Every Child. Every Day.
Can you spare a couple of minutes of your time each Sunday? Join our weekly blog exploring how to transform education through intentional, meaningful engagement tailored for every student, every day. Together, we can create classrooms where no child feels unseen, feel unwelcome, or misunderstood.
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Sunday, August 3, 2025
Not Another Icebreaker: Building Adult Community That Impacts Student Outcomes
Every August, school leaders across the country stand before their teams and say some version of the same words:
"We’re so excited to have you back. Let’s start with an icebreaker!"
Cue the occasional groans, the awkward laughter, and the quick connections that often fade once the first bell rings. The intention is always genuine—we want to build community and start the year on a positive note. But too often, our back-to-school rituals remain surface-level and miss a deeper opportunity: to foster the kind of adult culture that truly drives student outcomes.
Connection is the Foundation— But Only If It’s Real
We know that strong student achievement grows from a foundation of strong relationships—not just between students and teachers, but among adults as well. In schools with high-performing teams, collaboration isn’t a checkbox. It’s a culture. That kind of culture can’t be built with team trivia or name bingo. It’s built when adults feel safe, seen, and invested in shared work that matters.
So the question isn’t, “What’s a fun way to start PD?”
It’s: How do we build trust and shared purpose among adults, in a way that carries into instruction, intervention, and impact?
It’s: How do we build trust and shared purpose among adults, in a way that carries into instruction, intervention, and impact?
3 Questions to Ask Before You Plan Your “Back-to-School Culture Moment”
Anchor your planning in purpose by starting with these essential questions:
- What do we want our staff to believe about each other—and about students—by the end of this session?
- How can we model the type of collaboration we expect to see in classrooms?
- What shared problems are we committed to solving this year, together?
When you start with purpose, you plan differently. The goal shifts from “getting to know you” to “building the relationships necessary to do transformational work together.”
What Meaningful Adult Community Actually Looks Like
- Trust-Based Conversations
Elevate opening activities with protocols that spark authentic dialogue and reflection. Consider prompts like:
“What’s something you learned about students last year that changed your practice?”
“What’s your hope for students this year—and what do you need from this team to get there?”
- Shared Data Stories
Invite small groups to analyze a real data point together—not just to review scores, but to unpack what it means for instruction and equity.
This shows that “data isn’t a gotcha—it’s our mirror, and our map.”
- Asset-Framed Introductions
When welcoming new team members, shift the focus from resume to values and commitments.
Ask: “What does every child deserve, no matter what classroom they’re in?” Let that answer build shared language and expectations.
- Collective Commitments, Not Just Norms
Let teams co-create 3–5 “non-negotiables” for how they’ll collaborate. Anchor them in student outcomes, not personal preferences. Example:
“We commit to giving and receiving feedback because students deserve our best thinking.”
The Hidden Cost of Surface-Level Culture Work
When we only go skin-deep with adult culture, we risk more than a wasted PD block. We risk fractured collaboration, siloed practice, and missed opportunities to close gaps and build joy in classrooms. But when adult teams trust each other, challenge each other, and stay focused on student outcomes, the impact echoes across every hallway.
A Strong Start Begins With Us
Students aren’t the only ones who need belonging, clarity, and high expectations. Adults do too. This August, let’s give our teams more than a clipboard and a calendar. Let’s give them the time, trust, and tools to build a culture that doesn’t just feel good—but does good.
Because when adults come together with purpose, students always benefit.
Every child deserves to be seen, welcomed, and understood.
