Pre-Work
Leading up to May 1st, we will be connecting you with your peers based on your interests. In your registration form you selected one of these themes: Digital Divide, Family Support, Food Insecurity, Homelessness, Mental Health, or Online Learning.
Based on the theme/topic you have been grouped into cohorts, and will have a cohort leader (who is a TFA staff member) kicking off your collaboration. In addition to getting to know your cohort of peers, we ask that you complete 1-3 hours of prep work to fully engage on May 1st.
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Item
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Description
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Deadline
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Expected Time to Complete
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| Join the Spark Lab Slack work space | Visit the Slack Community page for instructions | by April 23 | 5 minutes |
| View your group and Introduce yourself in your cohort's Slack channel | You can view your topic, group, and name of your cohort leader here. Your cohort leader will add you to your group's Slack channel by Friday, 4/24. When you get the group Slack, introduce yourself! |
by April 27 | 5 minutes |
| Resource deep dive and engaging with Slack group | To be prepared to engage on the May 1st training, participants will engage in resources and participate in your group's Slack channel. Explore your topic using the Resource Hub and task instructions below. |
Before May 1 Training | 1-3 hours |
Required Task A:
Resource Deep Dive. Spend between one and three hours reviewing the resources provided about your topic. Track what interests you, upsets you, inspires you, and gets you thinking.
Deliverable: Write out and send these thoughts via Slack to your Spark Lab group. From there, join the conversation your Cohort Leader is hosting and begin to learn from your peers about what they are reading, thinking, and feeling about the topic at hand.
Stretch Task B:
User Interview (optional): Reach out to current K-12 or college students and conduct interviews to gain more insight into how students are being affected by the issue you are exploring. Consider: a school aged cousin, sibling, or neighbor, a friend who is a teacher, or a fellow student who has returned to a home area dealing with the impact of COVID-19. The goal is to increase your understanding of how COVID-19 is impacting students from their perspective, in ways the media has not yet captured.
Deliverable: Make a copy of this document, and record your interviewee’s answers. When finished, upload it here so that you and your peers can broaden insight into the issues we are confronting in the training.
Stretch Task C:
Expand Article Search (optional): The articles we've provided are a place to start; we encourage you to continue your search elsewhere. The goal is to develop broad context around the issue to deepen your understanding of how that issue has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic so you can innovate the most effective solutions in the Lab on May 1.
Deliverable: Share links and insights from your reading with your cohort group on Slack.
