This summer, a group of ten passionate local educators came together in Savannah for an intensive two-week Summer Institute in the Deep Writing Project. Since 2021, Deep’s summer Writing Project has fostered professional growth, collaboration, and the generation of new ideas. This summer’s cohort experience was filled with moments of connection, reflection, and creative exploration. While not everyone’s journey was the same, the collective expertise provided valuable opportunities for learning, growth, and transformation. Here’s a look at what made the event memorable and beneficial for everyone involved.
Teachers Leading the Way
One of the most dynamic parts of the institute was the chance for teachers to lead sessions that demonstrated their unique funds of knowledge in action. Each session offered a new perspective on creativity, community, and engagement in the classroom.
Here are just a few:
- Collaborative Art to Break Through Creative Blocks: A session on feeling stuck, led by one teacher, introduced collaborative doodles, paintings, and poems as a way to overcome creative hurdles. Participants collaborated to create a diverse range of works, demonstrating how collective effort can inspire individual creativity.
- Mindfulness Practices: A teacher-led mindfulness session that invited participants to focus on the present moment through a five-senses meditation, reflective journaling, and sound bowls. The calming experience helped teachers reconnect with their sense of well-being, giving them tools to bring mindfulness practices back to their students.
- Netball: Another teacher shared the rules and cultural significance of netball, a sport popular in Jamaica and other parts of the British Commonwealth. The session wasn’t just about learning a new game; it was also about how a sport can cultivate teamwork, cultural pride, and community.
- Pickling to Preserve Vegetables: One educator led a hands-on workshop showing how to preserve vegetables by making pickles. The group learned not only the technical process but also how this activity could be tied to lessons on sustainability, nutrition, and the history of food preservation.
- Exploring the Metaphysics of New Materialism: One session simplified complex ideas surrounding new materialism, the theory that everything, including matter, can bring about change. In simplified terms, this workshop explored how materials and objects in the classroom (like books, desks, and even classroom environments) shape our teaching and learning, offering a fresh way to think about how we interact with the world around us.
What Teachers Are Taking Back to the Classroom
Several educators shared their key takeaways, emphasizing how the Deep Writing Project has shaped their teaching practices and helped them find new ways to connect with their students. One teacher reflected, “Deep has strengthened my understanding of how important language is. I plan to take this back to encourage reflective and positive language and thinking.”
Many teachers also expressed a renewed sense of critical hope—the practice of both questioning systems and radically imagining something more. “I am going to take critical hope and daily affirmations back into my classroom,” one participant noted. “This is relevant to me because I need critical hope. It is what I am lacking.”
What Stood Out About the Deep Writing Project
Participants repeatedly emphasized the distinctiveness of the Deep Writing Project compared to other professional learning experiences. It wasn’t just about receiving information—it was about experiencing and participating in a dynamic learning community. As one educator shared, “I just love the true application of the lessons we are learning as opposed to simply being told them. The opportunity to act as both a student and a teacher is incomparable.” Another commented, “We became a family. It wasn’t work to me at all.”
The Deep Writing Project also emphasized social-emotional learning in a way that felt both natural and impactful. “The everlasting indirect need for social-emotional learning is unorthodox and different from my other professional learning activities,” said one participant. “It was more hands-on, we got immediate feedback from our peers, and it was relevant,” said another. This kind of engagement and feedback, a hallmark of Deep Center’s spaces, made the learning process much more meaningful.
One of the most exciting aspects of the institute was the opportunity to meet and collaborate with fellow educators from diverse backgrounds. From day one, teachers were encouraged to share their experiences, teaching philosophies, and identities. The moments where we felt challenged or uncertain were often the catalysts for the greatest self-reflection and transformation. This diversity of experiences reminded us that belonging takes different forms for everyone, and that our varied perspectives enrich the learning environment.
For many, the exchange of ideas was energizing, pushing everyone to rethink how we engage with students, even in the most challenging settings. As one participant shared, “Honestly, I believe it’s the practice of paying attention. It’s easy to get [so] caught up in the role of instructor that we forget to truly engage with our environment.”
The program was designed to be challenging—both intellectually and emotionally. Deep’s facilitator, Megan Ave’Lallemant, offered a range of thought-provoking workshops, many of which forced the group to examine teaching strategies and attitudes toward inclusion, literacy, and equity. These sessions weren’t always easy, but they were eye-opening, providing practical tools to implement in the classroom. As one educator reflected, “I know, deeply now, that [the people are not the problem;] the problem is the problem!!! I will ALWAYS keep that in the FOREFRONT of my mind!”
A Shared Commitment to Moving Forward
By the end of the two weeks, everyone walked away with something valuable, whether it was a new teaching strategy, a deeper understanding of educational equity, or a rekindled passion for what’s possible in their work. The collective effort to reflect on how we approach our classrooms serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of ongoing professional development and community building among educators. Each educator developed a Social Action Project plan to continue the work begun together this summer within their teaching context.
As we head back into our classrooms, each of us carries with us new tools, insights, and experiences that will influence our teaching for years to come. The Deep Writing Project provided us with the space to grow, both individually and collectively. The lessons learned will continue to shape our work and, ultimately, the lives of the young people we serve.
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Want to experience the magic for yourself or learn more? Email Megan Ave’Lallemant at megan@deepenter.org, and save the date for Deep Center’s UnConference on Saturday, November 1, 2025, a day of learning and exploration for educators of all kinds.