Colleagues,

I apologize for this late posting… I’ll aim to have copies of this for us to look at during our afternoon meeting.

I.  Hope/Joy

TEACHER TO TEACHER

A. Teachers will frame and reframe conversations around teaching and learning with colleagues in terms of discovery and cultivating the joy in learning
1. Teachers know that effective teaching is often about creating opportunities for student discovery.
a. Teachers may share with colleagues a lesson or unit that revolves around essential questions.

B.  Teachers will provide support for follow colleagues and reach out to them as members of a nurturing school community:
1. Teachers know that an effective professional culture is one in which school professionals actively care for and address one another’s needs:
a. Teachers may approach and check in with another teacher who is having a particularly challenging day.

TEACHER TO STUDENT

A. Teachers will endeavor to build a spirit of learning and a sense of wonder in their students:
1. Teachers know and act on the principle that all students want to learn
a. Teachers may have a targeted and supportive conversation with students who seem reluctant to participate in classroom activities with the purpose of uncovering any unknown blocks or frustrations.

B. Teachers will provide opportunities for students to explore and build their curiosity of the world around them:
1. Teachers know that students learn best when learning is connected to exploration of their natural interests.
a. Teachers may specifically teach a lesson or a unit with a component that allows opportunity for students to see those principles in action in their homes or neighborhoods.

C.  Teachers will create opportunities for students to have empathy for others and the human condition.
1.  Teachers know that they have a responsibility to have their students understand their own and others’ experiences as individuals.
a. Teachers may engage students in the study of literature or history by developing lessons that compel them to understand the motives of others.

D.  Teachers will give students choices in the classroom, when appropriate, which can lead to increased student ownership of their learning.
1.  Teachers know that creating a variety of assessment options for students related to a given topic can lead to multiple expressions of student learning.
a. Teachers may allow students to create a portfolio that demonstrates their learning of a past unit that directs them to carefully select representative pieces of work.

E.  Teachers build substantive opportunities for students to create during the learning process.
1. Teachers know that deeper learning occurs when students are compelled to synthesize, create and evaluate in the classroom.
a. Teachers may have students complete a summative project that reflects and applies the core ideas taught in a given lesson.

TEACHER TO ADMINISTRATION

A. Teachers will work with administrators to establish a school environment that reflects joy and hope:
1. Teachers know that collegial and respectful work with all staff in a school building is essential to maintaining a positive professional school culture.
a. Teachers may work with school administration to create a monthly celebration activity that highlights the accomplishments and achievements of school staff as a whole.

B. Teachers will actively seek to share stories of student success and learning with administrators to build a sense of community success.
1. Teachers know that oftentimes, everyday examples of student achievement and growth go uncommunicated or unshared with administrators
a. Teachers may check in periodically with school administrators with the simple purpose of sharing a story of student success for the day.

C. Teachers will show and display student work:
1. Teachers know that showing student work in the classroom and around the school communicates pride and joy in student learning.
a. Teachers may create a student work bulletin board that highlights student accomplishment in their classrooms.

D. Teachers will work with administrators to create opportunities for school community members to take breaks from the regular school routine and have fun together:
1. Teachers know the importance of  having opportunity to connect with and build relationships between teachers and administrators outside of the normal frame of the typical school day.
a. Teachers may suggest schoolwide community-building activities for school staff that are well-catered.

TEACHER TO COMMUNITY

A. Teachers will actively seek opportunities to connect the classroom learning and educational mission of the school with the larger community’s hopes and dreams for its youth:
1. Teachers know that the neighborhoods and families from which the students come have a vested interest in their learning and success.
a. Teachers may regularly contact student parents and neighborhood community organizations to invite feedback and involvement in a student project.

B. Teachers will regularly share the often hidden moments of levity, joy and learning with their students’ parents:
1. Teachers know that oftentimes, contact with home equates to assumptions that students have done something wrong; as a result, they also know the value in regularly communicate with parents to communicate successes.
a. Teachers may make it a regular practice during home phone calls to balance out the number of calls that relate to concerns and those that relate to communicating praise.

C.  Teachers will invite community-based organizations that engage in youth development to the school to create a larger visible and nurturing support network:
1. Teachers know about and are able to access local community-based organizations to support the work and development of their students.
a. Teachers may reach out to local youth-development organizations and invite representatives to speak to students about their goals, role in the community and ways they can support their learning.

TEACHER TO PROFESSIONAL GROWTH

A. Teachers will engage in regular reflective practice to be mindful of what school could and should be and not just what it isn’t.
1. Teachers know the inherent complexity of the school environment and how it’s often easy to fall into the mindset of focusing on the problems or challenges.  They also understand the importance of reflecting on what is possible and align themselves to work towards those possibilities.
a. Teachers may be diligent to periodically ‘step back’ from their daily school routine and reflect on how well that daily school practice connects with the goal of what a professional learning community should be.

B. Teachers will take the time to remind themselves of personal and schoolwide successes in nurturing and educating their students.
1. Teachers know the importance of focusing on the positive moments that populate the busy school day.
a. Teachers may spend some moments at the end of each school day writing about, having a conversation about or otherwise sharing a moment that ‘made it all worth it’ that day.