It has taken me some real time to get back to this blog. I took a vacation, no like literally, I sailed the ocean blue and swam in warm Caribbean waters, and reconnected with what it can be to live consumed with appreciation for the moment that I'm in right now.
In the time since the last entry, I had conversations with Loyola advisors on human development models, met with the teachers about their lessons and how they felt, and contemplated what it was that I was really DOING both super objectives and current tactics (borrowed from my days as an actress and the G.O.T.E model).
What I'm left with are as follows:
1) I am building relational trust, Maslow's sense of safety that allows and is a pre-requisite for organic and authentic learning, so that those with whom I work feel supported in building similar trust with those whom they work.
2) I believe that the needs of the individuals I am working with need to matter to me over my super objective of developing a "scalable model", because my work is meaningless without their excited and active participation. The work that we are doing is the real change and is more meaningful that knowing we are "on track with a timeline" or "in accordance with my initial ideas". Those were a guide, but they do not get to have the weight of saying if my work in this moment is enough- the work is enough because it is real. What makes it real is ownership, and you cannot have ownership if the individual matters less than the objective. It is good enough because it is no longer just me. In this, I hope those with whom I work might also care about the individuals before their objectives in their own work.
3) Finally, I do all this work with children and adults who work with children, because I believe that the neuro-biology, Eriksonian stage resolution, attachment relationships, and early systems concepts, can work in our favor in developing compassionate, confident, self aware human beings to lead the next generation into greater wholeness.
I am using the ideas of psycho-education to build relational trust and usher in systemic change that understands and know how to put children first.
In terms of our NGC model as curric ulum and assessment, putting children first by building relational trust means:
developing a sense in the classroom that there are no singular right answers to the most important questions,
turning content and evaluation over to students, including ownership over understanding national standards on which the state evaluates and ranks them,
and believing we can meet students in their their individualized cognitive challenges and support growth towards understanding ambiguity.
In terms of our NGC teacher training and development, putting children first by building relation trust means:
listening to individual teachers perspective, experience, and feelings before any agenda appears,
developing more authentic relationships where the group members reveal both their work and how they make sense of its objectives and effectiveness,
each member owning what makes them feel they have helped students change, and breaking apart the underpinnings of that change moment,
weekly meetings to discuss the "what's happened" and "what's next" and recording a collective experience and reflection,
chances to be angry, to be tired, to be unsure, to change your mind, and to be excited,
blogging, writing, reflecting personally beyond just what happens in the brick and mortar because is gets inside and needs to be processed,
and valuing the work that is being done, celebrating its moments of success with asset based language always and only.
In terms of psycho-education, putting children first by developing relational trust means:
an acceptance that most stage theorist and developmental experts agree that early life development has an impact on the rest of the individuals life,
an acceptance that not all parents are going to be developed in the most healthy of ways and therefore will be unable to provide the best environment for cognitive, social, and emotional development of a child and so schools must meet a variety of needs,
that children spend most of their waking hours in forced confinement as a means of management, and as such should be practicing and growing in a range of developmental stage work leading to greater ownership over ones life and actions,
and that we must backwards map from a healthy end of life- integrity vs. despair in Eriksonian language, formal operational for Piaget, or Universalizing Faith in a spiritual life- we must adapt what we do today with a child that will give them the greatest chance of reaching the highest and best levels of development.
The work to create systemic change through individualized psych-education aimed at developing compassion and justice is dealing in ambiguity everyday, because there is no one right answer- the individual is the answer. It sounds like so much more work than it is, but the truth is, when your greatest concern is for the person with whom you are with in that moment, it becomes easy to do something to make a difference. Experiencing that difference, makes it easier to keep doing, and so the ripple expands, and each of us goes on the path to change the system one person at a time.
In the time since the last entry, I had conversations with Loyola advisors on human development models, met with the teachers about their lessons and how they felt, and contemplated what it was that I was really DOING both super objectives and current tactics (borrowed from my days as an actress and the G.O.T.E model).
What I'm left with are as follows:
1) I am building relational trust, Maslow's sense of safety that allows and is a pre-requisite for organic and authentic learning, so that those with whom I work feel supported in building similar trust with those whom they work.
2) I believe that the needs of the individuals I am working with need to matter to me over my super objective of developing a "scalable model", because my work is meaningless without their excited and active participation. The work that we are doing is the real change and is more meaningful that knowing we are "on track with a timeline" or "in accordance with my initial ideas". Those were a guide, but they do not get to have the weight of saying if my work in this moment is enough- the work is enough because it is real. What makes it real is ownership, and you cannot have ownership if the individual matters less than the objective. It is good enough because it is no longer just me. In this, I hope those with whom I work might also care about the individuals before their objectives in their own work.
3) Finally, I do all this work with children and adults who work with children, because I believe that the neuro-biology, Eriksonian stage resolution, attachment relationships, and early systems concepts, can work in our favor in developing compassionate, confident, self aware human beings to lead the next generation into greater wholeness.
I am using the ideas of psycho-education to build relational trust and usher in systemic change that understands and know how to put children first.
In terms of our NGC model as curric ulum and assessment, putting children first by building relational trust means:
developing a sense in the classroom that there are no singular right answers to the most important questions,
turning content and evaluation over to students, including ownership over understanding national standards on which the state evaluates and ranks them,
and believing we can meet students in their their individualized cognitive challenges and support growth towards understanding ambiguity.
In terms of our NGC teacher training and development, putting children first by building relation trust means:
listening to individual teachers perspective, experience, and feelings before any agenda appears,
developing more authentic relationships where the group members reveal both their work and how they make sense of its objectives and effectiveness,
each member owning what makes them feel they have helped students change, and breaking apart the underpinnings of that change moment,
weekly meetings to discuss the "what's happened" and "what's next" and recording a collective experience and reflection,
chances to be angry, to be tired, to be unsure, to change your mind, and to be excited,
blogging, writing, reflecting personally beyond just what happens in the brick and mortar because is gets inside and needs to be processed,
and valuing the work that is being done, celebrating its moments of success with asset based language always and only.
In terms of psycho-education, putting children first by developing relational trust means:
an acceptance that most stage theorist and developmental experts agree that early life development has an impact on the rest of the individuals life,
an acceptance that not all parents are going to be developed in the most healthy of ways and therefore will be unable to provide the best environment for cognitive, social, and emotional development of a child and so schools must meet a variety of needs,
that children spend most of their waking hours in forced confinement as a means of management, and as such should be practicing and growing in a range of developmental stage work leading to greater ownership over ones life and actions,
and that we must backwards map from a healthy end of life- integrity vs. despair in Eriksonian language, formal operational for Piaget, or Universalizing Faith in a spiritual life- we must adapt what we do today with a child that will give them the greatest chance of reaching the highest and best levels of development.
The work to create systemic change through individualized psych-education aimed at developing compassion and justice is dealing in ambiguity everyday, because there is no one right answer- the individual is the answer. It sounds like so much more work than it is, but the truth is, when your greatest concern is for the person with whom you are with in that moment, it becomes easy to do something to make a difference. Experiencing that difference, makes it easier to keep doing, and so the ripple expands, and each of us goes on the path to change the system one person at a time.