To help encourage conversations and dialogue about fresh starts with a positive lens in mind, our topic/question for the dinner table is: Why will this be a good year in school? Please see link to Google Form to share your responses: A Fresh Start (This is an anonymous Google Form)
I hope that everyone enjoyed a nice and relaxing, and certainly well-deserved, long weekend. The first week of school is full of emotion and energy for students, teachers, and families, and the extra day and a half was certainly appreciated in the Vaughn household! We had a nice time as a family on the cape with my parents for a couple of days before coming back to Holliston for a day to 'regroup'. The commitment, care, and professionalism of the Blake staff was 'in full effect' as we began our work for 16-17 together as a community of educators during our first two professional days. I so appreciate the student-centered lens and 'open energy' that was at the forefront of our discussions, as we took the time to plant seeds and outline the vision for the upcoming year. Thank you.
One of my continued goals for this year, for both myself and the school, is to maintain a culture of sharing and transparency with one another and the community. It is important to take the time to highlight our work and progress, both the good and bad, in a reflective manner so that we are all held accountable to our mission: Blake Middle School believes in a living mission statement, based on the concept that our community seeks and respects knowledge, integrity, character, wisdom, and the willingness to adapt to a continually evolving world. My hope is that we continue to come back to our mission so that it does become, as I said to our staff at our opening meeting together, a 'broken record' and the mantra of a 'willingness to adapt' is second nature for all of us. The weekly blog update will remain as one of the vehicles for communication and transparency, sharing what we are talking about as a community, highlighting some readings, and simply offering some of my own thoughts and questions that are floating about in my head.
I felt truly energized, encouraged, and centered during our time as a staff together this week and am sharing links to the clips we watched together as I hope we can keep them in mind and come back to them throughout the year. After my first viewing of each of them, I have found myself 'circling back' and finding deeper meaning through conversations, viewings, and reflection. I hope they (along with some of the quotations that were shared) do the same for you as well...
James Ryan's 5 Essential Questions in Life
The Power of Vulnerability TED Talk - Brene Brown
Start With Why Edited Summary TED Talk - Simon Sinek
The Happy Secret to Better Work TED Talk - Shawn Achor
And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been. - Rainer Maria Rilke
May we never forget that for a brief moment in time we were a part of the future by being a part of a child’s life. - Pernille Ripp
It is what teachers think, what teachers do, and what teachers are at the level of the classroom that ultimately shapes the kind of learning that young people get. - Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan
By allowing the debate to focus on what schools can do for us and not what we can do for schools, we create an argument that schools can only lose. - John Hattie
Many ideas were shared and we have noble goals to strive for this year - high hopes, our theme of empathy, a revised School Improvement Plan - and, the list goes on and on. It can certainly feel overwhelming, but I trust that it all will happen if we take some small steps each day, embrace a culture of vulnerability, and collaborate. In an effort to try and center these thoughts, I am sharing four posts that I hope can serve as anchors for the ups and downs that we will encounter each day ahead of us...
When the School Dreams Start Earlier Than Usual
by Starr Sackstein in Education Week Teacher
Sackstein is a prolific blogger and her open reflection addresses the thoughts that I know I share when it comes to change, new jobs, or new opportunities. We are all in a phase of change/transition right now (new job, new batch of students, new teachers, etc.), and I appreciate her encouragement to keep our eyes open for a new adventure.
We continually tell our students to take risks to keep growing as learners and although we model that on smaller scales in the positions we live in, there comes a time when kids graduate and move onto something completely new and adults have similar opportunities if they want them. I'm one of those people. So I invite the dreams knowing that it means change is on the horizon. I plan what I can and ask the right questions to be as prepared as I can be. Strategically exploring to be able to walk into the new school year with open eyes and approach it all with the same excitement and fervor as I would a new adventure. Then the dreams will adjust and when I remember them, I'll take note and use what I learn to just keep moving forward.
Teaching? A ministry of love, hope, fatigue, failure and success
by Katie Magongolwa in The News and Observer
This post offers a wonderful perspective on education and the complex role of an educator.
Teaching? I would recommend it to everyone and yet to no one. As with parenthood, the days are long and the years are short. To be a teacher means to know you won’t change everybody’s life, but to wake up every morning with the strength to try. So what I want you to know about teaching is that we don’t take summers off. There’s always another book, another lesson, another kid, another idea. Teaching looks like joy and courage and always, always being there.
Setting the Stage for a Great School Year
by Steven W. Anderson
As we begin the 'new year', Anderson provides a nice outline for teachers to help begin anew. His approach held meaning for me as a parent and lifelong student as well.
Get Connected; Create a Virtual Classroom; Set Goals and Reflect Often; Add Something New to Your Technology Toolkit; Establish Relationships
I always enjoyed heading back to school more than any other time. Getting back in my classroom and getting things set back up, buying new supplies and planning for all the great things I learned over the summer were just some of things that excited me. I couldn’t wait for kids to get back in school and for learning to start again.
#BringingJoyBack: Remember Your Why!
by Rachael George in ASCD In-Service
'Remember Your Why' will be a mantra that I hope we can all embrace this year - taking time to remember our why, articulate and hold on to our why, and then carry forth the why each day.
So as you had back to school and get ready for students to return, remember your why. Close your eyes and think back to what inspired you to become an educator. As the year goes on, don’t lose that vision and purpose—it will provide direction to you throughout all that you do. Remember your why.
We all have the ability and responsibility to strive for a wonderful year together as a Blake community (students, staff, parents, and greater community) and hope we can treat each day with the energy we have at the beginning of a new school year. As Shawn Achor shared in his TED talk, it is important that we make a concerted effort to change our lens and reverse the formula for happiness and success, centering our work for our students and one another. I encourage everyone to think about the five steps outlined in his talk (3 gratitudes/day, Journaling, Exercise, Meditation, Random Acts of Kindness) and strive to bring them into the culture of our school. I hope you will remind me to do the same - if we can do that, I am confident we will be moving forward in a positive direction. As I share at the outset of every school year together (in fact, it would behoove me to say it at the outset of every day!), I look forward to the success, challenges, and opportunities for growth that await us.
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Take care.
Nat Vaughn