Edited by Penelope J. Wald and Michael S. Castleberry
This chapter presents a framework that supports a school community in discovering its identity. A school community can only begin to know itself if the members explore their history, values, purpose, current reality, and vision. We can use many approaches to explore our school's identity. This chapter suggests activities that can help a community identify where it has been, where it is, and where it wants to go.
Teachers have long functioned in isolated classrooms, void of meaningful connections with colleagues. For those who seek to make connections and nurture others in this profession, isolation is both unwanted and unnatural. A new metaphor for schools is emerging— schools as communities—which is the opposite of the isolated, compartmentalized approach to education. At the heart of the concept of community is wholeness and connectedness. Community is grounded in networks of relationships and a sense of identity.
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