To encourage dialogue and reflection about fostering our interests as part of our growth as learners, our question for this week is: What interests do you want to explore? Exploring Interests (Week of 1/29/23) (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
Our weekend was a pretty quiet one and it was nice to have the sunlight on Saturday along with some milder temperatures! It is rare for us to not have many things ‘to do’ on the weekends, so we did our best to cherish and embrace the quieter pace. On Sunday we went for a walk and then watched the football playoffs with the boys.
Inspiration for The Creative Life
(51 minutes)
Jazz, improv, curiosity and intellectual humility - what might these topics have to do with business? Kelly talks with Dr. Natalie Nixon a creativity strategist, author and public speaker about how taking cues from the world of design and other creative mediums can help us work more effectively. Natalie has an incredibly varied background which informs her work: she’s lived in 5 countries and has a background in anthropology, fashion, academia and dance. She is the author of Strategic Design Thinking and The Creativity Leap.
I had never heard of that podcast and finally had the chance to listen to it at the end of this week. I have listened to it twice now and have shared it with some friends and colleagues. There were a number of times I had to pause, hit the ‘15 second rewind’ and listen to it again - hoping to catch and embed every word or point into my head to carry forward. One aspect that really spoke out to me (my interpretation, not word for word)…
Dr. Nixon shared the oft-asked question of young people as they leave high school or college - ‘What do you want to do for the rest of your life?’ - and the daunting nature of that question. It tends to have a period at the end of the question and can feel as though the answer must be known. I think back to myself in my early 20s and the thought of knowing a clear answer was frightening. And, with the ever-changing world that we are experiencing (would we have ever envisioned the presence of #ChatGPT a few years ago? - maybe we would, but the point is that things evolve quicker than ever!), it feels nearly impossible to have an answer. It is not a mal-intended question by any means, but Dr. Nixon suggests a shift - rather than asking ‘What do you want to do for the rest of your life’, let’s ask ‘What are you into?’ This shift leans towards and emphasizes interests and has more of an ‘open approach’, an approach I believe aligns with our work at Blake and the mission we aim to live with our community.
To take it one step further, the idea was then posed to ask individuals who are currently working - ‘What are you into?’ along with ‘What do you do? - and see if they align. Again, this is not intended as judgment, but as a way to foster interests with creativity in the hopes of working more efficiently. Below I have shared the eight take-aways that Kelly Corrigan, the host, had from the conversation with Dr. Nixon. They are ones that speak to me and would love to have our students embrace them as well…
Take-aways…
- Intellectual humility stems from getting very comfortable asking questions
- Intellectual humility and efficiency are natural enemies until you consider the time it takes to rework bad strategy
- All of us could be better at separating our identity from the work we do so we can better take feedback and grow
- You can never stop and wonder at 80 mph
- Next time you are in a position to give criticism - start with ‘I like’, move to ‘I wish’, and end with ‘What if?’
- What if we recast mistakes as building blocks?
- The world is literally your database - it’s your canvas too
- Seek opportunities to be the clumsy student
This past week we hit the official half-way point of the year (day 90) and we are in the middle of Term 2. Our students will be asked to reflect on their learning thus far as part of the check-ins. In an effort to find a tangible way to carry these ideas forward, I plan on having these take-aways by my side when looking at the responses to see if there are direct or indirect connections for follow up. The post below speaks to the importance of social-emotional learning and the impact that intentional teaching of skills can and will have on our students. And, it is this underlying foundation that we can foster - looking at interests, helping students make connections, fostering an understanding of one’s emotions, asking questions, etc. - that will then hopefully translate and manifest in the understanding of content and transferability.
Researchers studied kindergarteners' behavior and followed up 19 years later. Here are the findings.
by Evan Porter in Upworthy
…a study showed that when children learn to interact effectively with their peers and control their emotions, it can have an enormous impact on how their adult lives take shape. And according to the study, kids should be spending more time on these skills in school.
The researchers behind this project wrote, "Success in school involves both social-emotional and cognitive skills, because social interactions, attention, and self-control affect readiness for learning."
Kids who related well to their peers, handled their emotions better, and were good at resolving problems went on to have more successful lives.
An increase of a single point in social competency score showed a child would be 54% more likely to earn a high school diploma, twice as likely to graduate with a college degree, and 46% more likely to have a stable, full-time job at age 25.
Pro-social behavior matters, even at a young age. And because it can be learned, it's a great "target for prevention or intervention efforts."
The bottom line? We need to do more than just teach kids information. We need to invest in teaching them how to relate to others and how to handle the things they're feeling inside.
Ignoring social skills in our curricula could have huge ramifications for our kids down the road.
Sampling of Responses from Last Week’s ‘Question of the Week’: What helps you stay centered and focused on what’s important?
- Affirming others’ work!
- Knowing that it's the small things that you do every day, that make the big changes in our kids' lives.
- A motive
- What is important to me is having noise-canceling headphones to help me stay focused.
- Having a good reason for why it's important
- If it actually helps with my learning or if it is fun and interactive or else i will either dose off or talk to friends
- When I love what I am doing and I know it matters
- Recess
- To not be harsh on me if i can't do it
- A good night's sleep
- What helps me stay centered and focused is having no distractions anywhere.
- Interest, motivation
- The motivation that the High school and Teachers give me to learn.
- Thinking about what I want in the future makes me focus on school and what I love
- Gum.
- Friends, and the Gym
- Music
For the last three years I have shared the poem below from Harlem Renaissance leader, Langston Hughes, at the beginning of February as 2/1 marks the beginning of Black History Month and Hughes’s birthday. Dreams articulates the importance of vision, #willfulhope, culture, and aspiration - our dreams and hopes inform our beliefs and guide our practices.
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Take care.
Nat