were back...

Today was the first time in a month the fellows gathered around the table to share our experiences. I will summarize some of the points discussed, relating some of them to what we saw in our internships.

• Caring atmosphere - essential and a vital part of the nucleos
• leadership: delegation vs. micromanaging = what is a healthy in between?
• staff challenges: crowd control
• organization quick to adapt to change = great when crisis hits
• staff = begin small with a group that is egoless and can collaborate. Nurture the teachers artistic endeavors (sharing their personal events, retreat, seminarios)
• get passionate board members
• engage the stakeholders face to face. This increases their opportunity to donate
• parent classes are fantastic (community impact)
• how to nurture/challenge excelling students; avoiding unhealthy competition between students
• think of retention strategies
• what drives the learning (social outcome, repertoire, note reading)

Eric Booth had us reflect on a couple of points

- most successful hiring happens if there is an extended activity retreat/workshop (2-3 days)

- create an "internship" position before fully hiring (collegiate support, encourages learning)

What are promising practices in "El Sistema-esque" culture?

• everyone (board, staff, kids, janitors) know the mission and the core values of the organization. Building curriculum together (Hola, LA)
• no limits on learning - (Renaissance Arts Academy )
• have clear lines that every decision has to be driven on the impact over the children. That means leaving egos behind and learning to collaborate.
• professional development - seminarios with leading artists in the field (accomplished with partnerships)
• high priority in teacher quality. Using peer-peer teacher assessments, self assessments, video taping, etc., in order to establish a learning culture for the teachers as well
• different relationship to the job (for teachers). Not just coming in to clock it and take off, but to invest in the kids and building trust with the families. For this money has to come off the table.

This last point triggered a 3 hr. discussion with Liz about equal pay and why people engage in meaningful work. In order to have invested/motivated teachers, money has to be fair pay, and they have to have ownership. I will leave you with this cool talk...