on during the unit. As teachers arrived at the PLC, we shared the question and spent the first five minutes responding to it. Below are three examples of these Jamboards.
Connect to Work with Kids
As teachers are working on adding their ideas, we voice over some things that we might want them to consider.
You can think of information text broadly—not just books you’d read, but also information podcasts you listen to, newspapers, or magazines.
Some of us have put texts that are considered memoirs on the Jamboard—it’s so interesting to think about how texts can cross genres; narratives can be informational, also, and even opinion texts. These are conversations we’d want to have with kids, too: What makes that text an information text?
It’s been exciting to learn about colleagues from the texts they add. Based on a book that was added, two teachers who both had backgrounds in nutrition realized they had a shared love but had never discussed it. Sharing the texts we love builds a community—we get to know each other better as people, not just as readers. With our kids, the same is true. Creating space for them to share connects them more strongly to one another and creates opportunities for them to share texts with classmates who they’ve learned would love them.
We also suggest that creating a chart like this could be used as a soft start for kids as they’re gathering for a minilesson (in person or remotely) and that it be a staple for the unit. We can think about having a chart like this one as an anchor across the unit. Rather than introducing new charts over and over to kids, we had one that stayed for the duration of the unit and we returned to over and over again. Maybe daily at the start of the unit, and then transition more to weekly, so that it becomes something that stays at the forefront of their minds? It could be as a transition into or out of workshop and even be done on a predictable day of the week.
We’ve found that beginning our work together by focusing on our literacy lives or to share thinking related to the unit we’re approaching has many benefits. It helps focus teachers’ attention on the content at hand right as we gather for professional learning, which can otherwise be time wasted while we wait for everyone to arrive. It also gives teachers something concrete and transferable they can take to do with their kids during the unit of study. Most importantly, it creates an opportunity for connection and community between colleagues and gives them a chance to try the work we’re asking kids to do as readers and writers.
