An Ongoing PD Practice:Read/Watch and Reflect
Professional Development around Anti-Bias Education requires consistent space for reflection, practice, and conversation. Read/Watch and Reflects provide a simple way to do so, especially with time constraints. They can be anywhere from 15 - 60 minutes depending on the length of the resource shared. Creating and sharing a set of shared norms contributes to brave spaces where various perspectives are shared and honored.
Sample Read and Reflect Structure:
Resource Introduction (3 min): Frame the conversation by providing insight into where the resource came from and why it was selected. It is important to state and review community norms during this time.
Resource Review (dependent on the resource): Give participants the chance to independently review and process the resource.
Small-Group Discussion ( 5 - 15 min): In groups of 3- 5, allow community members the opportunity to reflect on a consistent set of questions. Reflection questions can be used to facilitate a discussion, digging deeper to do the personal and collective work at the heart of Anti-Bias education. Possible questions include:
What resonated with you? What was challenging?
What questions come up for you?
What is a takeaway from this?
How does this connect to your practice?
*Make certain to share community norms/agreements before small group discussions begin.*
Whole Group Reflection (5 - 10 min) : Every group can have the opportunity to share reflections from their small group discussions that could benefit the thinking of the whole community. Personal stories are not shared by group members, rather, it is a time for collecting larger take-aways from the smaller conversations.
It is important to note that when selecting the resource that is being shared, it is not about finding the "perfect" source but rather finding something that allows for conversation and deepened understanding. In order to reflect that, it can be helpful to reiterate that the source represents a perspective that may or may not be shared by all and the purpose of the time together is to reflect and think about implications individually as well as within one's practice.