Ecosystems work because energy is produced and consumed. A quick search of "ecosystem energy flow" brought me to some great essential questions that I'm going to adapt for education ecosystems.
1. What factors limit welcoming in ecosystems?
2. How does knowledge move in the ecosystem?
3. How does a sense of belonging move through an ecosystem?

Before answering these questions, I want to focus on teacher energy by asking the question "how does teacher energy move through the education ecosystem?"
One question I consistently ask the educators I visit in Greece is, "Why do you work here?"
Most have taught in the same school for over 10 years and most near 20. I think their answers need to be amplified.
"I love it!" was Eva's reply. She's the principal at an intercultural school in Palaio Faliro. Her work is challenging and would overwhelm a less seasoned professional. Eva is new to the principal position but taught at the school for many years. Her love for her school, she clarifies, is really for the children. "They have so many stories." Even though those stories include displacement, trauma and being a refugee, Eva inspires her staff to take on the extra load of learning new pedagogy to help reach the diverse needs of their learners.




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At another intercultural primary school, the English teacher whose career at the school has spanned decades said he can't leave because this is his family. He said he's an institution. This intercultural school faces the same challenges as Eva's school. Little community support, either financially or socially, is given because these schools are largely populated by children who have experienced refugee displacement. Each time I visited these schools they had new students that very day, who were among several new students that very week, and were filling the seats of students who'd moved on to other EU countries recently. Seeing academic progress is hard for these teachers, whose students speak many languages and are at different academic levels. Many teachers stay, however, and work to improve their practice so they can reach each student.

Sissy, a teacher at the 87th school near Monastiraki describes the school as a family but that family extends beyond the staff. The children often return to the school after they move on to gymnasium (middle school) because it feels like a family. Dora, the principal at the school, exhibits the same leadership qualities as Eva. She inspires her staff to find ways to not just meet students from immigrant families where they are, but to celebrate their cultures in ways that are meaningful for students. I saw many projects that focused on student voice, including a service project to help other newcomers learn the vocabulary of school in multiple languages.

Yiotta, a high school English teacher also feels a community connection. It is clear she enjoys a great rapport with her students and colleagues. Her students show a level of comfort with her and their classmates. They speak their mind on issues that affect them (which I will address later) but they recognize that many teachers work hard to modify and adapt the standardized curriculum to help them stay engaged.
Can we conclude that just as plants in an ecosystem take in sunshine to store energy, educators absorb support from colleagues and students and from doing work with purpose?
 Teacher resilience, according to Drew and Sosnowski (2019) is synonymous with well-being, sense of belonging, passion, and engagement. Resilience is the key to managing adversity and uncertainty. The educators I've met may not feel in balance, but they do demonstrate a feeling of agency and the "sense of commitment" Drew and Sosnowski describe.

Resilience, especially two years into a global pandemic, is a word in danger of overuse. Discarding it like other education buzzwords such as "pivot" and "learning loss," however, would be a grave mistake. Among the dedicated educators I've met in Greece I see resilience that is built on commitment but renewed by a connection to a global purpose.
Julie, a primary school English teacher at 3rd Elementary School of Zografou , has helped her school qualify for many projects that create cross-country partnerships through various Erasmus projects.
Iliana, a high school history and literature teacher at 1st Vocational High School of Perama, also participates in Erasmus projects, as do virtually all of the teachers I've met.
What does this mean for American education?
Students across Europe and around the world are benefitting from global partnerships. Teachers benefit from the transformative power of collaboration and cultural exchange. Although states have different standards and requirements, inter-state and trans-national cooperation should be a priority as we look to reboot education post-pandemic. We urgently need to embrace educators now and help them stay connected because many are feeling isolated from the communities they teach. By embrace I mean support these professionals who are committed to public service. Just like the teachers I've talked to in Greece, many American educators go way beyond the minimum. They seek out their own professional development because they love learning and teaching. School systems should prioritize this kind of learning by supporting it financially, celebrating it, and using it as a starting point for collaboration and innovation. Educators are a wealth of knowledge and skill. They hold the power you need to transform. I'll boldly suggest that school systems invest in teacher-led asset-based school community development rather than pay consultants to analyze and develop solutions.
Finally, teacher workload is important to consider. In Greece primary school ends at 1:15 but many teachers work through the afternoon and take classes after hours. The work hours expectation, however, is not as high as the hours an American teacher is expected to put in each week. Respect the work-life balance teachers need to bring energy to their work each day and to stay in education as a long-term career.

This is a start. These are factors to consider.

Sources:
Drew, S. & Sosnowski, C. (2019). Emerging theory of teacher resilience: a situational analysis. English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 18(4), 492–507.

The Metro system in Athens is mostly clean and efficient. Although my Greek is still barely remedial, the clearly marked subway line map on every train is essential to finding my way around the city. It is simplified. It is organized.
It's like our school systems. 
Notice how you can switch from one line to the other?
You can clearly see where you are going and how to get there.

The problem is that the actually location of these Metro stops looks like the map below. Now THAT is complicated, but still organized. THIS is our education system. In between the green, red and blue lines lie people, children and adults, who don't learn in a standardized way. How do our ecosystems reach them and help them move forward?

Options like the Second Chance School of Piraeus help adults who didn't finish high school. Although the structure of the program requires commitment and drive on the part of students, many of the core beliefs of the program should be adopted by all school systems.
An option that lies within the system is the Perama Technical High School. Students who struggle with the robust requirements of the traditional Greek lyceum (traditional high school) can find success and belonging here. Students choose from one of five career clusters and in three years most have a certificate or can begin an apprenticeship.
The system of belonging in each of these schools deserves closer examination. However, a central question must first be addressed: How can we change the structure of an education ecosystem to work for all students rather than push them forward until they fail and drop out of the system?
I've spoken to parents, teachers, and students and many agree that the requirements of Greek high schools are out of touch with the needs of 21st century learners. Over and over in conversations the question of "Why learn ancient Greek?" is asked. While I don't have a full answer to this question yet, it definitely leads to an inquiry path. Can the structure of an education ecosystem be flexible and responsive or must it be rigid in the name of rigor?

Tools of the trades at a Perama vocational high school: aesthetics and wellness, electrical, early childhood education, nursing, sound and electronics, computer repair.

As a child I would lose myself in the illustrations of Richard Scarry. Every image was filled with people doing, being, living side-by-side. These books often contained little plot and were mainly vocabulary driven. They helped explain communities by simply showing the many ways we live together through relationships.
As an observer of community and school life in Greece for the past month, I've felt like I was living in a Richard Scarry Busy Town book. The pastry chef, the bread baker, the woman who works in the bakery, the delivery driver and the customers are some of my favorite characters in my imaginary Busy Town Athens, but there are millions of other characters - over 3 million in fact.

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What does this have to do with an education ecosystem?
The global pandemic of 2020 and beyond shined a sobering light on the way our interconnectedness helps us thrive and when those connections break down leads to fear and anger.
Education systems are systems of interconnectedness but in order to continue to shape global citizens for the 21st century and beyond we must see the larger ecosystems we occupy so that we can sustainable, responsible, innovative education becomes our norm.

In 1935 Arthur Tansley first proposed the concept of the ecosystem. He offered a "unified framework within which to study both plant and animal communities together" interacting and interrelating. (A. Holland, in Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (Second Edition), 1998). He proposed the idea of looking at the whole system and argued that trying to understand and organism in isolation presented an inaccurate understanding. “Ecosystems are dynamic, iterating systems” (A.K. Salomon, in Encyclopedia of Ecology, 2008). Furthermore, in 1942, Lindemann elaborated on ecosystem theory to understand the "flow of matter and energy in ecosystems and how these flows influence and are influenced by population and community processes” (de Laplante, in Ecological Paradigms Lost, 2005).

The concept of an education ecosystem bubbled up around 15 years ago but for a concept so grounded in understanding interconnectedness and the complexity of how life interacts, the application of the term feels very lacking in humanity. In a literature review it appears most often as a buzzword brought into use to promote learning technology in the form of systems, apps, programs and products. Just as Lindemann brought a dynamic understanding to Tansley's original framework, I'm examining the education ecosystem in Greece to understand the "energy" of welcome and the "flow" of belonging.
How do individuals and families experience these flows?
How are they influenced by the institutions of learning?
How do community processes influence the sense of belonging in this system?
This is a complex system.

Reflection is one of my strengths. As a listener and an observer, I want as complete a picture as possible before drawing a conclusion. To that end, our first three weeks in Greece has been focused on acclimating to the culture.
Observations to come, but first, some food.

Cultural humility asks us to avoid ethnocentrism and to be open to new experiences and ways of seeing the world.
To that end, our first two weeks in Greece have been about exploring, experiencing and tasting.
What does it mean to be an explorer? Our rules:
1. Be curious
2. Try
3. Keep your eyes open
4. Reflect on what you've seen
5. Experience with your senses
6. Notice what feels comfortable and what feels different. Where can these feelings lead?
7. Share your observations.
8. Compare and contrast. Identify patterns. Propose hypotheses. Analyze
9. Take pictures with your mind, but also
10. Document so you don't forget.

An "original" to many may mean simply something unique. In Greendale, Wisconsin, however, this word holds a very specific meaning. A "Greendale original" is one of the original houses built as part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Greendale was one of three Greenbelt communities and most would argue it retains its original character best of the three. In fact, the National Register of Historic Places considers it an official National Historic Landmark.
When residents moved in in 1938, Greendale originals came in just a few models. Most were attached and some were detached. The carefully planned community included a few studios, but mainly 1 to 4 bedrooms for families. The layout of each house was the same and they all were painted a bright white. In the center of these original homes is the community building, now Greendale Middle School, where I've taught for 10 years.

I've stumbled around for months trying to figure out what small gift I could bring to Greece to bring a piece of home with me. The easy road is never the road for me so no Packers and no cheese would do. I thought about my inquiry project and how being original is an important element of creating a welcoming classroom. Every teacher is an original and each student is an original. We want our students to bring their authentic selves to class. We want to produce original thinkers not copies. I assembled my materials to create magnets that brought the white silhouette of a "Greendale original" to Greece but with the personality of a true original.
In another serendipitous moment, the time I hoped to use to complete this project with students became a week of virtual learning. So with my 11-year-old we crafted and colored. We drew and laughed. It provided much needed creativity and balance in a time when the world is tense and overwhelming.

There are "life-long learners" and then there are LIFE-long learners.
​When I have the opportunity to participate in trivia night at the church in my school's community I marvel at the ways life-long learning can be differentiated. I have friends who never stop consuming books. Others have traveled the National Parks of the United States extensively. Always fascinating to me are the lifelong learners who memorize sports statistics like player's names, the dates of big games and the details of important plays. If you are going to keep learning something as an adult, it is something you will enjoy. It should bring you pleasure and maybe even be your passion.
Foreign languages are not my passion. Understanding how people think and communicate and where ideas come from, however, do spark my curiosity.
The Greek alphabet challenges my brain but I had a breakthrough this morning when I read a "p" as an "r" - that's Greek!
My tutor, Eleni, is endlessly patient and in our three sessions together I've learned so much. Hearing the words fuses new connections in my brain. My synapses are firing differently.
I'm supplementing my tutoring sessions with Rosetta Stone online and I recently learned the word for bakery is φούρνος. The word sounds like "furnace" because you can't have a bakery without an oven. 
Last week Eleni helped me understand an essential grammatical rule when talking about people in Greece. Every time you speak about someone you include a form of the Greek article for "the"
Are you waiting for Giannis? is "Περιμενεις τον Γιαννη" or Are you waiting for the Giannis?
Now, waiting for THE Giannis might be something fans do whenever the Bucks play at the Fiserv Forum, but you don't have to be a championship winning basketball player to deserve that "the."
In Greek, we all deserve a "the" because we are all unique. Each person is their own identity. 
THIS.

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As a kid growing up in the suburbs of Chicago I learned that around the world people knew two things about Chicago: Al Capone and Michael Jordan.

Now I call Milwaukee home and I've discovered that the only thing most Americans know about Milwaukee is either: they've never been there or beer. Giannis is changing that.
As I begin work on the foundation of my inquiry project Giannis Antetokounmpo's story is playing an interesting role. Discussing how Giannis sees his identity - as a Greek, not as an immigrant is helping me reshape my project.
I've learned that citizenship is not a birthright in Greece as it is in the United States. How does this influence the education system? 
How do second generation immigrants, the children of immigrants view citizenship? How do they embrace Greek culture and identity? These are questions I'm pondering four months out.