Friday, September 18, 2020

Happy Friday Everyone,

Chaos and disruption can tempt us to be clever, to create complex plans, to over reach in an effort to put things back together as they were. But you cannot undo the tide. You can only build anew.

We began planning for this school year by stripping away as much as possible to get to the core of our work. We reviewed feedback from students, teachers and families after the spring to be forever known as emergency education. We found patterns, and we built anew in response to what everyone said they needed most: clarity, consistency, and simplicity. The results: a focus on relationship building and four fundamental questions.

Education happens when we engage with others who see the world differently, who know what we do not yet understand, who can do the things we cannot yet do, who offer us support when we are stuck, and who ask us to share what we know and can do. In this way education brings us together because we are different. It unifies us through our common desire to grow.

Education is relationship based because we need to feel safe and valued before we are willing to take intellectual risks. The more comfortable we feel, the more we can manage the fear of not knowing and the insecurity of trying something new. Ironically, when we feel at home we can summon the courage to step beyond our limits by asking questions, coming up short, and  – most importantly – asking for help.

This week we have asked our students four fundamental questions: How are you? What do you know? What can you do? How can we help? In turn we have asked them to pose four questions to themselves: Who are you becoming? What do you need to know? What do you need to be able to do? How can your teachers help you?

I hope you and your family have time this weekend to relax and take pride in the way we have all answered the call to continue learning.

Peace,