Inquiry & Learning for Change

Community Learning Center Schools

Innovative facilitation techniques in practice

Community Learning Center Schools asked Inquiry & Learning for Change to help design and facilitate a series of Vision, Mission, and Strategic Planning retreats over a two-year period as the charter school organization grew from one Alameda charter school into its own small, entrepreneurial educational organization with two schools, serving a diverse population of elementary through high school students in Alameda, CA.

Retreats included all stakeholders, from “learners” (what they called the students) and parents to “facilitators” (what they called the teachers), to board members, and members of the community. We used innovative facilitation techniques and participatory graphic recording tools to enable all participants to engage in substantive conversation, hear differing viewpoints, brainstorm and problem-solve, and contribute creative ideas to moving the organization from its adolescence into sustainability.

Happy Chaos! (Melanie Ida Chopko, Graphic Recorder)

Graphic brainstorming results (Melanie Ida Chopko, Graphic Recorder)

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