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Brené Brown's Role in our Quest to Become Stronger Educators....Part 3 of a Series on Learning

7/13/2019

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​In my first two posts about our professional learning journey, I shared our  shift in mindset and practices surrounding professional learning as a school community.  In our annual 2018 Spring survey to staff, an interest in social-emotional learning and how, as educators, we could learn more to help our students.  Our journey was super charged with the opportunity to work with Dr. Brene´ Brown and her Daring Classroom's team. If you are not familiar with Dr. Brown's work, please watch the video below taken from a keynote address she gave at SXSW in 2017.  
Our three days of learning with Dr. Brown's team was hard and deep at many points.  We quickly learned that we were not just going to be learning about ways to support students in our school, we were going to be learning about ourselves. We have a very large faculty, close to 200 people, and as with any learning, there were teachers that were not in a place where they could connect with and engage with the topics we were learning about. And that was OK.  If you have read my previous two posts about our learning journey, you might be asking how this fits into our shift in mindset to encourage autonomy, choice, and risk in professional learning. Our work with Dr. Brown opened our minds to what some of the barriers can be in adult learning and in fostering learning mindsets in our students. We began our work with Dr. Brown and her team by identifying our own core values and then spent time reflecting on how our values shape and guide us personally and professionally.  

​What we quickly learned was that everyone comes with a story...EVERYONE. And learning more about vulnerability and empathy were the first steps in helping us to enter classrooms and look below the surface at our students.  
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`Vulnerability is defined as the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. Each of us is unique, and the feelings that we experience with vulnerability are also unique. For me, vulnerability begins in a conversation between my head and heart, a queasy feeling in my stomach that comes from the fear of being emotionally exposed. Brené Brown talks about vulnerability being “…based on mutuality and requires boundaries and trust. It’s not oversharing, it’s not purging, it’s not indiscriminate disclosure and it’s not celebrity-style social media information dumps. Vulnerability is about sharing our feelings and our experiences with people who have earned the right to hear them. Being vulnerable and open is mutual and an integral part of the trust-building process” (Daring Greatly, p.45).

Creating a safe space within our classrooms for students to feel safe is something that we need to actively seek to create. When we are vulnerable with students we are showing that not only do we respect them, but we trust them. The thing about learning is that it's hard, and if we want students to show up and give us their best we have to work to create a that space where they can share openly. Mr. Houle, a new member of our staff, shared how he would approach a sleeping child in one of his classrooms. He spoke about first getting down on the students level, rousing them from their sleep and then he "would do his thing". He went on to share, "because if you don't have your thing, you won't be able to connect with the student.
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We learned from Dr. Brown that “Empathy is… communicating the message of, "You are not alone.” And in that moment of realizing you are not alone, you feel a connection to someone else. Dr. Brown goes on to explain what connection is; "Connection is the energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued: when they can give and receive without judgement."  Brené Brown's short film below is the best source that I have found to explain empathy.
In our work with students extending empathy can mean:
  • To simply listen
  • Acknowledge that what is being shared must be difficult
  • Thank them for sharing 
  • You do not need to try and fix anything

A key take away for us was that rarely can a response make a difference when interacting with a student, it is forming a connection that ignites a relationship. 
In addition to the three days, we spent with Dr. Brown and her team, as a faculty, we read Daring Greatly,  Rising Strong and Dare to Lead by Brené Brown. Our learning throughout the year encompassed a more in-depth understanding about empathy and vulnerability.  We saw, heard and felt the impact our knowledge was having in some of our classrooms.
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I captured an assignment that Ms. Oertli, an English 1 teacher created for her students below.  It's just one example of our time with Dr. Brown's team being integrated into a classroom. 
Many students have never taken the time to define their core values. Although they are familiar with ​terms like loyalty, respect, or humor, they have not constructed an identity around them. Based on our work with Brene Brown, I have created an assignment that prods students to set intentions for the year through a vision board where they define their core values and identify strategies to live according to their values.

And so our learning journey continues...  As a faculty and staff, we have embraced a culture of growth and learning, and that is exciting.  I am grateful for having had the opportunity to learn from Brené Brown and her team.  She is funny and smart and just REAL. As a school, our greatest asset is the people that walk through our doors every day. If as adults, we commit to continue to learn and serve our students in better ways, we can't help but get better.  This blog post gets us to date as to where we are in our professional learning journey. I am excited to see where new learning takes us in the future! #BHSLearn


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Our 2018-2019 Learn Shirt!
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When You Empower Teachers... #IMMOOC

10/1/2017

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This Fall I am excited to participate along with over 1000 other educators in the third #IMMOOC. This experience is focused around George Couros' book “The Innovator’s Mindset”. I read the book last summer, but this is an opportunity to reflect and learn alongside educators from across the globe through a series of  Twitter Chats and YouTube Live sessions. Additionally, participants are encouraged to write weekly blog posts from prompts that are provided in the days leading up to each session. This week's prompt: Why is innovation in education so crucial today? . 
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Innovation in education is crucial because traditional practices in education are failing today's students. Couros defines innovation as "creating something new and better". Change has to address both facets of the definition. Changing to change does not produce something better for learners. The change has to make the learning go deeper/richer. The hard part is that to get to better, we have to embark on change that sometimes isn't neat. The change doesn't necessarily make us better immediately in a measurable way. However, simply initiating change can produce an energy and an idea cycle that moves the depth of learning forward in a way that cannot be predicted.  And many of the changes begin as small pivots contributing to the mindset of innovation. 

Many traditional classrooms require a high level of student compliance for the classroom to operate. These same classrooms are also usually teacher centered.  The role a teacher plays in learning directly affects the level of ownership that a student invests in his/her own learning. I use to struggle with expecting teachers that are already good and getting measurable results to take on the risk of change. I don't struggle with that any more. I have seen the very best teachers in my building change their practices and create innovative learning experiences. They know curiousity is a necessary ingredient to make them think and go beyond what has been done in the past
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In chapter one Couros shares, "it is becoming increasingly clear that we don't need to transform the role of teachers, rather create a culture that inspires and empowers teachers to innovate in the pursuit of providing optimal experiences for their students." If this remains our focus, and we invest in empowering teachers, innovation will follow.  I work on a campus where this focus is spreading through our culture. By listening with genuine curiosity and empathy, we are beginning to build a foundation of trust and an environment in which our teachers feel safe being vulnerable. Innovation, creativity and collaboration occur on the flip side of vulnerability. We need to encourage the teachers we work with every day to push themselves into being uncomfortable. Not because we want to add to the difficult job they have, but because we want to see them grow. Few things are more rewarding than seeing teachers and students reactions when they complete and create something they never thought was possible.  I'll end with what our principal, @m_squaredBHS had on our leadership meeting agenda last week. He simply had written "Affirm-Cubed" under Student Learning, conveying his expectation that those taking on growth, new learning and risk to move student learning forward need affirmation for the work and learning they are taking on.  Culture can breed "new and better" creating innovation in education.  
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Helping Teachers Move Their Learning to the Sticky Zone

6/6/2017

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Over the past year, our leadership team has taken steps to encourage and support adult learning on our campus.  We have committed to moving from an environment of prescribed professional development tasks to personalized learning. This has meant giving up much of the control over the learning process and trusting that the teachers on our campus are actively involved in learning that impacts them professionally and personally.  

As I reflect on the learning that I observed throughout the year, I noticed that some adult learners, just like some of our best students, are good at giving information back to those that are asking for it.  Nothing new is being created, but a transfer of information occurs. Sticky, hard learning that creates change is much different than that.

Erika Andersen, a writer for the Harvard Businees Review,  addresses four key attributes that are present when an individual is learning in her blog post, "Learning to Learn”.

  • Aspiration  -  The level of which someone wants to learn something.
  • Self-Awareness -  Evaluating yourself accurately and striving for objectivity while reflecting on feedback from others.
  • Curiosity -  Diving in until one understands something that has made them wonder. Learning to ask questions that moves learning along. Following questions up with actions until new learning happens.
  • Vulnerability -  Putting oneself out there and starting as a beginner and embracing the journey of becoming good at something new. ​​​​
As we turn learning over to educators to drive their professional development, we must share tools/strategies that can aid them as they work through the attributes that are associated with deep learning.  Andersen states, “Once we become good or even excellent at some things, we rarely want to go back to being not good at other things.”  As our student's world and work environment continues to change rapidly, becoming comfortable with not being good at things, and growing has to become a part of every educator’s mindset. 
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Sharing and discussing these attributes with teachers as they set learning goals can help guide discussions in how far out of their comfort zone the learning they are embarking on is taking them. Each year sharing their learning and it's impact on student achievement needs to be something that is visible and celebrated.

​Let's close with VULNERABILITY, as we support teachers and their learning we must celebrate and acknowledge the process of learning to learn at each step of their journey, the highs and the lows. 

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What are you doing on your campus to help adults continue to develop and grow as learners?

* Make It Stick by Peter Brown,Henry L. Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel, is a valuable resource if you are interested in learning about the brain side of learning. Jennifer Gonzalez also has an interesting podcast about the book.
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