Hello and how are you?
We listened to you. We asked you your thoughts on the survey we sent out towards the end of last year, having realised that Action Learning Sets, as we’d run them before, weren’t working for you. It was proving impossible to get together, face-to-face, despite the sterling efforts of individuals.
You told us your preferences and today we are launching the programme we re-designed with your thinking. An outcome of Lou getting ill towards the end of last year is that our thinking was slow and we believe that has allowed us to think more expansively. We’d love – in the future – to think even more with you.
As we move towards practices of co-construction, we have also been thinking about how we practice an ethics of care. For us this is a community practice. How can we stay mindful of it? How can we design an ethics of care into our facilitation, our interactions, or planning, our projects? This morning, Lou’s JoyAMš broadcast ponders what an ethics of care means, and how – being self-full not selfish – it includes practices of care for ourselves.
We have designed today with an ethics of care in mind. It really is all about you. Although some of you will be using today to reconnect – and that’s fine, it’s what today’s about – Slack is proving to be effective for sharing experiences of your projects. We see from those conversations, your engagement with #APConnect Online and from the gorgeous stuff appearing on the Bowerbird’s Padlet that you are getting on fine with those and we trust you to shout up if you need help. So we haven’t asked for project feedback, recognising that all of you are at different stages, differently impacted by the here and now and a big part of our ethics of care is to be anti-competitive. You can relax and just enjoy!
Here’s Lynne and Lou to introduce the day. Yes, Lou is wearing cat ears.
10.30am Self-Care Hour
This hour is your thinking space. There are a few (tiny) things we’d like you to do, in preparation for the day, but mainly we’d like you to get yourself a cuppa, put some music on, do five mins yoga, feed the pets, get the children settled (none of this to keep them out of the way, we loveā¤ļøĀ to see children and pets online), prep the tea or do whatever you need to gently do, to ease into the day.
Our rationale is that if you can clear the space around you – physically, mentally and emotionally – you’ll be better able to engage with the day. And if you engage with the day, you’ll hear us saying things that you don’t expect – things about how being part of a community can help lift some of the burden, if only you could reframe your thinking of it as an extra thing to do.
Try not to make it be an hour to check emails. We know how persuasive it will be to tell yourselves you’ll feel better if you do…if you need anything to strengthen your resolve listen to Lou’s JoyAMš
Appreciation
One of the tasks we asked you to do as part of #APConnect Online was establish (or polish up) your LinkedIn profile. It would be lovely if you could take some time during the day to leave a recommendation on the LinkedIn profile of someone you’ve interacted with today (and it will help you meet an #APConnect Online outcome down the line, but we hope that’s not why you do it). Or you could send them an appreciative tweet, but that’s more ephemeral. A recommendation on LinkedIn helps build up another’s potestas (remember? power as usual) – and they will hopefully return the favour š¤š» The facilitators will be doing this too š
Activity 1
It takes just a few moments to do this but we rightly have to account to our funders ETF around how we spend the public money they entrust us with, so please can you take a moment to complete the register? Thank you š
Activity 2
We’ll be using Mentimeter during the day, so make sure you’ve got your phone handy and charged. You’ll just need www.menti.com on your phone’s browser š
This is a good moment to check that your video and audio are working for Zoom. You might want to bob into the Zoom room (see below for link) just to check it works for you. We do expect you to have your video and audio on, because this builds community. It’s difficult to feel engaged with what’s going on – which is, after all, a community of practice – if you don’t tip up a bit of yourself. That’s said with love ā¤ļø and a recognition that we can only meet you half way.
(And please don’t try to half listen in and also teach/be in a meeting. If you can’t get out of it, we’d much rather you give the other thing your full attention).
Activity 3
We are starting the day with an Ikigai (reason for being) workshop! These have been so popular recently, and it’s a great way of focusing in on you.(fine just to draw it out if you don’t have a printer handy. Fine, too, to just cut some post-its up into strips but hey, you’re teachers, you probably have some fancy ones.)
This afternoon you’ll have the choice of two workshops*, so have a think about which appeals to you the most.
- FAB Digital (you might want to do a bit of thinking about your digital challenges/achievements over the past months).
- Ethical Social Media Marketing (of youĀ – make sure you can log into your social media accounts).
*We’ll try to remember to record these. Lou has got form for forgetting, so nudge her in chat.
Today’s Programme
11.30am #FestivalFridays
Join us in the Zoom Room (link now removed).
We’ll begin by asking you how you are? Then we will go into the day, first of all presenting #FestivalFridays
We’ll be letting you know about the workshops we’ve already got planned and this is where we’ll use the Mentimeter to gather some more ideas from you about what we are missing. You’ll need the code 6748491 and www.menti.com on your phone or browser. The workshops are an hour, so keep this in mind.
11.50am (approx) Ikigai Workshop (see above)
If you’ve already done this workshop please bring your Ikigai and develop it further, as many of you said you’d love to do š
12.15pm (approx) Friday Lunch Meet
This is now a regular feature – every Friday from now until 19th March (26th March is our National AP Conference and the end of the project, though you may wish to extend the Friday Lunch Meets as part of the #APNetworks). The idea is that you pop along with your lunch and hang out in a focused thinking way with other APs. Whoever’s there are always the right people. Naturally we’ll use Thinking Environment techniques to make sure that a space is cleared for everyone to think.
1.15pm (approx, we all share responsibility for keeping to time) Short Break
1.45pm FAB Digital Workshop or Ethical Social Media Workshop
Working with Lynne or Lou in two breakout rooms – choose one please (we can rely on you I’m sure to make sure neither of us feels like Billy No Mates).
3pm The Bowerbird Returns
Lynne and Lou summarise what’s coming up next for both Constellations. We’ll be talking with you about:
The Bowerbird and his padlet of blue shiny things, which ensure we don’t leave any gems on the cutting room floor, just because they are not needed for data.
The Matrix of Constellations – how you can share your events and those you come across with the rest of the Constellations. This is how things appear on the Daily Calendar in Slack š”
Researching the Constellations – about our new research project and what ETF may ask of you.
3.10pm Final Mentimeter and What’s Live in You?
We’ve got a final mentimeter to gather your impressions of today into a wordcloud (please use code 1252501 and www.menti.com)
Then we’ll do a closing round: as ever, the question is What’s Live in You? We’ll be asking you to be succinct so that we can close by 3.20pm allowing anyone who needs to, to transition to their next class or meeting.
Thank you!
We are so grateful that so many of you have found the time to be with the Constellation today. We hope that you have felt the love and found some hope in our collective practice of care. Have a wonderful weekend.
