While many teachers in the Intermountain region have grown accustomed to the isolation that is inherent to being a singleton teacher in a small school, the Oregon Trail Regional Educator Network (REN) is offering a solution: Content-Specific Educator Huddles. Huddles offer regional teachers a chance to engage in professional development designed to improve their practice, accelerate student learning, and collaborate with peers–no matter how small their school or how remote their location.
Beginning in August of 2022, the Oregon Trail REN hired nine “Content Leads'' to take on the work of engaging in ongoing professional learning delivered primarily by Katie Smith of the Core Collaborative, a professional learning organization with headquarters in Palm Springs, CA. Now in year two, these teachers come together three times a year to learn how to cultivate self-empowered learners in their classrooms by engaging in collaborative inquiry that is rooted in the formative assessment process and aimed at increasing student ownership of learning.
The Content Leads–represented by teacher leaders from districts across the region–then take these learnings, as well as a series of high-leverage teaching strategies, and teach them to their respective “Huddles.” Each Huddle is comprised of teachers from around the region and is also content-specific, creating space for networking and increased camaraderie among peers working in the same content area, a luxury that is often elusive to those working in small schools. Elizabeth McIntyre, English Language Arts teacher at Weston-McEwen High School and high school ELA Content Lead, stated, “The Huddles offer a worthwhile professional opportunity for connection and collaboration. By sharing best practices with colleagues, everyone’s students can benefit from teachers’ expertise.”
But Huddles aren’t just for teachers working in small schools. All Huddle participants learn high-leverage teaching practices and effective teaming protocols which ensure positive collaboration when the opportunity to work with others presents itself.
Huddles meet as a team–usually virtually to eliminate the barrier of travel–to engage in these learnings and move through their collaborative inquiry process together on a monthly basis. Teachers learn how to increase student agency by implementing systems that compel students to better understand where they are in their learning journey, their ultimate learning goal, and where to go next in order to reach the goal. Education expert John Hattie’s “Visible Learning” research indicates that effective implementation of the Formative Assessment Process and achievement of Collective Teacher Efficacy–which this training emphasizes–translates to a 1.36 effect size, meaning students learn at three times the speed they would under traditional teaching models.
“Being a part of the Core Collaborative PE & Health Huddle has really transformed the way I teach and the way students learn,” said Morgan Hernandez. Hernandez is a PE & Health teacher working in the Stanfield School District, and she also serves as the region’s PE/Health Content Lead. Hernandez asserted, “As a result of my efforts to share learning goals with students, co-create success criteria, incorporate models of success, and engage students in self and peer evaluation, students are beginning to take ownership of their learning.”
This year, Huddles plan to share their success during a final “Share Fair” Symposium to be held in June. The symposium will give teams a chance to highlight their learnings and speak to the impact of this training on their students. For those participating, the gains have proven profound. Cove School District second grade teacher and Content Lead, Koreen Williams, has been engaged in this work from the very start. She says the transformation she sees in her students’ learning as a result of this training has been unlike that of anything else she has implemented over her 23-year career. According to Williams, “One of the most exciting transformations I have seen in my second graders since we have been using the formative assessment process in our classroom is an increase in their confidence and ability to give and receive quality feedback to each other. Their discussions are richer and they are using the feedback they receive from their peers to independently revise and improve the quality of their work."
While the Huddles are officially in year two of implementation, that doesn’t mean teachers cannot still join. Interested educators should contact Instructional Coach, Jennifer Teeter, of the IMESD to get more information. In particular, the Oregon Trail Regional Educator Network is seeking additional participants to join the Elementary Huddle group that includes teachers from Umatilla and Morrow Counties teaching grades K-6, as well as the 7-12 English Language Arts Huddle.
Transforming teachers and students alike, the Huddles’ emphasis on formative assessment has proven a powerful catalyst for change, laying the groundwork for an enduring legacy of empowered learners and inspired teachers.
By Emily Williams