Written by Megan Davenport, Faria Education Group
One of the highlights of our summers at Faria Education Group in the Portland, Oregon, office is bringing in groups of educators from around the country and around the world to participate in the Leadership Institute. The collaborative conversation, shared learning, and excitement about curriculum fuels and inspires us. So what do we do when we can’t safely hold our favorite event? We do the same thing everyone else is doing – we move it online, and strive to recreate as much of the magic as possible.
What are some of our takeaways? Make sure sessions are interactive! Provide activities, discussions, and group work time to keep everyone engaged and inspired. Allow participants to share out and learn from each other – professional development is always the most powerful when multiple voices are heard.
We are always inspired by the work participants create – here are a few examples:
Don’t take it from me, here are things that our participants found helpful!
As a cohort, we found the workshop series to be immensely helpful! Each session was grounded in meaningful and relevant curriculum design principles. There was also time for us to come together as a team and put what we learned into practice. And with the support of the Faria PD team, we developed a multiple-year vision of the curriculum design work our school will undertake.
-Christina Pelekanos, Village Community School, NYC
I would highly recommend this event! Too many a-ha moments and stars in my notes to recount all, but it really helped me to really see, and create action steps, for how I could help our staff go from a “checkmark, my map is done” to “curriculum mapping is a living, breathing resource to help us all help our students”. Plan on incorporating specific PD on unit planning & reports, lesson planning and providing time for conversations so that our Atlas mission and vision can be realized! Thank you for reigniting my passion.
-Jennifer Knight, Secondary Principal for Earlham Community School District
I enjoyed hearing from colleagues and learning about their different approaches to the work. I liked structuring the work around a strategic plan (although we didn’t stick to it), because it made me think about other structures and processes that we need to improve. This summer we’re triaging the work, but I’d like to participate next summer via Zoom and have the opportunity to join another leadership series to continue the work we’ve started.
-Julie Cantillon, Associate Director of Schools for the Diocese of San Diego
A major takeaway is to have time working as a team during the breakout sessions, with the resources and support provided by Faria Education Group. The cohort is helpful in clarifying the vision & mission of curriculum mapping & development, refining the strategic plan.
-Lili Jia, Dean of Curriculum for Keystone Academy, China
Are you interested in joining one of our Leadership Cohorts? Find more information and register here:
Megan Davenport
Follow @meganadavenport
Megan Davenport’s passion for education is at the forefront of her work. Megan earned her master’s degree in education from Arizona State University and bachelor’s degrees in sociology and business management from the University of Montana. Thanks to her academic background, Megan takes a well-rounded approach to working with schools and benefits from knowledge of organizational structure as well as change management paired with classroom experience and a love of helping children learn.
Megan consults with public and independent schools both domestically and internationally and enjoys synthesizing knowledge gained from working with a wide variety of schools to provide training and professional development for educators.
