IAA Staff retreats
In both the business world and in schools, the first reaction to the thought of holding a staff retreat might be, “Who has time for that touchy-feely stuff?” But in the highly stressful, isolating, rapidly changing world of education, retreats can be critically important in helping maintain a sense of collective purpose.
Staff retreats at IAA are a source of great unity and inspiration. As we learn to be with each other in different ways, we develop deeper understandings of who we are as individuals and as a community. Spending time with each other in a way that is fun, relaxed, and reflective can be nourishing as well as productive. Rarely in this culture do we take the time to simply pause from the frantic pace of our world and play (especially through artistic expression). A commitment to pausing at an organizational level can lead to the manifestation of an entirely different and powerful orientation toward work, vision, community, and self. The IAA retreats strive to bring us closer together and in the act, bring us closer to the community and children we serve.
Staff retreats at IAA are a source of great unity and inspiration. As we learn to be with each other in different ways, we develop deeper understandings of who we are as individuals and as a community. Spending time with each other in a way that is fun, relaxed, and reflective can be nourishing as well as productive. Rarely in this culture do we take the time to simply pause from the frantic pace of our world and play (especially through artistic expression). A commitment to pausing at an organizational level can lead to the manifestation of an entirely different and powerful orientation toward work, vision, community, and self. The IAA retreats strive to bring us closer together and in the act, bring us closer to the community and children we serve.
january RETREAT 2016
26% of children in the United States will witness or experience a traumatic event before they turn four.
This statistic has a dramatic impact on the work we do in school. It effects our teaching and the quality of care we provide during and beyond the student day. The adage, “It takes a village,” firmly applies to these needs.
Last Tuesday we spent the day as a staff working through these issues of trauma and adverse childhood experiences. We talked about the impact it has on us as caring humans, the strategies we can employ to better support students and we deepened our collaborative bonds as professionals so we can support each other through this difficult work. We cried, we laughed, we danced and committed ourselves more deeply to this work. We will continue to explore this issue and tackle what it means to develop a collective responsibility to meet the complex needs of the children we teach.
This statistic has a dramatic impact on the work we do in school. It effects our teaching and the quality of care we provide during and beyond the student day. The adage, “It takes a village,” firmly applies to these needs.
Last Tuesday we spent the day as a staff working through these issues of trauma and adverse childhood experiences. We talked about the impact it has on us as caring humans, the strategies we can employ to better support students and we deepened our collaborative bonds as professionals so we can support each other through this difficult work. We cried, we laughed, we danced and committed ourselves more deeply to this work. We will continue to explore this issue and tackle what it means to develop a collective responsibility to meet the complex needs of the children we teach.
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August Retreat 2015
Special Thanks to Storyteller Peter Burns, Aplomb Consulting's Jason Lorber and Robin Fawcett, all around community building and artistic guru.
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