To encourage dialogue and reflection about connections with others and ourselves, our question for the week is: What is something that you wish more people knew about you? Seeing and Being Seen (Week of 2/4/24) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
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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
As trite as it may sound, it is hard to believe that February is here. And although I’ve never really understood the concept of Groundhog Day, I find myself being ok with and buying into Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction of an early Spring this year! It was nice to have another relatively quiet weekend, mixed in with basketball games for the boys. The sunlight has been a gift!
One of the challenges we face as educators is ‘what to focus on’ - curriculum, social-emotional needs, pedagogy, classroom management strategies, integration of technology, professional growth, partnering with families. As with much of our work, each one of these is incredibly important and could be the sole ‘area of focus’ for an entire year. Yet, as with much of our work, they are all critical and intertwine - and can not be separated from one another. The one binding thread throughout is the foundation of relationships.
The shares below all speak to the ways we can support both our students, one another, and ourselves - thinking about the way technology has impacted our paths of communication and highlighting insight from David Brooks, author of How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. I look forward to not only thinking about ways that this connects to our work, but putting actionable steps in place on both the micro and macro levels for our students.
How Classroom Technology Has Changed the Parent-Teacher Relationship
(27 min) from EdSurge Podcast
It can be harder than ever for teachers to manage their relationships with parents, even though digital tools make interactions more frequent. This week’s EdSurge podcast looks at why.
The Essential Skills for Being Human
by David Brooks in The New York Times
Life has a way of tenderizing you, though. Becoming a father was an emotional revolution, of course. Later, I absorbed my share of the normal blows that any adult suffers — broken relationships, personal failures, the vulnerability that comes with getting older. The ensuing sense of my own frailty was good for me, introducing me to deeper, repressed parts of myself. I learned that living in a detached way is a withdrawal from life, an estrangement not just from other people but also from yourself.
Being openhearted is a prerequisite for being a full, kind and wise human being. But it is not enough. People need social skills.
People want to connect. Above almost any other need, human beings long to have another person look into their faces with love and acceptance. The issue is that we lack practical knowledge about how to give one another the attention we crave. Some days it seems like we have intentionally built a society that gives people little guidance on how to perform the most important activities of life.
I’ve noticed along the way that some people are much better at seeing people than others are. In any collection of humans, there are diminishers and there are illuminators.
Here are some of the skills illuminators possess, the ones that are essential for seeing people well:
The gift of attention.
Accompaniment.
The art of conversation.
Big questions.
Stand in their standpoint.
I have a long way to go, but I’m evidence that people can change, sometimes dramatically, even in middle and older age.
David Brooks: Can We Save Society By Knowing Each Other?
(48 min) from No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp
“We’re in the middle of some sort of social crisis,” says New York Times columnist and bestselling author David Brooks. Politics and social discourse have become brutal. Loneliness, hopelessness, and suicide rates have been measured at all-time highs. Trust and friendship have been measured at all-time lows. But all is not lost, according to David. There is still a way forward, and it’s simpler than one might think. “The essential moral act is the act of attention,” he says. “Our goal should be to cast a just and loving attention on others.” In this episode, he discusses his new book, “How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen,” and how truly knowing others calls forth a better version of both oneself and one’s community.
Sampling of Responses from Last Week’s ‘Question of the Week’: What activities, interests, and/or hobbies do you find most enjoyable? Why do you enjoy them?
- I like to watch sports, it is a great family activity and I love to read as it is a wonderful escape!
- I love to exercise because the deep breathing and exertion feels great, I love to stretch because the bulked up muscle stress gets some relief and my mind feels it too, I love to dance sing and play the piano because it puts a smile on my face and on my kids faces, we get to bond and the sounds are delightful and put us in a good mood!
- Sports, I enjoy competition
- Hanging out with people that you actually bond with and are not just there for a friend or because you feel like you have to be.
- Volleyball because it's a team sport.
- I enjoy basketball and baseball. I enjoy them because I like them and I think they are fun.
- I like to hang out with my pals
- I like drawing because it gives me something to do with my hands and something to focus on.
- For me skiing because it is fun and cool and listening to Taylor Swift because she brings me happiness.
- I find art and music enjoyable. I find them enjoyable because they are relaxing.
The poem below from Harlem Renaissance leader, Langston Hughes, is one that I have shared the last few years at the beginning of February as 2/1 marked both 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, in turn, inform and guide our practices.
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Take care.
Nat