Grow is flexible enough to fit in with other school activities – and you don’t have to finish planning all in one go. If you’re just looking to get started, then we recommend setting the following expectations with your participants:

Early on, plans will consist primarily of resources, as participants do background reading to understand the fundamentals of their goals. When participants build their initial plan, the system can add one reading a week for the first month. That’s a great way to start, and takes seconds to set up.

As time progresses, participants put learnings into practice. Rather than adding resources, they begin to add actions. Things that the participant can try in practice and reflect on.

As time progresses, participants put learnings into practice. Rather than adding resources, they begin to add actions. Things that the participant can try in practice and reflect on.

Deep learning comes from the plan when participants reflect on their readings and actions, and evaluate their effectiveness. In Grow, “finishing” a task means carrying out an evaluation of how useful that task was in reaching the goal. A healthy plan has people finishing tasks regularly, and committing their reflections to the plan.

Overall, regular lightweight activity is preferred to “cramming”. Try to make sure that there’s something, however small, at least every fortnight. Early on, readings will be more frequent, but actions take longer to plan and execute but can have more impact on development.

Finally, if the school has existing processes in place, use the Grow plan as an adjunct to that system. One school started using Grow to centrally capture their “Teach to Learn” program – where observers are in class not to provide feedback, but to gain insight.

The grow plans also make a great starting point for PD conversations between staff and their supervisors, or for input and planning around coaching conversations. How?