This was a valuable time connecting with other educators from across the country around ways to foster schools where a sense of belonging in a post-pandemic world put social-emotional well-being at the center of our approach to leadership. It was especially interesting to hear about how others use Folio in their schools to promote goal - setting and collaboration. Many schools had similar issues around how to engage staff in meaningful ways on the platform and make it a part of regular practice so it was a good opportunity to brainstorm what we can all go back to our schools and try. What was most valuable about the time at Folio Summer Institute was the schools that presented their specifics of how Folio is used at their sites.

The last two days were centered around Fierce Conversations and ways to work and communicate effectively. The protocols for engaging in various configurations of groups and individuals, with specific sentence frames and structures to facilitate productive and real conversations were very useful. The group was much smaller for this part of the week and we did a lot of real situation role - play which was extremely helpful in building our skills as listeners, leaders, and coaches and provided a way to get feedback on our individual approach as well as get questions answered about tough conversations we each felt needed to be had in our various roles and sites. This was an excellent week of professional development for me in both the connections I made, the experiences I had, and the reflections in my own work that it prompted. I would highly recommend it to any educator.