2017-2018 CFG Dates

Here are the dates for our 2017-2018 Meetings.  Monday meetings will be 3:15-5:00; Thursday meetings are 7:30-8:30. 

Monday 9/18
Monday 10/9
Monday 11/13
Thursday 12/7
Thursday 1/18
Monday 2/12
Monday 3/5
Thursday 4/12
Monday 4/30
Monday 5/7
Monday 6/11

2015-2016 Meeting Schedule

Hello, Friends!

Thanks so much for your feedback regarding our meeting schedule for the 2015-2016 school year. Our list of interested participants has grown to 16 faculty members, and I hope the following schedule allows all of you to participate.  Wednesdays and Thursdays were the overwhelming favorites for meeting dates, but choosing one over the other would exclude a few people, so we'll again go with an alternating schedule. All meetings will run from 3:30-5:30.  We hope that all of you can make it for the whole meeting, but if arriving at 4:15 would allow some of you who teach after school classes to attend, please let me know and I'll try to arrange the agenda on those days to enable your participation in a full protocol. 

The schedule I entered into the LS Faculty Calendar and submitted to Anne for the AS Calendar are as follows:

Wednesday, Nov. 11th in the Charlton Room
Thursday, December 10th in the DVR
Wednesday, January 13th in the Charlton Room
Thursday, February 18th in the DVR
Wednesday, March 9th in the DVR
Thursday, April 7th in the Charlton Room
Thursday, May 12th in the DVR
Wednesday, June 8th, location TBA

If I find out about conflicts or venue changes from Lyn or Anne I will let you know ASAP. At our first meeting we can send around a sign-up sheet for snacks and for being the focus person for protocols. 

I look forward to seeing you Nov. 11th!

2014-2015 CFG Calendar

Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for lunch or gave feedback about calendar dates.  It looks like a Wednesday-Thursday rotation will again allow the maximum number of participants this year.  I had to switch one date due to a HAC retreat, so you'll notice a break in the pattern early in the school year, but most of the year will follow a Wednesday-Thursday pattern.  Please add these dates to your calendar!  All meetings are scheduled for 3:30-5:30.  Locations are unconfirmed and may change--I'll update you as I learn more.  Janet, Colesie and Erin have offered alternative spaces, so we may have some meetings in their cozy spots!

To all meetings please bring a journal or paper, pencil or pen, your CFG binder if you have one.  If you're a new member, you may want to obtain a binder for keeping protocols and articles. Our dates are now as follows after receiving some date change requests from Lyn:

Thursday, September 25th in Morris House Conference Room
Thursday, October 16th in Morris House Conference Room
Wednesday, November 12th in the DVR November 5th in Morris House Conference Room
Thursday, December 11th in the DVR
Wednesday, January 14th in the DVR
Thursday, February 19th, location TBA
Wednesday, March 11th in the DVR March 18th, location TBA
Thursday, April 16th, location TBA
Wednesday, May 27th, location TBA

Our September meeting is open to all faculty/staff, whether exploring to see if the CFG meets your professional development needs or committed member.  Please join us!

We're On The Calendar!

It's official, we're on the OES calendar for our monthly meetings in Morris House!  Here are the dates to add to your own calendars.  All meetings are 3:30-5:30 in the Morris House conference room:

Thursday, Sept. 19^th 

Thursday, Oct. 3^rd

Thursday, Nov. 14

Thursday, Dec. 5^th

Thursday, Jan 9^th

Thursday, Feb 6^th

Thursday, Mar 6^th

Thursday, April 10

Thursday, May 8th

Our first meeting will be spent in a protocol to help us learn from one another's classroom environments. We hope to see you there!

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-