To help encourage conversations and dialogue about keeping goals towards our ideals in our learning and work, our topic/question for the dinner table is: What is a long-term goal you have that you are working towards? What is one step can you take to help meet that goal? Ideals, Goals, and Attainability (Week of 11/9/20)
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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
I hope that this update finds everyone well and that the weekend days provided a sense of calm and ‘steadiness’, for lack of a better term. The weather this fall, and particularly as of late, has felt like such a gift - I feel as though I am appreciating the light more than ever! It has been so lovely to go outside for bike rides and walks, and the warm temperatures have certainly made leaf pick-up feel less like a chore! This past weekend was the virtual Learning and the Brain conference focused on Social and Emotional Brains in Schools - and, I am still processing the wonderful learning from the sessions and speakers (spoiler alert - sharing will be coming in the near future!).
It was great to be able to attend one of the weekend outdoor theater performances (physically distanced, of course!) on Saturday - I continue to be impressed by and proud of our students as they adapt to our reality in a positive and productive fashion. Congratulations to the entire cast and crew and thanks to Tracy Allen, Maureen Doctoroff, Joe Knaus, Nancy McLaughlin, as well as MHS students Peter Travis and Adam Price for their videography - and special thanks to Tracy for her leadership and dedication to provide a meaningful experience for our students!
These four words (Every Child, Every Day) have stayed with me and have been in my head, thoughts, and thinking since our faculty meeting last week. They are at the core of Elena Aguilar’s definition of educational equity, highlighted from the shared podcast clip below…
Equity in Education - Part 1 (The Mindful Educators Podcast)
(18:00-19:25)
Aguilar’s definition of Educational Equity…
Educational equity means that every child receives whatever she/he/they need to develop to her/his/their full academic and social potential and to thrive, every day. By “thrive,” I mean academically as well as social-emotionally. Every child has a right to feel loved and cared for and to feel that they belong to a community. Emotional well-being is as important as academic success in this definition of educational equity.
Educational equity means there is no predictability of success or failure that correlates with any social or cultural factor—a child’s educational experience or outcomes is not predictable because of their race, ethnicity, linguistic background, economic class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, physical and cognitive ability, or any other socio-political identity marker.
In processing the conversations, readings, and archived chat from our meeting, different threads of thoughts came through. One thread or shared sentiment was the inherent challenge of the feelings of ‘unattainability’ or ‘stretched goal’ of educational equity. I would certainly be lying if I did not share that sentiment as well - Is this realistic? Is it possible? Can we really do that in our school? How? Do we have the means to do this? Do we have the time and resources? How do we make this happen? Although I do not have the answers to all of these questions, I am encouraged by the engagement and acknowledgement of these feelings and responses - both for myself and others. I believe that these questions in concert with the noble and poignant definition from Aguilar help to hold up the proverbial mirror to my beliefs, my work, and the action steps that are taken each day. And I am sure that is true for others as well. It is this interplay and continued practice of reflection that grounds the work and will push us, and in turn our students, towards realized growth. That, I hope, is a shared ideal we can embrace.
In an active and intentional effort to step back from the day-to-day work and mixed emotions of inspiration and challenges inherent with the focus on educational equity, the sessions from the conference this weekend helped to center me on the lens of this work through social-emotional learning. This term of SEL is relatively new in the context of educational circles (and we know how slow schools are to change), yet the science is abundantly clear that this work is at the foundation of all learning. And it is that compass point that we must hold on to and shine a light on in all of our work with students, ourselves, families, and one another. As hard as that light can be to find in the midst of all of the internal and external influences that are layered into our work, it is the one that is most important.
Although the connections may not read as direct, the mixture of resources, posts, and responses below help to shine a light on emotions and learning through hope, equity, wellness, and balance - all ideals that are worthy of our action steps, and ones that we need to lean on one another in a collective manner to hopefully attain...
Notes and Take-Aways from…
How Principals Can Manage Stress and Anxiety Right Now with Peter DeWitt, Sharif El-Mekki, Marc Brackett, and Mark Greenberg
- Common words shared by educators and leaders: anxious, overwhelmed, stressed
- # 1 word is Anxiety
- How do I best serve the community during these times?
- Many children leave home whole and leave school broken
- It’s all about close relationships (do we feel we belong and are cared for?)
- It takes no money to ask ‘How are you doing?’ (That’s free)
- Offer strategies, listen, check in
- Best learning comes with risk taking
- Vulnerability is necessary
- Emotions are experiences
- Become an emotion scientist vs emotion judge
- Do I have permission to be my true self?
- Relationships, relationships, relationships
- All principals need daily quiet time
- ‘Misery doesn’t just love company - it loves other miserable company’ - Marc Brackett
- Know thyself: includes physiological aspects of thyself
- Find joy every day
by Elena Aguilar (@brightmorningtm)
As noted above, Aguilar’s definition of educational equity and examples within the post are important for all educators and families to read. The ‘Every Child, Every Day’ mantra is one that we must actively pursue at all times.
Beyond the predictability of success and failure, educational equity means that every child is seen for who they truly are and their unique interests and gifts are surfaced and cultivated. For every child to cultivate their unique gifts, children need access to an extensive range of learning opportunities, activities, and material.
Principals Are Stressed and Anxious, Especially Now. Here's 10 Things They Can Do
by Denisa R. Superville in Education Week
This post was written as a follow-up to a webinar (notes shared below) focused on the social-emotional well-being of educational leaders. Although the title has ‘principals’, the messages within are true for all. The 10 things noted as strategies are certainly ideals worthy of our efforts.
"My suggestion is that people just pause before they say anything to themselves and others, and evaluate it," Brackett said. "Is what's coming out going to help me achieve well-being, help me build and maintain positive relationships. help me make decisions that are going to be helpful for me and the people around me, or is it going to be more destructive?"
In 2020, Hope Is Not A Given — You Have To Work For It
by Elamin Abdelmahmoud in BuzzFeed News
This post helped provide a focused lens on hope as a ‘sense of an ideal’ - something to practice and work towards. Within, Abdelmahmoud details the practice of adding sign-offs to give hope for himself and others. I particularly appreciate the distinction made between hope and optimism.
2020, then, has been a year of living with bracing. Wincing, waiting for the next blow. You get the sense that people are one more tragedy, one more untimely death away from falling apart. Under these circumstances, it’s not immediately clear to me that the memes are serving anybody or alleviating the mental burden of the year. Gallows humor might help one process the grimness, but memes do something fundamentally different: They distract from registering the weight of all 2020 has wrought. What “Mentally, I’m here” meme can possibly capture this boundless hell? Do you feel better looking at Reese Witherspoon’s face getting progressively more horrified as the months wear on?
Against this theater of tumult, hope can feel like a demoralizing pursuit. What well can you draw from to imagine that the disarray might stop? You are, after all, but one victim of a ceaseless year. 2020 is bad in an utterly immovable, irreducible, unspinnable way.
Two and a half years into wishing readers a hopeful thought every morning, the signoffs are still the newsletter’s most popular feature. One reader wrote in to say that she sends each signoff to her daughters every day. Another shared that he puts it on the small kitchen chalkboard before his day begins.
Among the kindest feedback we get for the newsletter is that the tone and the signoff make readers feel like they are cared for. I’ve had to, by necessity of evidence, adjust my job description in my head to include creating a small space for hope.
The act of reaching for hope — of grasping at a specific action or instruction, and directing it toward others — has been the only way I’ve managed to steel myself to absorb and synthesize the news in a year of nonstop dread. Shrugging off 2020 hasn’t worked. You can’t meme your way out of all of this. Facing it with intention has been the only way to persist and be present. Hope is a practice. Notice. Breathe. Repeat.
First, I’ve learned that hope is best understood not as an emotion, but an orientation. It’s a disposition toward the unknown — a state of intentionally turning toward what’s undefined and allowing the possibility that it holds good things to grow and occupy as much as space as the possibility that it does not...Second, hope is hard to grab onto if you think about it too abstractly, so you need to be more specific and grounded...The last thing is that hope is not cultivated alone.
To Engage Students, Focus on Connection Over Content
by Katie Martin (@katiemartinedu)
I highly recommend following Katie Martin as she has a consistent and strong focus on the well-being of students as the foundation of all learning. The post is worth the read and offers these strategies as overall strategies: Connect with Students One on One; Prioritize Relationships and Conversations; Ensure the work is meaningful. Although we are often focused on what students need during the pandemic, I firmly believe that these principles were true pre-pandemic and will certainly hold true post-pandemic as well.
Despite the awareness of students’ diminished sense of belonging and lack of engagement in distance learning and hybrid environments, many feel compelled to push forward to ensure they are covering content. Many have shared fears about covering content because students will be tested this year. Yet, if we are really focused on students learning and performing, we can’t neglect their wellbeing. First and foremost because people matter more than their test scores. But if that is not enough, we also have to recognize that if students aren’t connected to their teachers.
Most educators know in their hearts and have seen in practice that there is far more to teaching than success on a test. To ensure meaningful learning, we have to know the learners, help them understand and leverage their strengths, identify and work towards goals that matter to them and ensure they persist through challenges and setbacks. You can’t do this without building relationships first and maintaining them throughout the learning process.
Reading through a small sampling of responses from last week’s question about learning along with the posts below help to bring forth for me (and hopefully others) a sense of hope, centering, and curiosity...
Sampling of Responses from Our Last Topic/Question (Week of 11/2/20): What strategies do you use to stay hopeful when you face challenges?
- I know that things can only get better.
- I review past assignments to remind myself what to do.
- Gratitude
- Taking small steps and slowly working my way up
- I try to tell myself that I'll get over the obstacle, and I try to stay positive, knowing that nothing is impossible.
- In general, I seek out inspiring quotes and stories, and these help set a resilient mindset that keeps me from lingering too long on the negatives of a challenge.
- I try not to give up easily, and to keep trying.
- I just think you can do it. Push and show that "yah I did that". If it doesn't go your way it's meant to be like that for a reason.
- I slow down. I remind myself to take a larger perspective.
- I always try to think of something to look forward to, or something that makes me happy. For example, spending some time with my friends or even sleeping in on the weekend.
- I tell myself that yes, I can do it if I try hard enough
- Don’t stop believing!
- I stay calm and not get mad when I face a challenge.
- Share with students great works of art that challenged artists but also brought us forward in communicating new and traditional ways in which artists are there for us in creativity.
- When I’m facing a challenge I try to stay positive and keep a good mindset.
In an effort to make connections between and amongst our theme of curiosity, last week’s blog post focusing on the practice of hope (Practicing Hope and Curiosity), and this notion/practice of keeping our sight and actions on our ideals (even the ones that feel or seem unattainable), I firmly believe that we will stay ‘on track’ as long as we keep coming back to our mission and the words from Elena Aguilar below (they are the words expressed at the end of her post) - Every Child, Every Day...
Educational equity means every child, every day. Period.
And yes, this is a high bar: Every child.
And it is an attainable goal.
- -- Elena Aguilar
As always, let me know of any questions/concerns.
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Take care.
Nat
#willfulhope #willfulaction #longasIcanseethelight