Parts of my plan I was able to implement:

-I was able to gather information with a survey. I used the results of this survey to show union members and fellow teachers and admin that there is concern of a lack of community within the district.

-I was able to facilitate and attend meetings to discuss and brainstorm for ways to build community within the district.

-It was decided that we should try events and activities to build community. From the weekly morning get-togethers, we decided to do a Secret Santa in the middle school that was extremely successful. From my work with the union, we did a Bowling Night for staff. After Covid-19 hit and we had to shut down the schools, I organized and facilitated a district-wide staff lip sync video in which any staff who wanted to participate would get featured.

I completed my action plan and it did start the ball rolling on building community within the district. However, there is still a ways to go. We need more buy-in from staff and more opportunities for events and activities.

From the lip sync video I organized, we got a lot of staff and admin involved and major support from the community (we were even featured in Readers Digest). With that video, all the stakeholders of my action plan were involved. Teachers and admin contributed to the video and when it went out to the public, community members shared and commented on the video. It was something to build community for our district and I believe it was successful.

I drew upon Group Processes and Interpersonal Effectiveness, Collaborate Purposefully and Organizing and Advocacy to facilitate and lead meetings, enlist help from colleagues and encourage their ideas and solutions.

I did not encounter the obstacles I predicted. The obstacles that did occur were time and buy-in from fellow colleagues. I found that it was a difficult to make every meeting and keep up on communication with all stakeholders. Many times I found myself looking at my schedule and rearranging things. With the lack of buy-in from colleagues, I tried multiple tactics. I asked for advice one-on-one, I tried to plan events that all would feel welcome to attend, I included everyone with the lip sync video invite. I think it will just take some time to build our community, but that we are on the right path.

I wish I could have made my Capstone less broad and more focused. If I had done that I could have focused on one event or activity. However, I understand the need to implement a plan and then adjust in future plans.