Turning Inspiration into Action – Challenges All Consultants and Organizations Face

How Lynn Sawyer and Lindsay Prendergast Are Changing the Goal of the Typical Workshop

We’ve all been there. You attend a workshop, the kind that sparks fresh ideas and opens doors to new possibilities. The excitement in the room is palpable, educators are inspired, and strategies that could change the way students learn are shared. We leave energized and return back to the classroom.

 

But then something happens. Life back at school gets in the way. The day-to-day routines, meetings, and endless to-do lists begin to pile up, and the excitement slowly fades.

"Both supervisors and teachers want the supervisory process to result in positive interactions and continuous growth in practice." - Lynn Sawyer

Whether you're an educator or a consultant, this is a challenge we all strive to overcome. We see it time and time again: workshops that ignite enthusiasm but don’t always translate into lasting action. It’s not for lack of trying. Educators are passionate, committed, and eager to bring about change, but without the right support and follow-through, even the best ideas can stall.

For consultants like Lynn Sawyer and Lindsay Prendergast, this challenge hit close to home. Both veterans in the field of educational consulting, they’ve led countless workshops, inspiring educators to rethink how they approach learning.

Yet, they saw the same pattern repeating: educators left energized but often struggled to implement what they’d learned once they returned to their schools.

 

That’s why they wanted something more for their upcoming in-person workshops in Shanghai. They aim to provide a framework that not only ignites passion but also equips educators with practical strategies for implementation afterward.

Going Beyond The “Spray and Pray” Approach

For years, the professional development model has been consistent. Consultants deliver a workshop, share knowledge, and provide insights that educators can take back to their schools.

The workshop ends, everyone leaves inspired, and then we anticipate the resulting change results in growth. It works in theory, but how often do we see those ideas take root and grow?

We all know the truth: the traditional approach has limitations. While workshops are great for sparking excitement, they often lack the mechanisms for sustained support.

Educators are left to figure out implementation on their own, and that’s where the momentum slows. No matter how impactful the workshop, the gap between the initial inspiration and long-term implementation is real.

Lynn and Lindsay recognized this limitation. While their sessions consistently received positive feedback, they couldn’t shake the feeling that more needed to be done to ensure the ideas didn’t end up gathering dust.

Sustaining Growth with Collaborative Learning Cycles

So, what’s the solution? How can consultants help educators maintain that momentum and make real, lasting change in their schools?

This is where Lynn and Lindsay’s approach shines. Their superpower isn’t just in delivering great workshops; it’s in the way they’ve reimagined professional development as an ongoing, collaborative process.

Take their upcoming workshops in Shanghai, for example. Instead of leading traditional, one-and-done sessions, Lynn and Lindsay have embraced a model built around continuous learning. They focus on learning-focused coaching cycles and using evaluation rubrics, tools designed to help educators not just understand new concepts but put them into practice in real, tangible ways. Lynn notes, "That the protocols and skills taught are actually practiced during the training sessions. These actual experiences support the participants in the 'how, what, and why' of the skills but also serve as a jump start to full implementation in their own settings."

Clearly, the power of coaching cycles can't be genuinely implemented - and therefore deeply learned - during the workshop itself. Lindsay and Lynn leverage post-workshop collaboration and the seven elements of Effective Professional Development (see below) to help educators work together, share experiences, troubleshoot challenges, and support one another as they apply what they’ve learned.

As shared by Darling-Hammond, Hyler and Gardner (2017), Effective Professional Development:

1. Is content focused
2. Incorporates active learning
3. Supports collaboration
4. Uses models of effective practice
5. Provides coaching and expert support
6. Offers feedback and reflection
7. Is of a sustained duration

In the past, they relied on methods like in-person discussions during the workshop, quick quizzes, and reflection prompts to assess learning. But they recognized that the real struggle to demonstrate understanding goes beyond those methods.

Knowing that research advocates for students to be engaged in authentic learning, they knew that educators needed a way to apply those same practices in their daily work back at their respective schools - after the workshop. That’s where the rubber meets the road, and it’s often not as easy as it sounds during the workshop itself.

Clearly, the power of coaching cycles can't be genuinely implemented - and therefore deeply learned - during the workshop itself.

That’s why they knew they had to provide a structure where educators can apply and share their practices - and peer feedback - long after the workshop as part of a collaborative cohort. They wanted an asynchronous way to do that because no one has time for weekly Zoom calls. This approach fosters shared practices and sustained growth, allowing educators to learn from each other along the way.

We’ve all seen how important it is for educators to have a network of support, especially when implementing new strategies. The energy from a single workshop can fade, but when educators are part of a collaborative learning community, that energy can be sustained and amplified.

Lynn and Lindsay have tapped into this need, using their expertise and the collaboration made possible by the Huddle Up Learning platform to guide educators through cycles of learning and action, ensuring that their work doesn’t stop at the workshop doors.

Creating Mutually Satisfying Partnerships 

The partnership between consultant and participant - both wanting to see success -is mirrored in the coaching cycle they share educators.  As Lynn explains, "Both supervisors and teachers want the supervisory process to result in positive interactions and continuous growth in practice. The LFS model supports the idea that supervision can be a partnership that is mutually satisfying to both parties and gets the desired results."

By focusing on partnership rather than a one-sided approach, they ensure that both the educators and the supervisors gain from each interaction, fostering an environment where growth continues beyond the initial training sessions.

Let’s Create Real Change Together

We all know that lasting change in education doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It requires ongoing support, collaboration, and most importantly, action. The work that Lindsay and Lynn are doing is reshaping the way we think about professional development, providing a model to move beyond the “Spray and Pray” and help educators carry that information forward into their daily practices.

Lynn and Lindsay’s approach offers a roadmap for how consultants and educators create real, lasting change in their schools.

If you’re ready to take the next step:

• Check out their in-person workshops in Shanghai on Nov. 1 and 2
• Even if you can’t make it to the online workshop, you can still join the asynchronous Huddle Up actionable cohorts:
• Learning Focused Supervision or
• Learning Learning Focused Coaching Cycles

About the Author
Derek Luebbe is a career K-12 educator as a teacher, Principal and Director of School for 30 years. He is also the founder of Huddle Up Learning. He believes in the power of Communities of Practice and it constantly trying to find more effective ways for teams and organizations to collaborate, learn and take action together.

Works Cited:

Darling-Hammond, Linda, Maria E. Hyler, and Madelyn Gardner. Effective Teacher Professional Development. Learning Policy Institute, June 2017.

Aguilar, Elena. "Coaching's Impact on Teachers, Principals, and Students." Edutopia, 14 Feb. 2016, www.edutopia.org/blog/coaching-impact-teachers-principals-students-elena-aguilar.

Authentic Learning: Bringing Real-World Relevance to the Classroom." Education Advanced, 20 May 2023, www.educationadvanced.com/blog/authentic-learning-bringing-real-world-relevance-to-the-classroom.

Why Professional Development Fails." Education Week, 17 Jan. 2018, www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-why-professional-development-fails/2018/01.

Huddle Up." Huddle Up Learning, www.huddleuplearning.com. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Professional Development." Shanghai Community International School, www.scis-china.org/careers/professional-development. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Teacher Networking: The Key to Professional Growth." Workee, 15 Mar. 2022, www.workee.net/blog/teacher-networking. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Lipton, L., & Wellman, B. (2017). LFS rationale and research. MiraVia LLC. https://miravia.education/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/LFSRationaleandResearch_000.pdf.