Open Letter to the Community

 

Prepare Ahead of Time

Open Letter to the Community

Take the open letter from the Develop a Vision exercise and edit it so it’s addressed to your students. Invite students to an important important meeting to set the tone of the school year, and tell them why their participation is important.

Repeat this process separately for parents and community members; plan to have students facilitate the community conversation.

Presentation

Prepare a slide show that will provide step-by-step guides on how to work together to form a school identity. Slides may include:

• Welcome slide
• Summary of the World Cafe process (read below)
• Norms for conversation, for example: listen carefully; do not interrupt; make sue of what others say; make your point succinctly and let others react; acknowledge good ideas; and find consensus. You may project these norms on one screen, or you may wish to display these rules on a tent card on every table.
• Three discussion questions, for example: What are your hopes and dreams for this school (in general or for the coming year)? What challenges does the school community face? How can the school community work together to overcome challenges and achieve our dreams?  [Ed. note: can we make these explicitly about how the school helps student be ready for college and the world beyond?]