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Educators rarely have the time to just sit together and discuss educational trends and hot topics. A Think Tank provides a safe space where colleagues can share ideas and ask questions.

To promote a productive and reflective discussion, be sure to establish guiding norms, and have a facilitator. Share a resource, such as a short article or video, prior to the Think Tank, along with some guiding questions. Snacks always help, too!

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Often referred to as Instructional Rounds or the Pineapple Chart, this is an opportunity for teachers to observe teachers. What makes this an effective form of PL, is that there is a common focus to observe, such as ELL strategies or differentiation. It's important to make time after the round for a reflective discussion.

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What is the Professional PASSION Project?

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What is the Professional PASSION Project?

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The Professional PASSION Project is an action research cycle which allows teachers to explore an area they are passionate about. Everyone - the Head of School, teachers, and support staff - can engage in this project and share their findings with the community. What a powerful way to model lifelong learning!

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Co-Lab is a mix of "collaboration" and "laboratory." The purpose is to provide teachers with the time and support to experiment and develop solutions together. Staff-led groups, based on a wide range of topics and interests, engage in a collaborative inquiry process to produce projects that have a direct impact on the school community and/or student learning and well-being. Co-Lab groups range from a Sustainability Team to a Decolonizing the Curriculum group. Each group is led by a facilitator, and consists of staff from across the school. Be sure to make time for reflection, share-outs and to celebrate progress at the end of the year!

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The High School Secret to Org Change: Katy Milkman

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Katy Milkman on why visualization fails to drive change, how to harness the power of moments, and what the “movable middle” can teach us about transformation.
When you’re leading organizational change, you’re not just changing structures and processes—you’re trying to influence how people behave. In this episode, I talk with Katy Milkman, professor at Wharton and author of “How to Change,” about what actually works when you’re trying to help people change.
Katy reveals that different people resist change for different reasons—some forget, some lack resources, some find it unpleasant. As change leaders, we need to diagnose the specific barriers before jumping to solutions. She introduces two powerful tools: the “Fresh Start Effect” (timing your change initiatives to moments when people are naturally more open to change) and “premortems” (imagining why your change project failed before you begin).
We dig into how to influence the “movable middle”—those who aren’t committed either way. Katy shares fascinating research showing that pointing to growing adoption rates, even from a small base, can create powerful momentum. And she busts one of the most common change myths: that visualizing success helps (it doesn’t).
The conversation is packed with practical insights for anyone leading transformation in organizations. We explore how to grant others agency without being paradoxical about it, why resistance to change isn’t consistent, and how to avoid our own biases when diagnosing what’s getting in the way of change. If you’re wrestling with how to make change stick in your organization, this episode offers evidence-based approaches that actually work.
Change Signal. Cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change management.
🎧 New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at thechangesignal.com.

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Informal Learning Rounds: Pineapple Chart

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Informal Learning Rounds: Pineapple Chart

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Professional Development: The phrase has a way of striking dread into the hearts of teachers. But not because teachers don't WANT to improve. Not because we believe we're done growing and learning. Far from it.

In fact, so many teachers bristle at the thought of PD because most of the time, it's executed so poorly. Although the typical one-size-fits-all format-where every teacher in the building is herded together to listen to an expert speak-has been widely denounced, it still persists as the default model. Sometimes, if the speaker happens to be engaging, some teachers will walk away with a small tidbit they can apply to their own work. For most teachers, though, it feels like a waste of precious time, time that could be spent developing skills that would make a real difference in their specific practice.

But things are starting to change. More and more schools are experimenting with personalized approaches to professional development; this guide from EdSurge takes a comprehensive look at all the different shapes this can take. And as new unconferences pop up every week all over the world, teachers are seeing just how easy it can be to learn from each other, without the need for any kind of outside expert.

And now, taking PD to an even simpler, more local, more affordable level, we have the Pineapple Chart.

What is a Pineapple Chart?

A Pineapple Chart is a system that allows teachers to invite one another into their classrooms for informal observation. The chart is set up in some location where teachers go on a daily basis: the teacher's lounge, the copy room, or wherever teacher mailboxes live in your school. On the chart, teachers "advertise" the interesting things they are doing in their classrooms, activities they think others might want to observe. The activities could be as complex as a science lab, a history simulation, or a Skype session with a school in another country. Or they could be as simple as a read-aloud or a lesson on badminton.

The chart represents one week of school. Along the top, five columns are labeled Monday through Friday. Along the side, rows assigned to various chunks of each school day. In a middle or high school, these would be class periods. In an elementary school, the rows could be divided by hours or half-hours.

When a teacher sees something on the chart she (or he) is interested in, she goes to that classroom at the designated time, sits down in an out-of-the-way spot, and watches. That's it. No note-taking is required, no post-observation conference, no write-up. Just a visit. She can even grade papers or catch up on email if she wants, paying closer attention when the moment calls for it, but getting work done in the meantime. She can stay for five minutes or a whole class period. The key word here is informal, and it's the best way for teachers to learn lots of skills and techniques just when they need them.

The reasons the visiting teacher might come in are endless: It could be that she wants to start using Google Cardboard, but would like to see another teacher do it first. Maybe she's struggling with classroom management and knows this teacher runs a tight ship. Or maybe she's there because she always wanted to learn more about World War I. Regardless of the initial reason, what she ends up learning is likely to be far more than she expected. During that Google Cardboard visit, she'll also notice a cool bulletin board in that teacher's classroom and decide to try something similar in her room. While watching the lesson on World War I, she'll pick up a questioning technique she ends up using in her own teaching. Every teacher in your building has their own unique blend of skills and talents, but the only way you'll ever learn about them is to see your colleagues in action.

The Origins of the Pineapple Chart

The pineapple has long been a symbol of hospitality; it's used in the chart in the spirit of welcoming one another into our school "homes."

But that's just the beginning. Here's how the Pineapple Chart came to be: In early 2015, Mark Barnes and I were compiling innovative teaching "hacks" for our book, Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School. I remembered my sister, who teaches science in Massachusetts, telling me about her attempts to start a "Pineapple Welcome" initiative at her school, where teachers would hang a picture of a pineapple outside their classroom doors, indicating that any other teacher who wanted to visit was welcome to stop by.

When I asked her how the whole pineapple thing went, she said, "Eh. Some people came in, but usually I would hang the pineapple and nothing would happen. I stopped doing it after a while."

This bothered me, because some of the most valuable skills I have picked up as a teacher came from informally observing my colleagues in their classrooms. I feel strongly that some of the best professional development available to teachers lives right inside the walls of our schools, and if we could just watch each other teach more, we would all grow exponentially.

Just hanging the pineapple on the door, I realized, had two shortcomings. One, it was only visible to teachers who happened to pass by that door on that day. And two, it didn't offer enough information: Just seeing a pineapple on the door tells the visitor nothing about what's going on inside. If a teacher is going to spend time visiting another teacher's classroom, he wants to know that the thing he's coming to observe is something he's actually interested in. A chart posted in a central location, with a bit of information about the day's activities, solves both problems.

We asked my sister to pilot this centralized system at her school, and the first Pineapple Chart was born. Since the publication of Hacking Education, the Pineapple Chart system has taken off in schools all across the world, and the results have been fantastic.

Two Schools Where Pineapple Charts Are Making an Impact

Gator Run Elementary, Weston, Florida

"The Pineapple Chart has been a game changer for the staff at Gator Run," says Intern Principal Cyndi Felton, who initiated Gator Run's first Pineapple Chart in January of 2016. "We have some of the very best PD available under our own roof. Now teachers have the opportunity to get into each other's classrooms and learn from one another."

Since the chart has been going, Felton has seen teachers trying new things more quickly. "Last year we noticed tools and strategies spreading throughout the building after Pineapple Chart visits. Kahoot, Nearpod, Plickers, in-class flipped lessons, SeeSaw, and performance scales in addition to unique procedures, classroom management and teaching strategies."

Maple Avenue Middle School, Littlestown, Pennsylvania

In January of 2016, when Assistant Principal Cortney Golden first launched the chart in her school, she worked hard to keep it full. "I was very aware that if we lost momentum, and the chart was blank, it would die. I sent staff-wide emails, group emails, personal emails, face to face requests, and even had my secretary appealing to teachers to sign up. Getting teachers to sign up was my first priority....then, once that became more automatic, we began to 'push' visiting."

Since then, informal observation and an open-door policy have become part of the school's culture. So much so that the word "pineappling" has become a verb:

"Collectively, we embrace pineappling now more than ever," says Golden. "As teachers desire to grow their craft, to foster 21st century skills, and to help students discover and pursue their passions, it becomes clear to all that teachers need each other. Pineappling gives teachers the permission they feel they need to collaborate, observe, ask, and reflect. It is a 'safe' and powerful professional development opportunity. Pineappling is free, fits within the school day, and has proven to be the BEST professional growth experience."

Tips for Making Pineapple Charts Work

Find creative ways to make the time.
The simplest way to squeeze these visits in is for teachers to do them during their planning time, or part of it. Remember, we're not talking about a whole class period necessarily; a 15-minute visit may be all that's needed to pick up a new strategy. In cases where teachers want to see something that doesn't coincide with planning time, the staff will need to be more creative:

A floating sub can be arranged for a day (or a few days) and teachers can "sign up for the sub" in order to visit another room.

Administrators (or other certified personnel) can step in to cover a class. This solution does double-duty, as it gives the principal some time to interact more closely with small groups of students. Instead of covering the teacher's regular material, the administrator could use this time for having discussions about school issues or just getting to know the students.

Teachers can team up to cover each other's classes. Imagine a scenario where teacher A agrees to cover teacher B's class while teacher B observes in teacher C's room. Then everyone switches roles two more times. A motivated school might even experiment with a second chart (beside the Pineapple Chart) where teachers post a need for coverage and other teachers sign up to cover for them.

Keep it voluntary.
Administrators, be warned! The quickest way to suck the life out of this initiative is to make it mandatory for all teachers. By keeping visits informal and strictly voluntary (for the host teacher AND the visitor), you'll ensure that the Pineapple Chart is always seen as a positive thing, a learning opportunity initiated by the teacher.

Skip the documentation.
An equally fast way to drain people's enthusiasm for visits is to force them to do some kind of write-up afterward. Please don't turn the chart into another reason to require teachers to document. If they know paperwork is expected of them, they will be far less likely to visit.

Start with the bold and the brave...
When you first launch the Chart, many teachers will be shy about posting lessons. Get things going by having your most extroverted teachers sign up first. If you get a group of 5-10 teachers willing to put themselves out there, this will eventually help others step forward as well.

...but set the bar low.
Make sure teachers know they don't have to be doing something 'impressive' in order to post a lesson to the chart. "The hardest part is getting teachers to understand it doesn't have to be an extravagant lesson to sign up," says Felton. "Their everyday strategies and standard procedures can be incredibly helpful to someone who has never seen or thought of it. You really never know what you might learn whether it's a 5- or a 25-minute visit."

Sell it.
Especially when you first get started, encourage those who do the observing to share the good things they saw by talking about it in faculty meetings, sharing a compliment on a teacher "brag board" or posting about it online. At Maple Avenue, Golden encouraged teachers to tweet about their experiences using the hashtag#MAMSLearning. "This helped keep the excitement high, and the pressure low," she says. "Although I still have to harass teachers every once and again (I call it "gently wooing") to showcase the teaching and learning in their classroom, it has become very much part of our culture."

Share Your Story

If your school has already started using a Pineapple Chart, tell us about it in the comments. I would love to hear about tweaks you've made to the system and how the system is impacting teacher relationships and student growth.

Learn More

The Pineapple Chart is just one of the 10 hacks Mark Barnes and I share in our 2015 book, Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School. Get your copy today and start hacking tomorrow! ♦

Learn something new every week.
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How Pineapple Charts Revolutionize Professional Development

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As one-size-fits-all PD fades into obscurity, more personalized professional development models have emerged. The Pineapple Chart may be the greatest of them all.

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UWCM Co-Lab Facilitators Role Description

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L2 2025 Basel: Cultivating a Culture of Open Doors

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Brief visits to several classrooms give teachers a chance to reflect on a variety of practices.

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Learning Walks: Structured Observation for Teachers

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A group of teachers visiting multiple classrooms at their own school with the aim of fostering conversation about teaching and learning in order to develop a shared vision of high quality teaching that impacts on student learning.

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Classroom Observation Strategies: Learning Walks

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Teachers observing each other’s practice and learning from one another, including offering constructive feedback to peers.

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A group of leaders and/or teachers visiting multiple classrooms at their own or another school with the aim to spread practice and support scaling systemic improvements of teaching and learning.

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Classroom practice is recorded and later viewed as a means of observation of self and/or others. The aim is to support self-reflection and provide access to observation of others’ practice anytime, anywhere.

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Classroom Observation Strategies: Videos of Practice

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A small team of teachers working together in a systematic cycle of planning, teaching, observing, refining and reviewing specific lessons in order to examine their practice and improve their impact on student learning.

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Classroom Observation Strategies: Lesson Study

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One of our big projects over the last few years has been to shift the focus of professional learning and goal setting from competence in the programmes and practices into genuine teacher inquiry. As a lot of foundational work had been done in curriculum, assessment and differentiation practices; it was time build on this and create opportunities for teachers to focus their own professional growth through inquiry. We're now in our third year of the process, and this post is a summary so far. A lot has gone into this process, and there is bound to be something forgotten in the post.
.........o0O0o...........

Context

We're an international school in Kobe, Japan. With 600+ kids from ages 3-18 and around 80 faculty. We have IB PYP, MYP & DP, as well as our own Pathways programme in high school. Although the school had been running IBDP for many years, PYP and MYP were much younger, and so a lot of teacher effort had gone into getting the programmes up and running (including shifts in curriculum, assessment and differentiation).

We're pretty well funded for professional learning with consultants visiting each year for workshops, teachers heading out on workshops and conferences and a personal PD application fund for continued study. We are also very fortunate to have two-hour PD sessions every Wednesday (early dismissal), so that a lot of development and PD work can be accomplished in protected time.

There's a pretty robust teacher evaluation system, though it can always be improved (and is an operational action item for this year). While the school was in the implementation phase, teacher goals were very structured, focusing on curriculum, differentiation, etc. As the programmes and practices became more embedded, it became clear that we could do better by tapping into teachers' own interests, expertise and passions in professional learning. One year we gifted teachers Hattie's Visible Learning for Teachers, and encouraged groups to form around issues it rose, or topics worthy of investigation (not as a handbook, but a signpost). The next we encouraged Teacher Learning Communities (TLC's) to form around other books or ideas. This started to generate more questions, more inspiring projects.

In 2014-15 we had the Strategic Planning process for the school, setting the Vision and goals for the school until 2020. We needed a professional learning strategy to complement our mission of inquiry, reflection and compassionate action and that would meet the vision of becoming a vibrant international learning community that fosters creativity, personal fulfilment and local and global collaboration in a compassionate, adaptive environment.

Education Victoria's (Australia) Seven Principals for Effective Professional Learning ( pdf here) were critical in developing the projects further: a teacher-empowering, research-based, student-centred, practical (useful), collaborative and supported expedition into teacher inquiry.

..........o0O0o............

Tankyuu: the quest for professional learning

In the 2015-16 school year we had our first MYP & PYP visit and introduced teacher inquiry projects as a focus of professional learning. I wanted a Japanese phrase (and kanji) that captures the essence of the project, and which would put it firmly in our own context as an international school in Japan. With the help of colleagues (and most importantly the secretaries) we landed on Tankyuu (探 究). Japanese for inquiry, it means more than just asking a question - it is a quest for learning, a journey. It's catchy, easy to say, aligns with IB translations and coincidentally by sounding enough like 'thank-you' may seed the idea of appreciation, opening doors and encouraging collaboration.

In parallel with the individual Tankyuu approach, we spent the year as a school exploring creativity and what it means to be creative at different stages and across the disciplines. We gifted teachers Tony Wagner's Creating Innovators as a stimulus for discussions and we were fortunate to work with Aloha Lavina in MYP & DP as she helped teachers open up units for more authentic inquiry. The Artist in Residence programme was born, and there were more opportunities to showcase creativity in the community through the year.

With this focus, many teachers chose to focus their Tankyuu project ideas on creative themes in their curriculum and pedagogy. Some were group-led, others were individual. There were a range of themes and ideas, and varying success levels. Although time was set aside in some of the Wednesday PD sessions, it was perhaps not formalised enough (or given enough time) for many busy teachers to make the most of it. The seeds were sown and we decided to build on it the following year.

Around this time, in preparation for upcoming work with Ochan Powell, the Leadership Team dug into the book Teacher Self-Supervision. With Shabbi Luthra coming to run a tech audit, we read her book, R & D Your School. Similarly, we had been reading Ron Ritchhart's Creating Cultures of Thinking and previously had read and discussed Whitaker and Greunert's School Culture Rewired. Drawing on these sources, we were ready to formalise the permission to innovate and to activate the school's own culture to drive learning forwards.

.........o0O0o..........

The 2015-16 school year was the first where Tankyuu projects became teachers' goals, rather than a professional learning supplement. Through ideation in September and refinement with their principals in October, teachers tied their Tankyuu to their goals for the year. This was an attempt to streamline the workload and bring the Tankyuu to the centre of our professional learning strategy.

By starting the process as a PK-12 Faculty, collecting initial ideas with GoogleForms and providing some time and space for discussion and refinement of ideas, there formed a range of large group, small group and individual goals. The goals tended to fall under a few themes, often related to whole-school curricular and strategic objectives; examples included some deep dives into mathematics, studies of wellbeing and student stress, reinvention of learning spaces and a continued work on creative inquiry. Some projects continued from the previous year, moving into action phases or deeper research.

With John Joseph working with community on the brain, learning and wellbeing, Matt Glover coming in (again) on literacy, Ochan Powell working with various levels of leaders on Cognitive Coaching, Tania Lattanzio working with PYP specialist teachers on curriculum and Ron Ritchhart coming in for Creating Cultures of Thinking, we had a great year of expertise in the school, giving us the raw materials to set goals and the push to improve. As Dr. Ritchhart was working with us in the spring, we realised the importance of maintaining connections between teachers and classes and of teacher-labs (or other forms of collaborative, non-critical teacher-to-teacher observation) in making these inquiries successful. We also evolved the EdTech Team Summit from being a Google-driven, adult-centred event to a (first-outside-the-US) Student Summit. This brought a different kind of energy and expertise and the serendipitous involvement of an alumnus connecting us to makerspace and tools for future work; our eyes (and doors) were opened to many possibilities of future collaborations.

As we rounded out the year, we were encouraged and invigorated by the teachers' reflections and feedback. Tankyuu, though not yet perfect, was starting to become part of "how we do things here".

..........o0O0o...........

Tankyuu To The Future

This year, we are using similar structures to last year, but with some key refinements based on the impact of the projects so far and feedback from teachers. As a cycle-diagram enthusiast, I created as Tankyuu professional inquiry cycle to provide more structure for teachers who needed/wanted it. We're encouraging more connections between teachers across the school and making space for them to learn from and be inspired by each other; or simply to research, discuss and wrestle with ideas together. As we also need to work on school-wide goals, we want to make it easier for teachers to connect their (optional) commitment to working groups to their Tankyuu professional learning goals. They might be involved in R&D for a curricular committee, scheduling working group or get into action research in technology integration, for example.

We need to be sure to support effective collaboration between colleagues in pursuit of these goals by providing enough time and resources to make it work: from PD time on Wednesdays to access to incoming experts (Ochan and Ron are back, along with some incoming maths experts), books and online resources, we're excited to see this year's outcomes.

..........o0O0o..........

Sharing Stories

This year we kicked off the projects with a range of faculty members sharing their Tankyuu tales as a way to respect, inspire and excite colleagues. There are loads of great projects going on, but here is a small selection to show the diversity of teacher inquiry.

A team of Service, Japanese and English Lang & Lit teachers investigated connections between empathy, service learning commitment and success in character-focused tasks in Language & Literature.

Elementary and Secondary school music teachers collaborating on aligning skills and techniques through PYP & MYP.

Departmental book study leading into classroom action.

Investigating Mathematics best practices in Elementary School.

Redesigning learning spaces, such as creating an early childhood STEAM lab, or activating the community to build playground features from natural materials.

Subject-focused and data-informed interventions to improve specific learning outcomes.

Investigating student mindsets and perceptions when taking on challenging problems, or helping develop working efficiencies for learners.

Integrating new technologies into a sustainable and creative curriculum.

Investigating student data on wellbeing, screentime, homework and stress.

And many more...

..........o0O0o............

These principles are very much emergent, as a result of the last few years' experience and this year's plans.

Respecting the strong foundations we are building upon; tapping into rather than fighting the school culture.

Appreciating the rich diversity of expertise, experience and professional interest among the faculty.

Encouraging alignment with touchstones of the school (vision, mission, core values, learning principles, strategic goals etc).

Building in time and reasons for effective collaboration within and across natural groups and partnerships.

Providing enough support (and options) for teachers to take inquiry in different directions.

Recognition of teachers' efforts and achievements in their Tankyuu inquiry.

..........o0O0o............

Wouldn't it be great if...?

At this point, some projects, working partnerships or ideas are getting to the point where the teachers involved really could be sharing their stories beyond the school, and I'd like to encourage their involvement in conferences and jobalikes. Our Japanese department have really taken a lead in this regard, and many others are ready.

Some projects, including self-directed work on curriculum redesign, investigation into mathematics instruction and work on student wellbeing have been elevated to operational goals for the following year: teacher inquiry is starting to lead the direction of the school. I would love to see the school get to the point where this is the norm in strategic and operational planning; as a culture of thinking becomes our new operating system, it's be great to see school direction set at all levels of the school.

I'm stoked to see how Tankyuu goals progress this year.

Some Tankyuu Questions

Although this project has been generally successful, there are some questions I have about the generalizability of the concept. I'll add more as time goes on.

What cultures or regions would be most or least motivated by this approach?

How might it connect to or be harnessed for international teacher certification (e.g. this from Lesley Snowball)?

Would this work in a school with fledgling (or poorly-performing) teachers?

To what extent does character of leadership affect the success of Tankyuu? For example, would it be undermined by authoritative management or high-stakes (high uncertainty) teacher evaluation?

..........o0O0o............

If your school is on a similar journey, I'd love here more in the comments (or on Twitter).

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Tankyuu (探 究): A Quest for Teacher Professional Inquiry

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One of our big projects over the last few years has been to shift the focus of professional learning and goal setting from competence in the programmes and practices into genuine teacher inquiry. As a lot of foundational work had been done in curriculum, assessment and differentiation practices; it was time build on this and...

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😡 They don’t like your idea. So bring them closer.

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Use this to help you reflect on Professional Learning opportunities

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Use this form to collect evidence to measure success and show evidence of impact

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L2 is a conference run by teachers for teachers. We are founded on the principles of putting participants first, rethinking education and sharing learning. We are committed to developing teachers as leaders.

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L2 is a conference run by teachers for teachers. We are founded on the principles of putting participants first, rethinking education and sharing learning. We are committed to developing teachers as leaders.