Tag: #educationalleadership

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All In A Day — In Questions

I often tell groups I’m hosting that our participative process is embedded with two deliberate learning strategies. One, we will ask questions together. And two, we will share stories together.

Last week I worked with a colleague, Rhonda Rabbit, Dean at the School of Education in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. We created a format for 20 faculty, staff, and leadership to build and strengthen a foundation of working together for the coming academic year. We had one day to work with. It is enough to touch some significant aspects together. However, I find one-day formats are more about trying to move the edge a bit. To inspire. To bring some awareness to patterns to continue or to interrupt.

Here’s the questions for the day:

With Partners
What is going on among you that encourages you?
Who sends you?
What is simple in your work together?
What is challenging?
Where do you see trust among you?
What is the bigger story of education that you are contributing to?

With Full Group in Circle
Who are you?
Why did you choose to come here today?
What is going on this year in the School of Education that matters to you?
What is one thing you are good at?

At Small Tables in World Cafe
When have you experienced a crossroad in your life — what was it and what was that like?
Is there a crossroad that you feel the School of Education is at this year — what is that?
What recommendations do you have to help find our way through these crossroads in good learning and relationships?

To Create Working Groups (and Harvest) in Open Space
What conversations do you want to explore that will help contribute to an attractive and desirable future for the next year at this School of Education?
As it pertains to _____ (Open Space Topic), an attractive future to me includes _____ (six word story harvest). Also, harvest templates to include “aha,” “important questions,” “next steps.”

With Full Group in Circle
Is there a commitment that you discovered or felt renewed in being together today?
What is one gratitude that you would like to share?

All in a day — in questions.

 

 

 

 

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Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

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asd
In My Nature is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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asd
Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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