Town-Wide Learning Community

Present: Lisa Beaulieu, Carol Bissanti, Karen Freedman, Donna Morelle, Ryan Pearson, Rosemary Reilly-Chammat

The group welcomed Carol Bissanti. She has joined the group to facilitate planning and implementation of the World Café as a kickoff to Town Wide Learning Community efforts. Carol shared information about the World Café model. She shared World Design Principles included in the World Café Shaping Our Futures Through Conversation by Juanita Brown with David Issacs and the World Café Community.

Principles include:

Principle 1: Set the Context
Principle 2: Create a Hospitable Space
Principle 3: Explore Questions that Matter
Principle 4: Encourage Everyone’s Contribution
Principle 5: Cross-Pollinate and Connect Diverse Perspectives
Principle 6: Listen Together for Patterns, Insights, and Deeper Questions
Principle 7: Harvest and Share Collective Discoveries

An outline of the work was also distributed. The group discussed issues and details of our World Café as follows:

The makeup of the team needs to be a microcosm of the community. Carol challenged the 20-60-20 rule that was included in the Complementary Learning article from Harvard advising engagement of the 20% of the community likely to be early supporters of Town Wide Learning. The World Café model encourages diversity of thought and respect for different opinion. Collective intelligence of the group results in positive results for the community by taking advantage of a cross section of multiple voices.

There are commonalities in the World Café model and specifics are driven by purpose and questions. For example, most World Café experiences generally include three rounds of questions with discussions lasting between 20-30 minutes. This can be modified based on the needs of the group.

Another aspect of the World Café can include solicitation of ideas from participants related to existing resources in the community and other like ideas. This type of input is not part of the Café table discussions; it is written and collected to serve as a type of environmental scan. For example, we could ask about existing partnerships that could serve as a foundation to town wide learning.

The group also discussed Town Wide Learning for all residents versus Town Wide Learning for student achievement. This conversation generated potential questions to help participants define the scope of Town Wide Learning. Carol reminded us that while we have been discussing this concept for a while, the World Café will be the first time that others will be introduced to the idea.

The purpose for our efforts could be to create an opportunity for learning partners to work together to create more learning opportunities. It would allow us to capitalize on resources related to a common goal.

The idea of reconvening the District Strategic Planning Team prior to the World Café to share this idea was also discussed. It would help to reengage those partners and serve as a sounding board for the feasibility of our World Café plans.

The group discussed potential questions. Carol’s blog posting of 9/29 provides modifications of those questions suitable for discussion and an outline of the work we need to accomplish at the next meeting on October 6th from 6:30-8:00 pm.

The group set a tentative date for World Café January 9, 2009 with the goal of determining specifics for the World Café prior to the holiday season.