How will you use the lessons learned from this year to evolve your practice moving forward?

There are signs of a pre-pandemic life emerging as more restaurants open, more travel is allowed, and more gatherings are occurring. This also means more traffic and more on the “to do” list. As many are longing to get back to normal I fear we might miss out on lessons learned if we don’t take a moment to pause and reflect. There is no denying that there have been great challenges but there have also been some bright spots that can highlight a path forward and help use the lessons to evolve in our practices. We know that our educational practices and systems have not always met the needs of all learners so we have an opportunity to abandon what hasn’t worked, keep what does, and use our lessons learned to create a new blend that allows us to move forward in ways that better meets the needs of our learners and communities. 

To ensure the lessons from this can be captured and leveraged to evolve practices, I encourage you to pull in some colleagues, or use time in a staff meeting to just reflect on your own. 

• What worked well and made an impact on learners? Teachers? Families? What new practices emerged? 

• What was challenging and made connection and learning hard? What has not served our students? 

• What is possible? What should we consider as we move forward next year? 

I like to use a slide deck to cocreate and capture reflections across multiple groups. Here is a template to use or modify but you could also use chart paper, jamboard, or padlet as well.

In a year that was harder than many ever imagined, please make time to celebrate all that you have accomplished, acknowledge the efforts of your colleagues, students, and families. I hope that as you reflect on this year and consider what is possible, you are energized to come back (after a nice break of course!) and work together to evolve your practices. Also, please share your reflections with me, especially what you think is possible! #EvolvingEducation