To help encourage conversations and dialogue about staying fresh and excited about learning, our topic/question for the dinner table is: What are your hopes for the rest of this year? Keeping Hopes Alive (This is an anonymous Google Form)
It felt as though were in monsoon season as last weekend began - hopefully the sun will be out more this week! With the dreary weather much of the kids' weekend sports were postponed, so we have had a pretty unscheduled Saturday with 'found time' (always welcome in our house with the inherent busyness of our reality) and saw the documentary Born in China. Thankfully the sun came out on Sunday and the little league parade and festivities were on - always a great event!
As Teacher Appreciation Week officially came to an end last week, I want to once again express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for the entire Blake staff. The commitment, professionalism, and care for students that is shown every day is remarkable - thank you. Below please find three 'categories of thought' that I believe help me to express my sentiments, highlighting the true spirit of appreciation for the culture and environment of learning that our teachers bring and foster at Blake.
A few quick video posts...
Remember to Say Thank You - Laura Trice
(Shared at last week's staff meeting - offers a nice perspective on the practice of saying thanks and how important it is for each of us to let others know where we are seeking praise and recognition.)
An Experiment in Gratitude - The Science of Happiness
(Shared a couple of years ago around Teacher Appreciation Week - it is worth watching again, reminding us of the power of saying thanks and letting others know our thoughts and appreciation.)
Coherence is Signature Quality of our Most Effective Schools - Justin Reich
(Shared at last week's staff meeting - I do believe that the work we continue to plug away at towards coherence each and every day increases the effectiveness of learning that we intend to cultivate for our students.)
A sampling of responses to last week's topic/question for the week: What do you appreciate most about the teachers in your life?
- That they care about the overall well-being of their students
- They listened and they really helped me by being good listeners
- They ask me the questions that both motivate and challenge me!
- I appreciate how they spend every day teaching us new things and bringing us up!
- I appreciate when my teachers take the time to connect with me personally to help me. When teachers go the extra mile to get to know me, it makes my learning experience better.
- They're nice and help me out when I need help
- They help us learn. They can answer questions.
- Sense of humor
- The dedication that my teachers possess. Staying after school and having incredible patience with middle schoolers is not easy but teachers do it well.
- I appreciate how nice they are and they teach us everything
- I truly appreciate how teachers always go out of their way to help students. You can tell that they truly care about the kids.
- That they help me on what I need and I appreciate all of their hard work.
A few posts that are worthy of note and important to keep in mind, as they take us 'out of the day-to-day' and keep the vision of growth, learning, care, and reflection in mind...
The Buckets Need to Be Filled
by Matt Arend in ASCD InService
This brief post comes from a principal who shares that he wants to make sure that he 'fills the buckets' of his staff - a noble goal for sure. It is important that we think of the ways (Arend suggests unplugging, time with family and friends, and exercise) we can fill our own buckets so that we can fill the buckets of others. Arend's intended audience is principals, but the thinking can certainly apply to teachers, parents, and caregivers.
We must fill our own buckets. We are the example we want to set for the parents, teachers and students we lead. In lifting up ourselves, in filling our own buckets, we are better equipped to lift up others, filling up their buckets.
Why The Best Teachers Change Their Minds
by Terry Heick (@terryheick) in TeachThought
Heick reminisces on the early thinking he had as a teacher and how that has evolved. In so doing he has encouraged his own evolution and that of others - this applies to much of our work, as we think about the spirit of Blake and how we want to stay current and relevant with our practices for the students.
Somewhere in your tool belt of teacher tools, there is something you cling to that may be wrong-headed, but you don’t see it yet. And that’s okay. In many ways, there is no “right” or “wrong,” but only degrees of fit and subjectivity. If you’re changing your mind—about the role of technology in learning, the ideal lesson template, or the best audiences for project-based learning products—that means you’re growing.
The best teachers change their mind because things themselves change. 21st century learning is, above all else, diverse, interdependent, and formless. Technology, culture, academic standards, assessment forms, and the cost–and format–of higher education all evolve endlessly. Which means, as their most powerful common mediator, you have to as well.
I Dwell in Possibility
by Jessica Lahey (@jesslahey)
This post by author Jessica Lahey is from a few years ago and speaks to me from the perspective of a 'teacher as learner' and teacher as gardener'. She speaks to the greater vision that she has for the learning of her students, and I love the idea of helping her students 'become people on whom nothing is lost'. Areas of specific focus for her include cultural literacy and etymology, and this notion brings the mission of Blake and the spirit of a 'culture of learning' to mind.
Be one on whom nothing is lost. Right there. That's my goal. To help my students become people on whom nothing is lost.
I hope I have taught my students more than literature, Roman society, the Latin language, and composition. I hope I have taught them that learning never ends. That knowledge builds on knowledge, connections beget connections. To read, and then to read some more.
I will do my best to convey that the object of Monday's lesson is not next week's test, but to see these lovely poems as a beginning, a foundation stone for all the cloud-capp'd towers of knowledge they will build for themselves someday.
Through conversations, readings, observations, and reflections on my own growth (and at the risk of sounding preachy or 'on the soapbox'), I think it is important that we, as educators and caring adults, try and keep our efforts simple and focused - maintaining hope and optimism, bringing forth our best self every day, and continuing to reflect as to how we can improve. In so doing we will be establishing a model of growth for our students and this culture of learning will be fostered - our essential question, mission, and some words of wisdom from Winston Churchill and Neerav Kingsland help to guide this thinking...
Essential Question: How can we cultivate and curate the progression of student learning and growth?
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.
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Take care.
Nat