Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/from-longing-to-living/5025514/
We reverently acknowledge the ancestral, traditional and unceded aboriginal territories of the Coast Salish First Nations where we work, live, play and learn. We share our respects to the elders, we honour with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it and commit ourselves to the journey of reconciliation in Canada.
There comes a point in a long career where one either settles in and accepts the status quo or becomes unsettled and hungry to reimagine the ways things are. We are four early childhood professionals who found ourselves longing deeply for shared learning opportunities in our field that held something more than the status quo: more connection, collaboration, and a gateway to authentic, contextual dialogue on relevant and sustaining issues. Our longing carried us to each other, and launched us on a journey to reimagine professional learning.
We consider the current popular model of professional development to be inadequate. It asks an educator to show up, sit, listen, participate in a couple of small groups, share, and then go home. We believe this model lacks meaningful connections with the hearts and minds of the participants, and also lacks sufficient energy to bring actual change to practice. Most educators arrive ...