The Office of Educational Excellence is sponsoring character or virtue-grounded communities of practice with the desired outcomes of increased personal and professional connection and heightened sense of belonging and support from a community of colleagues.

We invite proposals from groups or individuals who have a desire to learn more about a particular topic or area of consternation that they believe would be of interest to others.  It is possible that you may have a loosely formed idea that warrants more exploration and will be determined as your group meets.  If that is the case, your CoP would be considered ‘exploratory.’   If you have already selected a topic, your CoP would be considered ‘predetermined.’  Specifics about each type follow below.  Creativity is encouraged and we hope you find a format that works best for your community and idea.  Regardless of selected format, we do suggest limiting membership to 8-10 participants.

Potential Formats

Exploratory

  • No programming pre-planned, all activities and discussions guided entirely by those who join with no predetermination. In this group, the facilitator will guide the group to:
    • Identify their desired outcomes for a group experience 
    • Assist the group in creating a schedule of activities, resources to be utilized, etc.
    • Facilitate each meeting of the group

Predetermined

  • Will have a predetermined main topic for exploration and learning and a curriculum framework (e.g., readings and reflections, lecture and discussion, articles with prompts, webinars with guided discussion questions, hypothetical lessons for participants to workshop, group creation prompts, reflective activities, case studies, or some combination of these, etc.).
  • The group(s) may decide together if they wanted to branch away from the original content based on membership, interests, natural conversations, etc., by determining a process for that during ground rule discussions, but there would be the original programming to fall back on if no natural departures from those topics arise. 

CoP Cadence Suggestions

  • Determine a meeting schedule that suits your needs and collective purpose
    • 1x month if spreading out the timeline
    • 2x month if more abbreviated, overarching schedule

Financial Support

The Office of Educational Excellence has available funding for books, supplies, meals, etc. for groups prioritizing character or virtue development.  Please reach out to us for additional information.  Please complete this for to be a recognized CoP.