Our Ideas About Collaborative Community

I had to put up a photo of the dragonfly who chose to sit with Paula for awhile at our first meeting.  When I did a little search into what dragonflies symbolize, the first website I came across had these symbolisms listed:

• maturity and depth of character
• power and poise
• defeat of self created illusions
• focus on living in the moment
• the opening of one's eyes

What wonderful hopes this little creature brought with it!  If our CFG can live up to those expectations, we'll be doing well.  

When I look back over the notes from our first meeting, there are many connections and overlaps in our hopes for our collaborative community.  They include:

• time to be in each others' classrooms
• an opportunity to see children across ages
• an environment of trust and safety
• connections to each others' classrooms and work
• shared resources
• help with issues we grapple with in the classroom
• seeing our students through another's eyes
• recognizing new possibilities
• continuous collaboration throughout the year
• momentum
• exploration into the possibility of protocols
• inspiration from learning about each other's work
• opportunities to hear the inner story
• listening to each other
• developing a consistent common language
• discussing articles, shared readings and current research

We will revisit these hopes at our September meeting, as well as take a look at what Parker Palmer calls the Circle of Trust Touchstones. Our focus will be on setting up our agreements for what we need to guide our work together, reflecting on the Appreciative Ghost Walk protocol, and planning for future meetings. 

To the next meeting, please bring:

• a binder you can use to keep a protocol packet and your CFG notes
• a favorite pen or pencil for writing
• a journal if you prefer for your reflections to be in a journal.  I'll have reflection sheets you can use if you want your reflections in your CFG binder instead.

I need to run the dates by Lyn and secure a location, but the calendar dates we planned are as follows:

• Wednesday, September 26th from 4-6 pm
• Thursday, October 18th from 3:30-5:30 pm
• Wednesday, November 14th from 4-6 pm
• Thursday, December 6th from 3:30-5:30 pm
• Wednesday, January 16th from 4-6 pm
• Thursday, February 21st from 3:30-5:30 pm
• Wednesday, March 13th from 4-6 pm
• Thursday, April 11th from 3:30-5:30 pm
• Wednesday, May 15th from 4-6 pm 

Looking forward to seeing all of you soon--please let me know if you have questions about the upcoming Appreciative Ghost Walk protocol.  I'll send out pairings through email today.
-Kirstin-