Teachers Taking Action

Earlier this year, I posted about how we as teachers can help kids to take action.

Many of the teachers I work with are very passionate about how they can better help their students to take action and feel this is an element of their teaching practice they would like to develop more.

Since in the PYP we are learners first, and teachers second, we decided to reflect and think about how we have taken action based on what we’ve learned professionally this year (with regards to math instruction).

To help us understand the different types of action, we used this chart to help frame our thinking.

We all reflected on the different “actions” we have taken recently and wrote them on post-it notes. Then we shared them with each other.

Then we posted them on a “Teachers Taking Action” wall.

Doing this reflection as teachers was beneficial in so many different ways:

1. It was so rewarding and inspiring to see and celebrate all the different ways teachers have taken action based on what they have learned professionally this year!

2. It allowed us to understand more deeply what “Taking Action” really means and that there can be six different ways to take action.

3. It allowed us to experience what it is like as a learner to reflect on taking action.

4. It engendered a discussion about shifting our mindset from “helping students to take action” to “helping students notice, name and reflect on the action they are already taking.”

5. It allowed us to discuss the challenges of helping students to take action and the needs of our school community to further develop this important element of the PYP.

To help make a good human, you have to be a good human.. and boy are our students lucky to have such wonderful role models as teachers who put their own professional learning into action!