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<\/a><\/p>\nI work with them to engage them, which (see the def’n below) has many different definitions; however, I focus on the definition of “emotional involvement…” I work to co-create and curate experiences: <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In order that they may develop themselves further: <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Havergal has declared a priority in cultivating student interests into passions, and to co-create and curate experiences that will push, challenge and shift their perspectives and ways of being and seeing the world. This brings a laser focus onto Ellen Knox’s founding question, back in the late 1800s, of Havergal:<\/p>\n This is a very powerful questions; however, I do believe that a more pressing question, and one shared by Wagner, Lichtman, Lehman, Ritchhart and others, is:<\/p>\n Whether it be in formal schooling or not, whether it is online or not, whether it is international, national, local or even in your own school or the place you call home, it is what we are doing that create, supports, and disrupts, our worldview.<\/p>\n But it is becoming simultaneously easier and more difficult to engage in the world. Easier: through social media and the web, students can observe, communicate with, and experience events from \u00a0around the world. Unfortunately, the flip side of this is that they are often kept at arm’s length. Difficult:\u00a0the world is becoming a more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous place. Thus, it is becoming more difficult than ever for our students and our parents to take a leap, to agree to, and endorse authentic engagements through excursions, field trips, and exchanges, let alone generating these experiences for our students.<\/p>\n Indeed, many professionals have adopted the acronym VUCA to characterize our current reality. Coined in the 1990s by the US Military, VUCA was meant to convey the environment in which soldiers would engage during war. (Fadel, Bialik, Trilling, 13) Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.<\/p>\n If our world is now thus, then it is more important than ever that our education cultivates mindset, skills and dispositions that allow us to thrive. Our future “…depends upon our values…As we begin to collectively consider alternative values that would be more globally sustainable and personally fulfilling, we are responding to both pushes, based on necessity and anxiety about the direction of our current values are taking us,” and from new, alternative points of view that could point us in new directions. (Fadel, Bialik, Trilling, 13)<\/p>\n I propose that we redefine VUCA for our students; that we choose to inspire, equip, engage and give permission for our students to:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ISION <\/p>\n NDERSTANDING<\/p>\n Let’s give our students opportunities to listen to, interact with others so that they might build the character of compassion within themselves. Let’s encourage our students to listen to understand (Lehman & Chase, 113) not to sympathize only.<\/p>\n To understand others, truly, we must ask big, meaningful and personal questions of others, and of ourselves. We need to develop a deep understanding, mindset and toolkit for inquiry.<\/p>\n Let’s give our students opportunities to know themselves across a mulitude of experiences so that they may have a holistic understanding of who they are, what they stand behind and who they stand behind. We need them to practice integrity – doing the right thing even when no one is watching; being the same person face-to-face as behind-the-screen.<\/p>\n We can build an education that provides students the opportunities to practice these traits of character and mindsets. We don’t want our students listening to what compassion is, we want them to practice it. We need to co-create and curate experiences that allow this to happen in our students.<\/p>\n That is one big insight I’ve synthesized from these readings. I am fortunate enough to be at Havergal College, whose four values are: courage, compassion, inquiry and integrity. It is a place where we are focused on cultivating these within our students.<\/p>\n The Forum for Change <\/a>at Havergal is our mission in action. Here, every student is encouraged to know herself and to understand the impact she can have <\/p>\n So I go back to Ellen Knox’s founding question: What Will You Do? and I ask my faculty and students to think about “What are you doing?”, “What are you asking students to do?” and “What are you being asked to do?” Because… I’ve done a lot of reading over the last month and few days, and I’ve compiled a healthy catalogue of book reviews. I felt it was time to synthesize them into something more ‘whole’: what is the thread that runs through these books? I’m going to connect this with my new role at Havergal as…<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
What will you do?<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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What are you doing?<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\nLet’s give our students the mindset, skills and courage to craft a vision for and of themselves, and their future.
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\nURIOSITY<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nUTHENTICITY<\/p>\n<\/a>in shaping the world in which she wants to live. The Forum for Change supports the school\u2019s mission and provides school-wide education about the key forces shaping our lives. It delivers integrated programs to help students explore and engage in the world with a focus on impact and innovation. We do this through local community partnerships, exchanges and our Global Experience Program. These are powerful opportunities, carefully created for our students.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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