As I plan the War Room sessions, I realize that the idea of people coming and going or only attending partial sessions is just not going to work. There is too much specialized information to impart in these sessions and the pedagogical houses we are building must have a firm group-created foundation.
So I am asking that all War Room participants attend all War Room sessions in a spirit of doing and not thinking or listening to some presenter. This commitment is expected because of the nature of the work – we can’t learn how to teach this way by thinking about it. We must put on our battle gear and go in with the intent to win the battle by putting this stuff into our bodies.
The work we will be doing will be so compact and specialized, and the skills and strategies will be gone into so deeply, that if you come and go from the sessions you will just miss too much. This work is serious, hence the term War Room.
So please let me know if you are already signed up for a War Room in either the Denver or Chicago location and you can’t commit to the above ideas. I want 15 people who are willing to leave everything on the floor by the end of our sessions.
We cannot have just the three scheduled sessions either. We must work much more, in the evenings and whenever we can. So War Room participants are expected to be able to commit to evenings as well. If we want to drink or eat, we can bring drink and food in, but we can’t just have three sessions.
We could probably work six hours a day and not scratch the surface of what we are going to be working on. I have asked Carol and Lisa to help us find venues for this work in the evenings. If we can’t work in the evenings, we must commit to finding any time we can. Too many hours for work are wasted at conferences with needless conversation.
Note that yes there is room for those who just want to watch, it will give those who want to work more time to stand and deliver on their feet. But the sessions are for attendees to practice the skills and learn the strategies. We are in a war in our classrooms and in our buildings, and we must plan accordingly.
I apologize for the change in approach, but this is the first time we have done War Rooms. Come with battle gear on and be ready to fight alongside others who want to no longer be unsure about this work and who want to finally be in full command of their classrooms.