One challenge of using a weblog that I've recently had to deal with is dealing with comment spam. Strangers would post comments on my weblog with links to online pharmacy and gambling sites. At first, the few spam comments a day were merely annoying. As the postings multiplied, I felt overwhelmed with the task of deleting the comments and blocking the IP addresses. I felt pressured to stay on top of it because I would be so embarrassed if an educator found my blog and then had to face "rated R" or "rated X" commentary. Although my blog doesn't get many hits, I want the few colleagues who do look at it to be able to read and comment without getting offended!

The comment spam has declined significantly now that my husband installed "MT Blacklist". I finally feel like I can enjoy the blog again.

I am leading a coaches clinic at the NSRF Meeting later this week with the title "Using Weblogs as Tools for Reflection." As I've prepared for the presentation, I've once again been struck by how central the act of reflecting is to my work and how my work unravels when I do not deliberately reflect.

I'm embarrassed that I have posted so few entries over the last few months. I slacked off when a colleague wondered out loud if anybody was really reading the blog. The implication was that the time I spent writing entries wasn't "worth it." Encountering technical difficulties such as an unreliable email program and an avalanche of comment spam made me slack off of posting blog entries even more.

As a result, I feel like I've just been moving from deadline to deadline in my work without much inspiration. I've learned that my blog is as much a tool for motivating current planning and action as it is a tool for encouraging reflection on the recent past.

GOAL: I will post public entries to this weblog at least twice a week.

NSRF co-director Gene Thompson-Grove opened our Winter Meeting this morning in Cambridge with a talk called "A Call to Action." As someone who has been involved with CFGs since the very first coaches seminar in 1995, she could offer insights about the history of CFGs and their importance in the big tapestry of school reform. One great quote was that being critical friends "means that I am as committed to –and responsible for--your practice and your students as I am to mine."

I also appreciated the examples of what CFG is not: CFGs are not just book groups, not just study groups, and certainly not just some new way to hold a workshop. CFGs are something more--groups developed to create and sustain professional learning communities. Of course, I already know that, but I need to keep that in mind as I plan and develop professional development for Houston area coaches. How can I really concentrate on developing the skills needed to create and sustain professional learning communities?

We spent almost all day in our small seminar groups today. My group has 11 people in it including the facilitator and critical friend or co-facilitator. It's a nice size group to comfortably get to know. Of the eleven of us, four are from Massachusetts, and there is one participant each from Maine, Ohio, California, Texas, Maryland, Tennessee, and New York. Only two of us are from west of the Mississippi. Two of us are from the South. All of us are white. I wonder if our seminar group is representative of the participants of the Winter Meeting as a whole.

This first day's agenda was very constructivist--maybe too constructivist for some people's comfort, but I appreciated having the chance to be flexible and be intentional about learning about each other. Besides our whole-group activities, we got to work closely with a partner for the introductory 3-2-1 activity and work closely in a triad to kind of sharpen up the questions we have about the work we brought.

Our group was very lucky to get private meeting space. We were originally assigned to the Spinnaker which is a large space shared by several groups. We got moved to a "parlor," which is basically just a hotel room with a bed that folds up so tables can fit in the room. It's cozy--and we still have a lovely view of the Charles River.

This morning, Rob and I gave our presentation about using weblogs as a tool for reflection. Each session had about 10 participants. Although the numbers were small, the participants seemed to be engaged and several were truly excited about exploring this technology on their own.

We started each session with the introductory activity 3-2-1. Each participant shared 3 things about themselves, 2 ways that they stay connected with others, and 1 question that they have about weblogs. This gave us a sense of who was in the room and what experiences they already had. I scribed the questions that they had about weblogs and referred to the poster throughout the clinic to gauge how well we were meeting people's needs.

Click on the thumbnail photo to read the questions.

After the intro, I shared my experience of using a blog to encourage myself to reflect and to document my work. I hope that I conveyed the excitement and satisfaction that I feel when I post entries and people actually comment. Blogs can be a very effective tool for sharing work, reducing isolation, and learning.

Rob continued the presentation with an overview of how to set up and maintain a blog. I was very grateful that he could come to Boston. It was our first experience with working together professionally and I think we worked well together.

The third day started with a convocation of all the participants for a group closing. Strips of paper with quotes from our work together this weekend were passed around to the 350 or so participants. We were told to stand and read our quotes when the spirit moved us--to give voice to our colleagues' words. I wish I could remember more of the actual words. I was struck by how the process filled the ballroom not just with words, but with "aha's" and laughter. It built on and nourished the spirit of courage and community that was threaded through the Winter Meeting.

I loved the performance of the "A Ca-Fella" Choir. Their first two prepared pieces were lovely, but I especially enjoyed the third piece that they performed as an encore. They modeled a risk-taking spirit since they weren't completely prepared--they just did it. The boys also demonstrated a lot of joy. What a fun way to start the morning!

Our seminar group spent the bulk of the morning doing two protocols that we don't use very often--the charette and the descriptive review of a child. One thing that impressed me about this particular seminar group was the way we really pushed each other to try new protocols and had explicit conversations about facilitation decisions involved with choosing protocols and leading a group through the process. I think I will be a more skilled facilitator because of the experiences I had with this group.

Our experience with the Descriptive Review of a Child really resonated with me. I was impressed by the presenter's preparation and amazed at the issues that bubbled up out of the questioning phase. I even learned something about myself and the biases or blind spots that I'm seldom called on. When I asked if the male student had a girlfriend, another participant later asked about the student's sexual orientation. That was totally off my radar screen.

On Saturday afternoon, I attended the NSRF Centers of Activity Meeting as a representative from Houston (along with Tim and Josephine). Some of the time was spent in reflection. We debriefed the Winter Meeting by discussing warm and cool feedback in triads and sharing out to the whole group. I'm not sure how many people were in the ballroom for this meeting--50 or 60? The feedback that I shared was that I loved the small seminar groups but had concerns about the coaches clinics. Probably two slots for the clinics is enough, but I wish there were more choices and more presenters. Although I benefit from sharing my own work, I'd like to have time to see somebody else's clinic as well.

At the Centers Meeting, there was also some discussion about location of future Winter Meetings. Seattle, Denver, and Chicago all stepped up as host cities. I think it's really important to rotate regions to strengthen the "national" aspect of the National School Reform Faculty. I was most impressed by the comment that the person from Seattle made--they have evidence that there is capacity for the work because so many people from Washington attended this Winter Meeting. And they weren't just attending--many were facilitating seminars or leading coaches clinics as well.

A very meaningful part of the Centers Meeting was participating in some modified "Open Space" discussions. People could post topics that they were particularly passionate about and others could join in that discussion. I was at a table that discussed issues around facilitator accountability--especially how portfolios and peer observation could be used to improve the standards. We started with questions about
1. How do we make our own work public?
2. How do we hold each other accountable?
3. How do we support each other?

The questions that seemed to pierce to the heart of the matter were
1. What do we fear might happen if we don't institute or formalize a facilitator accountability system?
2. What do we fear might happen if we do?
I would love to see the national organization support more cross-center work. I would also like to see more of an expectation that coaches and facilitators make their own work public.
In many ways, this weblog serves as a professional portfolio for me. I put my work out for anybody in the world to see, and I try to reflect on the hard things about my practice.

There is a lot of expertise in the Houston area when it comes to developing professional portfolios. Maybe some of those folks could present a clinic at next year's Winter Meeting.

I have returned home and am in the process of settling in to my normal routines. I will post my ongoing reflections from the Winter Meeting a little at a time and use this as an index page.

I hope that my new Critical Friends from around the country will comment and add to the conversation.
NSRF--A Call to Action
NSRF--Seminar Group
NSRF-- Coaches Clinic "Blogs"
NSRF--Closing Ceremony
NSRF--Trying Protocols
NSRF--Centers Meeting
NSRF--Facilitator Accountability

The K-16 CFG met on Thursday, January 20, at Chavez High School. Present were Donna, Mary, Sharon, Carolyn, and Marcela. We connected, set dates for our spring meetings, worked through the Text Rendering Protocol with Gene Thompson-Grove's opening remarks from the Winter Meeting, and reflected.

The text for Gene's speech is in the extended entry.

Using the Text Rendering Protocol always reminds me of my dad's stories of butchering hogs in the fall and rendering the lard from the animals. Similarly, this protocol reduces, converts, or melts down a text into its very essence. We each silently read the speech and marked sentences, phrases, and words that we thought were especially important. Then, in separate rounds, we shared the sentences, phrases, and words that we had marked. I scribed the phrases and words.

Text Rendering Phrases:
· "We all do the work we expect others to do no matter what our position."
· "Accountable to each other"
· "Slow down and be reflective"
· "All of this is, of course, hard work"
· "Courageous work can take root"

Text Rendering Words:
Courage
Reflective
Significant
Accountable
Activist

During the debrief, we talked about how CFG work comes "from the heart" and how it's not about just using the tools, but using the tools to build communities. We talked about our own practice and asked, "Do we need one final definition of what CFG is?" I think that the five of us around the table all felt like the speech motivated us to examine our own groups.

I chose this text because as we forge ahead with our group's inquiry work, it's vital that we understand what CFG work IS and what it is NOT.

Reflections
The open-ended reflection responses have been sounding more like cheerleading instead of reflection. Next month I think I'll pose some questions.

"I enjoyed the text rendering protocol. The speech was quite interesting. I wish more members were able to attend."

"Always a pleasure to be here with my CFG. The work, discussions and ideas we share help to keep me rooted and grounded in what I do for kids. CFG is my sounding-board, educational backbone, and reflective trigger!"

"Great thought-provoking conversation as usual. The text was clarifying and took me back to 'training.' Great!"

"Thank you to everyone who continues to sustain and encourage my personal take on CFG. Great protocol! Great job Donna & wonderful people!"

Last night, the Teacher As Researcher grant awardees and all of their CFG members were invited to take part in a networking event. The purpose of the meeting was to share the challenges and successes of our own inquiry projects, to ask questions and get support, and to network with other awardees. Sixteen people, representing 6 of the 7 funded projects, came last night.

We began with the 3-2-1 icebreaker. I asked everybody to share three things about themselves, two things about their group's project, and one burning question. The burning questions that were related to the projects were
When is documentation due?
What will it look like?
How are we going to present to the staff?
Are we our own best resource?
Does anybody else have a clue about special needs?
When will schools join the 21st Century and help teachers with technology?
How do you keep members active? and
How do you balance group needs and individual needs?

I was surprised that there weren't burning questions about collecting data and documenting work.

We then took about 30 minutes for each grant team to create an artifact that explained where they are in the inquiry process. I intentionally left the prompt open-ended. Although I brought a variety of art supplies like ribbons, yarn, play-doh, stickers, and decorative paper, every group just used poster paper, markers, and tape.

Tim then led the groups through a protocol that allowed each group to present their artifact and have colleagues ask questions. Tim called it Dia de Los Muertos because he had first developed the activity when his middle school students were presenting projects about that Mexican holiday--the protocol itself really has nothing to do with the Day of the Dead!

Click on the photos to see a larger image.
Lovie Adams points out some of the roadblocks and speed bumps in Best Elementary's inquiry project.

Peggy Given uses a pizza chart to describe the learning that her group from Johnston M. S. has already done.

As I was listening to the groups, I was again struck with the huge variety in the projects. Some involve dozens of teachers looking at overall school climate while some are looking at just a handful of students. Teachers from three different school districts were at the meeting.

During the debrief, there seemed to be consensus that the conversations helped refocus and recommit the groups. The conversations were rich, yet made me wonder how we could have changed the agenda to allow for more depth. Someone wondered aloud if the artifacts were alligned to the original inquiry questions. How have the questions changed as the groups have delved into the research?

As a result of this meeting, I will definitely schedule another support session for the spring or summer. I will also work with other HA+C staff to draw up some simple guidelines for the mid-project documentation that is due sometime in early summer.

Every participants' reflections can be read in the extended entry.

I was so pleased to receive this email this morning:

Hi Donna:

Rick

This is from a sixth grade science teacher in Massachusetts. I'm so excited that my little corner of the Web may inspire other teachers to share their learning and reflections through blogs.

Today marks the debut of a new look for this blog. Since more people are reading the weblog, Rob and I took the time to develop a better logo. I developed the motto "To Reflect--To Share--To Learn" last summer after I read a how-to book about developing communities on the web. It's important to let readers know what the purpose of the blog is, and I do hope that we can all learn by intentionally reflecting and making our practice public.