Are you creating (or re-creating) your philosophy of how learning best occurs? One strong, shared instructional vision is key for equitable and dynamic learning environments. Here is my process for turning the vision in a team's heads into words on a page:
Before beginning to write, each member of your team brainstorms their greatest instructional hope, their greatest instructional fear, and 10-12 concrete sensory details of how your team's school (or network or classroom) will look, sound, and feel in year 3. We’ll use these answers as our jumping off point to build language around your philosophy of teaching and learning. See below for more details…
Purpose: Build language around your team's teaching and learning philosophy; identify 3-5 “non-negotiables” or “pillars” of your collective teaching/learning philosophy; create a 10-12 page first draft of how learning best occurs. This document can be part of your (charter) school's application to the state, or can serve another purpose.
Expectations: There is no “right” or “wrong” teaching/learning philosophies. You can find research to support/refine a wide range of instructional visions. As you know, breathing life into a school philosophy is an ongoing, iterative process…identify a vision, look at the research, refine the vision, try it out in practice, refine the vision, look at the research, refine the vision…and repeat ad infinitum. This protocol can help with the early stages of identifying the vision and looking at the research, and then it is up to your team to refine the vision based on the research, try it out in practice, and keep iterating and improving over the years!
Brainstorm your answers to the following questions:
What is your deepest instructional hope for your school? E.g. portrait of a graduate – what skills/knowledge will graduates of your school will have in the best possible scenario?
What is your deepest instructional fear for your school? What would be the worst possible outcome for graduates of your school? E.g. lack of academic abilities, low confidence, inflated sense of confidence, ignorance of the “outside world” beyond the your school's bubble, etc.
What kind of community do you want to create at your school?
What does the school community sound like in year 3? >>> What do the halls sound like? The gym? The lunch area? Green space? Classrooms? Who is speaking as the authority? What are they saying? What tone are they using? What words are they using? Is there a common school-wide language? The front office? Pick up and drop off? Assemblies? Parent teacher conferences? Teacher meetings? Community chatter?
What does the school community look like in year 3? >>> Lighting in the hallways? Classroom decorations? Uniforms? Color scheme? Windows and natural light? Materials of classroom supplies, desks, chairs, lunch room furniture…is it all plastic? Are there couches? Bean bag chairs? Bright or muted tones? How do kids’ faces look? Teachers’ body language? Body language for school visitors and parent visits? Work products?
What does the school community feel like in year 3? >>> What is the “vibe” of the front office? The hallways? The bathrooms? The lockers? The STEM classes? The humanities classes? The collaborative spaces? The affinity spaces? The green spaces? The online/social media ecosystem and virtual relationships among students at the school?
Your team should take as much time as necessary to go over your brainstorms about these questions, and then dive into the nuts-and-bolts of your drafting and researching instructional philosophy. The next step is to get started on researching and putting your ideas down on paper. Have fun!
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