We just had our first elementary school faculty meeting to kick off the new school year. We did the usual housekeeping, updates, and messages but that came second. To begin, we started with a message rooted in kindness.
We were reminded by our Head of Primary, Marina Gijzen, that first and foremost:
- You are an advocate for students.
- People are the first priority.
- Assume the best in everyone.
- Be willing to generously dole out grace and be gracious.
- Take care of each other and yourself
- Be willing to ask for and accept help
Finally, we were reminded to Be KIND. To “throw kindness around like confetti.” And we were challenged to remember that we will never regret choosing kindness.
Our job is to treat our students with love, with hope, with empathy and compassion, to challenge them, and to inspire and be inspired by them.
This message this morning was powerful. It could have started with a joke or a cartoon or a game about holidays but instead it started with a genuine message of kindness. It was authentic – I have been on the receiving end of so much kindness here already – and it really set the tone for what I hope will be an amazing year ahead. I am grateful.
As I begin preparing for the year ahead and for our students to arrive on Thursday, I want to ensure they leave their first class with me with that same feeling I had when I left the faculty meeting: that they are an important part of something special. To that end, I have designed the following Lego Challenge for all my students. I know they are going to want to touch and look and explore on day one (two students have just walked in while I am writing this and they are touching EVERYTHING) but I don’t want the first class to be about everything they can’t do. I also want to get across the ideas of iteration, collaboration, and communication. Here is the challenge:
- Take legos from the tables and build something that represents you. It could be a model of something or something abstract. It could be in your favorite color or many colors. It is a symbol of you.
- Put finished models on the table. Gallery walk and talk. What do you see? What do you think? What are you wondering?
- Partner up with another student. Using ONLY the lego pieces from your two models, create a new model that represents the two of you.
- Put finished models on the table. Gallery walk and talk. What do you see? What do you think? What are you wondering?
- Repeat in groups of 4, 8, 16 until we have one model that represents us as a group. All of the models from all of the classes will be on display in the Pit Window as they are created.
My friend and former colleague tried this out with her new leadership team. She tweaked the idea to suit the leadership scenario but reported back that by all accounts it was really successful. She didn’t do as many iterations as I will have to do (although we have small classes of around 16 so it shouldn’t be too bad). If you have done this kind of challenge before and can offer any suggestions, I would love to hear them! If you would like to do this challenge with your kids, please do! I would love to see your creations. Stay tuned for pictures of our models!
How are you starting the new school year?
sonya terborg 