Educators Community of Practice 2024
Your Value Is Your Compass
Personal Development is Professional Development
As educators, our day-to-day can get so focused on students’ needs that we don’t have the time or capacity to nurture our careers. Like all professionals, we need to reflect on our work and take opportunities to grow. But unlike many, we rarely have the time or resources to do so, even less outside the short months of summer.
Professional Development for educators often focuses on improving our classroom skills. But we also need opportunities for personal and career development, where we can ask crucial questions:
How and where can I grow as an educator?
What’s important to me?
What’s next?
What do I want?
What a Community of Practice Offers
To grow and thrive with these questions, we need a supportive community.
The Leverage to Lead 2024 Educators Community of Practice is a space for K-12 education professionals who want to shape a career trajectory that reflects their strengths, values, and authentic selves.
In four interactive sessions, we will dig into your identity, purpose, and strengths, and help you navigate the next steps in your career with awareness, intention, and agency.
With supportive care and compassion, we offer a space to be fully yourself, build relationships, and gain tools to keep you aligned with your mission and values as you make decisions, face challenges, and choose your direction.
Program Highlights
- Four facilitated and interactive sessions (virtual) focused on your personal and professional development
- One 1:1 feedback and processing session with a L2L facilitator
- A diverse, compassionate, and supportive community of educators
- A small cohort of no more than 10 participants
- Developing Human-Centered Practices to support building and strengthening relationships in the Community of Practice and your school communities
- The opportunity to ask and reflect on what you want
The Big Take-Away
One key component of our Community of Practice is creating your Values Narrative. This is a personal and professional story that reflects your mission, core values, identity, and purpose. The Values Narrative is designed to bring you clarity on who you are and what matters most.
With a Values Narrative, you can:
- Set a direction consistent with your goals and values
- Guide decision-making that aligns with your purpose and path
- Reframe and tackle personal or professional challenges
- Collaborate and communicate with deeper self-awareness
- Help your supervisor understand your goals and know how to best support you
- Grow and evolve with intention
Important Dates
- Registration Deadline: May 15
- Session 1: June 26
- Session 2: July 10
- Session 3: July 31
- Session 4: August 14
- 1:1 processing session: By appointment
Schedule
*All meetings are virtual.*
**Please note dates are tentative and subject to change until our participant roster is finalized.**
| Meeting | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Session 1 |
June 26, 2024 10 a.m – 12 p.m |
|
| Session 2 |
July 10, 2024 10 a.m – 12 p.m |
|
| Session 3 |
July 31, 2024 10 a.m – 12 p.m |
|
| Session 4 |
August 14, 2024 10 a.m – 12 p.m |
|
Your Facilitators
Nick Obando is a former music teacher with eleven years of experience in K-8 classrooms. He has been involved in DEI initiatives including his training as a SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) facilitator, and is committed to giving education professionals a space to focus on themselves and their needs.
MJ Mathis is a Harriet Ball Excellence in Teaching award-winning educator with over sixteen years of experience as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, curriculum designer, and operations manager. She is passionate about helping education professionals connect to their agency and leverage their strengths so they can live their purpose.