Cohort 16 Forever!

     Touro’s Cohort 16 in the Masters in Innovative Learning program is an amazing community.  Although we all come from different backgrounds, levels of experience, and areas of teaching, we come together to learn and grow as educators--supporting one another all along the way.
     My goals in joining this masters program were to challenge myself by stepping outside my comfort zone, and finding new ways to improve my practice as a teacher. This program has been so much more.  Technology and innovation, design for learning, equity, action research cycles--and all of this learning has been alongside an amazing group of people. The high standards set by everyone involved in this program have elevated my learning and challenged me continuously.  Each week, reading my peers’ blogs, checking out their work on the homework log, seeing their assigned presentations come to life on Wednesdays, participating in discussions--all of these things have impacted my thinking as an educator permanently. Equally impactful, is the nature of the people in this cohort. I’ve been a teacher for 18 years and have never met a group of people more kind, helpful, patient, and POSITIVE about growing as educators--ever!

     Having one more semester of really hard work to finish this rigorous program seems like a lighter load, knowing that I share it with this group of people.  I believe that positive cohesion already thrives among us. I know that we will continue to support each other through emails, zoom meetings, in person meetings (always preferred for the hugs), REMIND messages, texts, blog entries and responses, and even google doc sharing as we have over the past year.  
     As we move closer towards our Capstone projects, I think that focused and organized peer feedback with this group could really elevate our thinking. Since “presuming positive intentions” seems to be already naturally built in to the culture of our cohort, perhaps the classic “I like/I wonder” protocol would be a great way for us to give feedback to one another.  Having an “I like/I wonder” protocol in place would leave room for both constructive criticism as well as new ideas and considerations.

     ​Even though the next couple of months will be intense, I am looking forward to increased collaboration and accelerated learning with all of my amazing cohort peers.  It is also my great hope that we continue to communicate after finishing this program, since it is a rare and wonderful thing to be included in a group of such positive and encouraging educators!