K-12 Purpose Summit is going virtual for 2020! More information will be added to this website in the coming days. Stay tuned!
Purpose is not optional for either students or teachers in today’s fast-changing world — it’s a critical life skill. Simply defined, purpose happens when we connect to something or someone outside of ourselves meaningfully enough to take action. It’s about having dreams and goals. In our view, purpose is the driving force behind the revolution in the learning happening at many K-12 schools today.
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In World Leadership School’s annual K-12 Purpose Summit, educators explore the question: “How can K-12 schools help students explore, discover and articulate a sense of purpose at an earlier age?” At this event, we will begin by exploring our own sense of purpose as educators because, in the words of purpose expert Richard Leider, “you can’t give away what you don’t own.”
This intimate gathering takes place at the base of the Rocky Mountains in the fall as the Aspen leaves begin to turn. This environment is conducive for self-centering and reflection over the course of 4 days. During the Summit, we will work in small groups with the goal of returning home with tangible work products to begin implementing purpose learning back at our schools immediately. We also look deeply at purpose curriculum for global, experiential and service learning programs; advisory programs; and as an integrated part of core learning across the K-12 curriculum. We will dive deeply into the theory and science behind purpose learning and explore curriculum created by WLS and other organizations in the purpose learning space. These resources will provide tools and inspiration for our own implementation design. |
I feel so inspired to take this work back to my school and actually DO the work and not just think about doing it. I feel that I have personally gained so much insight from this summit and I know it will have an amazing impact on my students and school community.” |
Finally, we will work in design teams organized around different entry points of K-12 education. Our goal is that every participant will leave with a curricular unit, class, or program to implement back at their schools. Along the way we will form a community by working and thinking together, sharing our stories, being vulnerable and authentic, dreaming up new ideas, hiking in the Rocky Mountains, and enjoying good meals.
This event is designed for global education and service learning directors, school leaders, social and emotional learning directors and teachers interested in leading purpose learning efforts at their schools.
During the summit, we will:
This event is designed for global education and service learning directors, school leaders, social and emotional learning directors and teachers interested in leading purpose learning efforts at their schools.
During the summit, we will:
- Understand the theory and science behind purpose, including why purpose correlates with improved learning engagement, health, sleep, stress management, relationships, etc.
- Explore and clarify our unique & individual purpose using temperament exercises, storyboarding, and storytelling activities;
- Explore a K-12 toolkit of activities and purpose curriculum, which form part of an upcoming book on purpose learning by summit facilitator Ross Wehner. *This toolkit contains WLS curriculum, along with curated best practices from leading purpose learning organizations;
- Create one curricular project, and an action plan, for bringing purpose learning back to school.
K-12 Purpose Summit Learning Goals
Activate our individual and collective purpose;
Share ongoing research around purpose learning and participants’ work done at leading purpose-driven schools;
Design units, classes, and programs to implement in our schools;
Commit to follow-up action and communication;
Activate our individual and collective purpose;
Share ongoing research around purpose learning and participants’ work done at leading purpose-driven schools;
Design units, classes, and programs to implement in our schools;
Commit to follow-up action and communication;
These are thoughts that have been swirling around my head and I wasn't exactly sure how to communicate around these ideas and definitely didn't feel that I had the knowledge base to implement work around these ideas or champion the importance of purpose. The work from this summit will help me in my day to day execution of my job but also in the ways that I think about my career in a broad sense and the entire field of education.
-Attendee, 2018 K-12 Purpose Summit
