November 8, 2013

All School Meeting

The Creative Process 

When we embarked on creating our All School Meeting we did so with the purpose of creating a ritual that would bring our community together to develop our culture - to be unified. To develop belonging within our community.

Our All School Meeting is an opportunity to practice the Circle of Courage. There are opportunities for students to practice independence, generosity, mastery and belonging.

Crews who lead All School Meeting have an opportunity for leadership and to be creative about how they engage the audience. For the Crew leading the meeting the purpose isn't to present; rather to bring the 'audience' together in a shared experience.

An important part of the creative process is to have some constraints. Our constraint is the framework we developed for how the All School Meeting would flow - the structures of the meeting. Within that structure, Crew's have the opportunity to be creative people and to lead our community in a creative experience.

As in all things, the pendulum swings. As we develop our meetings and prepare our Crews to lead the meeting could the pendulum have swung a bit too far in following the structure and it is time to think about how we can be creative within the structure?

When I sit in the audience at All School Meeting and students share the results of their creativity I am so moved. When I watch students who are creative people expressing their passions, I am moved. Might this be yet another opportunity where we can take risks, embrace new and creative ways of working within the All School Meeting structure?

This might also call on us to 'let go'. Would it be okay if a Crew is presenting and dancing to a song to invite the audience to dance too? During the last All School Meeting when the video of Bootcamp was playing I was surrounded by students who started to sing along with the music 'Roar' as it played. My heart swelled as the students around me were moved to sing and sway. They connected to the music and the pictures and the audience was one with the presentation. When Josh's students were singing the Beatles song they had selected for the Going Out Song, I was moved to see them smiling, dancing and feeling the moment. I wanted to sing and dance with them. 

I am so proud of how far we've come developing All School Meeting as an important ritual in our school. Certainly the kids love it and so does our community. I wondering if we can open up our creativity and see how our All School Meeting can be an opportunity for creative expression? How can All School Meeting be a creative process and opportunity for our creative students to be creative?

Calendar

Week of November 11- 15th:

* Climbing in PE

Tuesday:

*RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

*REA meeting 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday:

* New Parent Orientation 8:00 a.m.

* All School Meeting 9:00 a.m.

* Professional Development: Assessment work

Week of November 18 - 22nd:

* Book Fair week

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

* Book Fair Family Night: 4:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday:

* Professional Development: Assessment work

Thursday:

* Family Thanksgiving Lunch beginning at 10:30 a.m. (different lunch schedule)

Week of November 25th:

* Only two day week

Monday:

* New Parent Orientation

Tuesday:

* RTI 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday - Friday:

Thanksgiving Holiday Break

Our Second Graders
at Rocky Mountain College
of Art and Design

Sharing the link to this wonderful article written by Kristine Kilbourne about our second graders fieldwork at RMCAD. You will also see there is a link at the bottom of the article to Pam's backward plan for this unit. What a cool idea to include photos from the actual implementation into the plan! Check it out! Really incredible Pam!

http://www.rmcad.edu/news/elementary-students-visit-rmcad

Just a reminder...

At the conclusion of our time together last Friday I asked you to find a few quiet moments and think about your "perfect" classroom and think about what you would see there. Take one idea from this or move forward with an idea you've been wanting to explore and implement it using the creative process. Be willing to fail, to be resilient and try again and again.
Shifting from 'What would I do if I wasn't afraid" to - "What matters enough that I'm willing to fail?"
You will need to identify something you are currently doing and be willing to set it aside while you work on this new thing. I'm anxious to hear about what you are going to try.

Thinking about the Design Principles: 

How do these apply to you?

The Primacy of Self- Discovery –

learning happens best with challenge, emotion and support. We find our abilities, values, passions, in situations that offer adventure and the unexpected. Include perseverance, craftsmanship, fitness, and imagination. Teacher’s primary task is to help students overcome their fear and discover.

The Having of Wonderful Ideas –

curiosity and providing important things to think about, experiment and make sense of what is observed

Solitude and Reflection –

time to explore own thoughts, make connections, create their own ideas

Collaboration and Competition –

personal best with rigorous standards of excellence

Success and Failure - must have experiences of success to build confidence to take risks and more difficult challenges AND also important to learn from failure - to persevere when things are hard, and turn disabilities into opportunities.

Gratitude HD - Moving Art

Have a great weekend!

Deborah