Professional Learning Day | February 18, 2025
Designing professional learning that honors creativity, curiosity, and care.

Some days, we learn by planning.
Some days, we learn by reflecting.
And some days—like this one—we learn by playing.

Kate Burton and I designed this day with intention and joy. We wanted every participant to have agency, to explore what lights them up, and to find inspiration for what lights up their students. The result? A professional learning experience that felt like recess for the teacher’s soul—with the deep thinking and connection that comes when people are trusted to follow their curiosity.

Each offering is grounded in the idea that we take care of our students better when we are also caring for ourselves.

SESSION 1: Start with Stretch, Strategy, or Story

In our first hour, we offered choice and welcomed energy.

Some chose practical wisdom:

• Preparing for a Financial Emergency
• Debt Management

Others chose movement or making:

• Stretching with Vesna Galtere brought a sense of calm and intention.
• Collaborating with iHub (Paul Pileggi) sparked ideas for classroom challenges and physical, purposeful play.

And then, we went “old school” with Board Games That Reinforce (Jill Gough):

• We played. Multi. Blank Slate. Yahtzee. Parcheesi. Hues & Cues.
• We strategized. We laughed. And we thought about how to bring that same sense of fun, structure, and thinking into our classrooms.

COFFEE + COMMUNITY

The in-between matters.
We made time for coffee and conversation—snacks, music, and maybe a little Uno—because the moments between sessions are often where the best collaboration and reflection happen.
These pauses allow us to breathe, process, and connect.

SESSION 2: Tell the Story. Build the Thing.

Next up, another round of powerful options:

• Insta Reels with Sammy Rigaud offered a chance to think about storytelling, school culture, and joy amplification.
• Storytelling with Lisa Gyovai reminded us that narrative isn’t just entertainment—it’s a core learning tool.
• Artful Building with Nina Chamberlain gave us space to create with intention and possibility.

With another chance for practical wisdom:

• Preparing for a Financial Emergency
• Debt Management

Some made. Some posted. Some reflected. All left the hour with something tangible—an idea, an image, a spark.

SESSION 3: Games, Movement, Mindfulness

After a shared lunch, we rolled into our third learning block:

• Language Games, Sarah Mokotoff & Laurel Martin reminded us how deeply learning sticks when it’s embedded in joy.
• Coding with Val Boon: Val brought robots to life—Ozobots, Spheros, Code Critters, Beebots. Whether you’re tech-hesitant or a digital native, Val made coding feel accessible, meaningful, and magical.
• Keep Moving Forward with Thomas Benefield was a masterclass in emotional resilience and hope.
• Hat Burning (Part 1) We’ll explore how creativity can be an act of transformation.

SESSION 4: Closure through Creation

We closed with one more round of rich choice:

• Mindful Games with Erica & Thomas offered breath and play for emotional regulation.
• Instagram Archiving with Rebecca gave us tools to make student learning visible and celebrated.
• Keep Moving Forward with Thomas Benefield was a masterclass in emotional resilience and hope.
• STEAM with Books (Kate) helped us transform favorite read-alouds into hands-on, empathy-driven engineering challenges.
• Hat Burning (Part 2) gave us space to reflect, release, and recommit.

Learning by Doing, Together

This wasn’t a day of “sit and get.”
It was a day of: Try it and see. Play and plan. Make and connect.

It was a day grounded in the belief that play isn’t an extra—it’s essential. That teachers deserve the same kinds of learning experiences we design for our students: engaging, meaningful, and full of choice.

We’re already dreaming about what’s next.

Let’s keep learning by doing. Let’s keep playing to learn.
Together.

—Jill