Big Picture Learning:
Sustaining Wellness and Hope in Education

A Virtual Meeting held on Zoom
August 20, 2020; 3-5pm PDT

A team of staff and students from Big Picture Learning facilitated an inspiring, two-hour workshop on wellness in times of COVID and beyond. The session included student action and voice in the design and development of a website and app around healthy lifestyle choices that generate change in schools, families, and communities. Thanks to those who were able to join us for such an enriching series of teacher-to-teacher conversations!

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About the Presenters

Andrea Purcell
I have always loved learning, both in and out of school. After a fairly traditional and successful K-12 experience, my eyes were opened to students and communities who were underserved in schools as an undergrad at UC Santa Cruz. I developed an interest in culturally relevant and compatible education that led me to graduate programs at the University of Hawaii. I met incredible local educators working to empower Native Hawaiian and other youth in Hawaii through programs addressing current community challenges. I saw the impact of getting kids outside of the school walls on their engagement and outcomes.

As a classroom teacher, I worked to bring what I had learned into my own practice. During those teaching years, I was introduced to Big Picture Learning. The simple foundations of structuring learning opportunities around Relationships, Relevance, and Rigor resonated deeply and have informed the work I have done as a teacher, principal, and consultant for the past 20 years. I believe in the power of education to battle the inequities pervasive in our communities.

I am fascinated by how the mind works, and I travel with my husband and 2 kids whenever possible to challenge my lenses and frames of reference. If there happens to be high quality, ethically sourced dark chocolate along the road, the journey is that much more enjoyable!

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Elliot Washor
Elliot Washor, Ed.D. is the co-founder of Big Picture Learning. He is also the co-founder of The Met Center in Providence, RI.

Elliot has been involved in school reform for more than 30 years as a teacher, principal, administrator, video producer, and writer. He has taught and is interested in all levels of school from kindergarten through college, in urban and rural settings, across all disciplines. His work has spanned across school design, pedagogy, learning environments, and education reform and is supporting others doing similar work throughout the world. Elliot’s interests lie in the field of how schools can connect with communities to understand tacit and disciplinary learning both in and outside of school. Elliot is deeply committed to imagining Big Picture Learning as a ‘do-think-do’ organization, and persistently pushes the boundaries of its design in order to continually innovate practice and influence in the world of education.

At Thayer High School in Winchester, N.H., Elliot’s professional development programs won an “Innovations in State and Local Government Award” from the Ford Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has been selected as an educator to watch in Rhode Island and has recently been selected as one of the Daring Dozen – the Twelve Most Daring Educators in the World by the George Lucas Educational Foundation. His dissertation on Innovative Pedagogy and New Facilities won the merit award from DesignShare, the international forum for innovative schools.