John Newlin

John comes to Good Group Decisions with extensive facilitation experience. He facilitated over 200 meetings as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, and chairperson of numerous committees at Gorham High School from 1984-1996. After leaving Gorham, John worked for eleven years at the Southern Maine Partnership and the Great Schools Partnership (GSP), most recently in the roles of Associate Director and Senior Project Director. During this time he frequently facilitated both in-school and cross-school meetings of teachers, leadership teams, principals, and superintendents.

In his last major project as Senior Project Director at GSP, John facilitated regular meetings of a consortium of twenty-five school leaders from five Maine high schools as they collaboratively planned, refined, and implemented a $4 million federal school improvement grant. In addition, from 2005-2007 John served as the facilitator of the statewide panel that rewrote Maine’s social studies learning standards toward an emphasis on real-world application of social studies knowledge and skills.

Outside of education, John has facilitated dozens of whole-group meetings for the Two Echo Cohousing Community in Brunswick, Maine, and even more of their committee meetings.

Beyond his facilitation work, John is currently working to support and promote the wise use of "serious games” in schools, the creation of regular opportunities for students to have experiences in nature, and the development of school cultures that discourage hate violence and its precursors.

John earned a B.A. in political science and Certificate in global studies from the University of Iowa, and a Masters of Science Teaching in environmental studies from Antioch/New England Graduate School. John has also been an instructor of curriculum, assessment and evaluation at the University of Southern Maine and the University of New England.

John lives in rural Brunswick with his wife, two boys, and a variety of house and barn animals. He enjoys singing and coaching youth sports.

Send an e-mail to John by clicking here.