 Hi folks, thank you very much for popping in to come and see my little session about an action research project that I did last year as part of my advanced teacher status portfolio, my ATS portfolio. It was a quality improvement project for which I used action research. And yeah, I popped a little gift on here for you to, you know, it's not me just to let you know. However, it is definitely a visual representation of how I felt doing this project and working with all of my peers. It's called Cooking Up Community and it is based on my poster here that I drew up at the end of my ATS portfolio year to present. As you can see, I went fully with this little metaphor. Metaphors really, really helped me to visualize and make sense of the world around me. I'm a big fan of using those metaphors. So if you will, just just roll on with me. This is my poster, which is, as you can see, like a little menu and I'm going to go through each of these little sections in turn in just a moment. But just to set that scene, when I talk about kitchens and culinary communities and ingredients and recipes and all this kind of thing. I want you to think about a kitchen that's at home, that's comfortable, that's maybe, you know, in my mind, it's actually, I don't have a kitchen like this, but this is in my mind, this is my visualization, which is a big open kitchen diner where all of my friends and peers are all just kind of like sitting around this middle island and sharing their ideas as we're cooking together. That's my imagination, OK, so less Gordon Ramsay barking orders at you at the front of the kitchen, more that kind of like homely, comfortable feel. So that's where I'm going with this metaphor. So please, if you will allow me, we're going to get started with what this was about. So as you can see in front of you, I've got this three different kitchens. These are the three different kitchens that I was exploring and exploring with and facilitating. So we have ESOL teachers, teacher trainers and industry trainers. Let's crack on with our amuse-bouche or the aim. So what was the actual intention? What was the aim for this project? And it was to discover ways in which to dissolve that screen between us, that barrier that was between us in those online spaces in order to develop a joyful and supportive online community practice that created meaningful and authentic interactions by devising a series of effective online informal CPD strategies. So you might be thinking, oh, goodness me, that's like that's a bit of a mouthful. So I'm going to go through and explain how I did all of these things. But we're going to start with a little starter, a rationale. Why? Why did I want to do all these things? Well, I think back to the context that I placed us in before, which was COVID 2021 and there was a lot of lockdowns and people were working, teachers, trainers, practitioners were working in very, very isolated ways. And I was really concerned about all of our social emotional well-being, you know, and we were focused as trainers, we're very, very, our mentors, very focused on our practitioners, of course. But I found that, you know, one particular group of trainers that we're working with, you know, who was looking after them because they were focused so much on putting so much energy into helping and supporting teachers and practitioners. And I just thought, you know, who was really helping these trainers who are working so isolated. And in some ways we're quite used to working in isolated ways, working from home, etc. But they'd still usually get out and get to go and exit. And that's what a lot of trainers really love, actually love going into all these different organizations, like physically, you know, and being in those spaces, being in those, you know, FV spaces and the beautiful variety that it is, but not being able to do that anymore, you know. And at the same time also teachers that were spending a lot of their time and energy supporting, you know, their learners during such a challenging time. So it was all about that well-being, it was about that isolation, but it was also about, I saw this potential to develop this module of online informal professional learning and it'd be seen with the same kudos as CPD. You know, and how important it was to have those kind of informal spaces that that coffee and chat that coffee and chat is actually really important. It doesn't need to be for an entire hour, of course, but it's so, so important. And that is because it is allowing peers to just work together, to share, to entrust this kind of sense of belonging within the sector, within your peers, within your department, organization, and just in general with us all together. All the way through this, you'll see some lovely little quotes that have popped in there as well from some of the kitchen practitioners, this one particular. She said she loved being part of a team, a real community and coming together every couple of weeks to, you know, catch up and share ideas. And, you know, you wouldn't, if that space wasn't available, then they wouldn't necessarily do that and be working in their own ideas. So just being able to come together, share ideas, share things that have gone wrong as well. That's how it's important. So how did I do this? How did I go about it? What was my action in this action research? Well, my first was doing a little bit of background research, and that was attending, as many of us did during that time, a massive variety of online CPD sessions from quite passive and didactic to all the way to holistic. So, and by doing that, I was really reflecting on, I just noticed a huge, huge difference, massive cavernous difference between all these different online training events and courses and webinars. And, yeah, so I reflected on all of them and kind of thought about which ones were I most engaged in, which ones were I most productive in. And I found that actually the ones I was most productive in were the ones that where I really felt like I'd been nurtured in that community, that learning space. The ones where, you know, even if we're only together for two hours, they'd really taken the trainers had really taken the time to allow us to kind of like get to know each other and share, even if it's only a few minutes. So there was a few different things that you can see here listed that really, really stuck out to me. And these are the things that really stuck out amongst all the different ones that I looked at. But three things involved with the things that I just set the approaches that I decided, particularly to explore and experiment with. One was a well-being check-in. So having some time at the beginning of the session is dedicated to asking people how they are. And I don't just mean, how are you doing? Yeah, I'm all right. That's two seconds. I don't mean that. I mean, a really authentic time where people can just stop, think for themselves and consider how they're doing right there and then it can be right there at that very moment. It can be that day. It can be that week. How are they doing? And being asked that question when they might not have been asked that question that week or they might have been asked it, but not given real people haven't listened to their answer. So I gave the spaces that I would then facilitated. The first 15, 20 minutes, a big chunk of it would be that well-being check-in. Next was thinking environment rounds. Really, really inspired by the thinking environment practices. I won't go into that now because I don't have enough time. But if you're interested in thinking environments, then please have a little look at Nancy Klein, her website Time to Think. And also, if you know of Joy Effie, check Joy Effie out on Twitter, hashtag Joy Effie. All their events are done in thinking environment spaces. And the last one is digital samples. A little shout out here to my peer, Eve Shepherd, who introduced me to this term, this idea of having somewhere to play, somewhere to come and play with digital. So, you know, not just being told, hey, mentor me is a really good idea. And, you know, you get to experience it and you use it yourself. It was actually a space in breakout rooms to go and make one yourself to go and then practice sharing screen and sharing it and seeing how it works. And you, you know, explore, then presenting it and pushing it and audience portion, you know, all these like little intricacies. That's what those digital samples allowed you to do. So then what happened after that initial exploration, that's when the action really kicked in. And that was through trials of activities that they were based on both pedagogical and paragogical approaches. And by that, I mean this working together at peer-to-peer community focus space, which encourage practitioners to try out new ideas with one another. So I'm imagining that island again, that setting, that lovely big kitchen really working together whilst nurturing a feeling of belonging within the group. So no one's sitting in the other room. Everyone's together really working together, you know. So those trials, the main trials were carried out over two terms and each term was stimulated by some kind of intervention of conversation stimulus and that was on Mentimeter or Jamboard. And the answers to those activities informed the way in which I then carried out the action research. So the way that I reflect on it, reflected on it, changed it, adapted it, swapped and changed different ingredients and changed how I cooked the ingredients, you know, that kind of thing. So then I could find the most effective recipe for each kitchen. A practitioner from Kitchen 3 here at the bottom mentions the experienced resource that can be plugged into an experienced resource. And that really, really like, really makes stands out to me because I mentioned above about it being a peer-to-peer community and that's what that experienced resource is. It's not one person at the front of the room. It's that it's everyone. It's that it's everyone coming together and it's that whole community. That's what that experienced resource is. It's everyone's experiences coming together. So what were my findings? Well, I found that practitioners appreciated that time and space to come together and connect. I found that they experiencing those digital pedagogies in an authentic manner helped improve their digital confidence and confidence. Trainers felt an increased sense of belonging with their peers with regular staff rooms. They're not just one offs, but that regularity with a familiar structure they could expect and rely on. That doesn't mean a full agenda, by the way, but some kind of structure that they knew was coming. They knew they were going to be asked how are you, for example. That leads me to that question being so important, allowing people to just kind of like stop and park their feelings before then kind of like going on to the session. It led to more productive sessions. Thinking environment allowed people to just everyone had a voice. Everyone had an opportunity of voice without status being in there, you know, and it got rid of that. It got rid of the hierarchy within the space. And their practitioners from all the kitchens felt isolated in their work environments, but having this informal professional learning space did have a positive impact on their well-being. Lastly, I found that actually I went into this thinking there was going to be one recipe, and there wasn't one recipe at the end. I went into this thinking there was going to be one recipe for each of the different kitchens, but there was actually one recipe in the end that was formed that worked for all the different kitchens, but obviously with a few little ingredients as substitutes. Yeah, and actually since the project, it's had a profound impact on the way we facilitate all of our informal online spaces and nurture sector communities. You can see a few of the new kitchens there. Reading Circle and FE Research Circle is open to everybody, by the way. So, you know, if you want to get in on that, have a little look at those hashtags. The last thing there at the bottom and the sides, that's a dissemination. If you would like to have a little look at the reflective journals that I wrote throughout the action part of my research, those two terms, including all of the Mentimeter and Jamboards and all those stimulus prompts, have a little look at those two Wakelet collections at the bottom there. Now, just bringing it all back together again. I know there was a lot there. So, if you want to have a little closer look at this, then do let me know. Email me or find me on Twitter at Chloe Fibonacci. Ask me any further questions if you have any. There's loads of research that's been going on similar to this that really kind of says it's talking about professional learning, how important it is, it really, really is. And you know what? To finish off, I'm going to say, if you've not been asked this today, I want to ask you, how are you? Thanks for listening.