The Balance Between Self-Care and Burnout During Critical Times – Webinar
This period in history will be defined by how we maximize our roles as educators, activists, and citizens in an uncertain future. As a community, we are all connected and dependent on each other. It is critical that we have tools to continue to work at peak effectiveness for ourselves and others in times of crisis. In this webinar, Dr. Kelly Brown will discuss how to balance between self-care and burnout. She will address what the research says about burnout and self-care, as well as how to recognize signs and manage them. When the norm has changed it is important that we are able to successfully navigate the changes while taking care of ourselves and others.
More Information and Registration
Cultivating Coaching Mindsets: Keys for Coaching Success – Virtual Workshops
In a series of three one-hour virtual workshops, Drs. Rita Bean and Jacy Ippolito will discuss the joys and challenges of adopting “coaching mindsets.” They will share practical ideas about how to establish an environment conducive to coaching, work collaboratively with colleagues, and manage the challenges of differentiating coaching to address both individual and system goals. These virtual workshops are aimed at supporting all educators who “coach” other adults as part of their professional work. Whether you hold the title of coach (e.g., instructional, literacy coach), or whether you support other adult professionals informally as a colleague, interventionist, or supervisor, these sessions dig into the mindsets of facilitator, leader, designer, and advocate. Across the workshops, Rita and Jacy will facilitate discussions with participants about the ways in which their ideas can translate into online coaching work that so many of us are engaged in right now.
More Information and Registration
Equity First Virtual Institute
Online May 14-15, 2020
We moved our Equity Retreat Online!
This two-day institute deepens the “Who am I?” identity work from the Personal Awareness Institute by exploring how our identities influence the way we walk in, interact with others and make sense of the world. As a reflective learning group, we address several key questions: What do we mean by power and privilege? Do we all have some level of privilege? How can I identify unintended harm I’ve created in the past due to my privilege, and determine what I would do differently to make sure that I don’t make those mistakes again? With an explicit focus on equity, participants gain skills for using SRI tools and processes to:
- Participate in reflective conversations about equity;
- Successfully manage dissonance, disequilibrium and anxiety in a reflective learning group; and
- Make explicit connections among educational practice, student learning & barriers to educational equity.
More Information and Registration
Leading for Powerful Learning Institute
Online April 22-24, 2020
Our April session has been re-tooled and will be a virtual session for 3 days, then a 1-day followup in Chicago this summer
This institute is designed for educators who are often called upon to facilitate meetings or deliver professional development and need support in designing, implementing and supporting adult learning. Using research-based tools and strategies, participants learn how to nurture ongoing conversations designed to improve teaching and learning. The Institute provides in-depth study of protocols; introduces adult learning theory; builds explicit connections between adult learning and student success; supports participants to ask for and receive feedback critical to their success; and enables participants to design action plans that facilitate the improvement of teaching and learning through the lens of educational equity and excellence.
By the conclusion of the institute, participants will:
- Gain an understanding of adult learning theory;
- Understand the connection between adult learning and school transformation;
- Understand core considerations when leading with SRI reflective tools and processes;
- Explore themselves as leaders; and
- Begin to develop and/or deepen the facilitative skills needed to lead educators’ learning.
More Information and Registration
Virtual Connections
The last few weeks have been unprecedented in our generation. While mass closures of schools and social distancing have brought us all a range of emotions, new routines, and change, this pandemic has not cancelled relationships and the need to put our community first. School Reform Initiative and Eagle Rock Professional Development Center will be co-facilitating “Virtual Connections” for our community on Wednesdays. We love connections as a protocol because all we have to do is prepare ourselves to lean in to each other, there’s nothing to prepare and no other expectations. The rules are simple – speak if you want to speak, don’t speak if you don’t want to speak, and speak only once until everyone has had an opportunity to speak. We’re hoping that if everyone connects for 5 minutes sharing whatever is on their mind that we’ll be able to provide a virtual community because we are not alone in our efforts to balance supporting our students, creating virtual learning for potentially the first time, homeschooling our own children, feeling isolated or anxious, and so many other realities. Remember, there is power in community. We are stronger together and while we may not be able to be in social gatherings for a while, join Deirdre & Anastacia for “Virtual Connections” Wednesday at 10am Central. We’ll put an hour on the clock and connections will be open. Join us via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/526645533
Fall Meeting Pre-Conference Call for Proposals
Pre-conference sessions take place on Wednesday, the day before the start of Fall Meeting and provide an opportunity for participants to extend their learning while in Memphis.
Do you have an idea for a pre-conference session for the 2020 Fall Meeting that you would like to offer? Are you using SRI tools and practices in exciting ways that you’d like to share with others? Pre-conference sessions may be full or half-day and can be on-site in one of our conference rooms or off-site at a school or other location within the city.
All pre-conference proposals are due by April 30, 2020
If you are interested in proposing a pre-conference session, please utilize the pre-conference proposal form, and submit it no later than April 30, 2020. Have a request for a pre-conference that you would like to attend? Email Deirdre Williams, deirdre@schoolreforminitiative.org, and she will try to find facilitators to prepare a pre-conference session that meets your needs!
#10forSRI
Our goal for 2020 is to help educators remember why they became educators, and to do whatever we can to not only help them to ‘feel’ supported, but to actually ‘be’ supported, and work together to create the schools our students deserve. I hope you will join me and continue to support SRI!
SRI is fiercely committed to educational equity and excellence, and we cannot do this work without your support!
Thank you for your commitment to students, families and communities!
Do you have news to share? Interesting things happening in your area? Please let us know so we can share with our community! Email Chris Jones, chris@schoolreforminitiative.org.
Thank you,
Deirdre Williams and Chris Jones
On behalf of School Reform Initiative
