Lesson 1

Lesson 1

What is Good Work?

Lesson 1

What is Good Work?

Watch the Professional Development

Watch the PD workshop "What is Good Work?" from The Good Project.While you watch, take notes about what you learn and what you want to impart to your colleagues or learners.

Answer the following "I used to think... Now I think..." prompt.

Lesson 1

What is Good Work?

Lesson 1

What is Good Work?

Next, you're going to review the directions for each slide of the "What is Good Work" PD.

• Each slide will have a purple button on it
• Click the purple button to reveal the Teaching Guide
• The Teaching Guide helps to explain what you should say to others in your role as a trainer
• It also makes suggestions for how to facilitate discussions
• Click the purple button again to close the Teaching Guide

Professional Development Session

The Good Project

WHAT IS "GOOD WORK"?

Explain to participants that you are beginning your introduction to the concept of "Good Work" and what it means.Share what your journey with "good work" is going to look like. (For example, are you going to be doing just one session? Will you be doing a whole series of sessions?) Describe what to expect.

Teaching Guide

WHAT IS "WORK"?

Before beginning to talk about "good work," you're first going to talk about what "work" is.

Teaching Guide

AND MORE...

HOBBIES

VOLUNTEERING

PAID EMPLOYMENT

STUDENT WORK

MULTIPLE WAYS THATWE ALL DO WORK

"Work" can mean many things. "Work" may most often connote paid employment. But work also includes the schoolwork students do, work in our communities (such as volunteering), hobbies we are dedicated to, childrearing, or other types of activities we dedicate our time to with a particular aim or goal. (You may wish to expand this description based on your context.)

Teaching Guide

WHAT IS "GOOD WORK"?

Explain that, now that we've described what "work" is alone, you're going to move on to talking about what "good work" is.

Teaching Guide

"I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT"

WHEN YOU HEAR THE TERM "GOODWORK," YOU MIGHT THINK OF...

A STANDARD

A SUPPORTIVE COMPLIMENT

A "JOB WELL DONE"

"Good" can also mean different things to different people. When we hear the term "good work," we might think of connotations like a "job well done," someone complimenting you or your performance, meeting an external standard (like a grade, or a particular percentage goal for a KPI at work), or the idea of "you'll know it when you see it," just being able to recognize "good work."

Teaching Guide

"I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT"

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZETHE ABSENCE OF "GOOD WORK"

IMMORAL ACTIONS

POOR OUTCOMES

LACK OF EFFORT

We might also have ideas of what "good work" is not. For example, we might think of people who are lazy or who don't put in effort, people who achieve poor outcomes, people who do immoral actions or who are unethical, or again, the idea of "I know it when I see it."

Teaching Guide

The Good Project asks us allto look more slowly andintentionally at how weknow, understand, andaccomplish "good work."

GOING DEEPER

influenced by character, values, decisions, and behaviors. complex, often involving tradeoffs. both personal and social. regularly reflected upon.

The Good Project’s goal is to allow people to look more slowly and intentionally at how we know, understand, and accomplish "good work." Good work is...

Explain that The Good Project's purpose is to get people to think more closely about what "good work" means to them. Emphasize that how each of us thinks about "good work" will be dependent on: 1) our character and values, and how we act, 2) is complicated, often involving tradeoffs between competing priorities, 3) personal to us but also involving a social dimension, or groups we are part of, and 4) should be reflected upon regularly to ensure we can integrate all of these factors.

Teaching Guide

THE GOODPROJECT

We'll cover now a little about The Good Project as an initiative and research group: what it is, how it came to be, and its goals.

Teaching Guide

and in future

work through personal reflection to support and encourage peopleto do “good” in multiple ways, now

Goals: to help people develop morecomplete understandings of their

Development of materials that canhelp people explore their ideas of“good work"

Research into the nature of "goodwork," including with professionalsand with students across time

The Good Project is a research group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education that researches both adult professionals and students. The goal of this research is to create materials that will encourage individuals to do "good work," including materials like lesson plans and reflection activities. The larger goal of the project is to encourage individuals to developing a deeper understanding of what "good work" means to them, and to help people do "good work" in multiple ways.

Teaching Guide

ACTIVITY:GOOD WORKARTIFACT

Explain to participants that you will now be moving into a group activity.

Teaching Guide

Something else!

An example of student work from your classA picture of a mentor or influential figureAn object that you have createdA memento that is personally meaningfulAn item within reach of you right now.

This could be...

CHOOSE AN ARTIFACTTHAT REPRESENTS"GOOD WORK" TO YOU.

Prior to this PD, you should have instructed participants to bring an object or artifact that represents "good work" to them to the workshop. Alternatively, give people a few minutes to find an object around them that represents "good work" in their environment. (This could be as simple as an object on their desk or in the room.)Artifacts could be things like student work, a picture, something creative, an item of significance, etc.Put participants into small groups.

Teaching Guide

LOOK CLOSELY AND SLOWLY AT YOURARTIFACT AND CONSIDER:

Take 10 minute for yourself to sit with your artifact and write down your thoughts.(If you are completing this activity with others, use these questions for discussion together.)

What is your artifact, and what made you to choose it?How would you explain to someone else why this artifact represents good work?Which specific qualities of "good work" are represented by your artifact?How do the qualities of “good work” that you named relate to your own work?

Ask participants to discuss their "good work" artifacts in their groups together. Have them talk about why they chose their artifacts and how each represents "good work."Alternatively, have participants spend some time writing down their thoughts about these questions first before going into their groups.

Teaching Guide

OUR DEFINITIONOF "GOOD WORK"

Following the breakout activity on the previous slides, bring people together for discussion.Then, let participants know that, now that they've had the chance to explore some of their preconceptions about "good work," you're going to talk about The Good Project's definition of "good work."

Teaching Guide

Students, especially thosein high schools, andincluding those who aredeeply engaged in a field orsocial impact work

WE HAVE RESEARCHED...

Workers acrossprofessional areas,including teachers, doctors,lawyers, actors, scientists,journalists, and more

The Good Project's concept of "good work" is drawn from years of research. The Good Project has researched both adult professionals and workers (such as doctors, teachers, lawyers, and journalists). The team has also done research with students - particularly secondary school students who are particularly engaged in a specific field or in social impact work.

Teaching Guide

Good work satisfies threeintertwined dimensions:

OUR FRAMEWORK

The Good Project defines "good work" through three elements, all starting with "E," called the 3 Es: excellence (high quality), ethics (socially responsibility), and engagement (connection and meaning). To do "good work," all three elements are satisfied. While we might not fulfill these three elements at all times, they can serve as guideposts and goals.

Teaching Guide

Engagement

Ethics

Excellence

Explain that these word clouds came from research that The Good Project did with global high school students engaged in social impact projects at a summer program in 2022. The word clouds show that these students identified "excellence" as meaning primarily "hard work" and "effort"; "engagement" meant primarily "feeling proud" or "meaningful work," while "ethics" meant primarily doing work that benefits the community. Explain that definitions like these can help us think about what the 3Es might mean to our students and to ourselves.Look at the word clouds and see what you notice.

Teaching Guide

The Three Es are...

Evolving over time (and may need to be revised and added to!)

Personally relevant and adaptable (within reason)

Widely applicable across environments

Explain that the 3Es are meant to be broadly applicable; that is, they're not specific to a particular group or profession. They're meant to be adaptable to different contexts and cultures, and The Good Project consistently evolves the understanding of the 3Es over time. Your perspectives can be part of this process.If you've taught The Good Project's lesson plans, do you have an example of how you've discussed the meaning of the 3Es with others? Share with the group.

Teaching Guide

Look back at your notes from your artifact.

CONNECT

ENGAGEMENT

ETHICS

EXCELLENCE

What would you add to thesethree dimensions?

How might your thoughts havebeen unrelated to these threedimensions?

How did your thoughts relate tothese three dimensions?

Ask your group to think about their artifacts again, now in relation to the 3 Es. Consider as a group whether the thoughts about "good work" shared about the artifacts relate to the 3 Es, or not. Consider if there are also elements that the group would add to the 3Es based on their conversations.Consider holding this as a whole group conversation, or asking people to "pair & share" with one another.

Teaching Guide

institution

Making "good work" a centralfocus at your school across the

routines

Building a consistent culture of "goodwork" in your classroom and into

regular basis

Talking about "good work" and itsmeaning with your students on a

Applying the3 Es

Finally, explain that "good work" can be implemented at multiple levels within a school community, with individual students, at the classroom level, across a whole school, or even beyond that. Ask the group to consider what feels right for their own contexts. Or, if your school is taking on a particular model, think together about why this version is right for your school.

Teaching Guide

I USED TO THINK...AND NOW I THINK...

Close the session with the "I used to think, now I think" Thinking Routine, asking participants to consider how their ideas have changed as a result of this session by completing the setence.Share out together, or ask participants to write their answers (e.g., if you are facilitating online).

Teaching Guide

THANK YOU

Lesson 1

What is Good Work?

Model adapted from https://fastercapital.com/content/Glocalization-in-education--Adapting-Curriculum-for-Global-Impact.html#Incorporating-Local-Contexts-into-Global-Curriculum

Consider translating materials, allowing for trans-languaging, using the lessons as a way to teach language, or finding another way to incorporate local languages when using the lessons.

Draw on your community's values, beliefs, customs and traditions. How can you incorporate these into the curriculum?

Use local language(s)

Look to your community

Consider using technology to connect students with local experts, to arrange virtual field trips, to help with language instruction or with finding local examples.

Use technology

What elements of Lesson 1 would need to be adapted to fit your school context and culture?

Are there dilemmas happening in your community to draw on? Who are your students' local role models? Use local examples whenever possible.

Use local examples

Lesson 1

What is Good Work?

What elements of Lesson 1 would need to be adapted to fit your school context and culture?

Laeen's Curriculum Localization Themes

Parrish's Cultural Dimensions of Learning

Adapting Instructional Methods to Accommodate the Cultural Diversity of Students

Consider checking out these resources to help you consider adapting this presentation to different cultures or contexts.

Lesson 1

What is Good Work?

Lesson 1

Lesson 1

What is Good Work?

Link

Access the slides

Access the slides to "What is Good Work?" here.Adapt the slides for your own team and context.All materials are licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA:

• BY: credit must be given to the creator.
• NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
• SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

Lesson 1

What is Good Work?

You've Completed Lesson 1

Next Steps

Lesson 2

Learn about "Excellence," one of the 3Es, in Lesson 2.

Return Home

Return home to pick which lesson you'd like to learn next.

Contact Us

Visit thegoodproject.org for more information.

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