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.
Watching the 5 buses returning from Nature's Classroom full of our 7th grade students and staff pull into the Blake circles Friday afternoon was a wonderful way to end a 4-day week and welcome the weekend. Reports from the trip were wonderful from staff and I sincerely want to thank all of our chaperones for volunteering their time to provide a safe, meaningful trip full of memories for years to come: Jon H., Lucas, Mark, Mike Gow, Greg, Sam, Matt Millard, Matt Marenghi, Josh, Mike Gibbs, Eileen, Kerrie, Maura B., Juli, Lisa, Susan C., Kara G., Kelly C., Judy S., and Amy. Special thanks and words of appreciation go to Judy, Kelly C., and Tricia for their thoughtful planning, care, and preparation for the trip! Thank you as well to the 7th grade other teachers who helped provide a rich experience for students and assisted with the necessary coverage throughout the week.
Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found. -- James Russell Lowell
Lowell's words resonate with me on a number of levels this week, as I think about the past week and the goals, mission, and vision that our students, staff, and community strive towards every day. Last week I highlighted the positives that had taken place the preceding week, yet I did note that there were negative experiences as well. As I think through and reflect upon each day - trying to look from both the microscopic lens and the 40,000 foot lens - it is an interesting framework to think about and acknowledge how we view each situation. By 'we' I mean the lens that we each bring to each situation, as I believe our mindset will shape our response. To shed some light on my thoughts this weekend, here are a few 'things' that were taking place at Blake this week (by no means is this a comprehensive list, but rather a cross-section of meetings, discussions, or topics that I was privy to - either direct participation or observation)...
- Interim report writing for Term 1
- Discussions amongst content specialists about progress towards Standards Based Reporting within their respective departments
- Transition discussions between Blake and MHS
- 7th grade excursion to Nature's Classroom
- Grant presentations from staff for MCPE
- MCAP meeting
- Planning and outlining future professional development for Blake and the district
- Preliminary discussions regarding budget and scheduling for 18-19
- Our advisory program at Blake
Coming off a week of 'positives' and noting them in the Natworthy, I have to admit that I was a little worried I was setting myself up for the days that were in front of me/us - I was a little cautious, or apprehensive, as to whether I could maintain a sense of optimism. After all it is easy to say 'lean towards yes', but much harder to actually practice it. When asked by colleagues, friends, and community members what I appreciate most about Blake/Medfield, it is the spirit of professionalism and commitment to progress that comes right to the top of my list. It is easy to want to 'put the brakes on' and pull back from hard conversations/discussions, yet I find myself buoyed by the collective energy to continue to strive and improve. There are many 'blocks' that exist that could potentially sway us from moving forward with an initiative (budgetary limitations, community's mixed feelings, scheduling implications, etc.), but the willingness to get together and 'hammer it out' keeps us going and is so important and necessary for our students.
In the context of sharing these ideas and thoughts, the two posts below came across my proverbial desk at an ideal time - to be honest, at a time where I was feeling a little frustrated or at a standstill about persevering forward with some of our work. They are very different posts (one theoretical and one simply reporting out in nature), but I do believe they connect and are ones that we can carry forward as a community - I particularly like the ideas of 'Adjacent Possible' and 'creative constraints'...
Think Inside the Box
by John Spencer (@spencerideas) in Educational Leadership
Spencer is one of many educators from whom I draw inspiration, and I appreciate his perspective within this post. Although it is not a lengthy post, it is rich and full of many concepts worth thinking about - design thinking, tinkering, iteration and innovation, the 'adjacent possible' (Steven Johnson), and 'creative constraint'. These last two terms are worth holding onto...
'Adjacent Possible' from Steven Johnson - "The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself."
Embrace Creative Constraint: Allow for mistakes and revision. Keep the constraints reasonable.Honor student agency. Focus on intrinsic motivation.
...we found a more innovative solution by embracing the power of limitations. Working within the constraints of a small budget led students to design a solution that was more creative and sustainable. It was a lesson in the power of creative constraint.
Creative constraint happens when you run into barriers that force you to find a new route. This process involves problem solving, systems hacking, and divergent thinking. True, creativity can involve creating something on an empty canvas or blank page. But it can also stem from a roll of duct tape, some cardboard, and a series of limitations that ultimately lead to a breakthrough.
As educators, we can inspire students to view creative constraint as a positive force for innovation. When faced with a limitation, I use these questions with students to reframe the problem as a potential design opportunity:
▪ What is a different angle to this problem? What are we failing to see right now?
▪ What hidden opportunities does this challenge offer? Could there be a positive side to this that we're failing to see?
▪ What parts of these limitations should I actively resist or try to remove? What parts should I accept and work around?
▪ What part of this can I tweak or change slightly?
▪ Is there some kind of material or resource within this system that I can use differently?
▪ What parameters I can work within?
However, our students will work in a world in which they have to solve complex problems and design innovative solutions. When they embrace creative constraint, they grow into the creative, critical-thinking problem solvers we know they can be.
Competency-based instruction in Concord schools means new grades on reports cards
by Lola Duffort in Concord Monitor
Duffort's brief post highlights the work that is taking place in Concord, NH with competency-based learning (standards based reporting) for a K-12 district - referencing a 7-year process (meaningful and sustainable change does take time). Of particular interest is the information within regarding college admissions (see excerpts below). I am encouraged by this work and the commitment of the district to persevere, iterate, innovate, and think both 'inside' and 'outside' of the box.
Broadly, the idea behind a competency-based education is that students should get credit for what they demonstrate they know – not by the time they sit in class. To do that, subjects are broken down into learning goals – competencies – which students must master...Competency-based grading, according to Stack, is ultimately better for accountability. Because there’s no averaging out how you did in one unit with how you did in another, and no completion grades or extra credit, there’s simply no papering over what you don’t know.
...administrators say that as competency-based grading has gained ground, colleges have adapted. Robert McGann, the director of admissions at the University of New Hampshire, said his office routinely sees competency-based transcripts from both in- and out-of-state applicants. “The context of it is we see transcripts from around the country and around the world. And there’s countless variations on transcripts,” he said.
Whether competency-based or otherwise, it’s important that schools provide admissions offices with the tools necessary to understand their records. And by and large, they do, McGann said. Competency-based transcripts are “not a pro or con in the admissions process,” he said. “When I talk to my colleagues at different institutions, they uniformly tend to be very supportive of the concept behind it – the idea being that high schools are not going to be moving kids along until they’ve demonstrated a mastery of the topic at hand,” Stack said.
With our work at Blake that we have in front of us (tomorrow, next week, this year, and in the coming years) I am both excited and scared/cautious with many questions - Where are we heading? Are we on the right path? How do we know the right path? How can this work be accomplished? Is it the right work? How are we measuring success? I am sure that I am not alone and have appreciated the conversations and questions from students, staff, and parents alike with our initiatives - standards based reporting, project based learning, digital portfolios, etc. The truth is we will not know unless we try and then reflect - embracing and 'living' a cycle of iteration and innovation...
Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. -- Peter Drucker
I hope we can help one another - truly help one another - so that we can continue 'leaning towards yes' by finding and articulating the creative constraints to help outline the adjacent possibilities for our work. And, through thinking both inside and outside the box we can find/discover ways forward. One key ingredient is that we commit to honest and constructive dialogue with a sense of willful optimism and hope - not always easy, for sure, and I know I will need help, too. So, thanks in advance in helping to find a way forward.
I look forward to the work that lies ahead for all of us.
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Take care.
Nat