1. Pineappling
Adapted from Jennifer Gonzalez and Mark Barnes by Jacqueline Mallais translated by

2. Contents Divider 3 Rationale 4 Pineapple Charts 5
What does it look like? 6
Origins 7
What happened? 8
How to 9

3. Divider Page

4. The Rationale:
The words Professional Development (PD) usually elicit a sneer from most teachers. It is not because teachers are in anyway against continued education but rather they are against the format PD usually takes. At the end of day, whether after a lecture or workshop, engaging or not, teachers might leave with some inspirational thought or an idea they can try in class. Rarely does the take-away apply directly to their individual teaching needs. Most teachers would rather be correcting student work, planning or creating material.
What if PD could be more personalized? It can be. It can respond to the individual teacher’s needs. Schools are beginning to realize that the experts they need can often be found right within their own walls. Teachers can learn from each other.

5. What is a Pineapple chart?
The Pineapple Chart :
The chart is a method that allows teachers to invite other teachers into their classrooms to observe a specific or not so specific activity or entire class. Think back to your first internship where you had nothing to do but watch the teacher in action. No stress and lots of learning. This pineapple chart is built on the same principles. If a teacher is new to SmartBoard use, instead of having the school board advisor come and critique your work or take time away from your work to attend a workshop you can simply check out what is going on in another teacher’s class. Stay for the activity or the entire period.
The chart is displayed in a common location like the lunchroom, the lounge or photocopy room and it is divided into days of the week and periods during the day. Teachers then write down what they feel comfortable sharing with colleagues.

6. What does it look like?
The chart can take on a couple of formats. It can be driven by needs; teachers list what they would like to focus on in their teaching and if there are expert teachers in that area they can manifest their availability.
Teachers might also simply list down when and what they are comfortable sharing and fellow teachers simply pop in and observe.
In both instances there is no pressure of evaluation or judgment on either end. Teachers may stay for only a few minutes observing how teachers welcome students or they may stay for a whole lesson dealing with short story analysis.
The fundamental idea is that there is neither pressure nor judgment.

7. Origins
Pineapples have been a symbol of hospitality since the days of colonialism. In the school setting, that symbol still means welcome. In 2015 Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzales included the idea of pineapple charts in their ingenious book of teaching “hacks” Hacking Education:10 Quick Fixes for Every School

8. What happened
At Pau-Gerin-Lajoie d’Outremont, a high school in Montreal, Quebec, teachers took the first steps to implementing a pineapple committee. A committee they promoted as something for the teachers by the teachers. At the first meeting tons of ideas were generated, teachers offered expertise in and out of the classroom. And teachers new and old went looking for experts in classroom management, homework correction methods and how to send mass s to parents. There was a general feel good spirit in the small school.

9. How to Form a committee:
Someone needs to be in charge of changing the calendar every week. You might also like to get some participant feedback and post it up around the calendar for some extra promotion.
Begin with the brave:
When you first begin, teachers might be shy to open their doors to colleagues. Have your most willing participants go first and talk about how the class time went at the next general assembly.
Manage expectations
Remind everyone that visits to classes can be 5 to 25 mins and learning will still happen. When a teacher visits to watch how homework is corrected they often end up seeing homework being corrected in a new way and an inspiring bulletin board..

10. Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.
-- Bill Nye
--- 10

11. References
Barnes, Mark David., and Jennifer Gonzalez.Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School. Times 10 Publications, 2015.
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