Not Your Ordinary Start to School

We are tired, we are spent and we could not be more excited to be both. The past week has been a whirlwind of emotions. Like many of you, school has resumed and we are already on a pace to accomplish so many great things on behalf of teaching and learning.

This year, we started school a bit different. Check that, we started school like we had never began before! Our "rule" for the first few days was to focus on relationships. You know, the kind of relationships between students and teachers and with teachers and students and with the students and each other. You know, the interactions between people, young and not so young, that drive us to achieve and succeed. Our focus was simple: relationships first. Our plan was something unique.

With that, as a staff of 80+ educators who serve 950 7th and 8th graders, we came up with a plan. A mighty grand plan! What did we do? Well, we agreed last spring that we would place a hold on content for the first three days of school. We agreed that we would follow the lead of educators like Dave Burgess, Alan November and George Couros (among others) and we would center all of our energy and all of our efforts around getting to know one another. We would embrace the straightforward concept that if we get to know our learners (and they got to know us), all of the days that follow will build upon the foundation that we had created within our community. 

Simply put - if you get to know me and you will believe in me and if we will have trust in one-another, then there will be a commitment to the growth of each of us in all aspects of our learning experience. This will include the critical components of the social and emotional elements of our journey this year. We would be invested in each other. 
We would be a team, a family. 

And with that, our #1st3Days took off. What began as a simple idea, a concept, built around the belief that our relationships, community and culture drive our success, turned into three solid days of devotion to the art of building those very relationships. In those three days we formed a bond that will lead us down a path of honest, real, and at times difficult, moments in our learning this year. 

We know that we believe in one another. We believe in our team. Our passions are real. Student, teacher, parent, community. We are a collective unit. We have many directions but we will move as one. We will have a year like no other.

As you reflect on your back-to-school experience, I would encourage you to be intentional with how you welcome both teachers and students back through your doors of your classrooms and buildings. Through conversations with others, using social media and simply hearing from colleagues near and far, there are great things happening this month of school in each corner of education. Borrow ideas, reach out to those in which you see great things happening and be courageous in all that you do. You get one chance to start your year. The more energy and effort you put into that, the days and months that follow will only magnify in opportunities to learn and grow. 

And remember to do the following each step of the way:

Have a vision.

Overcome obstacles. 

Believe.

Have purpose.

Be intentional.

Your drive will determine your fate.

Your will is powerful. Believe in it. 

Find your "why". Answer it.

If you would like more information about the #1st3Days at Weaver Middle School, please contact me at: craig_vroom@hboe.org. Phone works too: 614.921.7700. I would love to share the step-by-step plan of how a building this size pulled off an experience like no other.