“Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.” Vista M. Kelly
Hope all of you across the country from Colorado east, are still appreciating the beauty and stillness of snow. We have been experiencing effects of many flakes sticking together and more coming to join what is already here.
Connecting snow with recent conversations I’ve had with teachers about what helps them stay alive in their jobs these days. More often than not they relate stories about kids’ growth, transformation, finding their strength.
Not as often they mention working with and talking with colleagues. I think it could be so much more than is happening today. The interactions between colleagues that move their learning and their practice seem to have potential for lasting impact.
Intention and structure are key components for powerful transformational and bonding conversations among colleagues to stick together.
For protocols, activities and structures, the greatest number and quality of resources I’ve seen are on the School Reform Initiative website. A couple specific suggestions: ATLAS Looking at Data provides a collaborative structure to find applicable meaning from all kinds of data; Success Analysis supports sharing positive experiences and what we we can learn from them to inform our practice.
When we learn and work together in ways that really matter to our practice with kids, we might find our voices and actions coming together to do more that we believe in.