Summer PD – Why the Work Works

This summer we offered numerous professional development opportunities for teachers.?Most were paid and voluntary. Our administrative team planned some, and faculty themselves planned and directed some, based upon their specific needs.?Below are a few summer activities:?

• Four members of our world languages department who teach Spanish reviewed and re-designed their curriculum – considering issues of alignment, content/skills, and collaboration.?
• Because we eliminated our freshmen introductory computer course, educators who teach freshmen in a variety of academic disciplines began integrating computer/tech content & skills into their existing curriculum. ?
• Teachers participated in off-campus PD opportunities, such as a Lego robotics workshop and a fine arts seminar.?
• Finally, eighteen faculty who teach freshmen completed our Summer Seminar that launched our Curriculum Writing & Action Project – practicing project-based and inquiry-based learning strategies, integrating mission-based themes, and developing cross-discipline curriculum work.?

Fading is the notion that during summer the school building closes entirely and formal adult professional development pauses.?Instead, despite an arduous and stressful previous school year, many teachers found consolation and institutional support as they engaged in meaningful work that helped them continue to build community, improve as professional teachers and ultimately increase student achievement.?Perhaps there are four main reasons why this work works.

Mission

We always tie our PD work to mission, that challenges us to something greater than ourselves.?This summer, during our four day Summer Seminar, we introduced faculty to a design-thinking model, ADDIE, to help us with our ongoing Curriculum Design and Review Process (CDRP).?As a means of continuing to challenge faculty to re-imagine their curriculum and work collaboratively with others across disciplines, we continuously compared ADDIE to the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm – an Ignatian teaching framework whose components of Context, Experience, Reflection, Action, and Evaluation come directly from the qualities of the relationship between the retreatant and the retreat director in the Spiritual Exercises.?

Some additional mission-based components of the Summer Seminar included:

• daily reflections framed by some themes of the 4 weeks of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, ?
• deep-dives into our foundational document, The Profile of the Graduate at Graduation, with a specific focus on Open to Growth (the freshmen teachers’ cohort theme for this year),
• ideas about how to connect our individual and collaborative group curricula and projects to the Jesuit Universal Apostolic Preferences, and
• time for extended reflection and purposeful action.

We situation all things in our greater mission.?

Specific, Relevant, & Timely

PD work challenges faculty to specificity.?Not only do we provide meaningfully designed opportunities, but also we challenge teachers to develop specific plans and concrete projects during PD, to embed into existing or new curriculum and use with students in the coming year. To that end, we provide resources, tools, and frameworks for teachers, when getting specific and concrete.?

Our Spanish teachers met for approximately 40 hours during one week this summer.?During that time, their work was specific, relevant, & timely, proposing to:

• create posters/visuals for each classroom that are consistent,
• create skills/outcomes for each level,
• create a common vocabulary list for each level,
• create a common grammar list for each level.

During the Summer Seminar, our eighteen participants completed a design thinking hands-on experience of re-visioning our school’s second floor.?The project was specific, timely, and relevant – familiarizing teachers with ADDIE by having them practice as they entered into a “real world” issue that had relevance to them and to the school.?Toward the end of the week, teams presented their concrete plans to an authentic audience “panel” including the school’s president, director of advancement, and director of admissions.?These presentations will be sent to the director of advancement, as he continues to form the school team and inform architects – in the school’s planning.?Finally, that same eighteen Summer Seminar faculty also developed concrete, cross-curriculum projects for students in the coming year.?Some examples of those projects included specific student reflection pieces used in all courses throughout the year, a lesson exploring great books and films, and common assessment rubrics.?During the week, we used frameworks to get specific, as well as be relevant and timely.?

Summer PD work is relevant and timely when it connects to larger school initiatives and world issues.?As the school continues to engage in our Curriculum Design and Review Process (CDRP), Spanish teachers voiced a need for planning time to overhaul curriculum.??Summer provided the time they needed.?The freshmen teacher cohorts that focused on computer/tech integration, along with the Summer Seminar crew, did so as direct offshoots of relevant and timely changes happening within our overall curriculum.?

The four day Summer Seminar was the launch for something greater:?the Curriculum Writing & Action Project (a four year initiative), which challenges teachers to examine and improve their individual curriculum, collaborate across academic disciplines, and frame what they do using components of The Profile of the Graduate at Graduation.?The Curriculum Writing and Action Project is situated in an even greater school-wide mission-based curriculum initiative that is one of three spheres in our on-going Curriculum Design and Review Process: ?

• designing writing curriculum,
• launching all-school curriculum initiatives,
• and working on Core Team curriculum action items.?

Finally, one Summer Seminar collaborative group project addressed a question students might ask, “Why are we learning this?” by creating a theme-based unit, “A Call for Justice in Cuba,” whereby Spanish and theology work collaboratively by having students learn about culture, speak Spanish in relevant conversations, and tackle contemporary issues through the Catholic Social Justice lens.??

PD work that is specific, relevant, and timely – embedded into class with students – is successful.

Intentional Design

Our processes for designing PD opportunities are thoughtful and intentional.?For example, a team of four curriculum leaders began the Summer Seminar design process in January 2021.?We set aside time each week to come together and design.?

We intentionally choose ADDIE as an instructional design framework to introduce during the Seminar, because it connects our previous curriculum work and initiatives, while it also complements the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm. ?Our design includes seven essential qualities:?

1. Predictable and supportive agenda.?The Summer Seminar agenda has a predictable and supportive rhythm and flow that imitates a high-functioning classroom.?Seminar days include setting the context (review and preview) with participant objectives, brief input sessions, hands-on practical experiences based on real-world issues/problems, projects, collaboration, conversations & reflective time, assessments, and nightly work.?
2. Resources & frameworks. Throughout the week, we offered participants resources and frameworks that they used on-site and can use in the coming year:?ADDIE and IPP templates, Collaborative Group and Project parameters, foundational document reflection prompts, lesson plan templates, individual curriculum planning resources, and a post-seminar action plan template.?
3. Innovative Education.?Three years ago, a school team worked to define Innovative Education for our school – developing four spheres.?The Summer Seminar included three of our four defined Innovative Education spheres:?inquiry-based and blended learning opportunities, project based learning pieces, and networking opportunities.?
4. Concrete?Focus.?Though we offered participants many tools, resources, and frameworks, we kept the focus on two achievable action items:?revision of an individual curriculum piece, and creation of a Collaborative Group Project embedded into existing curricula.?
5. Options.?Throughout the week, participants had many options for entering into the work.?The Seminar itself was optional.?Seminar participants had choice in the unit/lesson they wanted to revise, the group they worked in, the specific project for that group focus, and Thought Partner selections.
6. Failure.?Trial and error happens without fear of failure when we build strong communities of support for learning by risk-taking and reflection.?As we reflected at the end of our Summer Seminar, one participant said, “The experience has been great because it has been the opportunity to try, fail, revise, fail, discuss, reflect, implement, and evaluate.”?
7. Meta-Cognition & Reflection. Twice each day, we took time “away” to journal and reflect using these prompts:?

• Think back to what we just experienced.??What has been your experience as a learner??What tools have you used??What activities have the facilitators used to help you in your learning??
• What/how can you replicate your?experiences?from this morning,?for students in your classes????
• Let’s get a list going – that will be?ongoing?throughout the week – so that you have concrete examples?that you can use in your classes?with your students.

We use meta-cognitive reflection to challenge teachers to see that implemented design can be replicated (through their own curricula and design) and that during the Summer Seminar we model behaviors (and tools) that can be used in classrooms with students.?These types of experiences are paramount in raising educator awareness about practices and strategies.?Intentional design is important.?

Post-PD Support

Finally, even though PD happens outside of the traditional school year, it does not exist in a vacuum.?Throughout the coming academic year, we provide embedded support and resources in three concrete ways:???

1. Collaborative Group Projects.?We schedule time during school year PD days (that we call “Pull-Outs”) throughout the year for Summer Seminar Collaborative Groups to meet, plan, reflect, and support one another.?
2. Thought Partners.?This summer we introduced our Summer Seminar participants to Thought Partners – self-selected individuals who pair, are not in the same academic disciplines, and are not part of the same Collaborative Group Projects.?Thought Partners regularly meet with during the year – to reflect with, challenge, and support one another – as a direct follow-up to the Summer Seminar.?If such meetings happen around an outside lunch, during an off campus coffee, or away from campus at a restaurant in the evening, etc., we reimburse financially the Thought Partners.
3. Class Visits.?School leadership thoughtfully logs teacher summer PD work that we fund.???Throughout the year, class visits, timely written feedback, and structured reflective conversations (Cognitive Coaching) focus (in part) on raising awareness and challenges for how specific summer PD take-a-ways and habits impact student learning and achievement.??

For additional information or to connect:?[email protected] or on Twitter @petemusso.