I hope that everyone has enjoyed a wonderful end to the summer and is excited about the start to the school year! I am writing with an update for all Blake families and to wish everyone well.
During our opening faculty meetings we took some time as a staff to outline the school year and our hopes for our students. The last couple of years we have taken time to reflect on the following questions: What are the attributes, characteristics, and core values we hope to foster in our students? What are the attributes, characteristics, and core values of a Blake Middle School educator? What helps you learn?' This year I asked the staff to share their responses to the question 'How can we empower our students'? For your reference I have posted the visuals below representing the collective answers of all four, reflecting the thought and care that we hope to foster and bring each day for your students.We also took the time as a staff to begin our formal work with our 'theme of diversity' for the 2017-2018 school year. To help prompt discussions, we watched Chimamanda Adichie's TED talk, The Danger of a Single Story, and I encourage you to watch it as well as we will be keeping the ideas from her message in mind throughout the year with our students and our curriculum.
Message to Blake Students 2017-2018
(A compilation of messages from Blake teachers to all of our students)
An Open Letter to Students Returning to School
(a message from John Green that I share each year)
Please do not worry or stay up all night configuring the iPads for the first day of school - we fully anticipate that some students will not have everything set up, and we will work with them to iron out the wrinkles. The first few days/weeks are a little bit messy and we need to 'welcome' the mess! If you have any questions/concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
We are all looking forward to an exciting year!
Take care.
Nat