Top 5 Articles - Back To School

For many of us—including those in the US—a new school year has officially launched. While we hope that this is really the year that we “return to normal,” there are still some lingering effects from the last two years of pandemic that must be recognized and addressed. That said, the promise of a new start lends the opportunity for new tactics and strategies in the classroom. 

Take a look below to find some of the latest articles that our team has been reading and sharing as we kick off the new academic year. 

1. In this article, John Spencer argues that teachers need to be given the space to take creative risks with their teaching. Freedom gives teachers professional agency, which helps to bolster engagement in their craft. It also allows teachers to serve as role models for their students who are asked on a daily basis to take risks in their own learning. Spencer goes on to suggest 10 creative risks for teachers to try out this year. We hope this inspires some educators to test drive something new.

2. While schools are back in person, the effects of the pandemic and remote learning are still being felt. For some students, this can show itself through burn out. We’ve talked a lot over the last year about worker burnout, but how can teachers and schools turn their attention to this issue within their students? Miriam Plotinsky of Edutopia describes the problem space and offers some strategies for mitigating the effects of student burnout in her article here. 

3. In response to the rising number of students experiencing mental health issues, many teachers have added a mental health check-in with students to their daily routine. This article from NPR describes this new strategy and how school systems and professional care are working with educators to get resources to those students who need additional support. 

4. What do you know about Mastery Based Learning (MBL)? The Hechinger Report’s article gets into the nitty gritty of MBL and offers a rebuttal to some of the most common arguments from skeptics. Take a look and see if this might be the approach your students need to improve performance and deepen understanding.

5. Larry Cuban recently revisited his popular article on “classroom expectations” here. Cuban discusses not only how a teacher’s expectations of their students ultimately influence classroom outcomes, but also how students’ expectations of their teachers also play into the behaviors and academic achievements of the group.

8 Things We Learned About United World College's Mission-Based Education

by Shelby Clark and Danny Mucinskas

From 2017-2022, our team was involved in an investigation of international mission-driven schools, centered on the United World Colleges movement. A full report of findings was released in June 2022 and is available here.

A synthesis of major findings is presented in the slideshow below, which may be helpful for readers to understand the major takeaways that have come out of this original research.

Find an accessible version of these slides here [link].

For more information about the study overall, including appendices, background information, and the instruments used, please visit edimpactstudy.com [link].

The Good Project Presents at Project Zero Sparks 2022

by Lynn Barendsen and Danny Mucinskas

In late July 2022, we had the pleasure of leading a virtual workshop as part of Project Zero’s one-day online Sparks conference, an opportunity to learn about a variety of PZ ideas for a diverse group of educators. We were pleased that, for our session, we had an audience of almost 40 educators from around the world: participants from the US hailed from states as diverse as Georgia, Nebraska, Ohio, and Texas, while international participants joined from countries such as Brazil, Japan, Switzerland, and Trinidad and Tobago. 

Our session was titled “Good Work: What It Is and How to Teach It,” and we offered an introduction to Good Project ideas, a brief overview of our research, and an introduction to the Good Project Lesson Plans. Although we miss the collegiality of in-person meetings (and look forward to many more in the future!), we welcomed the variety of perspectives and responses that emerged from such a far-reaching, diverse group. 

We began with an activity from the Good Project Lesson Plans, asking participants to think of someone they believed exemplifies “good work.” In small breakout groups, participants described individuals they admired: sometimes they chose family members, friends, and colleagues; sometimes they described individuals they’d never met but nonetheless admired. They then pulled out terms they would use to describe these exemplary workers, including qualities such as “visionary,” “driven,” “optimistic,” “honest,” “trustworthy,” “caring,” and more.

When we returned as a full group, participants shared themes from the descriptions of the individuals they admired and what they learned from these individuals on a shared collaboration board, and we had a brief discussion. For example, one participant commented upon three qualities that their partner exemplified in their work, including approaching collaborators with kindness. Another participant spoke of a celebrity’s work ethic and commitment to excellence. Interestingly, a number of participants described the importance of positivity and bringing “joy” and compassion to work in various ways, using words and phrases such as “sense of humor” and “cultivate calm.” Our team has led this discussion on a number of occasions, and this focus on positivity is not something that has come up frequently in past sessions. We wonder now if perhaps attention to joy feels especially necessary for educators who are experiencing more challenges than ever. 

After a brief introduction to Good Work and the three “Es” that comprise our definition (excellence, ethics and engagement), we asked participants to revisit the qualities that defined their chosen “good workers” and consider whether their descriptions fit neatly under the heading of one or more of these “Es.” Some terms (such as “honesty”) seem to fall squarely into the “ethics” column. Other terms (such as “supportive” or “inclusive” or “kind”) could arguably fit into multiple categories. We explained that these conversations can make for great jumping-off points with students as they consider what’s important to them in their work, and how they might best find mentors to help them further establish their own standards for work. 

We then offered a brief introduction to the Good Project Lesson Plans. Incorporating real-world dilemmas, reflective activities, and guided conversations about ethical challenges, responsibilities, and values, these materials are designed to support students to develop the skills, understandings, and dispositions to effectively navigate their working lives. We are excited to explore the outcomes of our materials more systematically in our recently launched research project of the lesson plans, for which we are recruiting a passionate group of educators around the world. 

Despite calls for the development of “21st century skills” necessary for success in a changing working world—one that includes technological advancements, political turmoil, and evolving work habits—few educational outlets allow students to grapple with this complexity and address their own opinions and beliefs as they relate to present and future work. Inviting this diverse group of educators to reflect on their own beliefs about work gave us the briefest insight into how they approach some of these challenges.

Good Work for Brazilian Educators Featured on CNN

Professors Valéria Arantes and Ulisses Araújo of the University of São Paulo have for the past several years been working on an investigation of “good work” with Brazilian educators, part of The Good Project Brasil (link) initiative. Our team has been excited to observe how ideas from The Good Project have been applied in the Brazilian context.

Recently, this work appeared on CNN Brasil in two video features that highlighted ongoing research and implications for teachers, which we share below for our readers. (Note that the videos are in the original Portuguese.)

The first video spotlight described the investigation that Arantes and Araújo have done of “good teaching,” including the 3 Es of good work (excellence, ethics, and engagement). In interviews with 2,000 Brazilian public school teachers, participants were asked about their values and sense of purpose within education. Questions included:

1. What are your goals and plans for the coming years and a brighter future?

2. Tell us about your life purpose, describing in detail your thoughts, feelings, and actions about them.

83% of teachers in the sample described education as central to their vision of life. 88% commented on excellence, while 56% described a commitment to ethics and responsibility. Arantes, Araújo, and their colleagues conclude that teacher trainings should support educators to develop purpose and foster socioemotional skills.

The second feature includes teachers’ responses to a question regarding their “dream school,” with 97% of respondents desiring change from current educational models. Themes discussed by teachers included more democratic and inclusive institutions; active learning pedagogies; and a focus on citizenship.

We congratulate Valéria, Ulisses, and their team for this recognition of their work and look forward to continuing to follow their progress! 

Announcement: The Good Project Receives Grant From The John Templeton Foundation

The Good Project is pleased to announce that we have received over $1 million in funding from The John Templeton Foundation to study the impact of the recently developed Good Project Lesson Plans.

In the three year, mixed-methods study, we will investigate the effects of these lesson plans across a variety of educational settings and probe how engagement with the curriculum might result in student character change. In addition, participating teachers will partake in a community of practice in which they will be able to learn from one another's successes and challenges with the curriculum.

As described to the Templeton Foundation:

"The world of work is rapidly changing. Although adolescence is a period of identity development, few students are taught to think about how to behave ethically at the workplace. The Good Project, originally the Good Work Project (Gardner, Csikszentmihalyi, & Damon, 2001), has developed lesson plans focused on personal reflection related to workplace and school-based dilemmas. The curriculum aims to help adolescents develop and internalize moral (i.e., a good neighbor), civic (i.e., a good citizen), performance (i.e., a good student/worker), and intellectual (i.e., a good thinker) virtues. These virtues embody The Good Project’s 3 Es of good work: Ethical (for the greater good); Excellent (high quality); and Engaging (meaningful).

This mixed-methods national study will build upon current work with a diverse group of teachers who are committed to exploring deep questions about the nature of work, its connection to one’s values and identity, and its relationship to social good. In Year 1, we will use surveys, focus groups, and student portfolios to assess teacher fidelity to the curriculum and students’ potential growth in character virtues and ability to navigate complex dilemmas. In Year 2, we will adapt curricular content for teacher use and gain feedback through focus groups. In Year 3, we will focus on scalability and sustainability of the curriculum. Educators at participating schools will be led through three phases to build an online community of practice where they can exchange ideas, strategies, and materials as they implement the lesson plans. Overall, the project aims to create a community of practitioners who will help build a strong, scalable character program."

The Good Project thanks The John Templeton Foundation for the generous funding of this project. We are eager to begin and look forward to releasing announcements, lessons learned, and materials developed in the course of our research.

If you have questions regarding the study, please contact Shelby Clark, Senior Research Manager, at shelby_clark@gse.harvard.edu.