Regina Youth Forum -November 24, 2016 – Post Forum Analysis
Facilities:
Suitable room –many windows for natural light, good chairs and tables, accessible to outside,
some natural spaces for curriculum walk, small but we made it work for creating a circle
Food:
Pizza is great for providing choices for diet considerations, veggies and fruit compliment well.
Not much waste (although Regina’s waste program seems ‘lesser than’)
Teachers’ Program Notes:
Making choices for a 1 day program is difficult –encouraging participants to help with the
choices is the way to go (the day was like a tapis bar with many small samplings and
opportunities later to investigate more thoroughly through DOTS, Google Drive, Blogging)
Obviously in a Forum ‘Acting on Learning’ is the focus, with the other DOTS and Transformative
Practices brought in to support the Our Canada project creation
Participants were “quietly eager” to adopt new tools for their practice and were not stuck
behind barriers
Proposed post Forum on line conferences were not supported (only 2) though repeatedly
promoted. I suspect that report card time and Christmas contributed to the lack of interest.
However, participants felt that blogging and video conferencing overlapped one another.
The blog idea seemed to have more support, and we will have to monitor the activity and see if
the participants follow through or lose interest.
Identifying a couple of participants who seem to have evolved their practice significantly, asking
them to write up what they are doing, and publishing their write-ups in appropriate high profile
spots might have more impact in the long term than trying to get all of them to participate post
institute.
Perhaps having a pre Forum video conference to sus out where participants are in their practice
and develop a sense of which direction would be most useful in the Forum (or a 1 day institute)
would have potential.
A one day Forum does not give nearly as much opportunity for Professional Inquiry or for
Professional Discourse as does an Institute because of the focus on the Our Canada Project. It is
easier to achieve these goals with a one day institute where there is no one particular end
product to be achieved. Our goal of ‘walking the talk’ is very difficult in a Forum format.
The DOTS document was well received and appreciated. The comprehensive nature of this
document makes it feel easy for educators to read and to implement in their practice.
The closing circle was very positive with many identifiable ‘aha’s’ spoken and agreement shared.
Post institute surveys indicated that participants went away committed to evolve their practice.
