Innovation at the regional level: NESA partners with Inspire Citizens
NESA Executive Director Maddy Hewitt with a deck of “Share the Journey” cards co-designed with Inspire Citizens for the NESA Fall Leadership Conference.
NESA (Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools) school leaders had a wonderful opportunity this month to gather in Abu Dhabi for an in-person conference. Called “Sharing the Journey: In Person Together and Again”, there was a lot of excitement about networking and learning on-site after so many months of online professional learning.
The Inspire Citizens team was delighted to be part of this auspicious gathering, and their partnership with NESA shone in multiple ways during the 4-day event.
“Inspire Citizens has really helped us ‘share the journey,’’ says NESA Executive Director Maddy Hewitt. “They are very much part of the theme of this conference. We’re sharing the journey, we’re innovating, we’re digging into the ‘how’ of creating blended, woven curriculum that has real impact for teachers and students.”
Maddy first heard about Inspire Citizens through a colleague on the NESA professional learning advisory committee. That committee was exploring how to transform educational experiences to be more real and relevant, connected to important local and global issues.
“Right away, I could see that Inspire Citizens does everything from global concepts to classroom practice, and that they had developed a lot of curriculum and tools to create powerful and relevant learning experiences tied to global issues and citizenship,” remembers Maddy. “Teachers are craving meaningful work like responsive teaching and implementation of DEIJ, and they need scaffolding and structures. The kind of curricular work that Inspire Citizens does is key.”
Three members of the Inspire Citizens team (founders Steve Sostak and Aaron Moniz, along with Ivy Yan) led sessions during the NESA Fall Leadership conference, October 13-16.
Steve had a key role to play in the opening keynote session with first-year Harvard University student Said El Kadi. The two worked together to create a 3-part experience where Said delivered his keynote speech in two parts around a central experience facilitated by Steve. It was an interactive, kinesthetic workshop where leaders were able to process the themes of Said’s presentation.
“We’ve partnered with Steve to create a set of ‘Share the Journey’ cards for this session and for the conference as a whole,” explains Maddy. “Leaders will have multiple opportunities to use the cards and I am excited to see the conversations that result; the questions are really thought-provoking and reflective.”
The cards feature questions divided into three categories based on the head-heart-hands approach of the Inspire Citizens Empathy to Impact model.
Steve, Aaron and Ivy also presented workshops during the conference, some related to the Empathy to Impact model and others focussing on more specific themes like the humane use of technology.
“At NESA, we have an innovative mindset, and Inspire Citizens is one of our best thought partners and leaders in this area,” says Maddy.
As part of a year-long approach to mapping and articulating the “innovation journey” at NESA schools, leaders and educators will have opportunities throughout the year to learn, create and reflect. In the spring there will be a gathering in Dubai to share action maps and reflect on what has happened with innovation during the 2022/23 school year. Steve will lead a strand for this process called “rethinking time and space in schools”.
“Our NESA schools have always been generous with sharing expertise and resources,” Maddy says. “We’re excited to expand this practice with our learning strands this year so we can share even more innovative practices and ideas.”
Inspire Citizens creates impact in its work with individual educators and leaders, teams, whole school communities and also, as evidenced by what is happening this month and throughout the year, with regional leaders.
It’s exciting to see the ripples, large and small, that have been and will be created through the NESA partnership. Stay tuned for more vignettes about this as the year unfolds.
