2010 Women's Retreat

The program committee (which I am a member of) of our women's group is setting up a retreat for the women. I have spent hours looking for information to use for a retreat for this group, but there is nothing that is substantial enough - most retreats are very superficial, we wanted something more than that. Our thought is to use 1 Cor 12:12 as a background for the retreat and so our topic will basically be diversity, tolerance and then unity. There was absolutely nothing on these topics.

We have taken registrations for the overnight, and a few women will come and just spend the bulk of the day only missing the dinner and unfortunately the next morning's worship where I will talk about unity and our signature verse. We know who will participate and we have a diverse (as diverse a group as white, middle class women can be) group. Some that only socialize with each other and some 'outsiders', various ages and backgrounds.

As an aside, we have only shared the background verse with the women and no details about the topic other than that. We didn't want to scare anyone off before they get there. There is prayer and song interspersed throughout the sessions. We also have created several seating charts and will force the women to sit with and get to know different women during each session. This will take them out of their comfort zone, but they need to get to know the others they don't normally associate with. Then we are going to have them write a small note to each woman present sharing something positive about them (thus the need for different seating charts). These little bags will go home with the women to read after the retreat. We will do an ice breaker exercise to help them get comfortable with each seating change. Also each woman will create a quilt square to take home as a reminder of the retreat as well, each segment will include the addition of a piece of fabric to that quilt square. (I will leave these details out and give the discussion topics only below.)

Since we are basically working from scratch here, I am going to give you an overview. I'd love input if you read this at any time.

Session 1 - Fabric of our Lives

• How is it the same - universal characteristics - ways in which all of the fabric is the same
  
• How is this specific group of fabric the same - cultural aspects - ways in which this group is different from the other fabrics
• How is it different - personal difference - ways in which each one of the fabrics is different from the others

(These three bold topics we will carry through the entire retreat first relating them to fabric to help define them and to keep from pointing fingers at each other in the beginning before a trust level is built)

Session 2 - How are WE the same - universally? (the ice breaker for this session is a Venn Diagram of the similarities and differences of the women at each table)

Session 3 - How are WE different - culturally and personally? (we will watch a video titled "A Class Divided" - keep in mind that we are all white middle class women, I hope they think we have no differences to start with and that changes by the time the retreat is over) if you have time this video is well worth the 30 minutes it takes to watch the first two parts.

Session 4 - What is Culture?

Session 5 - Can't we all just get along? (Tolerance)

Dinner and then a devotional, at which we will gather up each woman's quilt square. After the devotional we will play games until all go to bed. During the night we will take all the quilt squares and pin them together to 'create' a quilt. Then we get back together for Worship after breakfast.

Session 6 - Worship - Unity - 1 Cor 12:12 - we will include a couple songs, a sermon on the topic using the quilt as the discussion focus. Each piece is very different made of many parts, having it's own gifts. When we put all the pieces together we have a beautiful and talented work of art - though its parts are many, they form one body. "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and though all its parts are many, they form one body, so it is with Christ."

There are many things I am hoping for from this retreat, I hope we build new friendships, I hope for more tolerance of some difficult individuals (that won't be present at the retreat), I hope for mixing of old and new members, I hope that the change/growth our church is experiencing will not be so traumatic and our women will take what they have learned and help bridge the existing with the new. These are just a few of the things I hope are outcomes.

God be with us as we forge new waters and new relationships. Amen!

2009 GISA Conference Experience

I participated in a workshop entitled, "Introduction to Web 2.0 Technology". The idea is that Web 1.0 was read-only and Web 2.0 is much more interactive, collaborative and personal.

To see how the web has grown over a 10 year time frame:
In 1996 there were 45 million users and 250,000 sites
In 2006 there were 1billion+ users and 80 million sites

At home our students have access to the world via the internet, when they come to school we cut them off and limit what they can see and do on the internet with our security parameters. Instead, as teachers (not that I am one) we can monitor their usage in the classroom as opposed to blocking them from specific sites. They are digital natives, there has not been a day they can remember when they were not exposed to computers of some type. We adults on the other hand are digital immigrants - we moved into this technological world, some of us reluctantly or not at all yet. (Honestly, I have seen a two year old manipulate an iPhone to watch a video of the Wiggles that was stored on it, then get tired of that and look at the photos it held.)

As a child I had a pen pal - if I am not mistaken, this was arranged by a teacher that wanted us to get some handwriting experience and it continued for me over several years. I only remember that I enjoyed this experience with someone so far away as Florida (at the time I lived in Wisconsin). Today one can have e-pals, where you trade emails with others - potentially even in a different country. These are arranged for by teachers wanting their students to get exposure to, not only writing, but also cultural and geographical information. Foreign language teachers wanting their students to practice their new found language and learn about the customs of that country as well. Anyway, if you are interested, here is a website where those arrangements can be made: http://www.epals.com/ you may want to look at the website even if you think you aren't interested - they have some great lesson ideas.

Many elementary/middle school students use journaling as a tool to increase writing skills - in the electronic world these are blogs (web logs). There are many sites to set up a blog, but the easiest seems to be http://www.blogger.com (yes, this is that site). Try it for yourself to get comfortable with it -it really is easy - and it is FREE (you do need to set up a gmail account if you don't already have one).

Wikis are sites that let visitors become participants (http://www.wikipedia.org is an example) as these sites are constantly under revision - a living collaboration that shares the creative process and product by many - group research projects fit well into a wiki. PBworks is a place where you can set up your own or student wiki's - http://pbworks.com/academic.wiki

Teacher WebPages - as we continue to develop the website at work we will eventually have the capability to have teacher webpages. These are a place for instructors to put whatever they need to convey to either students or parents or the world at large. Here is an example of a teacher at Mill Springs Academy who is currently using this technology today: http://www.dalescience.info/science/syllabus.html/ (thanks for sharing Dale)

With something called Toniks and Skype, a Spanish class can interact with someone in Mexico over the internet on a video phone call (most new computers come with a web cam), allowing the opportunity to use their Spanish skills in a real life situation. http://www.toniks.com/ and http://www.skype.com/business/case-studies/toniks/

I love that today's technology makes the world a smaller place. The last quote the instructor left us with was, "Just because you don't know techonology doesn't mean you shouldn't learn it and use it. Given the realities of our modern age and the demands of our children's future, is it really satisfactory to allow teachers to choose whether they use modern technology in their instruction?" Just food for thought.

If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow. --John Dewey

World Statistics

I was searching for the stats for what the world's oil consumption is compared to what the world is capable of producing when I came across this website: www.worldometers.info. You will find the meters clicking along show how much or how little of any one of the categories is available in the world. There are certainly some statistics there that are cause for reflection.

Today alone there were more than 350,000 births (it is only 10pm EST) with more than 152,000 deaths. And 40,000 individuals have died due to cancer this year - it is only January 2nd. You might want to consider the energy, water and environment stats. Just some interesting tidbits to think about.

CAH

A Vision for 2012

I just finished reading a book titled "A Vision for 2012: Planning for Extraordinary Change" by John L. Petersen. This is after completing my masters degree in leadership. So all of the things he discusses about change: the process for change, the fact that major changes needs to take place, the fact that deep seated events are slowly but certainly occurring that will cause us to need change (i.e: medical advances, global environment, etc.), are things that we have discussed in not so great detail in many of my classes during my graduate program. I am wholeheartedly on board with the notion that change is underfoot and that we, as individuals, as communities, as corporations, as the world, need to be prepared for widespread change. These areas where change are needed are some of the things that I want to explore. Be open and inviting to all ideas/concepts. If we are not open, how will be able to change and look forward to change?