To help encourage conversations and dialogue about how mindsets affect our learning, our topic/question for the dinner table is: What 'challenging change' are you willing to welcome to improve? Challenging Change (This is an anonymous Google Form)
Happy Spring - it finally feels as though we are reaping the benefits of daylight savings and I am struck by how much the weather affects my energy and presence (there are many connections that could be made here about the impact the environment we establish within our classrooms and schools can have on students and learning!). We thoroughly enjoyed seeing Blake's production of Shrek as a family on Saturday night - I am always amazed by the courage and presence that our students exhibit! Kudos to the cast and crew! Special thanks to Tracy, Maureen, Nancy D., Nancy M., and Susie for their leadership in guiding our students along the way, as well as our incredibly supportive parent volunteers - Jean Plonski, Joyce Sabia, Kim Price, and Laura Mulready! Needless to say, the kids are looking forward to the vacation!
Bertrand Russell's words have always held meaning for me, as I appreciate and value the practice of questioning to center my learning. Routines are good for me as they structure my days, but it is critical that I take (or am 'forced') to take a step back and challenge these routines in a healthy and open fashion. Each day this past week brought something a little different, and as with any day, there were successes, challenges, and questions - with #EdcampBlake (check out the flipgrid reflections from our staff), MCAS, Career Day for our 8th graders (big thanks to all of our guests and our keynote speaker, Christi Barney), and 5-town special olympics (an awesome event!), and our district-wide professional afternoon. All of these 'events' grounded me and prompted some questions about how we can improve. Below please find a couple of posts that are 'of interest' along with some of the notes from Christi's keynote...
Mapping A Career (my notes from the keynote)...
- Middle school memories stay with us
- Don't forget the random stuff
- Ask yourself, 'Where do I find meaning?'
- We need to always be careful with our language
- Check in with adults - am I right about this? Am I on track?
- Be willing to try things out
- 'I love people's stories'
- 'There must be something I can do...'
- 'I'm home' - what was that moment for you?
- You will be surprised
- Build on what you like and know
- There is always power in understanding
- 'There's always a little bit of truth in something someone says...it's worth finding out'
- Human beings aren't perfect
- A map - 'Take inventory of assets and liabilities...pay attention to what feels like a good fit for your skills, talents, and your heart...Try new things and different settings...Use everything you learn AND keep learning...And finally - find a way to serve'
- What else can you do? - 'Be a good citizen...Be a good parent/sibling/relative/friend...Be a mentor/preceptor'
- 'There is always something we can do to make it better'
It’s Time to Rethink How We Are Educating Our Children
by Benjamin Stecher
I am always interested in reading divergent views about the current state and future direction of education, and Stecher's post has certaintly struck a chord. I particularly appreciate his view that we need to foster the 'ability to adapt and learn', along with his view that this rethinking of learning applies to both students and adults.
The world that the next generation will grow up in will be radically different from anything we have seen in the past. A world filled with artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, automation, virtual reality, personalized medicine, self-driving cars, and people on Mars. A world where people might not even have jobs and where society itself may be arranged in fundamentally different ways. How are parents, and society for that matter, supposed to know how to prepare them to succeed in a world that we cannot predict?
It starts by rethinking what a school is. Schools used to be the storehouses of human knowledge and going to school was the best way to learn anything. Now that is no longer the case, knowledge is no longer confined to dusty classrooms or old books. Thanks to the internet it is now accessible to anybody who wants it. All schools have to do is get them to want it.
The role of school should no longer be to fill heads with information, rather it should be a place that inspires students to be curious about the world they live in...The ability to adapt and learn something new should be valued above all else...People will need to know how to learn something new multiple times over in their lives. Not only because it will be the only way you’ll still be able to contribute to society, but also because our knowledge of the world and who we are is progressing incredibly quickly. If the last time you learned anything new was when you were in school then you will be missing out on the new ways of understandings the world that are constantly opening up.
Students should also know that no subject is beyond them. We are told lies that some people just can’t do math or can’t draw. Other subjects like physics are presented to us as too dry or too complex for most people to grasp. What should be taught is that a certain level of literacy in any subject is not only attainable by everybody but is necessary to be able to appreciate the world we live in.
The Vulnerability of Learning
by George Couros (@gcouros)
Couros is one of my most oft-referenced educators, thinkers, and sources of inspiration for the humanness he brings to our profession and leadership. Being vulnerable is humbling, and it is that humility that fosters the necessary trust for students and adults to thrive.
The best educators in the world, have had days that they have been less than stellar. We look up to these people, sometimes believing they are infallible, yet not understanding that they too have had points in their career that they look back in disappointment. What probably makes them educators that others look up to is that although they have had those days, they learn from it, get better, and then move on. We celebrate the product but ignore the process.
What is important is that we share these stories, and own them. It is easy to criticize others and point out their flaws, but are we willing to look inward and be critical of our own work? Doing this openly will help others more comfortable with being uncomfortable. They starting seeing themselves in a picture where they too can move onward and upward. If you want others to move forward, be willing to share your stumbles and falters along the way.
With April vacation in only a few days, thoughts will begin to turn towards the 'final stretch' of the 16-17 school year. There is still plenty of time left in the year for questions, discussions, visioning, dreaming, and change. It takes time and is messy, but it's incredibly important. As we are engaging in all of this work, let's bring forth our vulnerability and give each other permission to entertain, discuss, and practice some of the elements within Stecher's post - and, yes, trying out some 'radical change'...
Much of this may seem idealistic or unrealistic, but radical change is needed if we are going to figure out how to live in the future we are creating. - Benjamin Stecher
I look forward to the work that lies ahead for all of us.
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Take care.
Nat