Just a little over a month ago, the doors of Clark Street Community School opened for the first time. We have about 110 students in grades 9-12. (Interesting note: I have never ever taught a ninth grader until this year. Turns out they are generally sweet and small.) I have an advisory made up of 15 kiddos who I meet with on a daily basis. I am also co-teaching a seminar (group project) with our science teacher called Paths of Discovery. The remainder of my time is spent working on our leadership team, meeting with community partners, re-working our schedule, serving on our governance board, managing communications, and working with the many nuts and bolts of starting up. In all of these endeavors I am aided by my talented and hard working colleagues and/or community members.
People who know about the school often ask me how things are going. My usual answer is that things are really, really good and really, really hard. Last year, our staff all took the Myers-Briggs test to know more about how each of us work and how we work as a team. I can't remember the letters that were assigned to me, but one of the characteristics of my type that I remember and reflect on often is that my type is known to have "unrealistic expectations". Since we have shared and discussed the results of the test, my colleagues have gotten several good laughs at my "unrealistic expectations" (which I really think are just "high" expectations) that I reveal on a regular basis. Whether my expectations are high or unrealistic, they manifest themselves in two ways. One, I tend to over-notice what is not going well instead of having a more balanced perspective. So some days things feel really, really good, but if I am honest, I often focus on what is really, really hard. That said, I have to imagine that this is how all brand new things feel to anyone who is involved in their start-up. Two, no matter how really, really hard something feels, I never cease to believe that we can't do exactly what we had planned to do with unwavering success. What I am finding is that when something is new, you can't always be everything you want to be right away; you have to grow into it. I often have a hard time being patient with this, but I understand it in a new way now which I think is helpful and important.
What I feel really good about is that in many ways, slowly but surely, I see that our work and our conversations are un-schooling our students, our families and ourselves. Teachers are schooled to tell students what and how to do things; students are schooled to be told what and how to do everything. In our current work I see students and teachers moving away from this model and connecting with what it means to really learn something; this unfolds into how do you show that you have learned something? How do you accurately assess learning? How can we support deep, meaningful learning experiences? There is a lot of transitioning on behalf of all parties, students, teachers and families. Sometimes when it feels like things are not working, I think it is really the transition of un-schooling taking place.
Things I need to work on include striking a better balance. It is Sunday evening and I have worked quite a bit this weekend. I had a lot of work to do, but I also find myself thinking about work often. While I enjoy most of what I get to do in my job and feel more professionally fulfilled now than I ever have, I know that I need to shut it off every now and then so that I can refresh. I know that will in the end make me much better and happier at my job.
Thanks for reading.
