Circle has been an incredible opportunity to connect with and learn from educators committed to caring, compassion, connection, equity, and making a difference in the lives of the students, teachers and families they serve. Last week was another lovely evening of learning and sharing, hosted by Azizi Williams at Sequoyah.
We started with a quick round of speed dating to share tips for effective meetings, interview questions and how we use storytelling at work. Here are the interview questions we shared:
- Tell me a story about how you deal with conflict.
- What are you excited about these days?
- How do you create an inclusive classroom?
- Why are you choosing to leave your current school?
- With so many schools to choose from, why are you applying to this school?
- What makes you smile?
- Share a challenging moment with a student and how you handled it.
- What buttons of yours do students push?
- (A question for their references) If had PD money to spend, how should I use it to best support this person?
- How do you take care of kids in the classroom?
- Describe your perfect school.
Our main activity for the evening was Fear Setting. We watched this Ted Talk by Tim Ferris and then took time individually to reflect on how fears might be holding us back from working toward a goal. Azizi made this handy worksheet to use. I plan on using it in the future when to-do items seem like permanent fixtures in my bullet journal. Perhaps it will also come in handy to use with students as a tool to solve problems. A quote from the Ted-Talk resonated with many of us, that “we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” This will be a helpful mantra to repeat when ruminating or feeling stuck. Knowing that “most of the stuff you worry about, never happens,” frequent Circle attendee Malika coined another helpful piece of advice, “it’s not drama - it’s math… figure it out.”
Lastly, we shared professional development ideas for the summer - The National Conference on School Discipline (July in Vegas) and the CATDC’s Mastering Group Facilitation with David Barkan both look like valuable experiences.
We had four meetings this year, all on topics related to communication - presence, giving and receiving feedback, difficult conversations and storytelling. What is on your mind for next year? What are you eager to learn more about or think about more deeply? Please let us know! Also, if you are interested in hosting or if you know someone who might like to attend, send us an email.
Have a restorative and restful summer. September will be here before we know it.
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