Mic Drops are supposed to be good. They’re supposed to inspire a jaw-dropping “whoa!” response from the audience. Ideally, they deliver a happy punch laced with a little snicker. “Did you hear?!” “Did you see?!”  There has to be a foundation of intelligence behind a good mic drop; an awareness of audience and a disciplined delivery.

But @awebb and I weren’t overly happy with the mic drop at our Grade 9 Retreat in November. It left us with that “oh wow, you’re right and that sucks” feeling that we wished we had named and labelled months ago.

As a team, we walked through an activity that asked each person to put stickers on a timeline of our six months together. The stickers represented personal growth, moments where we hit the 4 C’s (collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication) and general times that just “felt right”. Our final product was awesome. We were able to step back and be overwhelmed by what we have accomplished so far. We laughed when we reflected on some of the crazy moments and shared anecdotes that started with “remember when…?”

It felt wonderful. I felt so lucky to be with these people and to have this opportunity to try something new.

And then my beloved colleague AJ said “here’s the thing…if we stopped doing all of this tomorrow, would anyone besides us care?”

Mic drop with technical damage. Ouch.

We talked about this for a long time. About how we have changed as educators and how important that is for us. But the reality of our situation is that we are trying to run a program that doesn’t yet have a supportive structure around it beyond the classroom. It’s not that our program is unwanted, it’s that it is unknown. This gives us a new direction with our action plan but requires a certain amount of faith and encouragement to move forward. How do we continue to build a program that is engrained within the fabric of the school when there isn’t yet a place for it to be?

 

 

 

 

 

3 thoughts on “Mic Drop / Does Anyone Care?

  1. Hey @echellew. It is very hard to develop a new program connected to a culture or philosophical shift in schools. I am currently part of our Wellbeing team and we are trying to envision and build out how wellbeing programs can live in our school in and amongst the many other priorities. A key win occurred when the timetable renewal committee formed. They were looking for input on how we could maximize student engagement and learning throughout the school year. This investigation gave us an opportunity to propose that a regular community time built into the schedule could provide a vehicle to offer wellbeing experiences ( i.e. mindfulness training, sleep hygiene data, cooking – the list is long). Not sure if this helps. Looking forward to speaking more about this on FriYaY.

    1. I’m curious about the timing here. How long did it take for the timetable renewal to happen? We’ve just gone through a massive review with an external company but it’s likely that nothing too major will happen next year. I think you’ve hit on something really important with the connection between time and philosophy. Now my wheels are spinning in a new direction!

  2. Hi @echellew this comment stood out for me “we are trying to run a program that doesn’t yet have a supportive structure around it beyond the classroom” It reminded me of something Heather Clayton mentioned during a Coaching Session. As educators, we don’t have the luxury to put a ‘road closed’ sign out as we sort out the map, plan, framework, program that we want to achieve. As you know, it is a process, one that has lots of potholes, bumps, broken down cars and even emergency vehicles at different times. During other times there are areas that are paved – smooth sailing. You mentioned a really important part which I think represents mindset when you said: “This gives us a new direction with our action plan but requires a certain amount of faith and encouragement to move forward.” You are leaning in and having the faith to embrace the unknown is probably a big hurdle. It sounds like the team is working together and asking those tough questions. The road maybe a little longer than you originally anticipated, but it sounds like you are all travelling along together. Looking forward to catching up on Friday.
    Lisa.

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