Build a “Share What Works” Experience in Your School Community!

Now that the school year is in full swing, we're excited to introduce our Share What Works toolkit so your entire school community can join our mission! Whether you decide to use this experience for team-building, in PD sessions, or as an ongoing activity, our goal, as always, is to elevate what's working in real classrooms and schools around the US—and the world.

What exactly is a Share What Works experience? It's a simple way for educators to highlight what they've found successful in their classrooms. Our popular What Works For Me series on social media inspired us to make it a whole community experience.

Here's an overview of how it works:

Step 1: Build your space! Our Share What Works toolkit includes complete directions for setting up the space and what you'll need to decorate. By the way, we know full group experiences aren't for everyone, so we've also included a couple of modification ideas.

Step 2: Invite teachers to reflect on what’s working for them. This is the fun part—and it’s also customizable. You’ll notice that the prompt on the share cards we’ve provided inside the toolkit is “What Works For Me,” but how your community interprets that is up to you. For example, you may want to focus on a relevant theme (e.g., increasing class participation) instead of leaving the prompt broad. We encourage you to adapt your approach to make the experience valuable and inspiring for your community.

Step 3: Build your team collection! Once teachers have had a few minutes to reflect, have them jot down what’s working for them on a share card. Once ready, each teacher should add their card to the group's collection on a nearby wall or bulletin board.

Step 4: Now, it’s time to engage as a group. This is another place where we encourage you to choose your own adventure, but here are a few ideas:

• Get everyone out of their seats for a gallery walk and give them ample time to discuss what they’re reading.
• Open the floor for a Q&A or vote on ideas they want to hear more about.
• Take pictures of your team’s collection and one of each card, and add them to slides that can be emailed to the group. Invite participating teachers to add links to resources or templates that may help others implement their ideas.

As you use the Share What Works toolkit in your community, tag Edutopia in any pictures or videos you share on social media. We also invite you to use the hashtag #ShareWhatWorks so that other educators can see what you're up to. If your community isn't active on social media, email us directly at community@edutopia.org.

By the way, we're always accepting new pitches for Edutopia stories. If you're curious to learn more, visit our official Write For Us page.