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October 2004 Meeting:
"Sowing the Seeds
of Learning"

"Sowing the Seeds of Learning" Meeting Report, Pt. 3

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Agenda

We reviewed the agenda -- our road map -- for our journey.

Introduction and Overview
Communities of Practice

Joann talked about the journey that led us here today beginning with a small group of partners who met in the summer of 2003 to reflect on the idea and possibility of community of practice work. This experiment that we embarked upon a year ago is not unlike the approach that Ball Horticulture uses—cultivar trials that explore the potential of a seed variety.

Building on what has come before, today begins the next iteration of our partnership work together by convening teams of teachers and a principal from 19 of our partnership schools to formally set in motion Communities of Practice as a key strategy for the Foundation work.

The intended outcomes of this meeting for participants are fourfold:

  • Share and deepen knowledge about promising instructional, leadership and organizational practices that work to support increased student achievement
  • Learn with and from one another as peers
  • Build and deepen community
  • Develop plans and strategies for creating communities of practice at your school and district and build the capacity to implement them

Our time over the next days is twofold: On one hand we are tending to community building. That is, development of the social learning space which is at the heart of communities of practice. On the other, we are here to learn from one another about practices by engaging in storytelling, inquiry, and listening.

Our thought(ful) partner in this work has been Myron Rogers, our communities of practice consultant. We’ve relied on Mary Corrigan to help chronicle our journey.

Throughout the meeting Mary Corrigan worked to visually chronicle our journey. This chart reflects Joann’s introduction and overview of communities of practice and Anita Flynn’s story which follows.


Harvesting the Potential Within
Anita Flynn

Anita Flynn shared the story of her experience with the PLN.

“As a classroom teacher, my journey with the Ball Foundation’s work began in Chicago at a PLN meeting last January. From there I traveled to Chula Vista in California and was part of the host team to welcome Chula Vista to Northview in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

At first, frightened of super high level thinking, frightened of being stretched beyond my capacity, frightened of sharing myself with others, I soon found a safe and stimulating environment to be myself - passionately curious - not just about kids, not just about teaching, but about life! Passionately curious about who I am. Passionately curious about what I know and what I can learn. Passionately curious about the relationships I have with others.


True passion fertilizes the seeds of giftedness that lie within each of us and the children entrusted to us. I am so grateful for the Ball Foundation’s influence in my life. The expectation, opportunity, permission, time and encouragement to be a passionate learner of life and to cultivate passionate learning through the relationships I have with others.

Each of us working with the Ball Foundation began as an apple blossom. During our time together we were fertilized and became apples. As apples, we each hold within ourselves seeds and therefore the potential of producing an entire orchard. This potential comes with an awesome responsibility to ourselves and the lives of many others.

Thank you for the opportunities to embrace the responsibility and enjoy the journey!”

~Anita Flynn, October 2004
"I have no talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

The Design Team and Agreements

This meeting was planned, designed and led by a Design Team comprised of your peers across all the school districts. From June until this day they’ve worked to incorporate your learning needs, creating processes and practices to serve us all. The Design Team members are: Judy Care, Sue Dole, Diana Haynes, Mary Catherine Kennedy, Patricia Magana, Bonnie McGrath, Michelle Miller, Connie Petter, Olga West, Cindy Baugher, Anne-Marie Bracken, Jackie Brayman, Joann Ricci, Myron Rogers and Mary Corrigan.

 

Cindy Baugher invited us into the process of creating the agreements under which we would work together. In order to create an environment for full participation and to support open, honest conversation and learning we must each feel safe and supported by the group. In home teams we brainstormed the agreements we would need to create this environment. We returned to them from time to time to track our progress and behavior as a learning community.

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