Our Retreat Framework

Most gatherings we put on can count toward PDPs for licensed educators in Massachusetts in two strands: Leadership/Administration and Comprehesive Health.

We are proud to adhere to quality standards for PD with such an innovative approach. This approval means a lot to some who desire professional advancement as part of what would sustain them in the work they were called to do. 

To others, this might add to the research as justification for trust in these skills, budget allocation, or implementation of healing-centered practices. 

Below is some text for how Our Fire Collective programming aligns to institutional needs, feel free to use this for organizing others, seeking sponsorship, or representing your resume/skill-sets.

Professional Reflection, Ethical Engagement, Learning Community

" Our Fire Collective retreats and community of practice ensure that a professional culture is maintained through reflection, growth, collaboration, and shared responsibility. Given the interactive nature of group activities within the OFC frameworks, much of the practice can be immediately translated to instructional teams on which teachers and administrators sit. This transfer of knowledge and skills is precisely what follow-on coaching and facilitation of a community of practice continue to cultivate after PD gatherings.

A pillar of the PD provided by OFC is professional reflection. The intersection of mindfulness with educators’ experience in the classroom gives structure to their ability to examine core barriers to student success. In the “commit” section of activities offered in team-based PDs, teachers set goals around creating a teaching and learning environment that centers healing. They also reflect on their teamwork with other adults in their building and beyond by engaging in activities that demand communication skill-building and collective decision-making. For example, the group may decide how to engage with materials for an activity or split up tasks as part of a mini-project-based learning sample within the PD. Lastly, OFC emphasizes ethical engagement with students and colleagues through its social justice focus. Sustainable workplace support leads to consistent learning environments. By addressing ethics and justice as a professional responsibility to model for students how to approach their own lives and academics, OFC PD brings empowerment and agency to teachers, especially those experiencing challenging community and school equity issues."

Leadership

" Our PD addresses items IV-D-1. on the administrator rubric for “Continuous Learning of Staff.” Everyone who attends OFC baseline PD leaves with an understanding of sharing new learning about trauma with colleagues in order to look out for each other and the impact on school culture. Additionally, contemplative practices from the group or individual advising of Our Fire Collective give administrators tools to model communication, self-care, and incorporating healing-centered engagement into lesson plans. Some of the ways that administrator typically speak to their application of our PD include: 1. implementing new ways of addressing teachers about their most challenging students; 2. borrowing reflection prompts or interactives for their pre-service or in-service training with school-based teams; and 3. aligning new protocols for teacher collaboration and wellness to address the most frequent incidents of response to trauma in adults in their building.

Measurable Outcomes

"Our Fire Collective activities are designed in such a way to lead to professional growth in practices that they are exposed to during an Our Fire Collective gathering, with hopes that the real impact will be when they implement these practices in day-to-day stress and moments of exposure to trauma. We began with a scale focused on Professional Quality of Life - a major long term outcome we hope to come from consistent implementation of healing practices beyond the retreat. After discussion with a metrics coach, we decided to implement two scales from the ProQoL - Secondary Traumatic Stress and a measure of Compassion Satisfaction. Compassion Satisfaction is defined on Professional Quality of Life survey as “the pleasure you derive from being able to do your work well. For example, you may feel like it is a pleasure to help others through your work. You may feel positively about your colleagues or your ability to contribute to the work setting or even the greater good of society. Higher scores on this scale represent a greater satisfaction related to your ability to be an effective caregiver in your job.” Activities of Our Fire Collective retreat should have an immediate positive impact in this area. 

Our goals of reduced secondary traumatic stress and increased professional “purpose” matched the Contemplative Mind in Society’s stated research indicating that “employees who take up these practices tend to experience less stress and more job satisfaction and productivity” (Davidson RJ, Kabat-Zinn J, et al 2003). Using their 8 areas of contemplative practice as an anchor, our post-survey seeks to assess what depth of exposure they gained of contemplative practices and how applicable the participating educators believe the practices in their personal and professional lives.Based on interviews with educators and mental health workers about their challenging and resilience-building experiences, we created a custom likert scales about exposure and their future use of healing practices in their work."

You can find our Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education professional development page here:  DESE-Sponsored Professional Development Offerings.