“This was unlike any other PD I’ve ever done!”
“I feel hopeful and more sure of myself than ever before!”
“These connections and workshops are exactly what I needed!”
And that’s just the beginning.
Those thoughts came from Cohort 6’s participants and today we kicked off our second Summer Workshop of 2021, bringing Cohort 7 into The Educators’ Cooperative.
As educators we’ve been to many, many professional development sessions and trainings. Some are great and some are not so great, and we could write a laundry list of reasons why. So, the energy of the first hour of the first day comes as no surprise. Hesitant faces, little conversation, a group of people feeling it out.
But here at EdCo we are developing as professionals, not simply hosting a professional development. That brings a totally different feeling because we strongly believe that all the knowledge we need is contained in the space between us. There’s no presenter, there’s no curriculum, there’s no packaged go to. Sure, there are structures to some of our conversations, boundaries keep us safe, but those structures are managed by us, the participants.
All this means that after that first hour, after the stage is set, this thing of beauty begins to emerge. Bonds are made between people who start diving into work that is incredibly personal to them because it is their work, their creation. The Educators’ Cooperative becomes their community too, and that is because it is. Each member brings as much as they give, and we feel incredibly grateful to be a part of it.
Cohort 6 closed with some amazing thoughts:
“I feel super grateful. The overall burden — those vague anxieties I carry around every day — “Someone’s going to find out what a sorry teacher I am” — They’re gone! I feel so validated and refreshed!”
“The part I’m most excited about continuing with EdCo is continuing in a sort-of eternal conference.”
We can’t wait to hear the closing thoughts of Cohort 7!
The Educators’ Cooperative is a non-profit organization that provides a professional learning community for K-12 teachers. Created for teachers by teachers in 2016, EdCo provides professional development and support for educators to collaborate across sectors, disciplines, and career stages. EdCo aims to revolutionize teacher development and leadership by focusing on the essential agency, autonomy, and common ground all teachers share. EdCo is based in Nashville, Tennessee with a reach far beyond that physical location and potential for replication in communities throughout the nation. When educators collaborate, the future of education is greater than the sum of its parts.
Please visit educatorscooperative.com for more information and to sign up for our newsletter.