September Gathering

Greetings, friends,

Happy fall!  I hope you are all enjoying this crisp, sunny weekend.  Clara, Ellis and I went to an afternoon labyrinth walk today to celebrate the beginning of fall, and we discovered one of my favorite poems was out on the table for inspiration. I think it will be the perfect thing to get us started on Wednesday…when you arrive at the Morris House Conference Room by 4 pm for our CFG meeting, look for a copy of the poem on the table and find a comfortable spot in the room to read, reflect and write.  A candle will be lit for this quiet reflection time—we'll blow it out at the end of the reflection so we know to finish up any last thoughts in our writing and prepare for our conversations to begin. 

If you can manage it, I do think it would be helpful to look over this brief guide to probing questions before Wednesday's meeting, as we'll be asking questions for a protocol in the second half of the afternoon:

I sent the protocol out via email for any of you who want to look it over in advance. 

And just a reminder to 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.

Our agenda is as follows:

4:00-4:10 Written reflection

4:10-4:20 Groups of 2-3 reflect together on poem and writing

4:20-4:55 Revisit our hopes for a collaborative community; Circle of Trust touchstones; agreements to guide our work

4:55 Walk and Talk introduction

5-5:40 Walk and Talk Protocol

5:40 Debrief Protocol

5:50 or 5:55 Closing reflection 

I'm so looking forward to meeting with all of you again on Wednesday,

Kirstin

Questions as Gifts

At our August 29th gathering the question was asked what it means to ask questions that serve the listener as opposed to the person posing the question.  I'm excited to explore together what it means to offer questions as a gift to the presenter in CFG work. I gave the explanation that these kinds of questions are posed to help move the presenter forward in his or her work instead of to satisfy the curiosity of the questioner, but realized on further thought that this explanation lacked an essential component of this kind of questioning: the belief that wisdom and solutions lie within the teacher asking the questions as opposed to some external source.

For inspiration I revisited  Parker Palmer's Circle of Trust descriptions and came upon this passage I found helpful:

• Asking honest, open questions to “hear each other into speech”: Instead of advising each other, we learn to listen deeply and ask questions that help others hear their own inner wisdom more clearly. As we learn to ask questions that are not advice in disguise, that have no other purpose than to help someone listen to the inner teacher, all of us learn and grow.

As we embark on asking one another questions about our classroom environments, I invite us to play with these ideas about asking questions.  What challenges does this aim in questioning pose?  How does holding these ideas in hand change the kinds of questions we ask? Have you experienced someone in your life who asks you questions that help you find your inner wisdom?

If a colleague asks you such a question in the next few weeks that you find yourself working on and growing from long after it's been asked, please consider sharing its story with us at our next meeting.

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-

Let's Get Together!

Hello, friends!

I imagine all of us have minds full of checklists, plan book pages and room arrangements.  I'd like to propose two CFG activities for next week that I hope will be worth your precious and limited week-before-school-starts time.

I'll bring a few picnic blankets on Wednesday, August 29th and bring them to the lawn area near Morris House (aka the labyrinth area or the yard in front of Lou and Sal's house).  There's also a picnic bench if it's hard for you to sit on the ground. Pick up your lunch at  12:00 and head on over.  We can eat together, meet the other faculty interested in the CFG, ask questions and discuss dates and times for future meetings.  Please bring your calendar. Think beforehand about where a two-hour block of time might fit into your schedule once a month, as well as any regular restrictions you have on your schedule.  I'd like us to schedule a school year's worth of monthly meetings so we can get them on our calendars early. At the end of this lunch meeting you can also sign up for an optional CFG activity for next week that might be helpful...

Feedback about classroom design can be so inspiring.  It's great to get input from members of your grade level team who know what you're trying to accomplish and are in the mind-set of children in your age group.  But what insight and challenges to our thinking can teachers outside of our grade level teams offer us?  If you are interested in the perspective of someone who isn't regularly in your classroom, we can organize dyads or triads of CFG members to do a version of the Collaborative Ghost Walk protocol.  We'll learn much more this year about following protocols, but for interested teachers I'll create a simplified version of this protocol that can be followed without protocol experience.  I'll have the modified version available on Wednesday and we can sign up for small touring groups at that time. After hearing a few brief statements about your biggest hopes for your classroom, the teacher or teachers walking through your classroom will focus on this appreciative inquiry question while walking through your room:  Where is the evidence of promise and potential? They will also write down three questions for you to consider about the classroom environment. You will then do the same for the other teacher/s in your group.  To participate, plan to dedicate 30 min. per classroom at the convenience of the teachers in your group.

“It has been said that the environment should act as a kind of aquarium which reflects the ideas, ethics, attitudes and cultures of the people who live in it. This is what we are working toward."  -Loris Malaguzzi-

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you on Wednesday.  If you are unable to join us but have input you'd like to give regarding future meetings, please contact me.

Until next week,
Kirstin

A Poem for Summer

From time to time I'll post poetry or questions here.  Use them as journal prompts if you like, or just a chance to reflect for a few minutes on what they mean to you.


The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain

There it was, word for word,
The poem that took the place of a mountain.

He breathed its oxygen,
Even when the book lay turned in the dust of his table.

It reminded him how he had needed
A place to go to in his own direction,

How he had recomposed the pines,
Shifted the rocks and picked his way among clouds,

For the outlook that would be right,
Where he would be complete in an unexplained completion:

The exact rock where his inexactness
Would discover, at last, the view toward which they had edged,

Where he could lie and, gazing down at the sea,
Recognize his unique and solitary home.

-Wallace Stevens-

What does this season, a time for us all to go in our own directions, do for you as a person?  As a teacher? What views can you see from your exact rock? What can you recognize with time to gaze down at the sea? What will you keep with you even in times when your book is turned in the dust of your table? 

Welcome

The Burrow is being developed as a virtual home for Oregon Episcopal School's Lower School Critical Friends Group.  Specific details about our CFG will be decided in collaboration with interested teachers over the next few months, but the purpose of this site is to provide one place for resources and inspiration related to reflective teaching. Our CFG format is inspired by the structure and protocols developed through the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), as well as reflective practices used by educators in the Courage to Teach Program. The following descriptions of a CFG are from NSRF:

What is a CFG?
A CFG is a professional learning community consisting of approximately 8-12 educators who come together voluntarily at least once a month for about 2 hours. Group members are committed to improving their practice through collaborative learning.

What are the purposes of a Critical Friends Group?
Critical Friends Groups are designed to:

• Create a professional learning community
• Make teaching practice explicit and public by "talking about teaching"
• Help people involved in schools to work collaboratively in democratic, reflective communities (Bambino)
• Establish a foundation for sustained professional development based on a spirit of inquiry (Silva)
• Provide a context to understand our work with students, our relationships with peers, and our thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs about teaching and learning
• Help educators help each other turn theories into practice and standards into actual student learning
• Improve teaching and learning

What are the characteristics of a professional learning community?
Professional learning communities are strong when teachers demonstrate:

• Shared norms and values
• Collaboration
• Reflective dialogue
• Deprivatization of practice
• Collective focus on student learning
• Spirit of shared responsibility for the learning of all students

Professional learning communities can develop when there is:

• Time to meet and talk
• Physical proximity
• Interdependent teaching roles
• Active communication structures
• Teacher empowerment and autonomy

A professional learning community is enhanced when there is:

• Openness to improvement
• Trust and respect
• A foundation in the knowledge and skills of teaching
• Supportive leadership
• Socialization or school structures that encourage the sharing of the school's vision and mission (Kruse, et al)

For more information on Critical Friends Groups, see the National School Reform Faculty FAQ Page.

Interested in being a part of the CFG? Submit your email in the "follow by email" box in the right sidebar to receive brief readings and journal prompts this summer, and to receive more information in the fall. 

The growth of any craft depends on shared practice and honest dialogue among the people who do it. We grow by private trial and error, to be sure -- but our willingness to try, and fail, as individuals is severely limited when we are not supported by a community that encourages such risks.     -Parker Palmer-