Revolutionary Action

Here are some ideas I've been thinking about concerning how to really get the revolution going. 

1. Dorry had suggested making a list we can hand out to teachers about how to keep a professional and collaborative environment.  This is a very rough (and probably too informally voiced) list.  Please add to or adapt this list in the comments:

Ways to Promote a Collaborative Environment

Here I'm thinking we may need a short passage about why a collaborative environment will benefit teachers.  We could also include a quote from Andrea Lunsford's article on collaboration.  Suggestions?  (We could lift language from point #3.)

• Respect the voices of younger teachers.  Collaborate with them so you can gain their newer perspective on teaching and they can gain your insight as an experienced teacher.
• If you talk about another teacher, keep your comments positive and productive.
• Speak positive things into each other.
• Tell other teachers what you have seen them doing well.
• Share resources and ideas with your colleagues.
• Reflect on your teaching often and ask other teachers for ideas for improvement in your weaker areas.
• If you notice a hindrance to the collaborative environment, seek out and talk honestly and respectfully to the source.
• If allowed, come out into the hallways between periods.
• Observe other teachers so you can learn from each other.
• If possible, eat lunch with other teachers.

2. I am thinking we can make a blog of all the positive teacher stories.  It could be called "All That and A Bag of Chips Campaign" or something like "Revolutionary Teachers".  We could get the blog site out - write it on sidewalks, post it on FB and Twitter, get the news paper to publish something about it, hand out flyers to people on campus or to people at our schools... The blog could also encourage others to send in their positive teacher stories - either teachers sharing their stories or nonteachers sharing how teachers have positively impacted them, their children or someone they are close to.  These stories could be sent to an email set up specifically for this purpose (allthatandabagofchip@gmail.com or revolutionaryteachers@gmail.com are possible email suggestions.  It'd make sense to have it fit the name of the blog.)  There would also be a clause explaining that sending in the stories (which could be videos, storifies, paragraphs, etc) would imply permission to post the story on our blog and that we would only share first names.  (The name of the blog post could be "Sally's Story", "Billy's Story" and so on.)

3. Finally, I think we need a mission statement.  I loved the way everyone talked about the revolution and why the collaboration at Si was so successful.  In the comments, leave ideas (even copy from your blogs) about things we could include in the mission statement.