To encourage dialogue and reflection about the need for and purpose of vacations, our question for this week is: Why are vacations important? Reflecting and Preparing with Purpose (Week of 2/27/22) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
Blake's Guiding Lights
Our Students
Blake's Core Values: Respect, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Reflection
Our Essential Question: How can we cultivate and curate the progression of student learning and growth?
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.
The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning. - John Dewey
You cannot teach today the same way you did yesterday to prepare students for tomorrow. - John Dewey
Vacation weeks always seem to come right when we need them, but maybe that is because they are on the calendar and it is simply our minds/calendars telling us that they are needed? It was wonderful to have some much needed time for rest, reading, naps, podcasts, yoga, and simply shifting the day-to-day routines. The ups and downs of the weather certainly teased us a bit with spring-like weather, then Friday’s snowstorm brought me right back to the words of poet Anne Bradstreet: “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." One of the real highlights of the week was taking a long walk with Kelly C. on the rail trail in Holliston - such a wonderful visit.
Throughout the week I took advantage of the ‘change in routine’ - not setting the alarm clock, hopping on the exercise bike in the morning, and listening to podcasts (I still need a routine, even on the ‘off days’). The episode shared below is one that jumped out at me, as I am hard on myself and the word ‘regret’ has always had a negative connotation. I loved the reframing of the word - and, I can never get too much of Brené Brown!
Brené with Dan Pink on The Power of Regret
(1 hr 11 min)
Dan Pink is one of my favorite researchers and writers. In this episode, we dig into one of my least favorite feelings (but one of my best teachers): regret. In his new book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, Dan shares findings from two large studies on regret. It’s fascinating. One big takeaway: We have more regrets about the things we did NOT do than the things we did do. Both Dan and regret are great teachers—you’ll be glad you listened.
Immediately after my exercise bike workout was done, I quickly grabbed a pen and replayed this section of the episode so I would be able to come back to them (something I have done a few times a day since the original ‘listening’ on Monday morning!)...
‘I have a ton of regrets, some old…and some from last week, and I don’t want to ever stop having regrets because I never want to stop learning…And I think if we can tie regret with learning…And how people draw a line between no regrets and fragility and ego is important, because the future belongs to the curious and to the learners, not the knowers, and part of being a learner is having the courage to feel the frisson of regret.’
After letting the recent insights from the episode start to ‘sink in’, I checked out my Instagram feed, and serendipitously came upon Adam Grant’s post (it is not the first time that it has felt that Adam G. has a direct line into my thoughts, emotions, and reflections!)...
I truly believe that everything does ‘connect’, and I value the process of reflection - I know that true learning can not take place without reflection (and I have now also learned and understand the role that regret can play in a positive manner with our learning process). Our theme of imagination is one that I hope we can truly bring to the forefront in our work, as we continue to imagine (and act on the imaginings) a culture of growth for ALL of our learners. We must continue to lean on the past in order to prepare for the future - otherwise, we will be in a cycle of stagnation - and, ‘history repeating itself’ is a pattern that we must break for the interest of our youth. ‘Speaking from the I’, the cycle of reflection, imagination, hope, and action has helped me to ‘stay on track’ this week and re-establish the compass points for my own growth and progress. It is incumbent upon us to help students develop their own path that will keep them ‘on track’, while always allowing them the time and space to revise and reshape their track along the way.
In an effort to synthesize these thoughts and reflections in a coherent, and hopefully structured, manner (and adhering to my desire to continue the ‘annual reflection’ from the previous year, albeit a little late), the ‘shares’ below (some older, some newer) will hopefully guide, push, challenge, and nurture our efforts to support our community of learners…
Grounding and Centering
Intentions for 2022
2021’s Posts and Podcasts of Influence
Posts to Frame our Work
Recent Thoughts/Responses from Our Community
Words of Inspiration
Grounding and Centering - Post and Quote
Possible Futures: Toward a New Grammar of Schooling
by Jal Mehta (@jal_mehta) in Phi Delta Kappan
We are at a hinge moment in the history of our schools. A 120-year-old industrial structure is radically ill-equipped for the challenges posed by the COVID pandemic, much less what has been called the triple pandemic of COVID, racism and economic inequality, and fundamental threats to our democracy. We have been trying to carry on as usual, but it isn’t working.
Our present situation calls for flexibility, relationship-building, and deep engagement with the broader world, but our school systems are bureaucratic, transactional, and insular. The problem is not the people — teachers are working heroically, and students are persevering under highly adverse circumstances. The problem is that they are working within a structure that is working against them.
There is a better way. After nearly two decades of attempts to standardize schools, education leaders across the United States are coming to recognize the limits of Newtonian command-and-control models of school reform and becoming increasingly aware of the need to embrace a more complex, humane, and diverse future.
…we now have many models that show us what new and better forms of education can look like in practice, as youth development organizations, schools, and districts adopt more forward-looking visions of teaching and learning. No doubt, progress will be patchy, more evolution than revolution. But we can already glimpse what the future of schooling might look like.
What might be the foundational pillars of a new approach? I suggest three: 1) learners whose agency is respected, whose diversity is embraced, whose selves are deeply known, whose joy is cultivated, and whose holistic growth is the paramount concern; 2) learning that is purposeful, authentic, and connected to the broader human domains of which those learners are part; 3) learning communities that enable deep relationships, cultivate democratic values and dispositions, and model the kind of society and environment we want to create.
A system with more choice, agency, and flexibility needs an assessment system to match. We may be on our way…Assessments should be grounded in the process and performance of work in particular domains and should be used primarily as a tool for inquiry rather than a single summative judgment.
Every decision we make in schools implicitly or explicitly communicates a set of values. Right now, while we talk as if schools are places where students learn to think critically, collaborate, communicate, and so forth, in practice what they are learning is that schools are places that value individual advancement through grades and tests. We need to develop different kinds of communities, organized around different values, if schools are going to become the kinds of places we need them to become.
Schools are not just where we communicate academic content; they are where we raise our young people. Our current grammar of schooling inhibits much of what we want for those young people. Why not create a new structure that is consistent with our highest aspirations?
- #slowingitdown with intentional time for self-reflection, mindfulness, and growth
- Defining ‘personal time’ and ‘professional time’ (an uphill climb for me)
- Align beliefs with practice (hope with action) in the realms of anti-racism, social justice, equity, diversity, belonging, and inclusion (personal, professional, leadership)
- Intentionally strive to integrate social justice, equity, diversion, and inclusion into all facets of life and work
- Practice #willfulaction with #willfulhope
- Lead with flexibility, understanding, and grace
- Explore musical interests (playing and listening)
- Listen to understand rather than listen to respond
- Embrace and model authenticity and vulnerability
- Explore ways to 'go deeper' and find more meaning
- Think about ways to connect more directly with students (focus groups, check-ins, discussions)
- Broaden and redefine some methods of leading, sharing, and growing (networking, connecting, collaborating) within Blake, Medfield, and beyond
My Annual Resolutions/Intentions
- Be open to the ideology of those who do not share my thinking and better understand those views (ask questions and be genuinely curious for feedback)
- Be a mirror for others and ask others to do the same for me
- Articulate and focus on the 'good problems'
- Foster leadership at all levels (students, staff, parents, and community), balancing ownership with healthy delegation and growth for others
- Stay the course and keep the 'big picture' in mind at all times
- 'Lean towards yes' and maintain the mission of our mantra, 'a willingness to adapt'
2021’s Influential Posts
These are not necessarily the ‘top posts’ - rather that are ones that have held meaning for me, our collective work, and our community of learners (some may appear or ‘read’ as time-specific, but I believe they hold true at all times)...
The Tests Are Lousy, So How Could the Scores Be Meaningful?
by Alfie Kohn (@alkfiekohn)
How to Be an Antiracist Educator: An Interview With Ibram X. Kendi
by Rebecca Koenig in EdSurge
Rethinking US education: What if everything we believe about education is a lie?
by Robert Pondiscio in The Hechinger Report
Our Unpleasant Truths: Where Have They Delivered Us? — Part I | Will Richardson
by Will Richardson (@willrich45) in IntrepidEdNews
A 12-Year-Old’s Letter to Her Post-Pandemic Self
by Julia Cho in The New York Times
Making Connections: Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain
by Elena Aguilar in Edutopia
What If Schools Were Places Where the Value of Learning Was Obvious?
by Dave Stuart, Jr. (@davestuartjr)
What Is The #New Curriculum? | Will Richardson
by Will Richardson (@willrich45)
Teresa Thayer Snyder: What Shall We Do About the Children After the Pandemic
Posted by Diane Ravitch
How Learning Science Is Catching Up To Mr. Rogers
by Anya Kamanetz (@anya1anya) in MindShift
My AHA Moments in the Pandemic Education Plan
by Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby)
What ‘learning loss’ really means
by Valerie Strauss in The Washington Post
The Question That Doesn't Help Students Figure Out Their Career (Opinion)
by Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) in Education Week
Challenging the Status Quo to Rewrite New School Rules
by Katie Martin (@katiemartinedu)
Equity in Education: We Don't Need To Level the Playing Field, We Need to Change the Game
by Erin Lynn Raab in Getting Smart
From Pandemic to Possibility: Now is the Time to Consider Competency-Based Education
by Ben Owens and Jerry Lee in Getting Smart
To Emerge Stronger After the Pandemic, We Must Learn from the “During” - Education Reimagined
by Homa Tavangar in Education Reimagined
The Purpose of School Isn't Preparing Students for College
by David Guerin (@DavidGuerin)
Racial Equity Work: Beyond Performative Change
by Jal Mehta (@jal_mehta) and Krista Galleberg (@kristagalleberg) in NGLC
What If We Tried “Radical Acts of Education”?
by Homa Tavangar and Will Richardson in Big Questions Institute
Why a ‘Growth Mindset’ Won’t Work
by Peter DeWitt in Education Week
All Students Need Anti-racism Education
by Christina Torres in Learning for Justice
Reprioritizing Standards for Middle and High School Students
by Heather Wolpert-Gawron in Edutopia
Patterns Broken: The Opportunity of the Mastery Transcript
by Ben Rein
How Might Change Be Driven by Coherence?
by Homa Tavangar (@HomaTav) and Will Richardson (@willrich45)
Knowing Students Deeply is the Most Important Thing We Can Do
by Pamela Cantor in Getting Smart
Getting-Hit-on-the-Head Lessons (Opinion)
by Alfie Kohn (@alfiekohn) in Education Week
What's Missing From Back To School This Year? The Time To Heal
by Neema Avashia (@AvashiaNeema)
Why You Need to Protect Your Sense of Wonder — Especially Now
by David P. Fessell and Karen Reivich in Harvard Business Review
The Point Of School Isn’t To Become Good At School
by Grant Wiggins in TeachThought
Relationships Are the Foundation of Everything We Do
by Fred Ende in ASCD
How the Platinum Rule Trumps the Golden Rule Every Time
by Peter Economy in Inc.
Why We Have the Wrong Kind of Urgency in Education | NGLC
by Jal Mehta (@jal_mehta)
The Power Of A Question
by Greg Satell in The Creativity Post
Complicated To Complex
by David Culberhouse (@DCulberhouse)
The Bunk of Generational Talk - WSJ
by Bobby Duffy in The Wall Street Journal
What’s the Matter With Kids Today?
by Liz Mineo in The Harvard Gazette
** Education scholars debunk myth that young people today are lazier, more immature than prior generations
We Have to Prepare Students for the Next Level, Don't We?
by Rick Wormeli (@rickwormeli2)
Awe Might Be Our Most Undervalued Emotion. Here’s How to Help Children Find It
by Deborah Farmer Kris in The Washington Post
A Soft Place to Land
by Jane R. Shore
Beyond the Classroom: Celebrating the Late Bloomer
by Elizabeth Smith in NAIS
Leading Out of the Storm: Taking Schools Forward (Not 'Back to Normal')
by Joshua Freedman in IntrepidEd News
Podcasts
David Price on the Power of Us
(39 minutes)
David Price is an author, educator, consultant, and public speaker based in North Yorkshire, UK. He has written two Amazon best-selling books, the latest titled, The Power of Us: How We Connect, Act, and Innovate Together. David has led innovation in education projects around the world for the past twenty years, following leadership roles in community, adult, further, and higher education.
At the end Price shares a perspective that ‘the time has found us’ and this holds true for our students as well…
“Our young people now, they could be the greatest generation. They could take these problems that have been mounting for decades and they could change the world. The time has found them.”
These words fill me with hope and provide a foundation for me to look forward with hope, intention and commitment.
Preparing For Jobs That Don’t Yet Exist
(40 min, 40 seconds)
Michelle Weise returns to Future U to talk about her new book, Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet and why creating a new learning ecosystem for what’s ahead is so critical for all of us.
Grading for Equity
From the Harvard Edcast Podcast
(32 minutes)
When Joe Feldman, author of Grading for Equity, looked closer at grading practices in schools across the country, he realized many practices are outdated, inconsistent, and inequitable. Today he helps educators develop strategies that tackle inconsistent grading practices. In doing so, Feldman tells the Harvard EdCast how shifting grading practices can change the landscape of schools and potentially the future for students.
Grading for Equity
From the CS-Ed Podcast
(35 minutes)
Joining us today is Joe Feldman, author of Grading for Equity and the CEO of Crescendo Education Group. We discuss the historical overview of grading and why now is a good time to rethink our grading process to make it more equitable. We got concrete by discussing our host's, Kristin Stephens-Martinez's, syllabus for her class and changes she was considering after reading Grading for Equity. One significant point Joe made is that grades should only convey the student's level of mastery, not their behavior. Finally, we closed the episode with him pointing out we should do small experiments, iterate, and over time transition our classes to be more equitable, as well as discussed ways to normalize the new practices in the classroom. If you are interested in learning more, there is not only the book but also an online class.
Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman: Rapid Response: Why we need to think again, w/Adam Grant on Apple Podcasts
(30 minutes)
“Why we need to think again, w/Adam Grant” - Transcript
This podcast is worth listening to - highlighting aspects of Grant’s new book and sharing the importance of reconsidering our preconceived notions and ideas.
Adam Grant on Rethinking
(32 minutes)
Adam Grant, Wharton's top-rated professor, speaks with Arianna Huffington about gratitude, meditation and sleep. The author of Think Again says the pandemic has him rethinking his core values: integrity, freedom, generosity and excellence.
Brené with Dr. Clint Smith on How the Word Is Passed
(97 min)
I’m talking to writer, teacher, and scholar Dr. Clint Smith about his new book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. We talk about the history of slavery in this country and how we approach, excavate, recognize, and react to that history—and how we have a responsibility and accountability to get the story and the history right. Because when we can be honest about the history, we can begin to acknowledge it, reckon with it, and heal from it.
Two Posts to Frame Our Reflections, Learnings, and Action
The two posts below are ones that I shared last year in my ‘2020 reflective post’ (Taking the Time) and I am sharing again - they serve as a mechanism to center me, challenge my own thinking, reflect, and to frame/map a vision that I hope we can all embrace for ALL of our learners. For those who do not know Beth, she used to work for EdTechTeacher and provided professional development for a number of years to the Blake/Medfield staff. She certainly is a gifted writer and a researcher/educator to the core with a keen eye for 'speaking truth' and providing context. They both look backwards with a foundation of curiosity - encouraging us to look forwards in a productive, progressive, creative, and honest manner.
Willing to Be Disturbed
by Margaret Wheatley
This piece is an excerpt from Wheatley’s book, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, and the phrase ‘willing to be disturbed’ is one that helps to open up conversations. This mantra will help us to listen to one another and examine our own practices - a key component of a learning community. There is much about this excerpt that I love, but the creativity element really speaks to me today.
As we work together to restore hope to the future, we need to include a new and strange ally—our willingness to be disturbed. Our willingness to have our beliefs and ideas challenged by what others think. No one person or perspective can give us the answers we need to the problems of today. Paradoxically, we can only find those answers by admitting we don’t know. We have to be willing to let go of our certainty and expect ourselves to be confused for a time.
It is very difficult to give up our certainties—our positions, our beliefs, our explanations. These help define us; they lie at the heart of our personal identity. Yet I believe we will succeed in changing this world only if we can think and work together in new ways. Curiosity is what we need. We don’t have to let go of what we believe, but we do need to be curious about what someone else believes. We do need to acknowledge that their way of interpreting the world might be essential to our survival.
Sometimes we hesitate to listen for differences because we don’t want to change. We’re comfortable with our lives, and if we listened to anyone who raised questions, we’d have to get engaged in changing things. If we don’t listen, things can stay as they are and we won’t have to expend any energy. But most of us do see things in our life or in the world that we would like to be different. If that’s true, we have to listen more, not less. And we have to be willing to move into the very uncomfortable place of uncertainty.
We can’t be creative if we refuse to be confused. Change always starts with confusion; cherished interpretations must dissolve to make way for the new. Of course it’s scary to give up what we know, but the abyss is where newness lives. Great ideas and inventions miraculously appear in the space of not knowing. If we can move through the fear and enter the abyss, we are rewarded greatly. We rediscover we’re creative.
We Were Warned
Beth typically writes an 'end of year post' with predictions for the next calendar year. I touched base with her at the end of 2020 and she told me she was thinking about writing one. After the events on 1/6, she wrote this post and shared it with me back in mid-January of 2021. I echo the sentiments and hope that we do not 'sleep through this wake-up call' that we have all experienced. It speaks to a lot of the conversations we have have had - also provides context for the need to push against 'the norms' that Beth notes have unfortunately become so embedded into the 'culture of schools'.
'Instead of evolving into a system that valued and honored ALL students, American public education largely institutionalized structures intended to sort and rank individuals so that existing power structures remained fully entrenched.'
Sampling of Responses from Last Week’s ‘Question of the Week’: What helps you when you face challenges? What inspires you to improve and keep moving forward?
- Taking my time
- focusing
- What helps me when I face challenges is to ask for help when I need it. Especially in school.
- I think of the good out of the problem.
- I am inspired by my son who has faced numerous health challenges and continues to meet each day head on and inspire others as well.
- determination
- Friends help me move forward and inspire me to keep going.
- Problem solving with colleagues!
- confiding in friends and family members, Hope inspires me to keep moving forward, the hope that I will overcome my struggles
- When I face challenges I like having a good book with a character that I can connect with the feelings and emotion they are going through.
- What helps me when I face challenges, is the thought nothing lasts forever
- Music :)
- My family
- My ski coach once told me that if you back away from fear it just keeps coming closer and closer. So you should always just go in head first and face your fears.
- My parents and goals I’ve set for myself.
- I take a deep breath and listen to encouraging music.
- Friends and family
- Taking my time
- When I face challenges I keep going since I already worked hard and I don't want to lose everything I worked for.
- Challenges are what make life interesting and worth living. I enjoy reading stories about people who face and overcome challenges. These stories often provide inspiration when I am facing my own challenges.
- I feel inspired by my peers.
- My parents and goals I set for myself
- Friends
- Friend backup and family backup.
- Taking time and focusing
- What helps me is trying to focus on the good in the situation. Focusing on the good improves me and keeps me moving forward.
Words of Inspiration - Fostering Imagination and Action
The words below speak for themselves and are ones I hope we can instill for ourselves, our students, and our communities...
We are going to make the path by walking it. - Colby Swettberg
We can't teach what we don't know. We can't lead where we won't go. - Malcolm X
If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. - Charlie Parker
With just one day left in February (wow!) and #BlackHistoryMonth, I am once again sharing these words from James Baldwin as relevant compass points for our learning community, as well as the community that extends beyond our school - embracing a willingness to reflect, acknowledge, and face our current challenges and realities; being open to changes for improvement; and, most important - acting on the lessons learned for real, sustainable change.
As always, let me know of any questions/concerns.
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Take care.
Nat