Developing an Explorer Mindset Benefits Teachers, Too

How can the attitudes of an Explorer Mindset (curious, responsible, and empowered) lead to teacher leadership within a school? As my colleagues and I returned last fall and set out to cultivate an explorer mindset for the first full year of in-person instruction since the pandemic began, I was determined to find out.Explorers are curious, responsible, and empowered, and these were the exact traits our teachers needed as we walked into a new era of teaching. So, I invited teachers at our K-5 Spanish immersion school in Louisville, Kentucky, to participate in a once-a-month after-school meeting to dig into this idea. The response was exciting, with 14 of our 30 teachers attending. These gatherings were the start of something special: a professional learning community centered on fostering the Explorer Mindset within ourselves.Each attitude guided our meetings or grew organically as a result of our time together.CuriousTo be curious, we must feel safe sharing what we don’t know and what we wonder. Research tells us that cultivating community within our classrooms leads to more student risk-taking and, in turn, more creativity and collaboration among students. We strive to develop culturally responsive classrooms that allow us to see our students for who they are and incorporate their diverse backgrounds and ideas into our daily practice. However, we often undervalue similar experiences focused on community-building among teachers.Our explorer group worked together without the limitations of a packed agenda and shared the good and bad things going on in our school and in our lives. The work happened amid the laughs and good food we shared. We could breathe and be present for one another, which led us to be curious about how to build better lessons for our students, infuse more project-based learning into our school, and ensure our students felt free to be themselves.ResponsibleWe work at a Spanish immersion school with a mission to develop globally and culturally competent citizens, so being responsible for our diverse community of learners is always on our minds. Our explorer group encouraged us to share celebrations and concerns we had for students who had recently moved to our school from another country. Without administrators present, and with a growing sense of trust and community, teachers were vulnerable and asked questions about how best to support students who were learning English as a second language.Then we began to collaborate with partners that worked in the Latinx community. This involved our annual lemonade day project that resulted in donations to local community organizations and student-designed projects in Spanish.EmpoweredOne of the most important goals of our group was to increase student engagement in school. We saw students and teachers alike light up when they were able to participate in project-based learning, and we wanted to increase these opportunities. However, we knew planning projects and activities took a lot of preparation and would often be derailed when we tried to do it during the school day. We needed uninterrupted time to brainstorm and plan together, and this could only happen after school in a relaxed setting, so we created that space for the group.As a result of our teacher meetings, we started a student-led news broadcast, planned a collaboration with National Geographic photographer, Dr. Jenny Adler, on ocean conservation and another for third graders on water scarcity, for which we collaborated with humanitarian aid organizations. To top it off, we organized a culminating Earth Day celebration that involved a school beautification project and used book sale.

Librarian, Dr. Jamey Herdelin, sets up students to record a school news broadcastthat includes a weekly geography trivia question.

The school year has come to an end. As we look back on the progress we have made as a group, we reflect on the friendships we have developed, and we dream big for the future of our school. Our work to learn and grow as exploration-minded teacher-leaders has only just begun.

Teacher explorers from Hawthorne Elementary in Louisville, KY lead students tobecome curious, responsible, and empowered.

Curious about the Explorer Mindset? Enroll in this free, 50-minute course to be introduced to National Geographic’s interdisciplinary, inquiry-based approach to education, an approach that seeks to foster the mindset of a National Geographic Explorer in each student.