WATER, for example.There are a lot of simple and beautiful parts of our lives that we take for granted. Having school days. Drinking clean water. They are more connected than I thought they were. We have missed some days of school this year. And now we look at quarter three and try to streamline, to get more productive. Keeping some lessons we’ve learned, we look forward. And we look back… About 10 years ago, I was working in Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya. The people that lived there mined a strong sense of community like gold during the gold rush. They knew each other. They cared for everyone. Community mattered. To our American standards, living in one room with a dirt floor along with 12 of your other family members would not be a luxury. And going to school in the States, well, it’s something you have to do. In Kibera, there was a rule. You had to wear a uniform to school. And if your family couldn’t afford the uniform, then… you couldn’t go to school. This was the case for hundreds of children. Wanting to learn and not having the opportunity over the equivalent of $6. I am taking this moment to remember this story and remind myself of the slew of things that I take for granted every day. Having access to education and working to create a program where students can create their own path, learn how they learn, and follow their interests is not something I have taken for granted. I can lose focus and not appreciate clean water, heat, and love as much as I should. But I am consistently appreciative that I get to show up and facilitate this experience for young people. What a gift. How can we change "have to "into "get to"?There are a lot of opportunities for Pilot students to change I have to into I get to. If, for some reason, you feel like there is not enough I get to in your day, consider making a change. Let me be clear that the things that might creep into I have to land are pretty tried and tested. There isn’t much busy work here. The elements that we have in place such as weekly journaling and reflecting, writing narratives, documenting your work: we do all these things for good reasons. The recipe works and when it doesn’t work, we change it for the individual. |
On the 18th, we will be looking at the first set of project deliverables. This work will spill into the next three weeks (not including a vacation) and that will take us to the end of the semester. It’s going to go quickly. My hope is that by creating really pointed goals and focused questions we can stay on target and not let the time get away from us. Let’s go! | Feeling the need to do some weekly momentum planning? Try our planning pages: |