Ask: List three ways in which you believe an effective school community helps teachers thrive.

Engage: Watch the video and identify analogous comparisons between biofilm communities and teaching communities. What are the nutrients, predators, cooperative social behavior existing in schools that impact their attitudes for growing into a community?

Action: Create a brief list of opportunities and threats in your school community and one way you can address each.

Ask: Would you consider yourself in regards to your colleagues to be a giver or a taker? Before watching the video list several ways in which you "give" to others and "take" from others. It is okay if at this moment you don't specifically understand the nuance of these two terms.

Engage: Watch the video to identify the traits for the three types (givers, takers, matchers) of people in Adam's presentation.

Action: What are two ways in which you need to be a giver AND taker to best serve your school community. List at least three 5 minute favors you could do to strengthen community within your school mentoring framework. Last, create two purposefully strategies you will employ to ensure new teachers feel free to come to your for help. If you would like to take the Giver/Taker/Matcher assessment then following this link.

Ask: Cultural is more than race. Loosely, it is the different subgroups of people that we belong to (e.g., sports teams, church groups, parenthood, teachers, etc.). Can you identify 2-3 cultures to which you belong? Can you identify 3-5 cultures to which you students belong?

Engage: Read the information at the linked title above and consider the following; a) what cultures do your students belong to which you do not and b) in which ways do you students engage with others outside the class and how do you incorporate these activities into your classroom?.

Action: What specific strategies might you share with others as examples of how you build an equitable community for different cultures in your students' classroom?

Ask: One of your former students is walking with a friend. What 3-5 words would she say describe her time with you?

Engage: Watch Rita Pierson talk about teaching and what she finds people value. Consider if your own findings about connecting with students are similar or different. How might you relate your own personality to how you connect with students?

Action: Create a list of specific strategies and resources that you can share with others to help them build community with students in their classrooms. Make a plan to check in with a new teacher at least weekly for the first 9 week to plan specifically for this important effort.

Ask: At this point of your career you are likely building community during the first days of school. Are they social or academic, or both? What would your students tell their friends/parents are the outcomes of those activities and experiences?

Engage: Read the scenarios at the linked title above for applicability to your classroom. Consider the sources you go to for finding such activities and if you need to update or refine your existing strategies for the first days of school.

Action: Create a list of resources and activities that you can share with new teachers to help them establish community in their classrooms. Make a plan to check in with a new teacher at least weekly for the first 9 week to plan specifically for these activities.

Ask: Shift your leadership mindset from individual to collective—from "I" and "them" to "we" and "us"—and from deficits and problems to assets and possibilities.

Engage: CLEs are not trainings or workshops, but rather collaborative, community-based, multiracial, and intergenerational dynamic exchanges of ideas, events, and strategies for school and community change. These exchanges offer experiences that facilitate individual and collective learning, leading to concrete action. The quintessential element behind this work is neither secret nor magic, but rather involves tapping into deeply rooted, cultural ways of teaching and learning that predate recorded history: the invitation for people to share their stories, assets, and wisdom.

Action: Visit http://iel.org/protocols

Ask: If you don't know the place where you live, how will you know how to take advantage of all there is to offer? How will you know how to build a strong, active community without the foundation of assets that are already right there?

Engage: Assets, the relations among them and access to use them, these are the grounds on which communities are built. Assets are more than cars and houses, or even a great pitching arm. How has your life been affected by people? How did you get the stuff? Did you borrow money for a car? From a bank? From family or friends? How are people and their relationship to you assets?

Action: Learning how to ask what communities have to offer begins a process of building, creating, and developing. It brings resources, knowledge, skills, capacities, and people together. Through these connections, access to more resources and assets is at our fingertips. As we build relationships with people, agencies, institutions, or businesses, we increase our connections and access to a multitude of assets.

Ask: Why is video so effective at helping teachers improve?

Engage: Read the linked setup guide to start a video club at your school. Consider starting small with two or three people until you are comfortable with the process. Ensure a path for success by establish procedures and trust to build a safe environment adn to focus on one teaching/assessment/learning strategy at a time.

Action: Create a 10 minute video of yourself about any teaching situation of your interest. Show it to a trusted colleague for feedback. Brainstorm by yourself (or with others) about expanding the idea of a video club.