Day 5: Faculty Meeting Day
Day 5: Faculty Meeting Day
Something on my calendar I actually have to attend to! I suddenly feel so much more "essential".
There seems to be a couple schools of perspective on responding to the pandemic: one aligns with my non-ambition post of yesterday and finding acceptance. A lovely poem from a neighbor expresses this well:
You do not have to become totally zen,
You do not have to use this isolation to make your marriage better,
your body slimmer, your children more creative.
You do not have to “maximize its benefits”
By using this time to work even more,
write the bestselling Corona Diaries,
Or preach the gospel of ZOOM.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body unlearn
everything capitalism has taught you,
(That you are nothing if not productive,
That consumption equals happiness,
That the most important unit is the single self.
That you are at your best when you resemble an efficient machine).
The other perspective is to acknowledge how stressful these times can be and to know that is okay and "normal" (when all else is not normal). I guess you can hold both simultaneously and maybe both are similar in affirming whatever you're feeling is okay.
Fortunately I was able to ski this morning. I was shocked to find myself the only person at the parking lot at 10:00. I had thought it might be overflowing as backcountry skiing is the ideal social distancing sport but I guess no one is racing to get out of bed nowadays, as when I got back to my car closer to noon, there were like 8-10 cars there.
Got home in time for our faculty meetings and the big social connection time of the day. We started with our student of concern pre-meeting (something we also did prior to faculty meeting in the old world). This was a smaller group that started with 4 or 5 of us and added teachers who logged on as we talked. This "dropping in" seemed to have a salutary effect and let us be a bit more casual as we discussed individual kids who have expressed struggles or have yet to check in. It's particularly sad for kids with difficult parents who see school as a welcome break from being home and a place of support but who are now stuck 24/7 with these challenging family dynamics without any of those supports and outlets provided by school.
Our all staff faculty meeting followed up on this. I was again appreciative of the value of our size and scale. Even with just 14 of us in the meeting, our check-in took almost 30 minutes. At least as we get things off the ground, this kind of check-in is important not only for emotional well being but also to get broad input about what's happening for teachers and kids.
For the most part, everyone was good. Although barely 24 hours into our new remote learning plans, there were loads of positives (provided you think 60-70% of students checking in about their work as a positive, but, as I noted, this is probably comparable to what we see at school on a day to day basis).
In our time for celebrations (which is how we always end all faculty meetings even in normal times), we celebrated some individual kids for their funny videos or thoughtful journal entries or insightful reflection on their personal growth that makes them so much more able to weather this legitimately huge challenge than how they were flummoxed by much more minor challenges a year or two ago (I can't recommend this practice highly enough for schools in general. It's so easy to get frustrated with the countless ways kids fall short of our expectations and taking time to celebrate the many ways kids impress us with their accomplishments or growth or unexpected actions (let alone time to celebrate fellow staff members and sometimes parents) engenders a positive energy not seen enough in schools).
In addition to honoring kids, one of our teachers who also works part time in another school celebrated how we were able to plan in 6 or 7 hours for this transition while his other school took 5 days and didn't get nearly as far. There a lot of reasons we were able to work so effectively, only partly to do with our smaller size.
I think a lot of this has to do with capacity building we have built over the years. As I try to convey when I teach leadership classes or workshops, organizational capacity building should inform us at every chance we have to address a need. Obviously our immediate attention is addressing the issue at hand--the student who needs redirection, the curriculum change in the offing, the rescheduling necessitated by weather or new opportunities, decisions about how funds are allocated, etc. As we address any issue, while it may seem easier for the principal to make this decision or delegate it to some individual, it often helps build organizational capacity (and also results in better actions) to be inclusive. We benefit from more perspectives and ideas, ownership increases, teachers understand better what's happening, and there is much less resistance and inconsistency when more are involved in the process. (One other benefit of this is improving individual capacity as well--I know it can be hard to think about including some of the less "group sensitive" staff in thinking through issues, but their skills can be improved over time when put in situations that demand these abilities.)
Another strategy that helps us is floating ideas (or at least soliciting opinions) when the stakes are low. So even in the haste of this transition (did anyone else note how shockingly fast things have changed?:), I was able to ask one group about decisions about closing, another group about how they thought we would arrange remote learning, and another group about how we might support kids with special learning needs. This was all the easier since teachers had already been having these conversations on their own, knowing they were part of the decision making process and would be deeply involved in whatever we'd need to figure out.
There are more ways we are organized to improve our individual and organizational capacity, to be on the same page, and to develop consistency of beliefs and practices (another example is including kids and faculty on hiring committees and in board meetings). While these are principles that I think made Compass a good working environment for staff and a supportive learning environment for students in normal times, we are seeing the benefit of this in times of crisis (as we have seen in other difficult times such as a student suicide or times of financial struggles).
There are a zillion research questions about what we might learn from this time of the pandemic. One thing I think we can learn is that some of the things that may help in these current conditions are the same as those that can work when things are more normal.
Enough for now. Be patient, be kind.
Something on my calendar I actually have to attend to! I suddenly feel so much more "essential".
There seems to be a couple schools of perspective on responding to the pandemic: one aligns with my non-ambition post of yesterday and finding acceptance. A lovely poem from a neighbor expresses this well:
You do not have to become totally zen,
You do not have to use this isolation to make your marriage better,
your body slimmer, your children more creative.
You do not have to “maximize its benefits”
By using this time to work even more,
write the bestselling Corona Diaries,
Or preach the gospel of ZOOM.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body unlearn
everything capitalism has taught you,
(That you are nothing if not productive,
That consumption equals happiness,
That the most important unit is the single self.
That you are at your best when you resemble an efficient machine).
The other perspective is to acknowledge how stressful these times can be and to know that is okay and "normal" (when all else is not normal). I guess you can hold both simultaneously and maybe both are similar in affirming whatever you're feeling is okay.
Fortunately I was able to ski this morning. I was shocked to find myself the only person at the parking lot at 10:00. I had thought it might be overflowing as backcountry skiing is the ideal social distancing sport but I guess no one is racing to get out of bed nowadays, as when I got back to my car closer to noon, there were like 8-10 cars there.
Got home in time for our faculty meetings and the big social connection time of the day. We started with our student of concern pre-meeting (something we also did prior to faculty meeting in the old world). This was a smaller group that started with 4 or 5 of us and added teachers who logged on as we talked. This "dropping in" seemed to have a salutary effect and let us be a bit more casual as we discussed individual kids who have expressed struggles or have yet to check in. It's particularly sad for kids with difficult parents who see school as a welcome break from being home and a place of support but who are now stuck 24/7 with these challenging family dynamics without any of those supports and outlets provided by school.
Our all staff faculty meeting followed up on this. I was again appreciative of the value of our size and scale. Even with just 14 of us in the meeting, our check-in took almost 30 minutes. At least as we get things off the ground, this kind of check-in is important not only for emotional well being but also to get broad input about what's happening for teachers and kids.
For the most part, everyone was good. Although barely 24 hours into our new remote learning plans, there were loads of positives (provided you think 60-70% of students checking in about their work as a positive, but, as I noted, this is probably comparable to what we see at school on a day to day basis).
In our time for celebrations (which is how we always end all faculty meetings even in normal times), we celebrated some individual kids for their funny videos or thoughtful journal entries or insightful reflection on their personal growth that makes them so much more able to weather this legitimately huge challenge than how they were flummoxed by much more minor challenges a year or two ago (I can't recommend this practice highly enough for schools in general. It's so easy to get frustrated with the countless ways kids fall short of our expectations and taking time to celebrate the many ways kids impress us with their accomplishments or growth or unexpected actions (let alone time to celebrate fellow staff members and sometimes parents) engenders a positive energy not seen enough in schools).
In addition to honoring kids, one of our teachers who also works part time in another school celebrated how we were able to plan in 6 or 7 hours for this transition while his other school took 5 days and didn't get nearly as far. There a lot of reasons we were able to work so effectively, only partly to do with our smaller size.
I think a lot of this has to do with capacity building we have built over the years. As I try to convey when I teach leadership classes or workshops, organizational capacity building should inform us at every chance we have to address a need. Obviously our immediate attention is addressing the issue at hand--the student who needs redirection, the curriculum change in the offing, the rescheduling necessitated by weather or new opportunities, decisions about how funds are allocated, etc. As we address any issue, while it may seem easier for the principal to make this decision or delegate it to some individual, it often helps build organizational capacity (and also results in better actions) to be inclusive. We benefit from more perspectives and ideas, ownership increases, teachers understand better what's happening, and there is much less resistance and inconsistency when more are involved in the process. (One other benefit of this is improving individual capacity as well--I know it can be hard to think about including some of the less "group sensitive" staff in thinking through issues, but their skills can be improved over time when put in situations that demand these abilities.)
Another strategy that helps us is floating ideas (or at least soliciting opinions) when the stakes are low. So even in the haste of this transition (did anyone else note how shockingly fast things have changed?:), I was able to ask one group about decisions about closing, another group about how they thought we would arrange remote learning, and another group about how we might support kids with special learning needs. This was all the easier since teachers had already been having these conversations on their own, knowing they were part of the decision making process and would be deeply involved in whatever we'd need to figure out.
There are more ways we are organized to improve our individual and organizational capacity, to be on the same page, and to develop consistency of beliefs and practices (another example is including kids and faculty on hiring committees and in board meetings). While these are principles that I think made Compass a good working environment for staff and a supportive learning environment for students in normal times, we are seeing the benefit of this in times of crisis (as we have seen in other difficult times such as a student suicide or times of financial struggles).
There are a zillion research questions about what we might learn from this time of the pandemic. One thing I think we can learn is that some of the things that may help in these current conditions are the same as those that can work when things are more normal.
Enough for now. Be patient, be kind.
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