Sparks Into Fire

In a thriving education system, students experience learning that prepares them as the vital keepers of a just and democratic society. Teachers as professionals and experts, not cogs in a machine, are essential to this goal. Sparks Into Fire offers design principles for facilitating effective professional learning in which teachers are active learners engaging in experiential learning, discussing problems, analyzing student work, and sharing their expertise with one another. The author introduces each principle with a compelling and illuminating story from his extensive experience teaching students and facilitating teacher learning in Providence, RI; Oakland, CA; and South Korea. These narratives, along with specific practices, show the reader not just what to do but how to do it. Whether you are a school leader, lead teacher, PD facilitator, or teacher educator, you can apply the ideas in this book to design collaborative experiences that revitalize teacher practice and, in turn, spark a fire in the hearts and minds of students.

Book Features:

• Provides key principles and practices that can transform the quality of teacher learning in any subject area and across disciplines.
• Offers a human-centered approach to teacher learning with a focus on equity.
• Shares practical tools for facilitating teacher learning coupled with real-life examples and stories.
• Includes a set of reflection questions to encourage readers to recall stories from their own learning journeys.

Young Whan Choi is a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley where he teaches the next generation of social studies educators. He has been a teacher in South Korea, New York City, Providence, RI, and Oakland, CA, during which time he developed expertise in project-based learning, curriculum design, and culturally relevant teaching. He produces and hosts The Young and the Woke podcast.

“Throughout this book, Young Whan Choi shows us how to facilitate interactions among teachers that are caring, thoughtful, intentional, and relational. In turn, educators can go about the work of creating learning environments that center students’ lives.”
—From the Foreword by Ericka Huggins, activist, writer, and educator

“Young Whan Choi’s timely offering is truly a healing gift of fire that provides a range of stories, questions, and practices to reignite and restore our individual and collective purpose as educators in a time of traumatizing burnout. He takes us to the beautiful streets of East Oakland, South Providence, New York City, and Seoul to remind us that authentic teaching and learning must always begin with a spark that can only be fueled by our willingness to exercise courage, vulnerability, and empathy, and to engage in shared humanity with our students, each other, and ourselves.”
—Christina "V" Villarreal, lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“Young Whan Choi’s Sparks Into Fire courageously challenges us to rethink how we approach teacher learning, from the life-draining, sit-and-get-banking model of PD to fueling a guided development process that centers purpose and the principle of collectivism. Young Whan’s weaving of storytelling with praxis offers us a ‘counter-manual’ that deconstructs the systems that breed linear, neoliberal teaching while also providing detailed and applicable offerings that can be used in our practice tomorrow.”
—Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, professor, San Francisco State University

Contents

Foreword  Ericka Huggins  vii

Preface  ix

Acknowledgments  xiii

Part I: Fueling the Fire  1

1.  From Margins to Center: Telling Stories of Purpose  3
Purpose in Teacher Learning  4
Practices That Leverage Purpose  5
Conclusion: The Power of Telling Stories of Purpose  15
Reflection Questions  16

2.  Your Mission: Active Learning as Countersocialization  17
Active Teacher Learning  19
Practices in Active Teacher Learning  20
Conclusion: We Can’t Teach Where We Won’t Go  26
Reflection Questions  27

3.  “Why didn’t you push me harder?”: Learning From Students  29
The Role of Students in Teacher Learning  31
Practices in Centering Students  32
Conclusion: Students Make Us Better Teachers  44
Reflection Questions  44

4.  “Please, come in”: Listening to and Leading With Teachers  47
Listening to Teachers to Inform Teacher Learning  48
Practices That Recognize Teacher Expertise  49
Conclusion: Listen to Learn  59
Reflection Questions  60

Part II: Tending to the Fire  61

5.  Walking to the Sea: A Journey Towards Collectivism  63
Collectivism in Teacher Learning  66
Practices to Foster Collectivism  68
Conclusion: Collectivism is Both a Process and a Goal  78
Reflection Questions  79

6.  Throwing Away Baggage: The Power of Vulnerability  81
Vulnerability in Teacher Learning  82
Practices in Vulnerability That Nurture Learning  85
Conclusion: Vulnerability Is Essential to Learning  97
Reflection Questions  98

7.  “We haaaaated you”: A Lesson in Empathy  99
Empathy in Teacher Learning  100
Empathy Practices  102
Conclusion: Empathy Is Personal and Professional  110
Reflection Questions  112

Conclusion  113

References  115

Index  117

About the Author  125