Leading Reflective Learning Communities Institute Reflections from the Executive Director
Welcome to a new year and a new decade of growing together as a community of learners! We are excited about the opportunities to expand our mission’s footprint of creating transformational learning communities fiercely committed to equity and excellence.
I recently had the opportunity to facilitate a session titled Transforming the Way Adults Learn at a conference for early childhood educators. We had the most engaging discourse while using only one writing tool and chart paper (Chalk Talk) and responding to the prompt “Talk about a time when you were learning a lot and loving it.” I began the session with this activity, so I hadn’t yet described any of the principles of Reflective Learning Communities (RLC). Oddly enough, the descriptions of their best learning were not the type that could be achieved in the traditional workshops most educators attend regularly. As we debriefed our Chalk Talk experience, we were pleasantly surprised at the themes that emerged, such as environments of trust, provocative questioning, safe spaces to think out loud, and collaborative learning. Testing new ideas together made us all think about how we could create a culture where this kind of learning could become our norm.
The School Reform Initiative (SRI) believes that the ideal conditions for student learning will not be created in schools until the adults learn how to implement them. We also think that the most powerful learning for adults is recursive and ongoing, and results in lasting change. Reflective Learning Communities provide this structure. Through the principles of skilled facilitation, a culture of trust, choice, equity of voice, reflection, praxis, and reciprocity, educators have the opportunity to feel supported while taking risks. They also have opportunities to choose what they learn as a community and to reflect on their beliefs and assumptions about their practice constantly.
We launched our first Leading RLC institute July 2019. After reading the educator reflections on this institute, we confirmed that providing professional learning opportunities to support adults was a good action to take and would ultimately result in better learning for students. A reflection from one of our Texas affiliates still resonates with me. From this reflection, I’ve constantly asked myself how we can engage more educators in this work.
“After this week’s Institute, I feel like I have a better understanding of how this work fits into the school culture as a whole. When adults learn and collaborate effectively, students thrive, and real school transformation can happen. I’m excited to continue on my journey as a reflective teacher leader, work on being a better colleague by having necessary conversations about equity and attend more SRI institutes to continue learning and growing with colleagues invested in the same work. They say great minds think alike, but I’ve found that SRI minds embrace and then safely challenge thinking so we can support each other in this messy, but beautiful work that makes us better for each other and the communities we serve.”
Our vision is to have communities of educators in every region of this country engaged in learning that is supportive, responsive, and collaborative. We know it will transform adults to then transform schools.
The SRI is facilitating RLC institutes in cities across the U. S. in 2020.
Whether you are new to the work, or you’ve experienced this transformative learning for a while we have an institute designed to support your continued growth and development. We hope you’ll join us and encourage others in your learning networks to participate as well.
#10forSRI
SRI affiliates genuinely care about the students and communities we serve and recognize that schools as they currently exist need to improve so that all students have the chance to succeed. Our affiliates are passionate about making such change. Loving and caring about all students is at the center of where we start. 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!
2020 brings even more opportunity for SRI’s growth through affiliate engagement and education. We have amazing affiliate volunteers in our community who are helping SRI board and staff by joining us in our many ongoing and upcoming initiatives including:
- Celebrating ten years and beyond with an #IAMSRI campaign that will lead up to our Annual Fall Meeting in Memphis, TN November 5-7, 2020.
- Continue our national offerings: Intro to SRI Reflective Learning Communities Institutes, Leading Reflective Learning Communities Institutes, and Equity First Institutes, to engage more affiliates regionally – held in Houston, Tampa, Chicago, and Burlington.
- Expand our affiliate base – can you help us add more people in your state?
- Continue to refine the SRI website, adding new tools and resources including videos.
- Additional national institutes designed to continue to support the growth of facilitators, particularly around educational equity and excellence.
- An unending commitment to supporting educators, particularly classroom teachers, to empower them and help them change the system of education to serve all students!
A new year brings hope and possibility. When we collaborate and work together, phenomenal things can happen! I invite you to support SRI so that together we can continue to do good work in service of students. There are several ways to help us grow:
- Donate a tax-deductible financial gift. As a nonprofit, we are primarily supported through grants and individual donations. Your financial gift provides the funding that we need to implement and support our multiple initiatives. A financial gift of any size is extremely importing in helping us sustain ourselves as an organization.
- Become an affiliate. Affiliating is a yearly process, and demonstrates your commitment to SRI and the work we do to support educators throughout the world.
- Share SRI with your friends, families and colleagues. Help us expand our circle of supporters by sharing the work of SRI and explaining how this work has made an impact on your life. Ask your friends and families to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and enter into the conversation about school transformation – this is a conversation for everyone, not just educators.
- Keep working in ways that lead towards the creation of a culture of collaborative and reflective practice. Have challenging conversations, hold one another accountable, be brave by deprivatizing your practice, and work daily to reflect and collaborate in service of students.
I am filled with hope for 2020, and a renewed commitment to stand for children even in the face of overwhelming odds. 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!
P.S. Please give and post your giving to other SRI affiliates and friends on social media.
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.
