Past Activities
Dec 5, 2022
Principal Roundtable Convening
In this Principal Roundtable convening with school leaders from our six Partner Schools, we discussed how we might rebuild the school culture, reflected on the schools’ key learnings with the support of CEL, brainstormed on the new collective inquiry we want to jointly embark on, and discussed the latest developments of CEL’s initiatives.
Dec 12, 2022
“Envisioning Innovation in Education” (EIE) Study: THS Open House
The Harbour School (THS) opened its doors to participants of the Envisioning Innovation in Education project to observe, ponder and connect with the approaches utilized on a day-to-day basis at this K-12 International School. The focus of the visit centered around building a collaborative culture, and embedding routine in students’ school lives. Participants engaged in a guided THS scavenger hunt to help with practical observations, while simultaneously being introduced to the See, Think, Me, We thinking routine.
Debriefing on observations, THS and EIE participants discussed the design for individual learning and creation of collaborative cultures. Actionable ideas included cross-school projects, exchanges and cross-school teacher collaboration, in order to foster connection and understanding.
Nov 3, 2022
“Envisioning Innovation in Education” (EIE) Study: 8th Learning Community
At the Learning Community 8 event, Project Zero (PZ) introduced the role that narrative can play in promoting innovation in education. Participants reflected on their favourite childhood books and expressed appreciation for the story’s message or morale. This led participants to recognize the power of narratives in inspiring change and action. To practice the narrative approach, participants crafted “stories of learning” using everyday objects found in “mystery bags”. This made use of educators’ creativity to reimagine daily items into representations of ideas in education. Then, school teams began crafting their innovation stories using various modes such as music, drama, or poetry, which they would continue to develop over time. The LC8 event underscored the power of the narrative approach in documenting and promoting educational change.
Dec 14, 2022
Compassionate Systems HK Learning Community: Stories of Learning in HK Schools & Classrooms
What are the stories of learning & practice of Compassionate Systems in Hong Kong?
In this Learning Community event, participants had the opportunity to reflect on school/classroom challenges using Compassionate Systems tools. They also hear about the stories of learning & practice from various HK educators, especially from those who have just recently attended the 4-day training in November.
Nov 28 to Dec 1, 2022
Introduction to Compassionate Systems Framework in Jakarta: HK Onsite Training)
Offered by the Center for Systems Awareness, this 4-day introductory training of Compassionate Systems Framework is facilitated by Dr. Peter Senge and Dr. Mette Boell (renowned MIT thought leaders & Co-founders of Compassionate Systems).
We hosted a learning space in Hong Kong so that the 20+ Hong Kong participants can learn & support each other during the training (while virtually connecting with other participants from around the world), evaluate the value that Compassionate Systems can bring to different HK education contexts, and explore ways to further promote Compassionate Systems to the HK wider education community.
Oct 5, 2022
Principal Roundtable Convening
In this Principal Roundtable convening with school leaders from our six Partner Schools, we shared the new opportunities in the new school year, discussed latest updates of CEL’s existing initiatives, and further discussed how we might improve on the Principal Roundtable construct plus celebrate our progress so far.
Dec 8, 2022
Compassionate Systems with SSGC: Form Teacher Training
To support the goal of exposing all teachers at St. Stephen’s Girls’ College (SSGC) to Compassionate Systems, CEL facilitated a full-day training for ~20 SSGC teachers.
Instead of prompting participants to immediately think about how the tools & practices can be applied in classrooms, this training served as a safe & brave space for them to reflect more inwardly. Participants considered how they can make use of the tools to reflect on how they are showing up as human beings, why they might have misunderstandings with others and how they can reflect on issues more deeply & holistically.
Nov 21, 2022
Compassionate Systems HK Learning Community: Developing Compassionate Student Leaders
How can we support students in becoming more compassionate & global-minded leaders?
This Learning Community event gathered 20+ participants to learn from the stories of practice in Hong Kong, Singapore & Jakarta. After hearing how students experienced leadership development via Compassionate Systems, they also heard from students regarding their stories and practice, and explored together how these practices can be brought into their own communities.
Nov 25, 2022
“Envisioning Innovation in Education” (EIE) Study: SFAC Open House
Saint Francis of Assisi's College (SFAC) Open House centered on the inquiry focus, “How to Promote a Culture of Thinking?”. Inspired by the first principle of Cultures of Thinking in Action, “For classrooms to be cultures of thinking for students, schools must be Cultures of Thinking for teachers”, EIE teacher cohort from SFAC leveraged the event to further explore this topic. On the day, the SFAC EIE cohort facilitated the whole school PD Session and engaged their colleagues through experiential activities. They also shared practices on thinking routines & documentation. This was followed by an exchange with SFAC students, and an open discussion between the visitors and SFAC EIE cohort.
Oct 20, 2022
Compassionate Systems HK Learning Community: Habits of a Systems Thinker
What do we mean by “Systems” in Compassionate Systems? What does it mean to be a good “systems thinker”?
In this Learning Community event, the 20+ participants had a fruitful experience engaging with the Habits of a Systems Thinker cards developed by the Waters Center for Systems Thinking via interactive games & thoughtful discussions. Many were inspired to share these concepts with their colleagues and consider how it can be incorporated in their own teaching & learning.
Sep 27, 2022
Compassionate Systems HK Learning Community: Cultivating Well-being
What constitutes a healthy mind? Building on the decades of work from the Center of Healthy Minds, the Co-founders of Compassionate Systems advocate that we should cultivate four areas of awareness – somatic awareness, relational awareness, perceptual awareness & aspirational awareness.
During this Learning Community event, 20+ educators went through a self-assessment on their four areas of well-being, learnt more about the research behind it, and gained tips about how to take them into their community hearing the story of practice from the British School of Jakarta.
Sep 16, 2022
“Envisioning Innovation in Education” (EIE) Study: Year 3 Kick-off
The Year 3 Kick-off launched the final phase of the 3-year Envisioning Innovation in Education (EIE) project and prompted participants to consider the sustainability and scaling of the work. Project Zero facilitated mixed-school activities to introduce participants to the innovation cycle (i.e. an iterative process of “try > share > revise”) and innovator’s mindset (i.e. the capacity, sensitivity and inclination to seek opportunities for change). Using thinking routines, participants practiced working with the iterative nature of innovation. Participants worked in school-based innovation teams to draft their collective innovation focus question, which would determine the direction of their innovation project in the months ahead. Finally, CEL facilitated a brainstorming session of how participants could collectively deepen and sustain their innovation work. Ideas such as hosting EIE Open House events and establishing an EIE Alliance emerged from these discussions.
Aug 1 & Sep 3, 2022
Compassionate Systems with SSGC: Student Leadership Training
To support the 40+ student leaders from St Stephen’s Girls’ College (SSGC) who will be embarking on their leadership journey as Student Clubs’ Chairladies and Prefects, we facilitated two full-day Compassionate Systems Leadership trainings.
We supported the participants in reflecting on ways to cultivate their Somatic Awareness (e.g. via Wheel of Emotions), Perceptual Awareness (e.g. via Paper Tear activity), Relational Awareness (e.g. via Four Player Model) as well as Aspirational Awareness (e.g. via envisioning exercises). All participants were eager to take action in the coming school year in support of the growth of themselves, their peers as well as the SSGC community.
July 27, 2022
Compassionate Systems HK Learning Community: Four Player Model
How might we support learners to reflect on group dynamics and become better team players?
This Learning Community event focused on the Four Player Model, which provided an accessible & powerful way of understanding the four fundamental roles that would appear in any team situation (i.e. Move, Oppose, Follow, Observe).
Having had hands-on experience and thoughtful discussions about the Model, as well as hearing how it has been adopted by educators in a wide range of ways, the 20+ participants were really eager to see how they can make use of this model in their own community.
July 19, 2022
Compassionate Systems with MSS Students
With the goal of developing the leadership capacity of 20+ S1 & S2 students who were interested to become Student Ambassadors of their Values Education Team, we co-planned & co-facilitated a 1.5-day Compassionate Systems Leadership student training with a team of Marymount Secondary School (MSS) teachers.
Participants learnt how to better reflect on their own emotions (e.g. via Check-In & Wheel of Emotions), understand where other people are coming from (via Paper Tear game & the concept of Mental Model), as well as brainstormed ideas about how they can serve the MSS community in the coming school year.
June 22, 2022
Compassionate Systems HK Learning Community: Check-In & Wheel of Emotions
How are we showing up for ourselves & one another? How do we build our language around our emotions?
At this Learning Community event which focused on the Check-In practice as well as the Wheel of Emotions, 20+ participants gained hands-on experience through group practices, learnt from the stories of practice in local & international contexts, and considered how they might take these practices back to their own community.
May 30, 2022
Principal Roundtable Convening
In this Principal Roundtable convening with school leaders from our six Partner Schools, we did a Check-in with the Wheel of Emotions, crafted and reflected on our Individual Learning Journey, unpacked learnings from the EIE study, and considered how we can share our collective learning journey to the wider education community.
May 16, 2022
“Envisioning Innovation in Education” (EIE) Study: 7th Learning Community
The EIE 7th Learning Community (LC7) event on May 16 marked the final gathering of the project’s Inquiry phase (Year 2). Participants created individual learning journey maps to take stock of their learnings in their inquiry process so far. They also made use of a modified Project Zero’s Compass Points thinking routine to articulate their excitement, wonders, needs, and strategies for moving forward. In addition, participants engaged in an “Imagining Paths Forward” scenario activity. Instead of jumping immediately into solution generation, they were guided to first explore the complexity of the issue and consider various approaches to the problem.
May 12, 2022
Compassionate Systems with MPS: All-staff Training
With some of their teachers already bringing Compassionate Systems into their classrooms and seeing its positive impact on students’ well-being, Marymount Primary School (MPS) is eager to expand its practices towards a whole-school approach.
In this half-day training, the CEL team supported MPS teachers to dive deeper into the Check-In practice and the Wheel of Emotion. Hearing the amazing stories of practice from some of their teachers, participants supported each other by envisioning ways to apply these tools to serve the diverse needs of their students.
Mar 21, 2022
Principal Roundtable: Caring Session
To support the needs of the school leaders from our six partner schools, this Principal Roundtable convening served as a caring session to address the extra stress caused by COVID & the special vacation arrangements. We spent a considerable amount of time unpacking our own emotions, and discussed how we might show compassion to ourselves and our loved ones.
Feb 28, 2022
“Envisioning Innovation in Education” (EIE) Study: 6th Learning Community
At the 6th EIE Learning Community event, Project Zero (PZ) invited participants to reflect on three simple questions: “Who am I?”, “Who are my students?” and “What is my context?”. These Reflective Practice questions helped educators surface assumptions and gain insight into their own biases, student needs and teaching contexts, so as to more accurately inform inquiry for innovation.
Then PZ facilitated a Looking at Student Work activity with participants. In this activity, different school teachers examined a piece of student work together (provided by a local school English Literature teacher). This activity inspired participants to examine student work with colleagues, as the discussion can deepen and extend each other’s understanding of students, and inform future planning and adjustments.
This Learning Community event reminded educators of the importance of uncovering our biases and looking from multiple perspectives when promoting change.
Mar 31 & Apr 1, 2022
Compassionate Systems with SSGC: Special Vacation Sessions with Teachers & Students
Due to the additional stress caused by COVID & the special vacation arrangements, the CEL team arranged two separate Compassionate Systems Caring sessions on Zoom with 20+ students and 10+ teachers from St. Stephen’s Girls’ College. Using the Check-In practice and the Wheel of Emotions, the gathering served as a safe & brave space for participants to pause, connect and reflect on their own emotions, as well as show support to one another.