Amy Abbott, Gifted Resource Teacher, Green Run Collegiate
Tell me about your prototype.
My innovative squad member, Megan, was a gifted resource teacher. She started off as a chemistry teacher and she wanted to venture back to that. She fell in love with this idea — it’s a best practice called modeling instruction. She incorporated it into her curriculum and it’s everything you want to see in terms of student-centeredness: it’s very exploratory and inquiry-based. To do more modeling instruction, she needed access to the modeling instruction database, she needed to sit and look at the webinars, and she definitely needed time. She’s also a mom, so she just needed some compensated time to be able to get back into this. 2Rev covered access to the modeling instruction database for a year. She’s having open lines of communication with the science coordinator just to let him know, “Here’s something I am doing,” and he’s very interested in learning more. I kept in touch with Megan weekly with hour-long meetings, where I kept track of what we said we wanted to work toward, so it’s been this ongoing record. I am definitely a support in this process.
My experience with 2Rev has been awakening and refreshing at the same time, because this is the first time where I have gone through a process and I don’t really know where it’s going; you have to feel your way through it, and I have had to be comfortable with the ambiguity. It has been messy at times. It has been a little slow paced, but I realize, in hindsight, that’s the way it’s supposed to be with the design process. A lot of times in education we come up with great ideas and we immediately want to take steps towards making it happen, and sometimes we rush the process and mistakes can be made. I was not familiar with design thinking [before this]; this is my first time going through this type of design process.
WHAT HAS BEEN MOST MEANINGFUL FOR YOU IN THIS PROCESS?
The collaboration I have had within the mindset cohort — the way we have come together and had weekly meetings and bring our best ideas to the table. I feel we have accomplished so much within the group. There’s a great amount of drive and energy and passion for the work. We all want to serve as change agents in education today. We want to see transformations made. We want to get away from that industrial model and we’re headed into a student-centered, 21st century one. Although what we’re doing is small, I can only imagine where it might go and that’s exciting to think about — where things can go from here.
HOW IS THIS WORK DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU EXPECTED?
I came into this with no expectations. I didn’t know what it would look like, sound like, feel like. It’s brand new territory, which is why it was exciting for me to be accepted into the cohort; it’s unlike anything I have ever done before. I was hoping for a great deal of support and that’s certainly what we have received. Rachel [Lopkin] has been overseeing our group: she has just been amazing and very responsive in terms of dancing with us, knowing when to follow our lead, and when to step in and lead us. She has been responsive in so many ways to meet our needs throughout the process and to ensure us. Todd [Kern], as well, asking how we’re feeling right now, [and letting us know] it’s OK, it’s the way it’s supposed to feel, and it’s the way it’s supposed to be. The reassurance along the way has been very helpful.
WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST LEARNING?
The biggest learning for me has been being a part of the process, and seeing is believing. People like myself are not [typically] involved in these large pieces to bring change to the district, so it’s been so nice to be a part of it. I do believe that innovation can come, and it can come from a bottom-up approach. Starting with the classroom teachers, and those who are in practice with students every day, specialists, administrators. It’s nice to see that more of this is happening, the ground-up approach. One of my other biggest learnings is it’s rewarding to see how this [work] supports the Graduate Profile in a genuine way, how it aligns with the profile, and what that looks like in the classroom so it’s not just a poster that people see. It’s not just what we talk about at our conferences and professional development — it’s tied to the fabric.
WOULD YOU ENGAGE IN SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN?
Absolutely, it’s been exciting and rewarding. I would do it again.
WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED?
It’s so hard to answer the question because I don’t have anything to compare it to. It’s been so different from anything I have ever done. I know that our particular group made a decision to touch base weekly. It was nice meeting more frequently to touch base with one another, and make sure we’re all on the same page with our work. We have the large meetings, but outside the large meetings, I don’t know if the other groups have the luxury of meeting as often as we do. It’s been so beneficial to have that ongoing and consistent communication and collaboration.
Building more innovative/integrative communities — the innovation, the work we’re doing, the support we can provide teachers to really enhance their practice. Although some of the ideas these prototypes are focused on [is not new] — modeling instruction has been around. The innovative piece is to take it back to the classroom and do it well with fidelity and tie it to the Graduate Profile. Ryan’s group is doing an interdisciplinary unit — people have been doing interdisciplinary work for a long time, but it’s the process that’s innovative. The integrative piece: the way the cohort has been formed, administrators, specialists, and teachers, all coming together for this work. I like to see the integration. The attendance of central office, I know Lisa has been coming in on our conference calls, and Dr. Robertson has attended when he can to show his support for the work. That type of integration has been really nice to see.
has your definition of innovation changed?
My definition of innovation has changed. Now I realize that something that is innovative doesn’t have to be a brand new tangible product; instead, it can be a new process. Another lesson learned is to trust the process, and if it is slow and if it is messy it’s OK. And it has been a little uncomfortable to go slowly: we’re so excited for the possibilities of where it can go, but we have to push it aside and really trust the process.