Of all the suggestions you heard, what stood out and why?
“The suggestion about defining ‘leadership’ stood out the most for me. Unpacking such a laden tem is something that people do not often get the chance to do.
I think each school team will grow and be enlightened by getting the space to collaboratively share their thoughts about leadership in general, or perhaps construct an operational definition of leadership that fits the vision they share @ their schools. It can also serve as an opportunity to validate the laborers who serve as leaders within their schools, in various divergent modalities,”

“Prep teams & make the work meaningful. Team bios keep the pieces connected.”

“The information from the Bio-data really stood out for me. I would like to know what prior knowledge the participants are coming with and where they are in the work.”

“The icebreaker being safe, playful, & meaningful clearly stands out to me. Icebreakers begin the day and set he mood. We are meeting for a purpose. That purpose needs to be reinforced in a manner that is engaging.”

“The thing that stood out for me were the ideas for the icebreakers. These icebreakers are really important and they need to be dynamic! Icebreakers can truly set the tone for what we have to do.”

“I really like the idea of developing a context of leadership & a continuum prior to beginning.”

“Being able to look at past experiences & creating meaning & growth—improvement for this year as a group versus just one or two people creating it.”

“Building a context for the participants –“

“One of the ideas that stood out for me was focusing in on the learning outcomes. This will help to make the Institute meaningful & will help participants to connect what they come away with to what will happen on their campuses in the fall.
The other idea that struck me was to ‘sew’ the thread tighter—to connect the theme of the institute in every aspect of conversation & actions.”

“My stand out suggestions
•The school bio—this is a must—potentially each LC group could be tailored to the needs of the school as guided by this bio & contextualized by the theme.
•Powerful objectives! Action based.
•Dialogue about ‘Leadership’ community definition.”

“More specific outcomes
more relevant norms/ground rules
I think both of these will make the work we do more relevant and will create a safer space for everyone.”

“I really like the idea of inviting teams, and the experience will be more valuable to them if they provide the bio ahead of time. The bio contextualizes the team and provides them with a reference point.
It would be nice to suggest to team leaders to seek input from all team members via email or phone so that when they come to us they are already engaged tin the process and have begun to reflect on how this experience will help them and their team.”

“This will be my first time facilitating the summer reform institute so it was extremely helpful to see the past agendas and facilitators’ notes in order to see the connections from year to year. It was important to understand that as a facilitator we should be encouraged to be flexible with our groups. It is also important to create an environment of trust within the learning communities. The bio info on schools will be paramount in making the difference in facilitation.”

“Things to include for 2008
-Leave with something.
Specific action-based outcomes. . . .Things to watch out for. . .Interesting to hear ‘why have the keynote speaker first. =>learn more by having groups first-speaker afterwards.”

“Our conversation at our table regarding ground rules and the benefit of having them and making sure they are understood. Also in thinking about the dynamics of the groups—norms may be something to develop for them to walk away with.”

“Suggestions to create a safe environment are important. It is hard for some to be candid with their boss in the room.
I also liked the suggestion to find out the group bio and what they need. This will help the learning community be more productive for each group.”

“I really support the Bio idea b/c it allows me to connect with the people on the team before I meet them.”

Notes to facilitators
“Donna and Lynn it is always a pleasure to get together and think. . . No Medicine Wheel!”

“Please don’t do gingerbread.”

“Keeping the reform connected will be difficult, however, will be meaningful.”

“I love the work that is going into all of this planning. This should surely be productive and exciting. I, too, would prefer to be paired with a person who is upbeat and energetic.”

“Notes: We discussed one other thing in our smaller grp that didn’t come out in the lg. grp & it would be good if some of our reflections or discussions related back to => ‘so how does this affect student learning & the work we are already doing?’ Sometimes we lose our teacher leaders when we don’t tie in the ‘bottom line’”

“Our small group discussed that we would like to try to pair with a facilitator we know versus not known=to create a better start to the Learning Communities. Also, not wanting to facilitate our own school.”

“How can we get the text out before the keynote
*electronic copy of an excerpt that can be downloaded and passed on to other team members.”

“Thanks for dinner!”

“I really liked the food!
Great to see you both!
Good job! the reflection on the artifacts was very cool!”

“In DuFour Whatever It Takes p. 249-253, the info in the Appendix would be helpful if the schools could give insight w/ these things in mind.”

“I think this was an excellent way to pre-plan the conference.”