The President of the Maldives says.... Meyna School is Great!

It's 5 years from now... 2016 ... the President of the Republic has recognized Meyna School for its outstanding work in significanting improving the academic achievement of its students.  A group of reporters is coming from Male to interview you.....

Thus started the Practical Vision workshop... a visualization to get the participants thinking about what they wanted to achieve in the next five years.

We looked at the five year plan through the lens of the Workshop Question.... and...

Through the lens of the Focus Question, the planning committee had developed.

The scene changed now from 2016 back to 2011.   Individual participants were to brainstorm what they had seen going on at the school in the year 2016.  What was the school being recognized for?  What innovations had the 5 year plan helped to bring about?  What role had they, members of the workshop played in the plan and what were they most proud of?

Write BIG, one IDEA per half sheet, 4 to 6 words.... okay, brainstorm your ideas and write them down!

The groups passed up their top five.... which I read and placed at random on the wall.

Before long, the wall took on a new look!  Half sheets of paper with all of the accomplishments of Meyna School in the year 2016!

The facilitator's nightmare.... rolls of tape.  Rolls and rolls and rolls of tape to put on the back of the half sheets, with the hope they will stick to the wall....

Initially with so many half sheets on the wall, we looked for similar ideas and put them in pairs.... then into clusters..





As the clusters became rows, I put a symbol at the top of the rows.... made it easier for the workshop participants (and me) to add new cards.  All they had to do was either tell me which symbol (boat, palm tree, tuna, etc.) or draw the symbol on their half sheet before they gave it to me.

The participants were very engaged in this aspect of the workshop as they reviewed the cards and decided which cards should be in which rows.



Rows and rows and rows of data!  First the sun symbol on blue paper in the middle row, then the row is given a title... Local Resourses



Reading through each of the rows of cards, I asked the participants to name the row based on the accomplishments they'd seen in the data.... give the row a title in other words.

This is a powerful step in the Practical Vision part of the workshop.  Some struggles took place in terms of trying to decide what was behind the obvious data on the half sheets ..... leading to the accomplishment and therefore an appropriate title.

A happy colorful wall..... The Wall of Wonder on the left and the Practical Vision on the right.



All good and well to have a fun time stroling down Meyna School's rich and colorful memory lane, but what does this tell us about the future?  What can we learn from the past?  What are the implications for the future?

The Wall of Wonder - A celebration of Meyna School's Journey!

The Wall of Wonder (on the left) and the Practical Vision (on the right) blank.... empty.... waiting for the brainstorming to start!

Individual brainstorming of events in Meyna School's history.

The school began in 1947 as a community school... it would be nearly 40 years later before it became a government school.

From individual brainstorming of historical events, to groups sharing their lists.

Sometimes a little clarification was needed to keep things moving along.

The small groups really enjoyed this activity of reflecting on the history of the school.

Okay.... if you don't know much of the early years, just move to a time period from which you brainstorm your memory of the school's historical events.

Placing the information cards under the time period, was an informative adventure for everyone.

Hmmmm.... under which time period should this event be placed?

Look at that fist full of half sheets this group brainstormed!  Their sheets alone could fill the whole Walle of Wonder!

More and more workshop participants come forward to help fill the Wall of Wonder.

Mr. Hamad, the Deputy Principal (and local school historian!) upon my request, walked the group through the Wall of Wonder.

Mr. Hamad told stories of past events and people .... and had the participants laughing through his tales.

Once the participants had all their historical events on the wall, and we'd read through them all, I asked them to think of each section as a chapter in a book.  What would they name each chapter.

The first period form 1947 to 1980, the grouped named The Infancy. 
The middle period of Meyna School from 1981 - 2001 was given the title ... "Concrete Stage."

The arrows on the half sheets indicate shifts or transitions that took place at that time.  The sad face, indicated a low point.

The period from 2002 to 2011 was named the "Achievement Stage."

The participants named the whole book.... The Great Journey toward Excellence of Meyna School.

The white half sheets provided information on Meyna school during the time period, whereas the color half sheets provided information about Holhudhoo Island, the Maldives and the world.

Don't I look as though I'm saying something very profound?

Behold..... the Meyna School Wall of Wonder!

A workshop waiting to happen.....



The workshop facilitator's tool box:  blank half sheets of paper, markers, half sheets with symbols on them, and the little rolls of masking tape. Thanks Linda Hamilton for giving me this "care" package before I left Redlands!

The little rolls of tape?  To put on the backside of the half sheets of paper, on which workshop participants have written their ideas.  The half sheets of paper can then be stuck to a wall for everyone to see, and they can be easily moved so as to group similar ideas.

Everything is ready.... just waiting for the teachers.