Does Your Professional Learning Experience Have A ‘Strong Door’?
August 22, 2017
Read Jennifer's guest blog column for Learning Forward on how to have a "strong door" in your professional learning experience.
Excerpt:
I have a restauranteur friend, Lynn. Although we come from different industries and perspectives, we both believe a restaurant needs to have a “strong door”: the good feeling you get when you walk through the door and immediately feel welcomed. Within the first moments of your arrival, the strong door hostess greets you, positively manages your experience if there’s a wait, and makes you feel seen and acknowledged. A strong door creates the impression that you are in a place you want to be.
We’ve all been to restaurants that don’t have a strong door: No one acknowledges your arrival, the “weak door” hostess is in no hurry to ask for your name, and you can feel the indifference as she shows you to your table. Unfortunately, it isn’t just at restaurants where a weak door metaphor works; some district offices, schools and professional learning events have weak doors, as well.
About Jennifer Abrams
Jennifer has been recognized as one of "21 Women All K-12 Educators Need to Know" by Education Week's 'Finding Common Ground' blog. She considers herself a "voice coach," helping others learn how to best use their voices – be it collaborating on a team, facilitating a group, coaching a colleague, supervising an employee and being an all around better human being in all types of interactions.
Work with Jennifer
Praise for Jennifer
“Jennifer’s session was not just a workshop, but an invitation to look inward at how we, as adults, show up in our professional roles. She reminded us that hard conversations are not about winning or avoiding conflict, but about cultivating clarity, empathy, and courage.
One of the most powerful takeaways was this: for dialogue to be truly effective, we must learn to communicate with precision while holding space for humanity. Hard conversations should not shut people down; they should open the door to growth-producing feedback that strengthens trust, relationships, and professional practice. My learning experience with Jennifer was a reminder that our impact as educators is amplified when we are willing to pause, reflect, and engage with one another in ways that foster both accountability and compassion.”
