Dear Blake Community,
On the eve of our Celebration of Voice assembly, I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving and express my genuine thanks to the entire Blake community. I thoroughly enjoy this opportunity to gather as a school community of both students and adults to celebrate, express our gratitude, and also have some fun (a very important attribute of a healthy community and culture). At the outset of the assembly, I will take some time to share some words about both the history and importance of the Thanksgiving holiday, including the advocacy of Sarah Josepha Hale leading up to President Lincoln's proclamation in 1863 during the Civil War calling for a national day of thanks. With these thoughts in mind, I want to highlight a few ideas that will be shared with students during the assembly about the culture of our school and community...
First and foremost, every individual at Blake (students, staff, parents, and the greater community) matters, is cared for, and is an important piece of the Blake fabric. As I have shared in my blog posts, these past few weeks have carried a 'profound intensity' in the air, and as educators we have worked to appropriately navigate the lines of politics and personal beliefs to model an even and balanced approach to our students' education so that they may grow and discover their own beliefs. This is not always an easy task for students or adults in a school environment, and as I know you have also seen in the media, we know of school communities, both local and across the nation, that have been challenged with behaviors that do not reflect the core values we hold and practice at Blake. I will remind and assure our students that Blake is a safe school for all students and adults and our efforts and expectations remain steadfast to both welcome and embrace all learners. Ours is a culture of acceptance and inclusivity, regardless of one's race, gender, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. We welcome and embrace all learners.
As a sign of the values of our community, I am thrilled that our Anti-Defamation League Peer Leaders will have an opportunity to share and present at our Celebration of Voice assembly. This will be an opportunity for the leaders to identify themselves and get their mission of kindness and acceptance out to the masses. Their goal is to explain their mission, share the work they have done on cleaning up the Blake 9/11 memorial, and then perform a dance they have created to energize their message. Our Peer Leaders wanted to share a component of the presentation with the larger community to even further spread their message, so we are sharing a link to the video clip that the students have chosen to include: Imagine a World Without Hate. We recognize that the contents of the video contain elements that our students are likely not aware of, but we encourage you to watch the video and engage in dialogue about these historical figures. The ADL Peer Leaders plan to re-visit this video and incorporate it into the lessons they will present to the 6th graders this spring.
Second, we are a community of learners who must 'practice what we preach'. At this time of year it is important to remember and exercise the words of President Kennedy - 'We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.' As an exercise of gratitude I asked our staff over the last week to share their thankful thoughts with me and I have considered it a privilege to have an insight into the thanks that we all collectively hold as a community. I have compiled them (names removed) - Thankful Thoughts from Blake Staff 2016 - and believe they are worthy of reading, as they truly highlight the care, thought, and gratitude we have as a staff. I also took the liberty to create a Wordle of the document - a nice visual of our thanks (see below). A few staff members have volunteered to publicly share at the assembly, and I appreciate their willingness to do so.
Third, we must always be present and continue to be here for one another. When we are at a loss or are unsure of the steps to take, listening and being present are critical practices...
Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but don't have to do anything else. We don't have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen. - Margaret J. Wheatley
Last year I came across this post by Jon Harper (@jonharper70bd) the Sunday before Thanksgiving and loved it - I shared it with our staff last Thanksgiving and I think it is certainly worth the read. I want to thank our staff once again for their continued presence for our students, parents, community, and one another - it is the foundation of all of our work.
Presence
Our days are busy, stressful and oftentimes we go home feeling as if we could’ve accomplished more. But at the end of the day we must ask ourselves one important question. "Do the people that we serve want to be in our presence? If the answer is yes, then we can accomplish most anything. If the answer is no. Well then we have work to do. Starting tomorrow.”
As I shared in this morning's blog update, Thankful Learners, I hope we can maintain a culture and spirit of eternal vigilance for learning, listening, acceptance, and gratitude.
Enjoy the well-deserved time off and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Take care.
Nat