PROJECT ONWARD: OWNERSHIP
Building a Personal Foundation for Professional Success
Students thrive when they feel empowered to take ownership of their learning journey. In this strand, we explore how to create classroom environments where ownership is cultivated through clear expectations, collaborative relationships, shared responsibilities, and student agency. By fostering ownership at multiple levels—from teacher boundaries to student self-advocacy—we create sustainable learning communities where everyone contributes to success.
This strand examines practical strategies for developing ownership across four key dimensions: establishing personal boundaries, building collaborative relationships, sharing responsibilities effectively, and empowering student ownership. Topics include setting clear expectations with colleagues and families, fostering trust through communication, distributing workload strategically, and teaching students to advocate for their needs. It provides actionable approaches for creating classroom cultures where ownership is valued, modeled, and practiced daily, ensuring that both educators and students have the tools needed to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
PROJECT ONWARD
What's in the Ownership strand?
Relationship Strategies for Behavioral Support Classrooms
Boundaries and Bridges
Boundaries and Bridges teaches educators how to establish healthy personal boundaries while building meaningful connections with behaviorally challenged students through practical strategies like learning names correctly, using preference assessments, and remembering personal details. The content emphasizes maintaining professional boundaries by avoiding oversharing, fabricating connections, or asking inappropriate questions, while still creating authentic relationships that show students they are valued and heard. The module also covers effective family communication through welcome letters, positive notes, and resource sharing, all while maintaining proper reporting protocols for student safety concerns.
Multiplying Your Impact Through Strategic Partnerships
Collaboration Without Burnout
Collaboration Without Burnout explores how intentional collaboration transforms teaching from an isolated endeavor into a collective practice where specialists and colleagues form a supportive "village" that enhances both student outcomes and teacher wellbeing. Research demonstrates that schools with high collective efficacy experience increased academic achievement, enhanced job satisfaction, lower burnout rates, and reduced turnover, with collective efficacy as one of the strongest predictors of student success. By strategically partnering with specialists like occupational therapists, counselors, and behavior analysts, teachers gain immediate access to specialized knowledge while creating a school culture where student success becomes a shared responsibility rather than an isolated burden, ultimately transforming schools into interconnected communities that sustain both educator satisfaction and student growth.
Distributing Classroom Responsibilities for Success
Strength-Based Team Dynamics
Strength-Based Team Dynamics explores how teachers, paraprofessionals, and specialists can effectively share classroom responsibilities by leveraging each team member's strengths, establishing clear role definitions, and implementing structured communication systems to create a balanced and sustainable teaching environment. It emphasizes that successful collaboration requires intentional planning, strategic delegation based on individual expertise, and regular check-ins through tools like shared digital logs, team meetings, and instant messaging to maintain alignment and prevent burnout. The content provides practical frameworks for dividing tasks, fostering a culture of teamwork and professional growth, and creating organizational systems that maximize student outcomes while supporting educator well-being in high-challenge classroom settings.
Structured Autonomy with Divergent Learners
Reflection, Voice, and Choice
Reflection, Voice, and Choice explores how educators can foster student ownership in specialized educational settings by teaching self-advocacy skills, creating opportunities for voice and choice, and implementing structured autonomy tools like portfolios and reflection journals. The content emphasizes building safe learning environments where students with emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges can take intellectual risks, communicate their needs effectively, and actively participate in their educational journey through goal-setting and progress tracking. By empowering students to understand their strengths and challenges, communicate effectively using "I" statements, and engage in meaningful decision-making about their learning, educators help transform passive recipients into active participants who develop the confidence and skills needed for success beyond the classroom.