Overview 

Teachers have a unique perspective about what they need to improve their practice. EduDesign is an experimental space that supports teachers to engage in a collective process of inquiry-- to grapple with self-identified questions and problems of practice. The fellowship is a year-round experience that kicks off with a summer institute and includes multiple convenings throughout the year. Each cohort provides space for fellows to build community, make sense of big ideas together, grow their justice work-- in their practice and in schools, and support one another as professionals.  

The EduDesign fellowship is not your typical professional development-- it is a collective approach to learning. Each cohort is led by a team of teacher-leaders positioned not as experts but as co-learners alongside fellow participants. These teacher-leaders serve as planners and facilitators of this co-created learning experience. College of Education staff, faculty, and other resources support the work as well. This year we are launching our fourth cohort specifically designed to support middle and high school teachers across content areas.  

As we transition into the 2022-23 school year, we are thinking about how to understand and enact asset-based pedagogies that draw upon the strengths, experiences, and wisdoms of our students, their families, and their communities. We will look to scholarship around culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies as a basis for our work together.  

Some of the questions we will explore include:  

• What  does culturally sustaining pedagogy – beyond representation – look and feel like for everyone in a learning environment? 

• How can we more clearly understand the relationship between culturally sustaining pedagogies and social & emotional wellbeing for students and teachers? 

• How can we support one another against burnout while we work inside a system we are also working to create anew? 

• How do we balance supporting students to survive and thrive in the current white supremacist systems, and also to work to dismantle those systems? 

• How do we navigate teaching students to “play the game” while also teaching criticality and enacting pedagogies for change? 

Responsibilities 

EduDesign is a year-round experience that will kick off with a summer institute in August. In addition, we will gather again in the school year for four Saturday workshops. This cohort will be meeting in person in the summer. During the school year we will be meeting online. Each fellow will need to be available for the following dates: 

Summer Institute: Aug 15 & Aug 16, 2022 (9 AM - 1 PM) 

School Year Saturday Sessions: Oct 29, 2022 | Jan 14, 2023 |Mar 25, 2023 (9 AM - 12 PM) 

Final Reflection Session: June 3, 2023 (9 AM - 10:30 AM) 

The fellowship cohort works together with the support of the EduDesign Leadership Team, and UW ConnectEd Co-Director to shape the EduDesign Fellowship experience. Fellows are committed to the following efforts: 

1. Come prepared and focused for the Summer Institute and Saturday sessions. (There will be some pre-work that will require 15 - 45 min of your time, depending on the session.) 

2. Share what you know, what you’re learning, what you’re wondering, and what you are challenged by. 

3. Try out ideas with your students and colleagues; document some of those experiences.