The K-16 CFG met tonight at The Rice School/La Escuela Rice. Nine people came--Cat, Christian, Donna, Jonett, Madelyn, Marcela, Mary, Michaelann, and Sharon. During introductions and Connections, I was struck with how many of us are CFG orphans. Although we may use protocols in our classrooms and work to build collaborative relationships whenever we work in a group, we no longer have CFG's on campus. Why is this? It seems like a lot of groups starve from lack of time and support from campus administrators. Do administrators view CFG as irrelevant? Why? In contrast, Michaelann has had a stable group since 1999. They are still meeting on the second Monday of each month, and members that have moved to other campuses or other positions still make a commitment to participate in their CFG. That warms my heart. Maybe I'll feature Michaelann's CFG in an upcoming newsletter.

After Connections, we split into two groups. Jonett wanted feedback about her experience using Collaborative Assessment Conference in her fifth grade classroom. [Jonett, maybe you could write about your experience in the comments section.] Madelyn led a text-based discussion about action research around this focusing quote: "Teachers often leave a mark on their students, but they seldom leave a mark on their profession" (Wolfe, 1989). We used two short articles for our text--"Teacher-As-Researcher" by Beverly Johnson and "Teacher Research" by Sharon Parsons.

Of course, the discussion enlarged my understanding of these texts, but it also spurred me to action. I think that one of my unwritten duties as a Consultant for CFG Support is to act as a role model. Now I want to model engaging in action research as well as modeling continuous reflection and transparent facilitation. The questions I'm mulling over are "How do we sustain CFG's?", "How do we nurture groups and the people in them?", "Why are some groups more successful than others--is it better coaching, better support from administration, better buy-in from members?" Now--what data do I need and how do I go after it?

On Saturday, February 21, Marilyn, Madelyn, and Bill facilitated a Coaches Clinic with the theme "Meeting the Challenge." They used the metaphor of "Teacher as Warrior" to tie together the workshop topics of action research and dealing with difficult people. After Madelyn led the "Just Like Me" icebreaker, Marilyn facilitated a discussion about the traits of a warrior. Our list of warriors quickly turned from traditional military warriors to others who have fought for a cause such as Marcus Garvey, Mother Teresa, and Rosa Parks. Some of the attributes of warriors that the group came up with were conviction, patience, courage, willingness to sacrifice, stamina, strength, hopeful, visionary, and charismatic. Do teachers have the attributes of warriors? I think the answer is YES!

With this warrior conversation as a backdrop, we moved on to small-group, text-based discussions with this focusing quote: "Teachers often leave a mark on their students, but they seldom leave a mark on their profession" (Wolfe, 1989). We used two short articles for our text--"Teacher-As-Researcher" by Beverly Johnson and "Teacher Research" by Sharon Parsons.

After discussing the articles, we came back together and shared our own wonderings. What questions do we have for our own inquiry projects? As teacher-warriors, what's worth fighting for in our classrooms? Click on the thumbnail pictures to read our questions.

The final hour of the clinic involved Bill's presentation about dealing with difficult people, one of the skills of a teacher-warrior. Drawing on his background in psychology, Bill explained that our dealings with difficult people can cause wounds to our esteem, experience, and expertise. We reflected on our own "noble values" that brought us into teaching and constructed "shields" that use these values to protect us from the wounds that difficult people inflict.

Overall, I think that the morning went well. Participant reflections are in the extended entry.