Ana Valdes: Hello, and welcome to our Back to Basics: Strengthening Your Community of Practice (CoP) Facilitation.

My name is Ana Valdes, and I am an Implementation Specialist at the Lastinger Center at the University of Florida. I’m glad you’re here today, because we’re going to be talking about something that I am truly passionate about.

This session is designed for facilitators, coaches and early childhood professionals who support educator learning through Communities of Practice or trainings. You may be working with a group of infants, toddlers or preschool teachers. This is beneficial for everyone.

No matter what your role is, facilitation has a direct impact in how educators experience professional learning.​

It influences whether participants feel comfortable sharing their experiences, whether conversations deep in reflection and whether learning connects meaningfully to classroom practices.

Communities of practice are especially valuable in early childhood because educators are constantly making responsive decisions based on the children’s needs. So having that space to reflect, to share and learn from one another really strengthens both the educator’s confidence and the practice, and that is so important.

​Today is an opportunity to reconnect with the foundational facilitation moves that make those experiences possible.

​So, to begin, I want us to reflect on our own experiences. Okay? Let’s take a minute for a reflection pause.

​Think about a recent meeting that you facilitated or participated in with early childhood educators. It could have been a community of practice, it could have been a coaching conversation or even a team/staff meeting.

​Consider what made that experience feel collaborative. You might remember participants building on each other’s ideas, asking questions, sharing openly a variety of things.

Or, you might recall a time when the conversation felt quiet or more facilitator-directed.

So take a moment to bring one specific experience to mind. And as we move forward, I want you to notice how facilitation choices really influence those experiences that we have.

So today, we’re going to focus on two key areas.

​First and foremost, we’re going to clarify the difference between training and communities of practice.

​When we understand this distinction, it really helps us facilitators make intentional decisions about how learning is structured and supported.

And secondly, we’re going to explore four facilitation practices that strengthen dialogue, reflection and shared learning.

These skills really help shift the learning from something participants just receive to something they can actively help create. Okay, that’s very important. 

The distinction becomes clearer when we look at how training and Communities of Practice function and are equally important in all our early childhood settings, whatever that setting may look like.

​So, training versus Community of Practice.

Trainings and community of practice both play important roles in professional learning, but they serve different purposes. 

When we’re doing trainings, they help educators build knowledge and skills. It kind of introduces the research strategies and practices that educators can use in our work. 

So if you think about trainings that you’ve attended, that’s usually what is happening. Sometimes those sessions are one-and-done. Or, they can happen in a limited series for a shorter period of time, and are driven by a trainer’s agenda.

So, call to mind a training that you may have attended.

​You might see this when infant teachers attend a training on responsive caregiving, for example. They learn how responding to infant cues really helps support their emotional security and development.

​Communities of practice tend to extend that learning by creating space for reflection, dialogue and shared meaning-making. When we think of a Community of practice, we really try to make that experience feel comfortable for that shared reflection and dialogue.

And these things continue with a consistent group of participants for an indefinite amount of time, depending on the group’s needs, and are driven by the group’s agenda.

So I want you to take a moment and just imagine a group of infant teachers meeting together after that training on responsive caregiving that we just spoke about.

One teacher may share that she began slowing down during the diapering routine, and noticed infants seemed calmer. So she noticed that when she started to slow down, the infants seemed calmer. Makes sense, right?

​And then another describes how she started narrating her actions, so the infants become more engaged. So she was talking as she was diapering the student. “Now, I’m going to get a wipey, and the wipey may feel cold”, or “maybe the wipey feels warm, and now I’m going to tighten your diaper,” right?

So, as the group is having this talk, they reflect on what worked, what felt challenging and what they wanted to try next.

​Learning depends, because it connects directly to their lived experiences, right? So, now the learning is more meaningful, because it’s tied to something they have buy-in with, a lived experience.

Training introduces knowledge, strategies, or new content. Communities of practice help educators process new learning and integrate that knowledge into their daily work.

​Both are essential, both are important, and facilitators play a key role in supporting each one.

​So, let’s talk a little bit about a scenario, okay? Consider a facilitator working with a group of preschool teachers who want to strengthen transitions in their classroom.

​One teacher may share that cleanup time feels stressful. Yeah, I can attest to that. I remember when that felt very stressful. Children resist stopping their play, they want to continue to play, and the transitions often take longer than expected.

​So, instead of offering a solution, which sometimes is what we want to jump to: “Let me just give you the solution.” But instead of offering a solution, the facilitator invites reflection and that dialogue by asking thoughtful questions.

​And asking others to share what they’ve noticed during their transitions. So now it’s kind of a sharing, a dialogue. We’re all living this experience. Let’s share our experiences.

​So we can ask questions such as:

• How do you prepare your children for transitions?
• What signals or routines do you currently use?
• How have expectations of cleanup time been shared with the children?
• Do they know what to expect?
• Do they know when to expect it?

Another teacher may describe how she began using a visual timer and noticed that children were more prepared to transition.

​And then someone else may share how singing a consistent cleanup song helped children understand what to expect. Those are all signals, right?

Well, as educators, as we listen to one another, we begin to connect ideas and reflect on our own practices.

And over time, this group begins to develop shared strategies, and they begin to build their confidence in the classroom.

​The facilitator’s role is not to provide all the answers. We don’t have all the answers.

​I always say that facilitators learn from their group just as much as the group learns from a facilitator. There are no experts.

So the facilitator’s role is not to provide all the answers, but to guide the conversation in a way that supports that reflection, that dialogue and that rich, shared learning.

​In this specific scenario that we’re talking about, teachers may have previously attended a training that offered strategies for transition, and that CoP then gives them the opportunity to extend their thinking, to allow for reflection and allow that dialogue around specific transitions in their own classroom.

​Now, to do this effectively, CoP facilitators rely on a clear framework.

​So let’s talk about this Community of Practice framework.

The Community of Practice Framework, which we sometimes lovingly call the Cookie, includes four elements.

It includes the elements of conditions, content, structures and processes. Okay? Those are our four key elements.

​Our conditions focus on relationships, right?

​Early childhood educators are more likely to share honestly when they feel respected, they feel they’re listened to, they feel supported and empowered.

​Facilitators support conditions by creating welcoming openings and acknowledging participant experiences. And so those conditions are what’s going to set the tone for that empowerment of teachers to be able to share confidently.

​When we talk about the content, we’re referring to the focus of the learning.

​In early childhood Communities of Practice, content often includes transitions, real-life classroom experiences, for example, things such as supporting routines, responding to behavior, and strengthening family engagement and those transitions we spoke about earlier.

​The structure element provides organization. Clear structure, such as who makes up the group, when and where is the group meeting, and for how long? This helps all the participants understand the purpose of the session and stay focused.

​If you think about any time you’ve gone into a training, or a session, or a PD opportunity, some people really like to know ahead of time what’s gonna happen, when is it gonna happen, how long am I gonna be here.

​That kind of helps some people feel safe, right? So, for some people, that structure piece is very important.

​Processes refers to facilitation moves that support the participation. This includes asking open-ended questions, paraphrasing and ensuring that all voices have a space.

​Those who are more quiet, we give them a quiet opportunity to share, maybe just with one or two people, and then you’re going to see that there’s people who feel comfortable sharing in a big group.

​When we think of the processes, we want to make sure that we are holding a space for everybody’s type of learning and everybody’s type of voice. How they want to be heard, how they feel safe sharing. It’s important to remember that each of these components support meaningful learning experiences.

So think back to our opening reflection, where I invited you to think about what made a recent meeting that you facilitated more collaborative. Were any of those components present in the meeting you held? In the CoP you held? In the training you held?

​When you work with this framework in place, facilitators can design sessions that really balance structure and reflection.

​One tool that really helps us organize that structure and think through what processes you may want to use is something called the 4 A’s. And we call those, lovingly, the 4 A’s of agenda design.

So, when you think about the 4 A’s of agenda design, think about something that helps provide a simple and effective structure for organizing communities of practice and training agendas, okay? You can apply this to a community practice, and you can apply these to a training agenda.

​And the 4 A’s are: Anchor, Add, Apply and Away.

​Just with those four pieces, we can have a rich agenda that is very meaningful to those who are participating.

So when you think of an anchor, when I think of an anchor, I think of something I throw over a ship to keep me in place. This is kind of the same thing. An anchor is what’s going to connect the participants to the topic, and it’s also going to activate that prior experience.

​For example, in a CoP, participants may be invited to reflect on something they recently observed or experienced in our classroom. 

For a training anchor, we invite participants to respond to a journal prompt, such as, write about a recent classroom transition that went well.

So that is our anchor. It’s what is connecting us to the content we are about to participate in.

​Once we have our anchor in place, then we are going to add. “Add” is simply introducing new perspectives, information or examples.

So, in a COP, that may be the group exploring a peer-shared dilemma, classroom artifact or a video clip from a practice.

​In a training, it could be the facilitator presents a strategy, a short video, a scenario or a research-based example.

That is our “add”. I want you to remember that you can use this not just for a Community of Practice, but for any training.

​You have those 4 A’s in place, you can apply it everywhere.

​So we have our anchor, which is what connects us to the learning. We have our add, which is anything new that we are bringing to the table.

​Now, we are talking about our apply. When we apply, that is the time we are giving our participants to reflect, to discuss and to connect new ideas to practice.

In a CoP, it could look like participants discussing how the new thinking connects to their own classroom experiences and learning from one another’s approaches.

​In a training, it could be participants practicing using the strategy, to analyze a case study, or discuss how they would implement it.

​And then our “away”, which is our fourth and final A, is when we help participants identify next steps, and how they are going to carry that learning forward. In some trainings that I’ve attended, that “away” is called an exit key, where we write something that we’re going to do moving forward.

​In a CoP, we could ask educators to name one idea that they’re going to try to plan or revisit, and then share with the group.

​In a training, it could be participants identifying one action step, or one implementation goal that they’re going to use back in their setting.

​So, those are your 4 A’s. Anchor, add, apply, and away.

​Now, let’s take a look at how this might unfold during a COP in an early childhood setting.

​So, 4 As in and out of early childhood settings, we want you to imagine a Community of Practice that’s focused on supporting toddlers during transitions. Transitions are really a hot topic, right?

​The facilitator may begin by inviting participants to reflect on a recent transition that felt either smooth or challenging.

​And you may have one teacher describing how toddlers became upset when moving from outdoor play back to indoors. 

The facilitator might introduce a short video showing caregivers preparing children for a transition by giving advance notice and offering clear cues.

​As participants reflect together, one teacher realizes she often moves quickly from one activity to the next without warning. We all know what that does to little ones. And then another one might share how using consistent language really helped toddlers feel more secure.

​Participants begin that dialogue, identifying small changes they want to try in their own settings. And then finally, this session closes with educators naming one adjustment they plan to implement.

​And as you can see, with this scenario that I just shared, we very briefly went through the 4 A’s.

​We anchored, we added, we applied and we gave them an “away”.

And I want you to remember that, although this specific scenario may be grounded in a community of practice, these same facilitation moves – the reflection, the shared analysis, the peer learning, action planning, etc. – these tools can also strengthen any training, any coaching session, and any other professional learning experiences.

​So don’t think, oh, I can only use these things in a CoP. No, you can use them in training that you are part of, any coaching conversation. They are applicable to anything else that you may be doing with your early learning teachers, participants, whatever your specific case may be.

​When you design a strong agenda, you are creating the conditions for a meaningful learning experience. Facilitation skills really help sustain that learning.

​So, let’s take a moment and look at some additional facilitation practices or moves that you can incorporate into both your trainings and your communities of practice. So, our hope is that as soon as you finish watching this webinar, your “away” will be that you can start to apply these things into your work.​

As you think about these, and as we go through them, think about how they may show up in both your professional learning experiences and in sessions that you may be facilitating.

​Let’s talk a little bit about active listening. Active listening is one of those skills that I consider to be the most important when we’re talking about facilitation.

​When we have a group of educators and they share experiences, facilitators support that learning by reflecting and clarifying what they hear. 

So, a teacher might share that children seem disengaged during small group time. Instead of offering suggestions immediately, the facilitator reflects back on the observation.

​The facilitator may say something like, “You’re noticing that children are having difficulty staying engaged during group time. Tell me more about what you’re noticing.”​

If you notice the difference, this helps the educator feel heard and encourages a little bit more deeper reflection.

​It is human nature to want to jump in with the solution. But being an active listener is something that takes practice. It really helps our participants give them the tool to really think deeper. We’re not just giving them a solution.

​At that point, we may have other participants who may recognize similar experiences and then begin to contribute their own perspectives.

​Active listening is something that really strengthens trust and supports that shared learning.

​Another tool that is important to facilitation is neutrality. When we think about neutrality, it basically just means guiding the conversation without directing it towards a specific answer.

When you think about good teachers in classrooms, that’s what they’re doing. Those facilitators are supporting the learning by asking those questions that are going to encourage reflection.

So, an educator might ask how to help children who struggle during drop-off. Rather than providing a solution immediately, the facilitator asks:

• What strategies the educator has already tried?
• What have you already done?
• What haven’t you done?
• Have you maybe noticed something another teacher is doing that you haven’t tried?

This strategy, this active listening and neutrality, is going to invite reflection, and it’s going to encourage your participants to really share strategies that they’ve tried, which then encourages them to learn from one another.

​What a beautiful thing that is, right? And over time, the participants begin to build confidence in their own thinking and their own decision-making. It’s an empowerment thing.​

How great is it when we empower teachers? So many good things happen when we do that.

Facilitators also help create environments where our participants feel safe contributing, sharing, and reflecting out loud.​

Another thing I want to talk about is agreements and invitations. Those are two things that really help set the tone for your conditions. If you think back to the four elements that we spoke about earlier.

When you think about conditions, most times, they are created by agreements and invitations. Agreements and invitations really help establish a supportive learning environment where people feel comfortable and confident to share.

​Agreements help create shared expectations, such as

• Listen respectfully.
• Allow spaces for different perspectives.
• No judging.
• Trust the process.

Those are all agreements that when we come up with them together, it really allows for a safe space where people are more inclined to share. That doesn’t mean that everybody is going to feel comfortable sharing right away. Sometimes it takes a little bit for people to really see those agreements in action. That we’re really living the agreements that we created together, sometimes we share, or we give invitations, invitations for learning, and those invitations really encourage participation while honoring autonomy.

So, think about participants feeling respected and supported.​

When our participants feel like that, when they feel that they’re very respected, and that we’re there for them, we are here to support them, they’re more likely to share openly and really engage in meaningful dialogue.​

These practices strengthen both individual learning and community learning.​

Let’s talk a little bit about why this matters.

Facilitation shapes how educators experience professional learning, right?

We’ve all attended numerous trainings, webinars and PDs. How the person leading those things sets the tone and affects how people come out of there.

When you’re in a profession like ours, when the bottom line is children, we want to make sure that every session you attend is meaningful to you in some way so that we can take that back to the children.

When we as facilitators create structure, we do that active listening and we support our participants’ reflection, we’re creating an environment where meaningful learning is going to happen.​

It helps our educators really strengthen their practice and better support children and their families.

Communities of practice are most effective when the participants feel ownership of their learning and are supported through peer-driven dialogue and reflection. 

I always like to take my examples back to classrooms. It’s like when we give our children the tools of empowerment. So much learning happens because we are helping them feel empowered.​

So, while training sessions are typically facilitator or trainer-led, when we incorporate some of those community of practices strategies, tools or processes into our agendas, they can really deepen the participants’ understanding and engagement with our content.

Let’s close with one final reflection for today.

​I want you to think about your next community of practice or your next training session. What is one facilitation move that you would like to strengthen? 

It could be allowing more wait time. It could be asking more open-ended questions, or it could be creating a clearer structure. Any small change in facilitation can have a meaningful impact on the participant experience and learning. Any small change that you do could impact somebody in a very powerful way.

​Thank you for being here, and thank you for the important work you do to support early childhood educators.