Education Week - October 11, 2023 - 24

20
Get Kids Moving During
Math Lessons. Trust Me,
It Helps Them Learn
21
The 4 Gifts Principals
Should Give Teachers
This Year
22
Letters to
The Editor
I Teach Educators How to Change
Their Minds. Here's How
By Jennifer Perry Cheatham,
Erica Lim, & Carmen Williams
O
ne of the classes I (Jen Cheatham)
teach at the Harvard Graduate School
of Education is a doctoral course called
Leaders of Learning for K-12 education
leaders who are studying to become
system-level leaders. The course
aims to prepare educators to lead for
student, adult, and organizational learning. And it argues that
leaders of learning must do more than assess the quality of
instruction. They must continually examine the larger system
that either supports or constrains excellent instruction and both
seek and use shared insight to cultivate collaborative change.
This course was originally taught by Richard Elmore, a
professor at the ed. school who died in 2021. Last year, I worked
with two former teachers, administrators, and graduates of
the ed. school-co-authors Erica Lim and Carmen Williams-
to update it. In our preparation, we culled through recent
literature about adult and organizational learning. We also
returned to Elmore's work, in particular his now-classic
essay, " I Used to Think ... and Now I Think ..., " in which
he demonstrates how he evolved over his long career and
challenged himself to explore " truths " that he might have
otherwise taken for granted. Elmore's essay seems especially
salient given today's challenges.
The harsh setbacks brought on by the pandemic, the deeply
partisan political climate, and the ensuing culture wars have made
it nearly impossible to engage in dialogue that leads to authentic
learning. Today, everything is black or white, right or wrong, in
alignment with one's political affiliation, identity, or espoused
values. In our course, we wanted to teach that educators must first
and foremost be learners who are open and willing to change
their own hearts and minds. By doing so, they will be better able
to create the conditions for others to learn and change as well.
Creating the conditions for adults to change their minds,
however, is not easy, especially when they feel attacked,
defensive, or misunderstood. But it is possible, as the voices of
our students from this class attest.
Here are a few lessons from our teaching that we hope
will help all leaders of learning-school and district leaders,
especially-to create more resilient opportunities for educators
to grow, even in these uncertain times.
Warm Beginnings and Endings
First, we think it is crucial to embed rituals for reflection and
community building in our class meetings. For this reason, we
open our course with a community-building circle and invite
class members to share their learning goals. These activities
generate a commitment to our individual and collective
growth. At the beginning of each subsequent session, we check
in on class commitments, like our agreements to lean into
discomfort or remain curious. We end each class by sharing
parting thoughts, epiphanies, and questions on a big piece of
chart paper. This activity helps to both synthesize and celebrate
the learning process by making our evolving thinking visible.
What to consider: So often, spaces for educators to learn
are untethered from their individual learning goals. What
rituals could anchor your professional learning sessions to
ensure they signal the value of personal growth?
Provocation and Inspiration
To provoke new thinking, we also believe it is important to
bring in voices that are different from our own. One assignment
prompts our students to shadow and complete empathy
interviews with K-12 students and their teachers to gain
insight and a deeper understanding of the enabling and
constraining factors of the school day's current design.
Our learners then share those stories in our class. One of
Jennifer Perry Cheatham's students from her Leaders of Learning class.
our class participants shadowed a Spanish-speaking student,
who recently immigrated to the United States, to understand
his daily experience in school. Another shadowed a seasoned
elementary school teacher who felt she lacked the agency to
do her best work. As we listen to the stories, we focus on the
feelings they elicit before moving to analysis and implications
for practice. Sometimes, the stories make us sad and angry;
sometimes, we feel inspired and hopeful; every time, we
are surprised by the empathy they generate. What is most
important is that by connecting with these stories emotionally
before analysis, we commit ourselves to compassionate
exploration of multiple viewpoints.
What to consider: School and district leaders too often
make assumptions about the intentions of our students,
parents, and colleagues. How might you provoke new insight
during your professional learning sessions by bringing in more
perspectives? How might you design ways to explore those
viewpoints with care?
Sharing Wisdom
We know adult learners bring a wealth of experience and
understanding to the table. Accumulated over a lifetime, their
knowledge and skills are crucial to the class content. And it
is wisdom we want them to share. When they do, tensions
can arise across gender and racial/ethnic identities or among
those who are parents and those who aren't. In last year's class,
we noted that there was tension between former school and
central-office leaders, so we started exploring the question,
" Who is best positioned to do what work? " In other words,
rather than tamp down the differences of opinion, we remain
curious and let new through-lines of inquiry emerge.
What to consider: Too often, school and district leaders
don't draw on the experience in the room. How might you
maximize your participants' knowledge and skills? How
might you make space for authentic inquiry into areas of
disagreement?
Co-Design
The design process for adult learning needs to be
collaborative, continuous, and iterative, in full partnership
24 | EDUCATION WEEK | October 11, 2023 | www.edweek.org/opinion
with the participants. To ensure our course meets the needs
and desires of each new student, we offer one-on-ones
before class begins to better understand their professional
experiences, career goals, and personal learning objectives.
Last year, we also met with a focus group of participants
who have less experience in the field to engage them in the
course design. Throughout the semester, we then model the
co-design process and sustained collaboration we believe
are at the heart of leading meaningful learning.
What to consider: Educators frequently feel like they are
receiving professional learning as opposed to participating in it.
How might you engage adult learners (your teachers/principals,
for example) in co-design?
Designing, teaching, and reflecting on this course has
reminded us that for adults to learn-to truly challenge their
long-held beliefs like Elmore did and then to change them-
they need a different kind of learning space from what their
current meeting structures offer. We see, in just a matter of
weeks, a change in how these educators view themselves, the
work to be done, and each other. Only by offering spaces that
are more respectful, humane, and stimulating can we nurture
the expansive thinking we need now.
CHEATHAM is a senior lecturer on education and the cochair
of the Public Education Leadership Project at the
Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is a former
superintendent of the Madison, Wis., school district. LIM is
a senior program officer at The Eli and Edythe Broad
Foundation and previously served as the senior adviser to
the chief academic officer of the Los Angeles school district.
She is a national board-certified teacher. WILLIAMS is the
assistant superintendent of instruction and innovation in a
public school district in the metro Boston area. She serves as
the co-chair of Data Wise in Action and previously served as
a teacher, principal, and teacher education instructor.
VIDEO: Watch the related short videos of Cheatham's
students explaining how they changed their minds.
> edw.link / UsedToBelieve
Vanessa Solis/Education Week
http://edw.link/UsedToBelieve http://www.edweek.org/opinion
Education Week - October 11, 2023

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