Lora Shields on her ChangeMakers Journey
As a 2020 retiree, one would think I would never look back at the 33 year career I was leaving behind, especially since my long-planned retirement date came at the height of the pandemic. Pandemic restrictions directly impacted my role as Staff Developer, as we couldn’t gather teachers as learners together or visit each other’s classrooms to learn from one another as before.
But early in 2021, a phone call from a revered UK Center for Next Generation Leadership colleague and mentor, Justin Bathon, fanned the flames of my career-long passion for deeper learning for students with an opportunity that could not be denied. Dr. Bathon said things like, ‘Come help us start this continuing education option program, Lora.’ and ‘Teachers will be able to engage with the content we have always espoused as UK Next Gen (equity, deeper learning, mastery, student-centeredness, among other things)--AND they will be able to earn rank change through professional learning rather than university coursework.”
And that is all it took. ChangeMakers commenced.
Seeing the opportunity to continue helping teachers in Kentucky reach students at a time when student-centered learning is never more important, and also at a time when the Kentucky United We Learn (KUWL) initiative is blooming is a “for such a time as this” moment for me. Being a part of ChangeMakers takes advantage of the leverage of the focus and statewide desire for vibrant learning experiences, encouraging innovation, and collaboration with the community that is the focus of KUWL. This, as Lu Young, Executive Director of the Center for UK Next Generation Leadership and Chair of the Kentucky Board of Education, is a Moonshot moment. I had to be a part of this movement.
I’m in.
I joined the team to design and lead professional learning that helps teachers transform instructional practices, deepen their learning and earn rank change. The ChangeMakers Program offers a blend of online modules, virtual seminars and personalized coaching to support teachers in reaching mastery of Deeper Learning practices such as student-centered learning, learner agency, equity of opportunity, inquiry-based learning, and competency-based education. Through a “crew” system of support and collaboration, teachers implement new practices, document their progress through a series of artifacts, and complete a Capstone Action Project to demonstrate the impact to students. Throughout this program, teachers experience cycles of learning, exhibition, feedback and revision. The program culminates in a Defense of Learning, allowing teachers to highlight their learning to demonstrate competencies and obtain rank change. All of the characteristics of the program have been thoughtfully designed to parallel the learning experiences we desire for our students as learners: personalized, applicable, collaborative, transferable and meaningful.
To say that this experience has been energizing would be quite the understatement. The interest in the content is ramping up, mostly due to the work of the KUWL groups and the recognized need that education in Kentucky needs a change. Teachers, through the midst of a pandemic, are still passionate about shifting practice to meet student needs, and eager to engage in new and different ways with the cycle of learning. Stories of students taking ownership for their learning, deciding how they will show their teacher mastery are seeping out of the stories these teachers tell. It is joyful work.
So now, I get to hear teachers like ChangeMaker Denise McClain, an elementary school art teacher in Shelby County, say things like, “I’ll never go back–this is the way to teach!” as she experiences the impact of the program on students who are now asking to lead learning in her classroom. And teachers like Karla Fidoe, an elementary school teacher in JCPS, who said,”For me, we had a team at my school that were interested in looking at personalized learning and changing the way we teach….And we now are a team that is helping the staff come in at what we were what our action result was based on. It gives me a chance to become a leader in my school and share my knowledge.”
This ChangeMakers program is truly making change. For students. For teachers. For me.
A retiree who is finding an opportunity to continue to change the experience of learners in Kentucky.
To find out more about ChangeMakers, go to www.lead.school/changemakers-ov, or email lora.shields@uky.edu. We are currently enrolling Cohort #3 to begin learning in June 2023.
Lora Shields is the current Director for ChangeMakers, a former National Board Certified Teacher, former Staff Developer at Shelby County Schools, former Literacy Coach at South Oldham High School and former middle and elementary school exceptional needs teacher.