Using Appreciative Inquiry and Engaging in a Learning Community

Session 5

Tariem A. Burroughs — Youth Health Empowerment Project

To create an engaging learning community we must first engage all members. To do so we must remember why we are in the community in the first place and what we bring to it. All of us possess an inner drive to want to continue to strive for higher levels in our education. Given the alarming rate of high school dropout, everyone in this room has beaten the odds just by stepping through the door. By doing so you have all shown that you have ability to achieve and overcome adversity. Now let’s harness that positive and powerful energy and create our ideal learning community.

To do this we will be using a method called Appreciative Inquiry (AI). AI is an inquiry-based process that, by using a 4D Cycle, allows us to discover, dream, design, and create a destiny to unlock our positive core. Each student or small group will be given four questions. The first question will have them appreciate what is and what has come before. The second question will be center around what could be the best possible future they can imagine. The third is aimed at determining what should be. The fourth question addresses creating what should be and then transforming that to action. Once this process is completed student(s) will return to the larger group and an AI summit, which involves picking out words and themes that each person or group came up with and using these key points to create their ideal learning community, will commence.

Conversational Practice

After introductions and explanation of the process members of the learning community will be split into small groups and given four large sheets of paper. A question will be proposed to each group. The questions will be based on the 4D Cycle. The first question will have them appreciate what is and what has come before. The second question will be around what could be the best possible future they can imagine. The third is around determining what should be. The fourth question is around creating what should be and then transforming that to action. Each group will be given three minutes to answer each question and upon completion of each question each group will select a member of that group to hang their answers up, not facing the group. This process will be repeated four additional times. Once this process is completed students will return to the larger group and an AI summit will commence. One member of each group will be tasked with turning answer sheets around for large group to see and large group will be given five minutes to do a gallery walk to read the other groups responses to the questions. Facilitator will ask the group if they see any common themes among the first, then second, then third, and finally the last question. During each of these times the facilitator will highlight keywords and phrases. After this is completed facilitator will write keywords on one sheet of paper and present to group the ideal learning community that they created wherein all members are engaged.