During the Fondren Reforming Schools Summer Institute, one of the home group activities was to divide into smaller groups and have each group engage in the "Success Analysis Protocol" which asks each person to identify a success, tell the story of the success, and listen as the group analyzes what traits made that particular event successful.

Some of the 250 or so institute participants were trained CFG coaches or experienced CFG members. Most were not--and quite a few were experiencing being part of a collaborative professional learning community for the first time.

As my co-facilitator, Lance, and I mingled with the triads during this activity, we noticed that some of the groups quickly devolved into mere storytelling without bothering with the steps of the prototocol. There was still value in this--the participants obviously enjoyed sharing their own stories and making connections with others.

However, we were left wondering about the appropriateness of letting untrained people loose with a protocol. Groups that took the protocol seriously seemed to get deeper into the analysis and used every bit of time. Groups that set the steps and time limits aside tended to "finish" early and didn't make the same level of connections with each other.

Next year, I will develop home group activities with an eye towards remembering the varied CFG experiences of the participants.