Inspiring, Innovating, and Thriving at the California MTSS 2024 Professional Learning Institute

The California MTSS 2024 Professional Learning Institute, hosted by the Orange County Department of Education, invited thousands of practitioners this week, including classroom educators, administrators, school counselors, school psychologists, school-based mental health clinicians, district leaders, county education leaders, higher education faculty, and community-based organizations, to support the creation of inclusive and equitable learning environments.

With the mission to "Inspire, Innovate, and Thrive" and to promote excellence, equity, and access for all learners through the California MTSS Framework, participants engaged in professional learning centered around the following areas:

• California Multi-Tiered System of Support (California MTSS)
• School Conditions and Climate
• Deepening Knowledge and Practice
• Innovation

(Image: Workshop sessions or group discussions)

Thanks to the leaders of the MTSS Institute, a sister conference, The Unconventional Conference (#UnconCon2024), was inspired to advance the #CareerConnectedSchools movement within Orange County Schools and beyond. This invitation-only opportunity, led by Dr. Steve Regur and the Educators Cooperative team, engaged current, future, and prospective practitioners in this unconventional movement to advance transformational career education.

Over three days, practitioners participated in three UnconCon strands:

1. GLADtoWork: An OCDE-branded approach for integrating language acquisition strategies and career-related learning.
2. Let’s Get Wild: A buffet of career-related learning insights, from global career development research to restorative justice practices.
3. Connect the Work: A deep dive into the model for #CareerConnectedSchools.

A wide range of career leaders, including school counselors, teachers, principals, career advisors, coaches, researchers, psychologists, and others from workforce boards, public schools, virtual schools, and charter schools, worked together to advance their knowledge and skills. They focused on developing a common language of career, understanding methods of integration, and gaining a perspective on key benchmarks to measure integration, progress, and success.

Key Messages Heard

• “This work is about career con

• versations that are happening all the time - this is a career-connected school - a place where students can say, ‘I’m getting this on the inside of school,’ and can even share ideas about how I am getting more vivid and specific about who I am and who I may want to become.”

Starting Points:

• “First, we start with a common language and then we revisit core questions. The Dialogic is a discussion-based approach. The questions are infinite.”

Insights:

• “Career conversations are like provocations where kids are using the common language of career.”

Cautions:

• “Don’t turn the content into a lesson about each RIASEC theme, don’t make it a unit about six words. Rather, it’s about teacher creativity, not about a lesson in itself. The big idea is pairing a method of discovery using a common language and the dialogic.”

(Image: Interactive activities or hands-on sessions)

Reflections from Participants:

• This is life-journey work.
• Keep the career conversations going.
• The language of career also describes the tasks of school.
• Unlocking identity through a common language of self.
• It isn’t content-driven; instead, it is designed to promote student identity, thinking, and growth.
• The key is developing student specificity and vividness, making this a student-driven process that happens over time - it’s not a one-time event because it is integrated.
• How empowering this is for students - someone is actually listening to them through this common language of self and career.
• This approach trusts teachers to teach the way they teach and asks them to meet students where they are.

(Image: Reflections and testimonials from participants)

The Dialogic Approach:

• “The dialogic is not about decision-making… it’s about so much more. Our mistake is that we ask students to provide answers when they are not yet vivid or specific about ideas related to their #PossibleSelves. Our goal is to help students become more specific and vivid so they can make more informed decisions about their options.”

Putting It All Together: As a parent, educator, coach, and practitioner, my reflection on this work returns to “the what.” What do I want for my own kids, and what does our team want for the educators and young people we serve? I clearly remember what we have always heard from thousands of parents in response to the question we often ask them: What do you want for your child’s future? Their answer, over and over again, is that they want their child to be happy.

(Image: Closing session or group photo)

In the same way that we are closing our three days of learning and sharing, I close here with the idea of happiness and well-being linked to the work of Dr. Martin Seligman. Through his work and insights into the science of well-being, we strive to activate the unconventional, using school reform methods and the career-connected schools approach, to harvest the best possible selves for every child. It is less about preparing students for the marketplace or developing a pipeline of available talent for employers. It is more about the idea of PERMA and the understanding that career and human processes are inextricably linked to these elements.

Dr. Martin Seligman (2012) selected five components that people pursue because they are intrinsically motivating and contribute to well-being. These five elements of PERMA that influence well-being are:

• Positive emotion
• Engagement
• Relationships
• Meaning/Mattering
• Accomplishments

You can hear more about Dr. Seligman’s work in this podcast episode, and you can consider your own dialogic exploration of PERMA by activating your own curiosity in others and asking good questions.

• How has developing a common language through RIASEC increased your positive emotions about who you are and who you want to become?
• What examples of new knowledge or skills are you developing that align with your strengths, interests, and values, and how has that growth led to new accomplishments?
• Who in your school or work life do you have a positive relationship with, and how has that relationship inspired you to explore new courses, activities, or projects?
• Tell me about the role you play in your favorite class, in a group or club, at home with your family and friends, or within your church or community. Describe what it means to you to be a part of that group. What would be different for you and others if you missed a week?

#PossibleSelves