An article by Karen Taylor about our cohort at Fondation Stamm (page 6)
Student Agency (Until They Disagree With Us)
We are supporting lots of agency here - and it's not always welcome...
We're all about uplift and joy.
Template to recruit new beach enthusiasts
Feel free to share liberally.
FAQs - What is Sandcastle? Why, When, How?
Feel free to share with educators who might be interesting in joining.
Research-Invested Schools: Planning to emerge smarter and stronger from the pandemic.
The argument for research in secondary schools, by secondary school teachers (Australian context).
Building Sandcastles in the Sky?
A discussion of our process, published by International Schools Network.
Multilingual Learning Research Center (University of Wisconsin Madison)
Very competent and friendly serivce helping schools in all matters multilingual! If you are working on translanguaging, inclusivity, or collaboration vis-a-vis multilingual learners, check them out.
The Power of Finding a Thought Partner
Short and right on article by colleagues of ours, Darcy Bakkegard and Jennifer Carlson
Intellectual Wellbeing - a podcast
We try things out and reflect not because it is easier but because it is rewarding - it fuels our spirits. I think Patrick has a nice handle on this.
Communities of Practice, Podcast with host Tim Logan
Building Sandcastles in the Sky?
The Professional Development We Deserve, Sheri Spelic
This article is spot on. A couple of quotes that you can share as you build your sandcastle: Recognition of what counts as professional learning needs to be broadened. So many educators pursue professional learning on their own time and terms. Plenty join book groups and subject matter networks in order to stay in contact with colleagues in the field and locate resources of interest. Others attend conferences, blog and make TikTok videos about their insights. Rather than get nervous about what teachers may or may not be sharing, administrators can ask themselves: How am I contributing to a culture of continuous learning and what can I do to support teachers in their desired professional development pursuits?
Professional learning can happen in a variety of modalities and contexts and not all of them necessarily need to be declared. But the more open administrators become to alternative forms of professional learning, the better the whole culture around adult development within and outside our institutions will be. Finding brief and authentic ways on site for educators to share their progress builds an atmosphere that says yes to community learning.
We need to prioritize facilitation before content. I feel very strongly about this one. Educators are rarely ones to sit back and rest on our laurels. Many of us are active learners, readers, researchers, writers, conveners, allies and accomplices. Something I’ve observed during several educator-specific professional development events over the years is a process by which several highly intelligent, interesting and caring people become surprisingly passive and disengaged over the course of a 90 minute presentation. Often the presenter was a well-regarded expert with loads of content knowledge who unfortunately showed very little interest in the specific context of the audience before them.
Why support action research as professional development? Because, paraphrased, the only way schools are going to change is to let teachers experiment and talk about it with each other. Justin Reich, MIT, the EdSurge podcast
What are some ways we can share our work (pairs, small groups, or whole group focus on one or two projects)?