To help encourage conversations and dialogue about curiosity and the ways that we can foster curiosity in our lives and learning, our topic/question for the dinner table is: What are you curious about learning? Share why. Driving Curiosity (Week of 10/19/20)
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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
The foliage over the past week has been just lovely - as I am sitting down to reflect and draft some thoughts, I am enjoying the view of the leaves floating through the sky outside our window. Our weekend was pleasantly uneventful with some yard work, walks outside, and baking. The cool weather brought forth our first fire - one of my favorite things about autumn.
A routine that I look forward towards the end of each week is taking time to peruse responses to each week’s topic/question as they provide a window into the current thoughts on the minds of students, staff, and families. Last week’s question(s) (sampling of responses shared below) was: What is a hope that you have right now? What is one thing you can do towards that hope? Through the answers to these questions, we can then reflect deeply into the hopes, wishes, and action steps - and these are all rooted in curiosity. And from there, connections are made.
Last Wednesday I found myself immersed (intentionally and unintentionally) in, for lack of a better term, a ‘cycle of curiosity and learning’. Through Spark Kindness I listened into a webinar with Lisa Damour (LDamour), entitled Managing Stress, Anxiety, & Teaching Under Covid 19. It was incredibly helpful, affirming, and insightful - and I look forward to sharing and in more detail with staff and families. I’ve shared some notes below, but the ‘curiosity/learning’ loop kicked in for me when she referenced the work of Dr. Ann Masten, a Professor of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. Towards the end of the talk, Damour shared that one of the key strategies to help students who are feeling anxious and stressed is to simply ‘lean on the ordinary magic of teaching’. That phrase sparked a flame of curiosity and I found myself Googling Masten and was fascinated by her work and research focused on children facing adversity in a desire to find out what helps and protects children. This curiosity/learning/curiosity loop led me to a deeper understanding of learning - a loop/cycle that I hope we can foster within our students and ourselves.
Below are some of my notes from Damour’s webinar (along with a link to a bookmark/handout, helpful for families and educators), along with a few posts and the weekly responses about ‘hopes’ - I hope they may ‘push’ or spark some curiosity for others and foster dialogue and learning in the process...
How to Manage a Meltdown - Lisa Damour
This link is a printable PDF (steps below) - worth printing and holding on to, for sure.
1. Listen without interrupting
2. Offer sincere empathy “That stinks!” or “I’m so sorry that happened.”
3. Validate distress “You have every right to be mad/sad/upset.” or “A good cry is the right thing right now.”
4. Support coping “Is there anything I can do that won’t make this worse?” or “Would some tea help?”
5. Express non-dismissive confidence “This is tough, and so are you.” or “As hard as this feels right now, I do think that you’ll get through it.”
6. Offer to help problem solve “Do you want my help trying to tackle this?” or “Any ideas about what might work to make this better?”
7. Divide problem into buckets Things that can change and things that can’t change
8. Brainstorm possible solutions to the things that can change
9. Support acceptance of what cannot be changed “There’s always some stuff we just have to live with.” or “Let’s focus your energy where it can make a difference.”
Notes and Take-Aways from…
Managing Stress, Anxiety, & Teaching Under Covid 19 with Lisa Damour (@LDamour)
- Anxiety is normal and healthy emotion; promotes safety; can, at times, reach unhealthy levels
- Anxiety is designed for us to pay attention when something is wrong
- Though anxiety feels erratic, it is actually systematic -
- We can address anxiety at every step
- Step One: We can calm the physical reaction
- Step Two: We can reframe the emotion
- Step Three: We can combat the anxious thoughts
- Understanding Stress
- Like anxiety, it is normal and healthy
- Occurs whenever we need to adapt
- Can, like anxiety, reach unhealthy levels
- Stress is a dynamic process
- School is supposed to be stressful (like weightlifting); if it is not hard for you, you are not getting any growth
- When we work at the edge of our capacity, we increase our capacity
- Under chronic stress: We all depend on coping strategies (Negative or Positive)
- Negative coping strategies: Emotional retreat; Substance misuse; Junk habits; Mistreating others
- Problem with substances is that they work and feel so good in the short term
- Be mindful of ‘short term yes, long term no’ strategies
- Positive Coping Strategies: Social connection; Happy distractions; Self-care; Caring for others
- Everyone needs three things: somebody to tell their worries to, somebody to tell their secrets to, a group of people for whom they feel connected or accepted to
- Caring for others is sustaining for all of us
- Bottom Line: Focus on using Positive Coping Strategies
- The Ordinary Magic of Educators: school gives purpose, kids need connection (you are offering this!), school is a “happy distraction” - they can lose themselves in history, reading, math, etc.
- Work the Ordinary Magic of Teaching
- School gives students purpose
- Class and advisory time offer connection
- Learning is a happy distraction
- Watch for Signs of Trouble: Avoidance or disengagement; Missing/late assignments; Students who are not ’themselves’; Obvious sadness or prickliness
- Offer Emotional First Aid
- Meltdowns are to be expected
- Be ready to help
- Start slowly and build as needed
- I hope that COVID-19 goes away forever. I can wear a mask and stay 6 feet apart.
- I hope I have enough quiet time...I will spend more time outside.
- My hope is that school will go back to normal and I can do things to limit the spread of COVID to hopefully later have school go back to normal.
- I think the hope that I have right now is from school and seeing my friends more.
- Something that I hope right now is for Coronavirus to end!
- A hope I have right now is that the pace of the work and responsibilities will become more manageable. One thing I can do towards hope is prioritizing the tasks I have and focusing on what is essential.
- I hope that at some point in the year, we can be fully in-person. One thing we can do to move towards that is working really hard to be safe.
- The hope that I can effectively teach my students and my children the value of paying attention to their good habits.
- My hope is to become an interior designer when I grow up. One thing I could do towards that hope is to research interior designing and practice doing it!
- I hope that I will be able to keep up with all of my assignments and homework and that I will be able to meet Blake’s expectations. One thing I can do towards this hope is to always work extra hard on all of my assignments, (which I already do) and put all, of my best efforts forward.
- I hope to be a good student.
- I hope that COVID will end soon and I hope we get a vaccine for it.
- I hope the global situation gets better
- I think optimism is important right now. Convey this to students. Have a little sense of humor and positive spirit. Convey this to students. Walk and exercise a lot. Good for improving the brain.
- Get better at attending to detail. I can check my work over to make sure I do and be careful with what I type.
- I hope that everything can go back to the way it was so we can take and learn the way we used to.
- I hope to run super fast and I can do that by practicing running.
Are We In a “Talk – Walk Gap”?
by Will Richardson (@willrich45) and Homa Tavangar (@HomaTav)
I read anything I can from Will Richardson and Homa Tavangar, as they continually push my own thinking into a deeper understanding of the essence of learning and what schools could be. They note that although ‘normal is easier’, we should resist the urge to revert back to a normal that was never designed for growth for all learners. Within they post a series of questions as ‘starting points’ for ‘change that matters and sustains’.
If there’s one small bit of good news emanating from the chaos of this pandemic and politics moment, it’s this: a markedly growing number of schools are engaging in more existential discussions about what school needs to be in an age of growing complexity and change.
...as always, it’s one thing to talk the talk and another to walk it. And the concern in this very fraught moment is twofold: First, that we don’t have the foundations in place to hold up the types of fundamental changes we seek, and, second, that the pull back to “normal” will undermine the hard work necessary to actually make those changes happen.
Make no mistake, as we’ve said before, “normal” is easier. Many schools have been trying to maintain some semblance of “normal” even in hybrid or remote environments...Serious change breaks what is “normal,” however. It doesn’t just tweak current practice; it replaces it. It requires new ways of working as systems and organizations. It requires that we revisit and challenge old belief systems and values. And it requires new skills on the part of those in the organization or the community who will be living the change.
In essence, real change rejects “normal.”
...yes, it’s great that we’re in a moment when despite the incredible challenges and complexities of this moment that so many are starting to talk about and ask “Why school?” The unpleasant truth is that before we can engage that question and act on it at the level it deserves, we still have a significant amount of clearing to do for us to walk on that path into the future.
Ann Masten: Children’s Natural Resilience is Nurtured Through ‘Ordinary Magic’
by Andy Steiner in MinnPost
This post from 2014 is an interview with Ann Masten (noted above) about the research that led to her book, Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Development. Her research and title highlight the findings that resilience is made of ‘ordinary rather than extraordinary processes’. One of the key protective factors for all children is having competent, caring adults - one of our foundational beliefs at Blake for all of our learners. As Lisa Damour said in the webinar this week, schools should be ‘working the ordinary magic of teaching’.
I don’t think of resilience as inborn, because every single capability that we have and every resource that we have is always a product of our interactions with the environment, and in the case of children, all the experiences you have even before you are born, the stress level that your mother is exposed to, the nutrition that you’re exposed to, the illnesses of your mother, you’re interacting with the environment as you are developing before you were born, and even those exposures make a difference.
...resilience emerges from multiple processes. It’s not one trait; it’s not one thing. There are many different systems that contribute. And those are what I call “ordinary magic.” Many, many studies point to the same list of qualities that are associated with resilience, but one of those, for example, is having close relationships with competent, caring adults. It’s not in the child. That is in a relationship, and, unfortunately, not every child has that opportunity.
What I concluded after a number of years of research was that the powerful engines for resilience, the most protective systems, are completely ordinary and common. Thus the title “Ordinary Magic.”
The basic characteristics for resilience are: Caregivers and family that are looking out for you. A human brain in good working order. A human brain that has learned through interactions and training with a lot of people who care. Parents and teachers encouraging children to pay attention, solve problems and control behavior. Those systems are important for adapting when things are difficult.
Forget About Making This School Year as Normal as Possible
by Vicki Abeles (@VickiAbeles) in The Boston Globe
I read this post early in the week and a number of people have shared it with me as well. It is well worth the read, as Abeles emphasizes the importance of reassessing our educational systems in an effort to foster true growth, learning, and well-being.
Students, parents, and educators have spent the past seven months coping with a pandemic that has strained our health, our spirits, and our resources. Now, with growing fears of students falling behind, teachers are facing enormous pressure to somehow maintain pre-pandemic expectations and standards. It is a tragically Sisyphean effort. And it is made worse by our failure to seize this opportunity to “release” ourselves from the erroneous assumptions, outdated practices, and antiquated attitudes that plagued American education well before the pandemic upended our lives.
For decades, our school system has been centered on rote memorization, performance, and measurement, rather than authentic, meaningful learning. An arms race to college has pushed children to compete ever more brutally for high grades and test scores. Our school system is what author and education expert Alfie Kohn calls “an elaborate sorting device, intended to separate wheat from chaff.” A race to nowhere.
If we truly care about the welfare of our kids, we need to do something different this year that will collectively renew us all and provide true educational sustenance...We have a belief that more is always better — and that saddling kids with extra instruction now will help make up for their pandemic-related learning losses. Yet more isn’t always better when it comes to meaningful and beneficial growth.
Our challenge now should be how to change the conditions of school in order to let students learn as they’re naturally built to do. In order to thrive in the future, young people must deeply and authentically see themselves as learners, not followers or performers. They must be genuinely curious, and motivated, and self-confident about their abilities.
We don’t know what our world will look like in four months or in 10 years, but we know we need to provide a foundation for kids to be healthy, adaptable, open-minded thinkers, and to feel a sense of purpose and connection to community. This year, let’s cultivate a better education system.
There are many moving parts right now for all of us and I would be lying if I didn’t share that I have found myself feeling overwhelmed by many unknowns of our current reality. Having said that (and it does not always work - full transparency), embracing a stance of inquiry/curiosity helps me to get through and take some measured steps. It provides perspective and a centering to be present and focus on what is important and ‘in our control’ as educators - fostering curiosity, learning, and establishing a safe and supportive environment for all of our students.
‘This pandemic is not about how productive we can be. It’s about getting to the other side emotionally intact.’
- Lisa Damour
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Take care.
Nat
#willfulhope #willfulaction #longasIcanseethelight