On November 24, 2017 our staff dedicated an afternoon on our School Focus.  Our time was spent reflecting our our goals, the World Cafe and next steps.

Conversations around the World Café Art - below is a summary of our staff findings:

World Café Art - WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

• Love and connection!
• Identity
• Truth
• Fulfillment
• Representation
• The Blair community is happy to be here
• Positive
• Encourage uniqueness
• Belonging
• diverse population
• culture is a big part of identity
• learning from each other
• Deep Thinking
• Caring and thoughtful parent community
• Acceptance
• First Person
• We are a multicultural community and it's "okay"
• Identity from different factors: Values, Personality, Heritage, Abilities, Relationships, and Roles
• Voicing personal thoughts
• Engaged Parents and Children
• Inspiration
• Lots of "hat changing"
• Importance of family
• Making connections through sharing ideas
• many elements for each
• Sacrifices for family
• Bravery is a powerful word to connect identity and community - it takes bravery to share your own thinking, but also to stand up for others whose values may be very different from your own.
• Connecting through technology
• We are distinct individuals but part of a whole
• Sharing is caring
• recognize that community takes time and effort
• Differences in a community builds strength
• Community takes time and effort to create - there is work involved. I think some of the adults recognize this but do our students?
• Identity is constantly fluid and changing - it is often context dependent
• Confidence
• The adults talked a lot about perception. Does how the world views me affect my identity?
• Being vulnerable enough to share who you are!
• pressure to be a certain identity? for students and parents
• How is social media/online affecting our identity? What do we share?
• Personal connections

Conversation - World Café Art - What do you wonder?

• Was there a flip side to the thinking? What wasn't said?
• I wonder if the students all feel valued as an individual within the community?
• intersection between public and personal identity
• How can I help my students embrace their individuality while still feeling connected to all the communities they belong to?
• How does knowing more about who we are take us to a deeper level of being lifelong learners together in our whole school learning experience?
• I wonder if someone feels like they don't belong...why?
• How can we use this knowledge to shape our learning and teaching?
• What do we do with the data we now have that is meaningful, forward-moving, useful and effective for all of us as learners??
• When someone doesn't want to belong, do we have to make them?
• A repeat.. How do we create community in a transient world?
• What will we do to share this portion (the staff contribution and feedback) with our students and parents?
• is it worth belonging if you have to pretend to be someone you're not?
• Can we be friends again?
• Since you can't have one without the other (identity/community) then how bring that to the surface of each experience?
• How do parents continue to provide feedback and play a role in this process that can continue to benefit our learners?
• Do they wish and want? Do they live these ideals?
• How do we encourage kids to walk the talk - from knowing what creates community to genuinely being inclusive and caring towards everyone?

Conversation - World Café Art -What have you

learned?

• not forget about the parents’ viewpoint
• People want to feel connected to their community
• our students are more aware of their part in the community. they understand perhaps more than we give them credit for
• People want diversity
• The Blair Community plays an important part in shaping the lives of the people in and around it
• How powerful connectedness can be!
• providing a forum for conversation is key
• Families feel comfortable here!
• the importance of giving opportunities for parents to share. their voices aren't often heard in this way
• This is a place for everyone to learn, not just students!
• the world cafe was amazing :)
• that the pressure isn't just from parents on their kids but also the parents on themselves
• Parents are very grateful when they are included
• That our parents are seeking community...
• Diversity is our strength
• 
in the end, the parental pressures really are going for the same goals as us. for their children to succeed and belong in the community. it's just in a different way
• Safety came up a lot
• That everything shared matters and is included "I love trick or treating"
• In order to contribute anything to society, one has to first become.
• Our students have not referenced solving problems or differences of opinions in what it takes to build community - there is vision along the lines of talking to someone who is lonely, sharing ideas, or helping someone.
• these are amazing goals and it's this thing on the horizon that sometimes we don't know how to reach
• Students' and parents' backgrounds and upbringing play a huge role in shaping their identity and how each party goes about reaching their goal (the parents' goal for their child, and the child's goal for themselves)
• Parents and kids see that community involves being proactive and reaching out to others.
• Kids seem to recognize it is complex and evolving.
• 
Makes me wonder how do we develop community in a transient world?
• Community and identity are intrinsically connected!
• Students and parents have the same the end goal. The way they were brought up shape the journey. Does this account for some of the anxieties we are seeing in our students?
• Hearing without assuming
• Listening humbly and compassionately and generously
• Expanding communities/groups can empower students
• How can we create spaces so that our students can find belonging.
• How can our students learn to have perspective so that they can self regulate to belong...we also come to understand that all emotions/experiences are part of a community.
• remember a student saying once: teachers are always saying how we should be happy and make our own choices but then we have to do a group project and they put us with someone that makes me not happy. That is not my choice.
• Building connections...