Second Day, Week two

As recorder I have been finding it very difficult to keep up with what is said in the meetings with the school board and in our teacher meetings. It is good that both the board recorder and I are willing to share notes and go over each others' to check for differences. Recording takes listening skills to ensure accurate note taking for all of those involved. Bargaining is an interesting process in which I had "no clue" as to how it all worked. We started our very rocky during the first session to establish ground rules, but the groups have come prepared to move forward on things today after smoothing our the rough spots. Neil and Guy as head negotiators talked some before we began to get the ground rules resolved. This helped get things going on the second day of simulation.

It is extremely difficult not to speak when someone says something to which you either agree or disagree with completely. It has been very helpful to see how both sides respond during the process and to see how important it is to be prepared. It is interesting to see how well we have anticipated the board's response to our proposals and how we decided to respond to theirs (the "dance"). We began with the language and have found it relatively easy to come to a consensus on those and TA several items. This helps both teams feel encouraged that we will be able to negotiate terms in the final agreement. There are still a few items that we need to work on - then comes the salary and insurance parts. I somehow think that those items will take more back and forth dancing to come to an agreement. The simulaton has been very interesting and a great learning experience. Being able to discuss with our teammates was very beneficial in the learning process. It was interesting how each member was able to look over the prior information and see what language needed to be changed to make things clearer.