The Patriot Pride
#RiseUp!
PATRIOT POST...
This morning, I read the following reflection, shared by author and speaker, Jen Hatmaker. The piece below is written to a female audience and speaks to the power of female relationships. While I ALWAYS appreciate a good article about strong women :0), as I read these words, I actually likened more of the impact of its message to our Patriot family, than I did to female friendships. It made me consider the responsibility that each of us have to our school culture and climate during these uncertain times, and it made me think about the power of our group as a whole.
As we prepare for a new school year, our work is harder than ever. However, I also believe our work may have never been as important! As we enter this school-year, we face uncertainty. A positive mindset and trust in one another will matter more than ever. I encourage all of us to reflect on the words below as we each consider our own individual impact on our students and our school.
What is powerful to me about the story below, is that it is only through the herd of elephants’ collaborative efforts, only through their fierce loyalty to the group and only through the courage of each elephant to support the pack in times of trouble, that they succeed! What is exciting about the power of collaboration exemplified in the story, is that it breeds LIFE and CELEBRATION and GRATITUDE!
Enjoy the story below! Let’s commit to ourselves and to each other now so that we are ready to stand together throughout the upcoming school-year. Let’s commit that when things get tough, that we will circle up and band together to protect our work, protect each other and protect our students in order to produce new life, new growth, new ideas, stronger students and a stronger school!
A few months ago, my girl Nichole Nordeman sent me a picture and a story.
It's about female elephants. You know, as all good stories begin. See, in the wild, when a mama elephant is giving birth, all the other female elephants in the herd back around her in formation. They close ranks so that the delivering mama cannot even be seen in the middle. They stomp and kick up dirt and soil to throw attackers off the scent and basically act like a pack of badasses (sorry...her word, not mine...).
They surround the mama and incoming baby in protection, sending a clear signal to predators that if they want to attack their friend while she is vulnerable, they'll have to get through 40 tons of female aggression first.
When the baby elephant is delivered, the sister elephants do two things: they kick sand or dirt over the newborn to protect its fragile skin from the sun, and then they all start trumpeting, a female celebration of new life, of sisterhood, of something beautiful being born in a harsh, wild world despite enemies and attackers and predators and odds.
Scientists tell us this: They normally take this formation in only two cases - under attack by predators like lions, or during the birth of a new elephant.
This is what we do, girls. When our sisters are vulnerable, when they are giving birth to new life, new ideas, new ministries, new spaces, when they are under attack, when they need their people to surround them so they can create, deliver, heal, recover...we get in formation. We close ranks and literally have each others' backs. You want to mess with our sis? Come through us first. Good luck.
And when delivery comes, when new life makes its entrance, when healing finally begins, when the night has passed and our sister is ready to rise back up, we sound our trumpets because we saw it through together. We celebrate! We cheer! We raise our glasses and give thanks.
I have this picture saved in three different places and in a frame. (I also have an elephant ring given to me and my girlfriends from Tara Porter Livesay - it tells me: never alone.) Maybe you need this too. If you are closing ranks around a vulnerable sister, or if your girls have you surrounded while you are tender, this is how we do it.
Holly’s rephrasing: There is no family like our Patriot family! This year will be very much like the story above! We will be creating. We will be problem-solving. We will be "giving birth" to new life, new ideas and new spaces. When we need our people to surround us so we can create, deliver, heal, recover...we will get into formation. We will close ranks and literally have each others' backs.
It's going to be a great year!
Patriot Proud,
Holly
Patriot News...
Welcome Back! July 31st-August 4-8
All teachers will return to Liberty Bell in person on July 31. We will provide a light grab and go breakfast on the morning of Friday, July 31. We will have a faculty meeting from 8:00-12:00 that is designed in rotations so that we can socially distance. We have reserved a food truck, Hound Dogs, that will be present in the bus circle, for those interested!
It is the expectation that all Johnson City teachers be present all day on July 31 and the week of August 4. We have worked to ensure that you will have time on the afternoon of July 31 and five workdays the week of August 4th to prepare for our first day with students. We need to be prepared to teach students in person, but we also must be prepared to begin instruction on August 10th with students remotely, should we be closed temporarily for COVID.
The district delayed the start of school in order to give schools time to reschedule students due to those selecting remote learning and also to provide teachers additional time to prepare for the opening of school, including preparing for a remote option. What a gift of time we have been given! Liberty Bell Tech Leaders will be providing opportunities for Canvas training for anyone who needs additional support the week of August 4 in an Ed Camp format based on the needs assessment sent to you last week. Our tech leaders have worked very hard to use that needs assessment to meet the needs that have been expressed. BIG thanks to our tech leaders for this work. We will also be providing training on our new assessment platform, Illuminate. You will be able to choose which sessions you attend based on your need and interest.
Schedule at a Glance
Tech Academy
Tech Academy has been redesigned and will take place at the individual school sites on Tuesday. Registration has been reopened to all educators. All Liberty Bell teachers who sign up for Tech Academy will report to Liberty Bell on Tuesday. There is still time to sign up for Tech Academy. Please see the email sent by Tracey Coffey for the registration.
Kudos to the 30+ Liberty Bell teachers who have already signed up for Tech Academy! This is highly encouraged as we need to be prepared at any time this year to go remote. Canvas needs to be prepared and ready to go!
TEAMS
REMOTE LEARNERS
Just to reiterate, we all need to be prepared for Plan A and Plan B. We all need to be prepared to begin school on August 10 for school to begin for in-person students and for remote learners. We also need to be prepared if circumstances dictate that we need to begin school remotely for all.
Please remember that remote teachers will always be responsible for their remote students. In-Person teachers will always be responsible for their students, even if we go remote. Should we all go remote, it will still be the expectation that teachers report to school buildings to teach.
For remote learners, the 4 core content areas will always take priority in scheduling. Canvas will be the delivery system for remote learners. PE will be an online module (Edmentum) throughout the year for remote learners and will be monitored by a PE teacher. Music and Theater will be taught through modules that are planned by teaches and rotate three weeks at a time (Theater 3 weeks, Music 3 Weeks, Theater 3 weeks, Music 3 weeks, etc)
Getting to Know You
CANVAS
*Thank you to our outstanding office staff for going the extra mile in preparing for our re-opening and for being the face of Liberty Bell when parents call to ask questions and enroll students! They make it look easy...but we all know it is not. They are the foundation for all we do! Thank you!
*Thank you to Damon Mazoff, Jen Moore and Lucretia Stephens! They have done the work this summer to prepare for our re-opening and we would not be ready if it were not for their collaboration with all of you, their student-focused decision making and for their hard work!
*TECH LEADERS-Thank you to our Tech Leaders for the time they have given and their willingness to support all of us in preparing for the upcoming school year. They have worked hard and fast to create professional learning experiences based on your needs!
*WOW! We have over 30 Liberty Bell teachers who have signed up for Tech Academy! This is a testimony to your hard work and commitment to making our instruction as robust as it can be!
*Thank all of you for the card and gift I received on Friday welcoming me to Liberty Bell. The front of the card is pictured below and it could not be more perfect. I feel very blessed to be able to join you at Liberty Bell and I am confident that the best is yet to come for all of us!