To encourage dialogue and reflection about the ways teachers foster learning, our question for this week is: What are the things teachers do and what are the ways that teachers can help students improve and learn? Conditions for Learning (Week of 5/7/23) (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
This past weekend was a nice one with the beautiful weather and some time to get outside, after the atypical cooler temperatures this past week. The sunlight and blossoms on the trees continue to bring forth a sense of hope and promise. Saturday was ‘bookended’ with basketball for the boys (Gray’s early games and O’s late games), and we are hoping for another Celtics win this afternoon! I want to extend a special thanks to all of the staff members who chaperoned the 7th grade dance Friday evening, helping to provide a safe and fun experience for our students: Jillian Shaw, Kelly Campbell, Marissa Gumas, Elise Malone, Marcia Berkowitz, CJ Brown, and Tracy Allen.
Creating ‘space’ for experiences like this is important for our students as another avenue for students to learn, grow, and reflect. And, this ‘space’ is one of the conditions that will help foster the learning that aligns with our mission for students to adapt, grow, and evolve in new and different ways and contexts. As I think about our staff and students during Teacher Appreciation Week and the teachers that I have experienced and value, it is the conditions of learning that have had the greatest impact on my experiences and learning. Each of the ‘shares’ below speak and relate to these conditions and the essence of teaching, learning, and growth. I welcome the thoughts and reactions of others and hope that we continue this shared dialogue and action to support all of our learners, students and adults alike.
Career Day Notes/Take-Aways
** My own notes and some shared by staff
- Relationships matter
- Well rounded individuals are important
- Relationships we have with teachers - recognize and establish them
- We can change a community
- You don’t need a script to know who you are
- Know your journey and be your authentic self
- Define what it mean to be a leader
- It’s either a job, work or a combination of the two - job is what you do to get paid; your work is what makes your heart beat a little faster;
- Community relations - can’t lose sight of that
- Family and how you treat others - most important things
- Look for things that can enhance you as a human being
- Get involved
- Expand your comfort zone vs step outside of your comfort zone
- Even though you think I'm a "science guy" I loved literature and language
- Being your true, authentic self and finding your people
- Trial and error- keep testing things out and if it's something you don't like, that's okay
- Collaboration and being able to work on a team is essential
Purpose: Reflecting on Our Role as Educators
by Ian Craig in NAIS Online
It is an incredibly lofty aspiration to suggest that the purpose of our schools and education, generally, is to lead students to develop an innate interest and passion for that in which they are engaged in the moment, whether any of their subjects, the arts, or their athletic pursuits. Why, though, should we not attempt such an ideal?
I propose that a significant charge to any school leader is to close the gap, for both students and teachers alike, between what is a chore and what is done with enjoyment, imagination, creativity, and zeal. The challenge is to lead and teach where all the participants truly feel joy in their contributions to the institution, and a personal investment in realizing its vision.
The purpose of school is to begin to merge the academic work and the energy toward starting to engage intellectually, not just for the external awards such as being on the honor roll but for the sake of learning. No easy task, I must say, and certainly not something most of us achieved at an early age but a goal nevertheless.
Will these students grow up to be the next generation of entrepreneurs? Who knows? What is clear, however, is that despite no extrinsic motivators, the students are engaged and stepping up in a significant way as they are somehow feeling motivated by doing what they are interested in, and therefore not having it feel so much like work.
In the end, it may just lead them to become the next great entrepreneur, scientist, or even Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, without it ever even feeling like work.
The Conversation: The Purpose of School and Bringing Joy into the Classroom
Interview with Denise Pope from NAIS Online
That’s the difference between educating students for the future and simply “doing school?” Are we designing school communities that foster the development of better adults, or are we clinging to old ideas about content and rigor that no longer serve us well? Denise Pope, a speaker, author, and senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and co-founder of Challenge Success, joined Tim Fish, NAIS chief innovation officer, on a recent episode of the New View EDU season 2 podcast to talk about how to reframe of our definitions of success, the purpose of school, and the importance of well-being.
…what excites me is that people now know how important mental health is in schools. I think social-emotional learning and belonging and mental health are now more than ever at the forefront of people’s work and experience. That’s really foundational.
…the essential questions are the why, what, and how. The why is what’s the purpose of school. Because you can’t design curriculum if you don’t know the why. The what is what should be taught once you figure out that purpose. And the how is how you teach it, which has to be aligned with that purpose.
On the why, Noddings has this beautiful concept that the purpose of school should be to create better adults. And if you combine that with Dewey, who says that what we’re learning is now—the kids are experiencing experiences now—and we can’t just say you have to know this for the future, then we need to create schools that allow for really amazing, joyful educational experiences that help prepare our kids now—and for the future.
Rigor is not the same thing as load. Parents say they want academic excellence, and that’s what schools are promoting. But schools need to see that it’s not just piling on more stuff, and that’s not the traditional way that they’ve been teaching. Change is scary. I’m all for rigor; I want kids to think hard. I want this to be challenging, but I also want it to be joyful. The problem is the definition of rigor.
That’s the million-dollar question: What’s the connection between well-being and engagement? Everything. They are fully connected. So, you’re spot on when you talk about flow. For me, flow is the equivalent to what I call full engagement where you’re effectively, behaviorally, and cognitively engaged.
That means it’s joyful. Let’s bring back the joy in learning and discovery. When you’re in flow, you are so focused that you love it. And you’re cognitively engaged because you’re challenged, and you see the value and meaning in what you’re learning. But right now, there are a lot of things in and around the classroom and in the structure of how we run schools that get in the way of flow and well-being.
When you look at the places at school where kids are taking the lead, where teachers feel like they’re guiding, where real challenge, joy, and flow is happening, they’re often at the edges. It’s the robotics team or it’s the debate club. Or it’s what happens after that class, where the kids are getting together and talking about it in the hallway. We’re trying to figure out how to get those edges to be the centerpiece of the school because there’s so much learning, joy, and challenge going on there. But that means thinking really differently, and it’s hard for schools to think differently.
I hope we go to flow. I hope we reimagine how we spend our time each day.
Rick Wormeli Emphasizes Student Feedback
(25 min) from Learner-Centered Spaces Podcast
Long time classroom teacher in both elementary and secondary levels, now author and teacher/principal trainer, author of Fair Isn't Always Equal, 2nd Edition, Summarization in any Subject, 2nd Edition, columnist, Differentiation: From Planning to Practice, among other titles, 'proudly a new Grandpa, and "chocolate pecan pie" fan club member
Sampling of Responses from Last Week’s ‘Question of the Week’: Why are fresh starts and 'second chances' important?
- Fresh starts are important because if you did something bad, you want people to forgive you and let you try again.
- It is everyone’s first time at life! We are all growing together!
- If a person is willing to commit to changing their ways or doing something differently, I would not want to be the person holding them back from that opportunity. Sometimes that person might not even be aware they can have a second chance until you offer it to them.
- They allow the other side of people shine through
- Because you could do bad the first time, have time to think, and then blow everybody away with your progress.
- Fresh starts and second chances are important because they give us the opportunity to learn from our mistakes, grow as individuals, and create a better future for ourselves.
- because people are very imperfect and we need to be given the opportunity to do better.
In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, I am sharing words from Voltaire that I have shared in past years along with some of my own sentiments. Although they may read familiar or ‘recycled’, the feelings are authentic and real. This practice of appreciation is one that is critical and beneficial for all...
Words do not truly express the appreciation I have and feel for the teachers (again, broadly defined) with whom I work, along with the teachers who have left their imprint on my mind, heart, and being. I have been fortunate to have wonderful teachers/mentors throughout my life at all levels (Dr. Sheila Fisher, Professor Jerry Watts, John D’Auria, and Mrs. Goldsmith are teachers that often come to mind), both personally and professionally, and I hope I honor them with my efforts each day. I hope we can all find time to appreciate each other this week.
As I say quite often, Blake Middle School is a special place (it may sound trite, but the sentiment is sincere) and I am so proud to be a part of the collective mission to enhance the learning experience for our students. It is a privilege and a joy to work every day with such a fine team of educators and this recognition is a reflection of our students, staff, and learning community.
Please click here for Blake Updates.
Please click here for District Community Notices.
Take care.
Nat