Activity 1: (10 minutes) PROFESSIONALISM & WELL-BEING

Professionalism is expected in many work environments, including “The Office.” There are several short non-example videos throughout this lesson.

Watch the video, “Time Prank,” from The Office.

• Why would you consider this situation to be a non-example of professionalism?

Watch the video, “Enclothed Cognition,” by You Are Not So Smart.

Pass out the Defining Professional Well-Being handout. Invite educators to take 5 minutes to create a web of topics that fall under teacher professionalism. Have them compare their webs with the people around them.

Have a discussion:

• What topics and subtopics did you include on your web?
• How do you think our wellness affects professionalism?
• How do you think professionalism affects wellness?

Activity 2: (20 minutes) ONGOING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Professional learning opportunities are often conducted in the form of meetings.

Watch the video, “The DVD Logo,” by The Office US.

• Why would you consider this situation to be a non-example of professionalism?

This activity will focus on the highlighted portion of this standard.

Pass out the Ongoing Professional Learning – InTASC Standards handout. Teachers will unpack the InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards, highlighting any part of the standards that encourages or requires some form of professional learning.

Using the Professional Development Survey handout (or an online survey tool such as Mintimeter or Poll Everywhere with the same questions), have teachers take the anonymous survey to gain insight about their experiences in PD meetings.

According to a 2014 study, “Teachers Know Best: Teachers’ Views on Professional Development” by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the top-cited barriers to improving professional learning experiences according to principals were:

• “There is not enough time built into teachers’ schedules for professional development.”
• “Administrative tasks make it difficult for school leaders to spend enough time on instruction.”
• “School leaders do not have enough time to support teacher professional development effectively.”
• “School leaders do not receive enough training and support on how to develop the professional development program at my school.”

Have a discussion:

• What professional learning activities are your favorite or least favorite?
• How does it feel to be in a field that encourages constant improvement?
• Which question from the survey seemed the most important to you?
• How does professional learning affect your overall wellness?
• What can we as teachers do to support better professional learning at our school?

Activity 3: (20 minutes) EVALUATE YOUR PRACTICE

Receiving feedback can help us assess our professional learning, especially when communicated in a respectful, uplifting manner.

Watch the video, “Jim Gets A Formal Warning,” by the Office US.

• Why would you consider this situation to be a non-example of professionalism?

This activity will focus on the highlighted portion of this standard.

Professional learning or development is obviously intended to help us learn and grow. To make sure that learning and development occurs, a bit of assessment must be involved, just like with our students. Obtaining feedback, analyzing evidence of our practice, and self-assessing can provide great insight into our practice.

Read the following quotes about feedback and improvement:

• “Criticism is the best test of such work, for it will show her both unsuspected merits and faults, and help her to do better next time. We are too partial; but the praise and blame of outsiders will prove useful…” (Louisa May Alcott)
• “I believe that feedback thrives in cultures where the goal is not “getting comfortable with hard conversations” but normalizing discomfort.” (Brené Brown)
• “Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.” (Confucius)
• “Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” (C.G. Jung)

Extension:

• Watch the video, “The Secret to Giving Great Feedback,” from the TED series “The Way We Work.”
• Watch the video, “Run, Hide, or Say Thank You: When Faced With Feedback, What Do You Do?” by TEDxTalks.

Self-Improvement Balanced with Wellness

Part of assessing our practice is knowing ourselves and our holistic needs. In thinking about professional learning, some of you need to hear each of these messages at different times.

• “Try harder. You have more work to do. And that’s okay.”
• “Slow down and take a break. You need to focus on your overall health.”
• “Keep going. Don’t change a thing. Just keep moving forward.”
• “Don’t give up. You may not see it, but the work you are doing is making a big difference.”

Using a survey tool (e.g., paper/pencil, Mintimeter, or Poll Everywhere), have teachers anonymously answer this question:

• What feelings emerge when you are being observed in your classroom?
• What evidence do you have of your performance in the classroom?
• How can we make observations more comfortable and effective?
• What kind of feedback do you long for at work?
• Do our professional developments take overall wellness into consideration?

Activity 4: (20 minutes) PROFESSIONAL CHOICES

We make many choices as teachers that have effects on other people.

Watch the video, “Morse Code,” by The Office US.

• Why would you consider this situation to be a non-example of professionalism?

This activity will focus on the highlighted portion of this standard.

Reflection Journal Prompt

Give 5 minutes for educators to reflect on and answer this question on their handout: Describe how you set up your physical classroom and why?

Have a discussion:

• How does your classroom setup affect your students and their learning?
• If you changed something in your classroom setup, what sort of impact might it have?
• What are some cheap or free ways to adapt your classroom in helpful ways?

Next, invite educators to list a few different choices that meet this criteria: ethical, unethical, promotes learning, and districts from learning. Then teachers will describe how each choice affects different populations associated with the school. Discuss various answers as a faculty.

Have a discussion:

• What moral and ethical commitments did you sign up for when you became a teacher?
• What would be on your list of “habits of professional teachers” wishlist?
• What can you do when another staff member is not being professional?
• What do you deem unethical as a teacher?

Activity 5: (20 minutes) OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR STUDENT LEARNING 

One major responsibility that we have as teachers is to improve student learning. Someone who did not take responsibility seriously was Michael Scott.

Watch the video, “Scott’s Tots,” from The Office.” (stop video at 1:40)

• What do you think of this non-example?

This activity will focus on the highlighted portion of this standard.

Prioritizing Populations

As a group, discuss these questions or use an online survey tool such as “Slido”:

• What order would you put these in when prioritizing things in school? (community, home & families, teachers, and students)
• Which do you think comes first? Why?
• Which do you think comes last? Why?
• How would changing the priority order change how things look at school?

What Affects Student Learning?

Using an online survey tool (Vevox or Poll Ever) or a shared Google slide, have participants create a word cloud or list of the things that affect student learning.

Extension: Watch one of these videos about trauma-sensitive schools.

Discuss how you see trauma impacting your students’ learning.

• Option 1: (elementary video) “Fall-Hamilton Elementary: Transitioning to Trauma-Informed Practices to Support Learning,” by Edutopia.
• Option 2: (secondary video) “What Does a Trauma-Sensitive Middle/High School Look Like?” by Trauma Sensitive Schools.

Have a discussion:

• When you read “ensure learner growth,” what emotions do you feel?
• What burdens and benefits are associated with a responsibility for student learning?
• What practices are the highest yield when trying to ensure learner growth?
• What are some simple ways to differentiate for different student needs?
• If you could feasibly remove one responsibility from your list, what would you remove? What can never be removed as a teacher?
• Do our collaboration practices improve student learning?
• How have learners’ needs changed over the years?
• What is required to engage learners that was not necessary years before?
• Which populations suffer the most from old-school teaching?

Activity 6: (30 minutes) LEADERSHIP & ADVANCING THE PROFESSION

We have many opportunities to lead within our work environment.

Watch the video, “Jim Becomes Co-Manager,” by The Office US.

• Why would you consider this situation to be a non-example of professionalism?

This activity will focus on the highlighted portion of this standard.

Watch the video, “Research That Matters: Teacher Leaders Have Impact,” by the University of Washington College of Education.

Watch the video, “How Do Teachers Change Lives?” by Edutopia.

Watch the video, “For Teachers, It’s Been a Year” by Edutopia.

Have a discussion on teacher leadership:

• Do you want to lead in your school? Why or why not?
• How do teachers lead in your school? Should it look any different?
• How do you see teachers advocating for students’ needs?
• How can you balance leadership with taking care of yourself?
• Do you actively participate in decision making in your school?
• Is there anything that limits your participation with decision making?
• Does your school have a shared vision, supported by the district and staff?
• What is the unwritten culture of our school? How can you tell?

Have a discussion on advancing the profession:

• How has a teacher’s role changed in the last 20+ years?
• Is teaching seen as an honorable profession? Why or why not?
• How can you advance the profession when you are only one person?
• How can others treat you as an honorable profession? (students, fellow teachers, administration, families, communities)
• How have the expectations for teacher professionalism changed throughout the years? What are the positive and negative results?
• What recent changes do you hope will stick and hope will not stick?
• How can we advance our profession while at the same time take care of teacher wellness?